In a tight 110-meter hurdles final, Aries Merritt misses Olympic berth

a former Howard University runner, scratched in the final after tweaking his hamstring in the semifinal earlier in the day. “I’m devastated,” said Oliver, who won bronze in the event at the Beijing Games. “I couldn’t run in the final. Hurt left hammy in the semi, but that’s part of the game. Hats off to the great guys we’re sending.” Bowie, Felix make 200 final A pair of sprinters who already have locked up a spot on the Olympic team will be racing Sunday for a chance to run in challenging doubles next month at the Rio Games. Tori Bowie, who finished second in the 100 meter earlier in the week, posted the top semifinal time in the women’s 200, running a 22.27, a full 0.18 seconds ahead of second-place DeaJah Stevens. No female runner has swept the 100 and 200 races at an Olympics since Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988. Allyson Felix, who won the 400 here already, posted the third-best time, a 22.57. She was slow around the curve in heat and never challenged Bowie down the stretch. “Unfortunately, that’s an area we just haven’t had the luxury of working on,” Felix, who’s recovering from an ankle injury, said of the curve, “so just trying to get through with what I have.” Felix is hoping to become the first woman in 20 years to win gold in both the 200 and 400 at an Olympics since Marie Jose-Perec 20 years ago. The last American to sweep the races at a Summer Games was Valerie Brisco-Hooks in 1984. Jenebah Tarmoh was the final sprinter in the field, qualifying based on time, her 10.97-second finish barely 0.01 seconds better the next-best runner. A feat of Claye Will Claye will be heading to the Rio Games after all. Claye placed third in the long jump last weekend but did not earn a spot on the Olympic team because he hadn’t reached the qualifying mark. His Plan B was pretty reliable: the triple jump. Claye took silver in the event at the London Games and will have a chance for gold next month in Rio. He won the trials with a top distance of 57 feet 11 inches. Christian Taylor, the gold medalist from 2012, was second, 101/4 inches behind Claye. Malone wins javelin Texas A&M’s Maggie Malone won the women’s javelin with a top throw of 199-7, followed by Hannah Carson (190-11)


Man shot to death in NW D.C. early Sunday

A man was shot to death early Sunday in Northwest Washington’s Bloomingdale neighborhood, police said. Arount 4:50 a.m., police responded to reports of gunfire in the 2100 block of Flagler Place NW, just a few blocks away from Howard University. Police at the scene found a man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, D.C. police spokesman Aquita Brown said. The man, whose name has not been released, was transported to a local hospital where he later died, Brown said. Police do not have a suspect, and the investigation is ongoing.


Weather company Earth Networks sees utilities as a new path to profit

Since 1993, Earth Networks has mainly sold weather data to the scientifically inclined. Co-founders Bob Marshall and Christopher Sloop traversed the country setting up more than 10,000 weather stations in individual neighborhoods and built a comfortable business selling the aggregated data to meteorologists, government research labs and a hodgepodge of private companies. A few years ago the little Germantown-based company spotted a new market: giant utility companies looking for untapped cost efficiencies. Earth Networks nabbed its first utility account in 2012 and has since expanded to a handful of states, a new revenue stream that is already in the millions of dollars, Marshall said. The most recent deal, a partnership with Northeast energy provider National Grid, was announced last month. The utility, which serves homes in New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, is looking to spot cost-savings opportunities by merging home thermostat data with hyper-local weather readings. “We feel this would really help customers not only to save money, but help us from a distribution perspective,” said Carlos Nouel, National Grid’s New Energy Solutions chief. The business relationship grew from a project National Grid was working on with researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The team at MIT had developed a mathematical model that could predict certain costs associated with specific weather events. They quickly realized that it was much easier to accurately measure such costs for a home that sits within five miles of a weather station because neighborhood-by-neighborhood temperature variation can actually have a big effect on how much it costs to heat a home. “Fifty percent of [energy] usage in your home, especially in the Northeast, is driven by weather,” said Nouel, citing National Grid’s internal data. That matters to utilities because minor temperature variations from one neighborhood to the next can affect the rate at which different houses gain or lose heat. “You might be in D.C., but if you’re in Arlington or somewhere else, the weather can be totally different,” Nouel said. Utilities pay Earth Networks for more than just weather data. What National Grid is really buying is the ability to unite home thermostat data with weather readings and to influence costs by taking control of people’s thermostats. Earth Networks has a separate product called WeatherBug Home, a free system that lets homeowners manage energy costs in conjunction with what’s going on outside. Opting into the app gives Earth Networks the ability to


Academies of Loudoun will take collaborative approach to STEM education

An architect’s rendering shows the entrance to the Academies of Loudoun, set to open in fall 2018. The building will have no wings and will feature large spaces for students from different magnet programs to collaborate. (Photo by Stantec) On a swath of dirt off Sycolin Road in Loudoun County, school officials have broken ground on a new campus that will house a state-of-the-art building and a high-caliber math and science program that some hope will help keep the county’s top math and science students in the school system while forging a new model for STEM education. The $86.5 million Academies of Loudoun campus, which will serve 2,500 students and is set to open in fall 2018, will combine three magnet programs in a space designed to encourage interaction and collaboration among students. The district plans to relocate the Academy of Science, the Academy of Engineering and Technology and the Monroe Advanced Technology Academy, the county’s vocational program, to the site. All three programs are part-time, meaning students take core courses at their base high schools and take specialty science, math and technical courses within their respective programs. The new campus will allow the existing Academy of Science, now housed in a wing of Dominion High School, to double its capacity, offering more students the opportunity to take part in an elite science program close to home. The move could keep Loudoun’s top students in the county rather than sending them to Fairfax County’s Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ), a regional magnet and perennially one of the nation’s top public schools. TJ draws Northern Virginia’s top students to its rigorous program, and 99 percent of its graduates go on to attend four-year colleges. The school regularly sends graduates to elite colleges; the Class of 2015 had 191 of its students accepted by the University of Virginia, according to TJ. Loudoun paid $3.3 million for 248 students to attend TJ last year, and that figure does not include the cost of transportation. Eric Hornberger, chairman of the county’s school board, said he hopes to eventually stop sending Loudoun students to TJ so the local tax funds can be invested in homegrown programs instead. “If we have available space and capacity to accommodate students, why not take that money and invest it in our programming?” Hornberger said. Three years ago, the school board considered severing relations with TJ


The Polish plumbers who annoy Brexit supporters come from towns like this one

issue on which voters (and even migrant workers) here and in much of Britain may agree: Karwowski, the mayor, said the region was “careful” on the subject of immigration, while Law and Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski and senior Polish officials have vowed not to accept refugees under an E.U. quota because of security concerns. Marcin Michaluk, the manager of a cellphone shop near Monki’s main square, told a journalist that he didn’t “want to sound nationalist” but that he sympathized with people in England who felt there were too many foreigners with dark, or “beige,” skin there. Pawel Kieniewski, a stocky 31-year-old traveling to Warsaw, the capital, to catch an overnight bus to Birmingham, England, said that people in England “have a right to be angry” about immigration to their country. He has worked for the past two years as a cook at a bar in Kingston, England, where he earns a salary six times as high as he could in Poland. Like most others interviewed who work in Britain, he said he doesn’t fear Brexit: He expects to have residency by the time negotiations conclude. “I understand them, because they didn’t ask for us, they didn’t know how many people would come to their country,” he said. “But as long as we have the right, we’re going to travel there.” In the worst case, others said, they would choose another country in the E.U. “If they close the borders, I’ll just move to Ireland,” said Marta Jaroslawska, 22, who was waiting with her family for an overnight coach to London from a downtown bus station in Warsaw. She plans to join her boyfriend in London and find work as a beautician. She does not intend to come back. Karwowski, the mayor, emphasized the benefits of generations of migration: a spirit of entrepreneurship, a culture of openness, and of course, the economic benefits from remittances. But Klepadlo, the school director, said she saw the negative impact in her young students, where one or even both parents were working abroad, producing so-called “euro-orphans.” “I can see very clearly the excitement when a parent is going to visit,” Klepadlo said. “And then, when the parent leaves, a longer period of sadness and the anxiety of separation again. This is compensated with the new toys that the kids are given when the parents come back. But it’s just a compensation for their absence.”


U.S. track and field team leaves Olympic trials with high standard to uphold

in 1984. But for the Rio-bound squad, some seeds of concern were sown at last year’s world championships in Beijing. The United States sent 130 athletes to Beijing and brought back 18 medals, including six golds. While no nation had as many total medals, it was still the Americans’ lowest world championships total since 2003. The runners especially struggled. The lone gold by the men’s track team was a relay win, and both squads disappointed in the middle and longer distances, combining to win just one medal in races longer than 400 meters. All six of the United States’ reigning world champions qualified for the Rio Games and will have their sights set on gold in Rio: Joe Kovacs, shot put; Christian Taylor, triple jump; Ashton Eaton, decathlon; Felix, 400 meters; Tianna Bartoletta, long jump. Despite concerns from last year’s world championships, this year’s Olympic coaches left these trials feeling good about the talent they’ll be taking to Rio. “It just keeps getting better and better,” said Connie Price-Smith, the women’s coach. “We have the youth. Track and field’s not going away. We are strong. We just continue to keep getting stronger. They keep getting better, and the older athletes keep lasting longer in the sport.” One thing that figures to benefit the U.S. track and field team next month: the likely absence of the Russian athletes, who have yet to emerge from a doping scandal that has placed their entire squad on suspension through the Summer Games. The Russians’ last likely hope is an appeal filed with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which is expected to render a decision by July 21. Russia’s track and field teams won 16 medals, including seven gold, four years ago in London (though at least a couple of those could be soon revoked). Officials with USA Track and Field were finalizing the roster Sunday night and determining which sprinters would be added for the Olympic relays. On Monday, the USATF high performance team, led by Duffy Mahoney, the organization’s chief of sport performance, will gather to assess the team, forecast each event and plot for all possible scenarios. They’ll come up with a medal projection, a specific target that is usually in the mid-20s. These Summer Games, though, could be tougher to predict than most. “There are always surprises,” said Jill Geer, a USATF spokeswoman, “both negative and positive at the Games.”


Britain's finance minister heads to U.S. to reassure investors after Brexit

British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne is heading to Wall Street to reassure American investors that the British decision to leave the European Union won’t threaten business relations with the United States. (Sean Dempsey/European Pressphoto Agency) LONDON – With Britain’s currency tumbling and warnings of tough economic times ahead, George Osborne will try to reassure American investors after last month’s “Brexit” decision. “The pillars of our special relationship with the U.S. will be maintained and strengthened. Our economic trade ties with North America must now become stronger,” Osborne, officially known as “chancellor of the exchequer,” wrote in a column published in the Wall Street Journal Monday. “My message is simple: Britain may be leaving the E.U., but we are not withdrawing from the world. Britain will be a beacon for free trade, democracy and security, more open to that world than ever,” he wrote. Britain will become "more outward-looking, global-facing,” not less, he said. British voters last month voted 52-48 percent to take their country out of the European Union, the 28-member economic and political bloc that comprises the world’s largest unified consumer market, with 500 million people stretching from Romania to Ireland. Markets have been in turmoil since the vote three weeks ago, with the British pound tumbling to 31-year lows against the U.S. dollar. Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, has said businesses and households were already suffering from “economic post-traumatic stress disorder” after the global financial crisis, and that Brexit would compound this. Many private sector economists expect the central bank to cut interest rates as soon as this week to try to counteract the shock. [ The Netherlands shows it’s not just Brits who despise the E.U. ] With this turmoil in mind, Osborne has spoken to House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) twice in the past two weeks and will meet “leading figures on Wall Street” Monday, then travel to China and Singapore next week. Between those trips, he will host Treasury Secretary Jack Lew in London “to see what more we can do together.” London has become a major financial center in Europe and some analysts have warned that companies might move their European headquarters to the continent if the U.K. loses access to the single market. The victory of the “Leave” campaign came as a shock to many here – including, it seems, to the Treasury department, which has been


then travel to China and Singapore next week. Between those trips, he will host Treasury Secretary Jack Lew in London “to see what more we can do together.” London has become a major financial center in Europe and some analysts have warned that companies might move their European headquarters to the continent if the U.K. loses access to the single market. The victory of the “Leave” campaign came as a shock to many here – including, it seems, to the Treasury department, which has been scrambling to contain the fall-out. The top civil servant in the Treasury, permanent secretary Tom Scholar, told a parliamentary committee last week that his department had not formulated any contingency plans in case Britain decided to leave the E.U. Instead, it simply wrote two reports outlining the negative economic implications of leaving, the Financial Times reported. The size of the economic impact will depend on the kind of exit Britain makes from the E.U. If London is able to negotiate to keep access to the single market, the kind of deal that Norway currently has, then the impact would be relatively small, economists say. But if the U.K. will be treated like any country outside Europe and have to pay tariffs, the impact would be much greater. Osborne will be trying to broker a favorable deal, but a clearly angry Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, has told the U.K. there will be no "a la carte" membership of the single market. [ The men who gave us Brexit have all destroyed each other in two weeks flat ] Britain’s decision to leave the E.U. means it will need “stronger links with its friends and allies around the world,” starting with the United States, Osborne wrote in the Journal column. “It is now in the overwhelming interest of both countries to do so. We are each other’s largest investors, with almost $1 trillion invested in each other’s economies,” he wrote, saying that the U.S. had 10 times as much money invested in the U.K. as in China. More than a million people in the U.S. work for British companies, while a similar number worked for American companies in the U.K. “The U.K. is a leading financial center serving not just the continent of Europe, but the entire world,” Osborne said. “As I will tell Wall Street, we want more finance in London, not less.”


As Britain looks to new leader, a jolt of pressure to speed Brexit

On Wednesday, Theresa May will become Britain’s next prime minister. She'll become the second female British prime minister after Margaret Thatcher. Here's what you need to know her in 60 seconds. BRUSSELS — British leaders had planned to use the months-long process of picking a new leader of the Conservative Party to gain some breathing room before delivering the formal divorce notice, known as Article 50, to trigger the two-year negotiations over the split. But the surprise decision Monday by Energy Secretary Andrea Leadsom to bow out of the Tory leadership race threw the slow-walk approach into doubt. A more protracted timetable could have given Britain a chance to come up with a negotiating position, which it still lacks in the absence of any planning for the withdrawal from the E.U. And some in Europe had hoped that the economic waves crashing over the British isles might persuade leaders there to abandon the divorce, or at least to find a way to preserve as close ties as possible. But with British Prime Minister David Cameron stepping down Wednesday, his successor will come under pressure from all sides to initiate the split. Theresa May, who will become Britain's next prime minister said "Brexit means Brexit," as she vowed to provide strong leadership during "difficult and uncertain" times. Other European leaders want to minimize the uncertainty of British limbo on their economies. In Britain, some hard-line “leave” supporters also fear that a step-by-step move toward the E.U. exit could open room to challenge the decision. “There should be no decision to invoke Article 50 until the British negotiating strategy is agreed and clear, which means Article 50 should not be invoked before the end of this year,” May said when she announced her candidacy for the leadership position shortly after last month’s referendum. That could prove to be a difficult position to maintain. May was a reluctant campaigner for the “remain” camp, but she has repeatedly said that the country cannot ignore the referendum decision. “Brexit means Brexit,” she said Monday as Leadsom was folding her candidacy. The prospect of a drawn-out British exit initially sparked fury from European leaders, who fear flatlined economies as businesses and investors wait to see the outcome of the split before making big decisions about where to put their money. As groups on the continent that are critical of the E.U.’s reach have been encouraged by


What is Egypt’s Sissi up to? Maybe an Israel-Palestinian peace deal

fourth term as prime minister, that there would never be a Palestinian state on his watch. “The Israelis are doing their best to prove there’s no need for the French initiative,” which is endorsed by Abbas, said a Palestinian diplomat who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of discussions. The analysts are wary but watchful. The al-Mesryoon newspaper in Cairo quoted one academic’s decrying of Egypt’s bid — “another nail in the coffin of the Arabs” — and another calling Sissi’s outreach “a positive step in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian crisis.” Mira Tzoreff, a senior lecturer in Middle East and African history at Tel Aviv University, cautioned, “This is not an Israeli-Palestinian issue. It is an Israeli-Egyptian-Palestinian issue.” She said Egypt is a unique player. “There might be a French initiative, or a Saudi one, but only Egypt is accepted by both,” Tzoreff said. “This is a clear message to the Americans that Sissi is a leader who can do something not only inside Egypt but also outside. Sissi is succeeding where the United States has failed.” Whatever happens, Sissi has inserted himself into the conversation. In a May speech, the Egyptian leader called on Israel’s warring political parties to create a coalition for a peace deal with the Palestinians, which in turn would be backed by the Arab states. In the middle of this is former British prime minister Tony Blair, who serves as an informal adviser to Sissi. Blair, facing public outrage at home for his decision to wage war in Iraq, continues to be a bit player in the Middle East dramas. On Monday, Blair arrived in Jerusalem to meet with Netanyahu. Levanon, the former Israeli ambassador to Egypt, said: “The Egyptians see we have a Middle East that is falling apart, in bloodshed and crisis, with no solution on the horizon, not for Syria, Yemen, Libya and Iraq. They have to deal with terrorists internally, too, and suddenly they see something that was not there a few years ago — the small country of Israel has been building excellent relations with Russia, it has open channels with the Saudis and reconciled with Turkey, and last week met with the heads of seven African states.” He said, “We are in a situation now where it is better for Egypt to be on Israel’s side than not.” Heba Habib in Cairo contributed to this report.


Cash-strapped Rio state says Olympics will be fine. But what about afterward?

favelas, where much crime is concentrated. If drug lords bring down the number of robberies in an area, he said, police leave the drug trade alone. “This happens,” he said. “It’s practice.” Meanwhile, some Rio residents are already using a new cellphone app launched by Brazil’s Amnesty International branch to avoid places where gunfights have happened. It is called Fogo Cruzado, Portuguese for crossfire. ‘Palliative measures’ The concern, however, is that even if the Games proceed smoothly, disaster has been merely postponed. Another police sergeant, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give interviews, characterized the bailout as a short-term fix at best, and one aimed at security personnel. “This was for us to work during the Olympics, to shut us up,” he said. “We don’t know what will happen afterward.” Espíndola acknowledged as much, saying that cuts and government bailouts were “palliative measures” and that bigger structural changes are needed, including amending laws to allow the state to reduce its crushing pension burden. Brazil’s generous pension laws allow some public servants to retire as young as 50, further burdening many states facing financial difficulties. Rio has more retired staff than workers, Espíndola said, and their costs represent more than half of the state’s deficit. But Rio is worse off than most, according to José Afonso, a researcher with the Getulio Vargas Foundation’s Brazilian Institute of Economics, because it also depends heavily on tax revenue from oil production — and oil prices have plummeted. A gargantuan corruption crisis at the state-run oil company, Petrobras, headquartered here, also has resulted in less construction of oil platforms and rigs and has hit supplier companies in Rio, with a knock-on effect for the state. Rio’s oil revenue has fallen from a fifth of its income to 10 percent in two years, Afonso said. And the state has been hit by the recession that is affecting the country as a whole, Brazil’s worst in decades. Interim president Michel Temer made austerity measures his main platform after taking over from Dilma Rousseff, who is currently suspended from office pending a controversial impeachment trial. “The scenario is bleak for the coming years,” Afonso said. For visitors and athletes who stay within the main Olympic areas, Rio’s crisis may become visible only if they get sick or fall victim to crime. The budgets of the state’s emergency health centers have been almost


Mr. Abe’s big win

the Obama administration. As of Sunday night, Mr. Abe for the first time has the supermajority in both houses of the Japanese parliament that it would take to initiate constitutional changes granting wider latitude to Japan’s military, which has been constrained — unduly so in Mr. Abe’s long-held view — by pacifist provisions of the postwar document. Though polls suggest those changes would be less popular than Mr. Abe’s government itself, he is not wrong to worry about Japan’s security posture given the assertive attitudes in Beijing and Moscow as well as the U.S. public’s seeming turn away from international engagement. Whether an attempt to alter public opinion on constitutional change would be a wise use of Mr. Abe’s large political capital is another question, however. Once approved by Japan’s parliament, any amendment would still need to win a national referendum, after a likely bitter campaign that could divide the country and absorb the prime minister’s energy — for a cause of unclear necessity. Mr. Abe has already won legislative approval for joint military missions with the United States and other allies, including missions not related to Japan’s own territorial defense. Better for Mr. Abe to focus on refloating the dead-in-the-water Japanese economy, still plagued by deflation, negligible growth and declining exports more than three years since the ballyhooed launch of “Abenomics.” Massive injections of stimulus, both fiscal and monetary, have essentially failed; yet the “third arrow” of Abenomics — structural reform to labor markets, corporate governance and agriculture — has barely been implemented. Given fierce resistance from entrenched interest groups, this was always bound to be Mr. Abe’s most difficult task. And American presidential nominees are not making it easier for him by denouncing the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, which helps lay the basis, economic and political, for further Japanese reform. Nevertheless, Mr. Abe should make a genuine economic shake-up his top priority, ahead of his constitutional project. Either one is bound to be politically costly, but economic reform offers the prospect of restored prosperity, without which Japan won’t be able to mount a more robust national defense no matter what the constitution says. The battle for a new Japanese economic model is the right fight to pick. Read more on this topic: The Post’s View: Squelching bad news in Japan David Ignatius: Shinzo Abe’s optimistic vision The Post’s View: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe launched his third arrow


10 top places to eat in Cleveland, for convention-goers and the rest of us

grilled and rolled up in pita with whipped garlic. The charm of their Lebanese food: “No shortcuts,” says co-owner Ghassan Maalouf. The chickpeas and fava beans for the coriander-zapped falafel are ground on-site, and the eggplant for the baba ghanouj is roasted right here. “Nate’s” refers to the deli’s long-ago operator. “The name doesn’t matter,” says Maalouf, whose parents never bothered to change the title so as to “leave vanity out” of the equation. The back booth is sometimes occupied by his now-retired father; an employee’s young charge clears tables, even though he’s no taller than the cart he’s pushing through the dining room. Nate’s is as much about family as it is about flavor. 1923 W. 25th St., 216-696-7529, natesohiocity.com. Entrees, $9 to $17. John McGroarty is the brewmaster at Butcher and the Brewer downtown, where about 1,500 barrels of beer are brewed every year. (Dustin Franz/For The Washington Post) Butcher and the Brewer For sheer ambition, it would be hard to top this epic industrial American tavern, its row after row of community tables ending in flashy tanks and tubes. An estimated 1,500 barrels of beer a year (about 380,000 pints) are, as the restaurant says, “hand-built”; any given day, upward of a dozen house beers are on tap. Most popular? The crisp German-style Repeater Kolsch. Most unusual? Albino Stout, the shade of pale ale. Beers also find their way into a handful of cocktails. Full-time butchers and charcuterie makers assure good (and innovative) eating. Think tacos hit with chorizo and pickled jalapeños, whole smoked chicken wings, lamb ribs in jerk sauce. But everyone is welcome, food-wise, hence the kale Caesar salad and the flatbread, flavored as if it were a pierogi. 2043 E. Fourth St., 216-331-0805, butcherandthebrewer.com. Entrees, $12 to $27. Chorizo tacos at Butcher and the Brewer. (Dustin Franz/For The Washington Post) Trentina If there’s a golden boy in town, it’s chef Jonathon Sawyer, whose James Beard award (2015 Best Chef: Great Lakes) and varied restaurants have won Cleveland a measure of culinary respect in recent years. His youngest establishment is Northern Italian, intimate and eye-catching, with illuminated streams of glass beads dangling from on high and whitewashed brick walls creating a cool cocoon. Mirrored tables are a canvas for charred, Parmesan-flecked broccoli on a brushstroke of roasted eggplant, and pepper-spiked rigatoni draped with creamy lamb ragu. Want the full Sawyer experience? Loosen your belt for


From dress codes to terrorism, a summer of warnings for tourists

foreigners visiting here, tend to lag, and it is not clear whether the annual number of travelers venturing to other countries — up by 4.4 percent in 2015, for the sixth consecutive year of growth, according to the United Nations — will fall in 2016. Americans venturing abroad made an estimated 90 million annual trips in previous years. Fluctuating exchange rates and low oil prices have benefited international travel, the United Nations said in a January report. But, it said, “as the current environment highlights in a particular manner the issues of safety and security, we should recall that tourism development greatly depends upon our collective capacity to promote safe, secure and seamless travel.” International visitors to this country increased by 3 percent, to a record 77.5 million in 2015, according to the Commerce Department, after deep dips immediately following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the 2008 global economic downturn. Fifteen of the top 20 countries posted record numbers of visitors to the United States, including 18 million Mexicans, 5 million Britons and 2.9 million Chinese. The United States makes exponentially more money from foreign visitors than any other country — $221 billion in 2014, according to the most recent World Bank figures. For American travelers, the number of official warnings has increased, said a senior State Department official familiar with the information program, although “it’s kind of hard to say is it due to increased threats or just a general ability to communicate more easily with the public” through social media, in addition to more traditional warnings on State’s website. U.S. officials overseas are encouraged to use Twitter, Facebook and other applications to transmit security messages and other communication to traveling Americans, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity under rules imposed by the State Department. Travelers are encouraged to sign up with the department’s Smart Traveler program to receive urgent messages. There are several different kinds of advisories, each indicating the level of threat and recommended action. Emergency Messages, emailed and distributed via social media to Smart Traveler enrollees, are sent “if something is fast-breaking . . . a terrorist incident taking place in a particular city,” the official said. Information about imminent attacks — “it is a short fuse, very significant” — is sent out via a Security Message. Travel Alerts apply to more general security situations ranging from civil unrest to


Athletes’ families put aside Rio’s health, security risks to support Olympic dreams

in 2020]. But I think Brazil will offer things that are unique and are going to be great. So, yeah, health, obviously, and security, obviously — there are things you consider. But you know, life has risks, and you have to balance those with the opportunity.” A growing concern Seven years ago, when the International Olympic Committee granted the 2016 Summer Games to Rio over Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo, so many of the athletes who will compete there were just dreaming. Zika wasn’t a concern then, and the Brazilian economy was stable. Now there are reports of widespread gang wars throughout the city. In May, 150 health experts worldwide signed a petition asking the Games to be moved, lest Zika spread further. Last month, police staged protests warning they would not be able to provide safety to visitors and citizens — warning incoming passengers at the airport with a banner that blared, “Welcome to Hell” — because of financial shortfalls. When Elizabeth and Tom Smoliga were booking flights late last month after their daughter, Olivia, had qualified to swim in Rio, Elizabeth saw the stories about the police banner online. “So we discussed it with Olivia this morning,” Elizabeth Smoliga said during the swimming trials. “And she told us about body parts.” Those would be the human remains that washed up onto the shore that will host the beach volleyball competition. LaToya Hubbard, right, had to consider whether it was worth following her brother, Aries Merritt, an elite 110-meter hurdler, to Rio. Merritt, who received a donated kidney from Hubbard in 2015, did not qualify. (Family photo) All of these events and circumstances have fostered some level of family discussion. As the various sports went through their selection processes over the past several months, families watched both their athletes and the news. LaToya Hubbard, the sister of track star Aries Merritt, went to London four years ago to watch her brother win gold in the 110-meter hurdles. But as the track trials went on over the past two weeks in Eugene, Ore., she was more than hesitant about following him to Rio should he make the team again. “I’m hoping they postpone it or put it somewhere else because I’m just so scared to go to Rio,” Hubbard said. “I really am. With the Zika virus and everything else, I don’t think they’ve done even half of what they’re supposed


‘Hey, you guys, I’ll be your overly friendly server this evening.’

District, Masseria , the glam Italian oasis across from Union Market, certainly fits the bill. The restaurant’s chef’s table, built within the kitchen, seats six diners and costs $145 for an eight-course spread prepared by chef Nicholas Stefanelli. The menu, tailored to the party, frequently includes delicacies (think live spot prawns) and dishes that have yet to appear on Masseria’s standing menu; if desired, Stefanelli can also whip up vegetarian and vegan menus. Another option is the big private table in the American-themed kitchen at Blue Duck Tavern in the West End, with a minimum price of $1,440 for six diners for a meal served family-style. Loftier still is the rooftop garden atop Rose’s Luxury on the Hill, where up to 10 guests can enjoy a specially designed menu for $125 a person in a space modeled after a greenhouse. Beyond the city, Harris should consider two of my favorite dining destinations. Volt in Frederick, Md., features a space in the kitchen dubbed Table 21, where guests enjoy a 21-course feast for $150 a head. Last but far from least, the Inn at Little Washington in Washington, Va., offers two tables, separated by a large hearth, for up to six people each in a kitchen dubbed “the inner sanctum.” The tables go for $395 to $595 each, depending on the day of the week; the Inn’s seven-course menu is an additional $188 to $218 per patron. Extravagant, sure, but it’s also the only dining nook I know that takes its inspiration from the dairy room at Windsor castle. (Illustration by Kim Salt) A measure of the job “You’ve mentioned going out with dining companions when you review a restaurant. Do you take bites of their food?” another weekly online chat participant asked recently. “Even in three visits, it seems like you’d have to share to experience enough of the menu, unless you just ask them how they like their dishes.” On the clock, I’m all about divvying up the goods (and the occasional duds), for exactly the reason the reader suggests: To assess the full range of a menu, I need to sample as much of the food as I can. While I try to be discreet about exchanging tastes, my ever-changing comrades pretty much blend in with fellow diners doing the same. (Imagine an invisible Lazy Susan on my table.) Do I listen to what my guests say? Sure.


Jordan Spieth explains reasons for withdrawing from Olympics

Jordan Spieth during a press conference Tuesday ahead of the British Open Golf Championship. (Ben Curtis/AP) TROON, Scotland — “It will loom over me throughout the Olympic Games, for sure,” the two-time major winner said Tuesday, calling his decision to withdraw the “hardest decision I’ve ever had to make in my life at 22 years old.” Rory McIlroy might watch the Olympics on television to see other sports. “I’ll probably watch the Olympics, but I’m not sure golf will be one of the events I watch,” the four-time major winner said, soon adding, “Probably the events like track and field, swimming, diving, the stuff that matters.” The fact they — and others — will watch on television at all dominated the chatter two days ahead of the start of the 145th British Open at Royal Troon Golf Club. When Spieth opted out on Monday for general health concerns — and not just the Zika virus — it meant the game would return to the Olympics for the first time in 104 years without its top four men’s players, with Jason Day and Dustin Johnson having withdrawn earlier. Golf, returning to the Games for the first time since 1904, and tennis are particularly hard hit. By current golf rankings, No. 5 Bubba Watson would be the top men’s player in Brazil, followed by the No. 6 player, Henrik Stenson of Sweden, who said Tuesday, “It’s going to be quite an experience, I think.” The United States men’s team will have Watson, No. 7 Rickie Fowler, No. 13 Patrick Reed and No. 15 Matt Kuchar. The women’s game has seen no such major withdrawals. International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach told German news agencies that players’ decisions to withdraw “stand in contrast to WHO recommendations,” a reference to the World Health Organization, and that it “does not help the attractiveness of the golf competition.” Peter Dawson, the president of the International Golf Federation, said at a news conference on Monday here, “There is no doubt that the number of withdrawals hasn’t shed golf in the best light.” He said that, “personally,” he had found the withdrawals an “overreaction.” “Yeah, I mean the bad publicity is unfortunate, obviously,” said No. 11-ranked Justin Rose, the English 2013 U.S. Open champion who said he considers the Olympics a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” and will represent Britain. “I think the Zika risk is going to be one of


Theresa May must contain the Brexit damage — and more

Prime Minister-in-waiting Theresa May leaves after attending a cabinet meeting at Downing Street on Tuesday. (Carl Court/Getty Images) Three months ago, before Britain descended into its “Game of Thrones”-esque madness, Theresa May delivered a speech on her country’s place in Europe — on sovereignty, prosperity and the dilemma of a midsize nation in an era of globalization. Unlike those campaigning for Britain to leave the European Union, she wielded real statistics, not fake ones. Unlike many “remainers,” she stressed the attractions of escape from certain European institutions while robustly defending others. She was thoughtful, principled and intelligently aware of history, pronouncing herself a Euroskeptic who nonetheless believed in staying in the union. Now May is to become Britain’s prime minister May’s most obvious job is to contain the damage from the Brexit referendum, retaining as much access as possible to Europe’s single market while asserting Britain’s determination to control inward migration. But, from the perspective of non-Europeans, her progress on a parallel task will be at least as interesting. For May has set out to grapple with the problem plaguing most mature democracies: how to govern in an era of inequality and social division. Before her last rival withdrew on Monday, May launched her leadership bid from a podium emblazoned with the slogan “A country that works for everyone, not just the privileged few.” For a politician campaigning for the support of the Conservative Party faithful, this swipe at privilege was bold and unexpected; but May doubled down with a barrage of reminders about the extent of inequality. “If you’re born poor, you will die on average nine years earlier than others. If you’re black, you’re treated more harshly by the criminal justice system . . . If you’re a woman, you still earn less than a man.” These gaps, May observes correctly, have fused with a more intangible problem: a sense of losing control. Old people fear the changes that come with immigration. Young people despair that soaring property prices will prevent them from owning a home. There is a gaping chasm between successful cities and the sleepy countryside. “When you add all of these things up,” May declared this week, “the only surprise is that there is so much surprise in Westminster about the public’s appetite for change.” There is little doubt that May means this seriously. The daughter of a Church of England vicar, she has a


Indian Kashmir suffers worst violence in years after militant leader’s death

is a real person, a hero to us.” In recent months, Wani, the operational commander of the terrorist group Hizb ul-Mujahideen, had become somewhat of a folk hero in this region by boldly uncovering his face and posting photos and videos online that show him and his cohorts playing cricket and posing with guns while in hiding. He was killed Friday in a shootout with police, and his funeral was attended by thousands. In Wani’s home town of Tral on Tuesday, young men hung on to large flatbed trucks making their way slowly through the streets, shouting “Freedom!” and “One solution, gun solution!” and waving Pakistani flags. Women watched from the sidelines, some with tears in their eyes. Others offered cups of water to the protesters as the temperature soared past 90 degrees. Mourners crowded around a tent set up at the home of the Wani family, adorned with banners of the slain man, a leader of a group suspected to have killed more than 200 civilians and 100 police officers in the past decade, according to a December estimate by the Institute for Conflict Management in New Delhi. “We are happy. My son fought for the people of Kashmir,” said his father, Muzafar Hussain Wani, a school principal. “We don’t know if he was involved in any violence. Only he knows himself. Police say he was involved in attacks. But the police, these are our enemies. And the mujahideen [fighters] attack them. It is the job of the mujahideen to attack them. That was my son’s job.” In a sequestered area of the home, heavily veiled women sat together on the floor, already beginning to weave the fabric of the martyr’s myth. Burhan Wani’s mother, Mymoona Muzafar Wani, said she recalled one time when she was praying and Wani asked what she was praying for. “I told my son I wanted him to be a doctor or an engineer,” she recalled. “He told me I should pray that he become a martyr.” He left home about a year after that conversation, when he was 15. Wani’s growing repute refocused attention on the faltering Hizb ul-Mujahideen and helped bring new, often well-educated recruits into its fold at a time of dwindling membership and tighter border security, some analysts said. Wani “has emerged as the poster boy for a new generation of Kashmiri militants, credited with resuscitating a dying jihad in


This distinctive tree is vastly underappreciated — and it’s dying out

In the fall, paperbark maple leaves turn an orange-red, but the tree’s best attribute, its bark, is best enjoyed in winter. (Paul Meyer/Morris Arboretum) When I look at the paperbark maple tree outside my window, I see a choice ornamental plant whose peeling, cinnamon-colored bark will only get more beautiful with age (sort of like me, ha-ha). When Tony Aiello looks at his home-garden specimens, he sees the giant panda of the plant kingdom. Like the panda, this species is running out of individuals in its native habitat in central China, and it may come down to those in our little plant zoos — that is, mine, Tony’s and yours, if you have one — to help bring the wild Acer griseum back from the brink. No one is knocking on my door for pollen or seed at the moment, but the idea that I’m growing a tree that is imperiled is sort of exciting and decidedly unexpected. “When I tell people it’s endangered in China, they’re very surprised,” said Aiello, director of horticulture at the Morris Arboretum in Philadelphia. In its native China, the paperbark maple grows large with age, but in garden settings its mature height is typically 20 to 30 feet. (Paul Meyer/Morris Arboretum) The paperbark maple was introduced to the West more than a century ago by the intrepid plant collector E.H. Wilson, but it has remained a fairly uncommon garden plant, in part because Wilson started with only about 100 seedlings. Part of its rarity — in commerce and in nature — is due to the fact that it sets very few fertile seeds. Another major problem is that cuttings don’t root, so the nursery keeper has to make new plants from a limited number of seeds. In recent years, its availability has increased substantially, but the tree is still mostly found in the gardens of connoisseurs. It doesn’t have the flamboyant floral display of, say, a magnolia or dogwood, and its chief ornament, the peeling red bark, requires a more refined appreciation. It deserves wider use. It can grow to 50 feet in the wild, but in the garden it tends to be a much smaller tree that lends itself to use by a walkway or patio. Mine was planted that way about four years ago to replace a stewartia that was sickly from the start. I suspect my maple started life in the


U.S. stocks hit new highs despite risks

Markets Stocks hit new highs despite risks U.S. stock markets climbed to record highs on Tuesday, capping three days of gains and sending the tech-heavy Nasdaq index into positive territory for the year. The daily gain was modest, with major indexes rising by less than 1 percent, but the move was enough to push the markets above their previous records. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 121 points, or 0.7 percent, to close at 18,348. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index increased by 0.7 percent to 2152, topping the all-time high reached Monday. The Nasdaq, which has been slowest to recover from heavy losses earlier in the year, also gained 0.7 percent to close at 5022. The stock market records came a day after Theresa May emerged as Britain’s prime minister in waiting, signaling that investors are optimistic that Brexit will have limited effects on the global economy. Some economists expect the Bank of England this week to announce its first interest rate cut in seven years, according to a Bloomberg News survey. The stock gains show that investors are willing to take on more risk. The rally coincided with a sell-off in Treasury bonds, into which investors had piled in a flight to safety after Brexit, sending bond yields to record lows. On Tuesday, the yield on the 10-year Treasury increased slightly to 1.53 percent, up from the 1.37 percent yield reached on Friday. — Jonnelle Marte TAXES Lew, E.U. official to meet on Apple case U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is set to meet with European Union antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager this week as she prepares to deliver a final verdict on a probe into Apple’s tax affairs in Ireland. The showdown comes days after Vestager’s team came up with two possible scenarios on how much tax Apple owes in Ireland, according to two people familiar with the case, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. Lew has contacted Vestager urging her to avoid ordering any collection of back taxes from Apple, according to one of the people. Conflict over transatlantic tax practices escalated in February as Lew complained to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker that U.S. firms are unfair targets of state-aid investigations. The treasury secretary’s letter came after E.U. enforcement focused on fiscal pacts that Apple, Amazon and McDonald’s have with Ireland and Luxembourg. The companies all say they have acted within


Theresa May vows ‘bold, new’ future for Britain as E.U. exit awaits

man not known for his diplomatic niceties the nation’s top diplomat. May’s first speech as prime minister marked a striking departure from the typical austerity-laden rhetoric of her Conservative Party. Instead of dwelling on the deficit, the country’s second-ever female prime minister emphasized the need to fight “burning injustice,” saying she will work on behalf of the poor, women and minorities. The Post's Karla Adam snapped her way around Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street after Theresa May became Britain's next prime minister. She also pledged to defend the “precious bond of the United Kingdom,” a nod to her determination to beat back a revitalized secessionist movement in Scotland driven by opposition to the decision to leave the European Union. Her depiction of bright horizons for Britain outside the union contrasted with the gloomy forecasts from those who consider the referendum outcome a monumental mistake. Only weeks ago, May was among them, having advocated that Britain remain in the European Union — the same stance taken by David Cameron, whom she replaced. But while the referendum cost Cameron his job — he signed off Wednesday with a bravura performance in his final appearance in Parliament — it earned May the ultimate promotion. She has insisted that there will be no turning back on the country’s departure, and that “Brexit means Brexit.” May, 59, heaped praise on Cameron on Wednesday, saying he had led the Tories — and the country — in the right direction by successfully campaigning to legalize same-sex marriage and modernizing what had been known as “the nasty party.” But Cameron, 49, leaves his successor a mixed inheritance, with the most difficult questions surrounding Britain’s E.U. exit — popularly known as Brexit — still to come. One of her first major decisions as prime minister will be to choose when to begin negotiations. Before winning the Conservative leadership contest, she had said that she would not trigger Article 50 — the never-before-used mechanism for exiting the European Union — before year’s end. But she is likely to come under pressure from European leaders across the English Channel and from Brexit advocates at home to move faster. The departing leader attended his final session of Prime Minister’s Questions before visiting Buckingham Palace. Incoming prime minister Theresa May inherits the reins of a country caught in uncertainty as it hurtles toward an exit from the European Union. May secured the


D.C., Maryland and Virginia health code violations

These food establishments were closed because of health code violations. The list, compiled from health department reports, reflects actions taken by the departments. THE DISTRICT Desperados Pizza 1342 U St. NW Closed Wednesday for operating without hot water. Kelly’s Cajun Grill 50 Massachusetts Ave. NE Closed Thursday for failing to minimize insects, rodents and other pests. MARYLAND Pizza Boli’s 6529 Annapolis Rd., Hyattsville Closed Wednesday because of improper food-holding temperatures. Reopened the next day. VIRGINIA No new closings were reported. — Compiled by Leilah Reese


Russia bars head of U.S. government-funded media agency

attention to the matter.” Russia has accused U.S. government broadcasters of spreading anti-Russian propaganda, particularly after its 2014 annexation of Crimea and about the conflict in eastern Ukraine between government forces and pro-Moscow separatists. The United States and Europe have banned prominent individuals said to have played a role in the Crimean annexation, many of them seen as part of Putin’s inner circle. The European Union has also banned Dmitry Kiselyov, a firebrand television pundit who assails the West weekly on his Sunday night show. “Their sense is that, okay, so you’re targeting our propaganda? We’re going to target yours,” said Leon Aron, a Russian-born scholar of Russia at the American Enterprise Institute who is also a member of the broadcasting board. “They have zero understanding that Jeff Schell and myself and others, we’re not even getting paid for any of this. It’s a supervisory, honorary, voluntary position.” The United States and its European allies have expressed growing concern about Russian-language broadcasting in Eastern Europe, particularly in the Baltic states — former Soviet Union republics with major Russian-speaking populations. The states themselves — NATO-members Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia — have asked for increased alliance protection from provocative Russian behavior and a military buildup along Russia’s border with the Baltic states and Poland. At its summit last week in Warsaw, NATO announced additional deployments of about 4,000 troops to the area. The increasing tensions have been reflected across a range of Russia’s relations with the West. Shell’s expulsion comes follows several recent diplomatic incidents between the United States and Russia, beginning early last month, when an official at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow was assaulted by a Russian security guard outside the facility. In response, the United States expelled two Russian diplomats. Russia responded by expelling two U.S. diplomats. “The principle of tit-for-tat is deeply encoded in Russian diplomatic practice,” said Russia expert Andrew Weiss of the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. In Shell’s case, he said, “The United States and the European Union sanctioned officials of the Russian state-controlled media apparatus,” and the Russians put what they considered similarly-situated individuals “on their list.” The Russians did not indicate whether Shell was listed as a BBG official, an NBC official, or both. “I assume that NBC, like any media company . . . has a Russian element to its business,” Weiss said. “The Russians are going to try to penalize


Inside the Heurich House, home of the ‘original hipster’

centuries, the largest private landowner and employer in the District. Heurich, who married three times and had three children who survived to adulthood, had a love of European style and American ingenuity. The three floors that are open to the public will please historic-house geeks, fans of District lore and beer buffs alike. The house’s ornate elements (15 carved fireplaces, gilded furniture) exist alongside state-of-the-art technology for the era, including central heat and gas-electric hybrid lamps. Heurich’s more humble childhood in Germany as the child of tavern keepers is evident in the beer cellar with walls emblazoned with quotes about drinking. Everywhere are signs that a real family and its patriarch lived here. On the main level, the high-ceilinged music room holds a recently restored 1901 model C Steinway piano played by the Heurich children. Another room features family photos (that’s Heurich himself with the pointed beard, round glasses and sharp suit) and labels from his brewery, which crafted European-style ales from 1872 through 1956. “There’s such a connection between Heurich and the city, particularly when you think about this new brewery revolution going on now,” says Emma Stratton Bray, the museum’s director of public engagement. Every third Thursday of the month, Heurich’s sudsy successors, a.k.a. area brewers, show up for History & Hops evenings. Docents lead beer-focused tours of the house, while outfits such as DC Brau or Vienna’s Caboose Brewing Co., pour their wares. Carly Spring and her girlfriend, Stephanie Stilson, who live on Capitol Hill, have been to several History & Hops events. “It’s a nice way to get to know local breweries in a beautiful setting, and we’ve met so many other people who love beer here,” Spring says. Other events include concerts year-round, an Oktoberfest in the fall and a German-style Christmas market with local crafts and mulled wine. The year-old Brewmaster Studio is also drawing fresh buzz and creative crowds to Heurich’s old stomping grounds. The workspace for local artists is in the property’s carriage house, a two-story stucco and brick building. “Heurich was very into the arts, so it’s a nod to him to bring creativity back into the space,” says Mallory Shelter, a jeweler in the studio who works alongside such creative outlets as a documentary film company and Sea Heart City Press, a letterpress card company. (Regular tours of the mansion are Thursday through Saturday with a suggested donation of $5.)


Montgomery Animal Watch

This case was received by the Montgomery County Animal Services Division. For information, call 240-773-5900. This number provides recorded information on topics such as the new animal services and adoption center’s hours and location in Derwood, adoption and licensing procedures, and lost-and-found and field services. Foxhound bites youth: Reduced fees for cat adoption: Germantown Adoptable cats at no-kill shelter: Gaithersburg Adopt dogs and cats at MCHS no-kill rescue: Rockville — Compiled by Lisa M. Bolton


Hundreds of racehorses die at the track each year. Their deaths may be preventable.

said. “We’re so outraged about the Ringling elephants and the Sea World orcas, and rightfully so, but why not racehorses?” Each morning, Battuello scans results from America’s tracks in search of catastrophic euphemisms — “vanned off” and “broke down.” Through the first 181 days of 2016, he found 180 , but that number only will grow at the end of the year, when he will again send Freedom of Information Act requests to state racing commissions for lists of horses who have died at racetracks. Nurse Lynn Hilt, left, and assistant Elizabeth Ortez administer a standing MRI scan at the Equine Medical Center of Ocala, Fla. (Courtesy of Stonestreet Farms) In 2015, Battuello confirmed 953 . Natural approach is difficult The American Jockey Club publishes a database of injuries that lists 484 fatalities in 2015. According to the organization, the fatality rate dropped 14 percent from the year before, from 1.89 per 1,000 starts in 2014 to 1.62 in 2015. Under the National Uniform Medication Program, 19 of 32 states with thoroughbred racing have adopted uniform regulations for controlled therapeutic substances. Twenty-eight states have standards for test laboratories, and 11 have uniform penalties for trainers with medication violations. Eighteen states have adopted a policy for third-party administration of Lasix. More than 90 percent of horses in the United States compete on the drug, which prevents bleeding in the lungs but causes dehydration. In the vast majority of international racing, it is banned on race day. “In the rest of the world, horse racing is more of a sport. In the U.S., it’s got a little bit of a business aspect to it,” said Rick Arthur, the equine medical director at the California Racing Board. “Horse racing needs to become drug-free, and when I talk about drug-free, I’m talking about international standard. I think we need to do that to be able to convince the public that the horse is our primary interest. I think that’s absolutely imperative for horse racing to succeed in a very changing environment.” The Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act would grant an independent anti-doping organization the power to regulate American horse racing, which has no national governing body. But the bill, which cites that wagering on thoroughbreds declined 30 percent from 2002 to 2014, has not passed since being introduced in 2013. “My bill has faced considerable opposition from the racing industry and the organizations


have adopted a policy for third-party administration of Lasix. More than 90 percent of horses in the United States compete on the drug, which prevents bleeding in the lungs but causes dehydration. In the vast majority of international racing, it is banned on race day. “In the rest of the world, horse racing is more of a sport. In the U.S., it’s got a little bit of a business aspect to it,” said Rick Arthur, the equine medical director at the California Racing Board. “Horse racing needs to become drug-free, and when I talk about drug-free, I’m talking about international standard. I think we need to do that to be able to convince the public that the horse is our primary interest. I think that’s absolutely imperative for horse racing to succeed in a very changing environment.” The Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act would grant an independent anti-doping organization the power to regulate American horse racing, which has no national governing body. But the bill, which cites that wagering on thoroughbreds declined 30 percent from 2002 to 2014, has not passed since being introduced in 2013. “My bill has faced considerable opposition from the racing industry and the organizations that represent it, many of whom have denied for years that the horse racing industry has a problem,” Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) said. “The many special-interest groups and organizations within the horse-racing industry have helped to divide members of Congress so that not every member is on the same page about what real reform should look like.” In the absence of such regulation, holistic racehorse owners such as Jim McIngvale, the furniture king of Houston, stand out. Since 1995, “Mattress Mack” has gone through 45 trainers, thanks largely to a stubborn commitment to drug-free training. “I kind of went the route of ‘These trainers know more than I do.’ Then the horses kept getting hurt and breaking bones. I knew there had to be a better way,” McIngvale said. “All these trainers — nothing against them, but they want to inject their ankles and their joints with these chemicals and use Lasix. . . . That’s just not the route I want to go.” McIngvale’s 4-year-old, Runhappy, is trained on a diet of water, hay and oats. At the Eclipse Awards, he tied for second in 2015 horse of the year voting behind Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. He has


Marriage, motherhood, education, maybe sports: female Muslim athletes’ expected priorities

— for a year. She got sick repeatedly. A doctor deduced she kept getting sick because she was a runner who wasn’t running. As she recollects, her husband, Ali Al Mabsali, a petroleum engineer and a soccer nut, told her, “ ‘I married you. You are an athlete. I know you are an athlete. I married an athlete and a lady. Not a lady who sits at home.’” Her many relatives long since knew what her husband meant. She ran with such dispatch as a child that when her family would ask her to run errands, she would run the errands. She ran competitively as a teenager even though the rarity of it worried her mother — “Why this? Why are you going there?” — until she vowed to sneak out if necessary. “When I am running,” Al Habsi said, “I feel that I have everything that I need. This feeling. What can I tell you, this feeling?” Said her 25-year-old aunt, Maryam Al Shukairi: “In our family, no one’s stopping her. Some of them, like my aunt, the sister of my father, sometimes they’re asking, ‘Why she’s doing that? Till when she’s doing that? She’s a lady! She’ll be getting married. She will have the kids. Will she continue to do that?’ And we are replying them, ‘It is important to her. If she wants to compete, even if she will be having a hundred children, it is depending on her.’” Aunt and niece, so bonded that some relatives think they have their own dialect, laugh serially as they tell paragraphs-long stories about the cultural rarity. They laugh as Maryam recollects when the family — Shinoona has 10 siblings and is the first of the 32 grandchildren of Maryam’s parents — squeezed in around the TV to watch Shinoona in London, noticed her nervousness and instructed to the TV, “Concentrate!” They laugh about the soccer zeal of their husbands, whom they sometimes try to outrace to the TV remote. They know that having a runner in the family provides a rare window on people’s reactions. Maryam explains that because her parents hail from Tanzania, the cultural rules might soften slightly as opposed to “the pure Omani,” where “more of the things are, ‘No, no, no,’ ” she said. She tells of the greater strictness of rural areas. She also says that, even in her job as a nurse, she


because it was really hard. Just like, I never practiced at 5 a.m. back home.” In Cairo, where she swam for a club in the upscale Zamalek district, she would swim a more genteel 4 p.m. “When Farida arrived at Cal, she was inexperienced and not a very good trainer,” said Teri McKeever, California’s coach. “She didn’t have a lot of knowledge of the sport, swimming techniques or racing strategies. She had never trained with other top athletes, so she wasn’t aware of what she needed to know. Farida has developed into a great racer and is someone you know will bring her best in meet situations.” For the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, at age 25, Osman says, “Definitely.” For the 2024 Olympics, at 29, she says, “That would be, like, wow.” “The Egyptian culture, you need to be married at a certain age,” she said, laughing again. “Twenty five is like, ‘You’re late. Why are you not married until now?’ ” Next come children: “Egypt, it’s like, you have to!” she said, laughed, and said that while you don’t have to hurry, people do start asking. “I definitely want to be a mom,” she said. “I don’t know when, exactly.” Across the region, a woman who is already a mother could represent Oman in the Olympics. It just won’t be the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Having just given birth in February, Al Habsi doesn’t want to show up subpar. She wants to regain tip-top form, then resume international competition. She scoffs at the 12.45 seconds she ran in London four years ago. “I’m faster now, 11.60,” she wrote in a text. She’s hoping for ample doubters. She does love those. “I will show everyone,” she said. The Female Muslim Athlete Muslim countries from the Middle East might send an unprecedented number of female competitors to next month’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. With the support of other women and a growing number of men, they have widened the cultural possibilities about the role of women in their societies, including standards about when they should marry, how soon they should start a family and what they should wear while competing. This series is about the courage and perseverance of female athletes in one of the last regions on Earth to celebrate them. The rise of the female Muslim athlete: Part 1: Sarah Attar: Part 2: Jordanian sisters: Part 3


The fight against the Taliban is going better than expected

an extended war. Over the past two years, both Afghan civilian and military casualties had continued to climb, and officials worried that the Taliban had become increasingly brutal. Ghani’s comments marked a significant departure from the policy of his predecessor, Hamid Karzai. During his final years in office, Karzai halted night raids on Taliban targets and frequently accused the United States of killing civilians in airstrikes, leading to considerable friction in the U.S.-Afghan relationship. But Ghani is once again leaning heavily on the U.S.-led coalition for support, and he received another boost last week when Obama abandoned his plan to withdraw most of the remaining 9,800 U.S. troops stationed in Afghanistan by January. Instead, Obama will keep 8,400 troops there into 2017, allowing most of the existing NATO bases to remain operational. Troop levels, however, tell a small part of the unfolding story here about continued U.S. engagement in the war. In early June, Obama also expanded the circumstances in which commanders can order airstrikes against Taliban militants. Previously, those strikes were supposed to be confined to instances where the Taliban posed a direct threat to coalition or Afghan forces or when Afghan forces faced “a strategic defeat” on the battlefield, Nicholson said. Now, however, the U.S. military can also help Afghan forces achieve a “strategic effect” including support in purely offensive missions. Even before that policy went into effect, U.S. airstrikes in Afghanistan had been increasing. According to the U.S. Air Force’s Central Command Air and Space Operations Center, American warplanes and drones released 451 weapons (as the Air Force terms them) in Afghanistan from January through May, compared with 189 during the first four months of last year. Brig. Gen. Charles H. Cleveland, chief spokesman for the NATO coalition, expects the pace of strikes to increase in the coming days now that the Islamic holy month of Ramadan has ended. “We will gear up more and more as we move through July,” said Cleveland, noting that coalition commanders have been urging Afghan security forces “to get more offensive across the board.” The Taliban figures killed by Afghan special forces recently include shadow governors in Helmand and Ghazni provinces, a deputy shadow governor in Farah province, and a Taliban judge, also in Ghazni, the statistics show. Nearly two dozen Taliban leaders have also been killed in Kunduz in northern Afghanistan, where Afghan forces have been focused on avoiding a


E.U. expands antitrust case against Google

company for alleged underpayment of tax. — Bloomberg News WIRELESS INDUSTRY FCC votes to open spectrum for 5G The U.S. Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously Thursday to open substantial spectrum for next-generation high-speed 5G wireless applications and networks — a move that could eventually reshape significant portions of the U.S. economy. The FCC approved opening nearly 11 gigahertz of high-frequency spectrum for mobile, flexible and fixed-use wireless broadband. The FCC said the new rules “will provide vital clarity for business investment in this area.” Verizon Communications and AT&T have said they will begin deploying 5G trials in 2017, and the first commercial deployments at scale are expected in 2020, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler said. T Mobile US — a unit of Deutsche Telecom — and Sprint are also planning trials. Wheeler said 5G will help more Americans access high-speed Internet. “This is a big day for our nation,” he said, adding it could enable many innovations not yet imagined. Policymakers and mobile-phone companies say the next generation of wireless signals needs to be much faster and far more responsive to allow advanced technologies such as virtual surgery or controlling machines remotely. — Reuters Also in Business ● The U.S. economy expanded at a modest pace since mid-May amid “slight” price pressures and some softening in consumer spending, according to a report from the Federal Reserve’s 12 districts that lacked any sense of urgency on the need to raise interest rates soon. “The outlook was generally positive across broad segments of the economy including retail sales, manufacturing, and real estate,” according to the Fed’s latest Beige Book, an economic survey by reserve banks published eight times a year. ● ● J Sainsbury was awarded $91 million by a London judge following a long-running dispute over fees charged on card transactions with Mastercard. Mastercard charges on U.K. credit and debit card transactions restricted competition, according to a Competition and Appeal Tribunal judgment published Thursday. The judgment is the first in a series of claims brought by retailers in the U.K. and Europe, alleging that Mastercard and Visa charged anti-competitive and excessive fees on debit and credit card transactions. ● A New York utility plans to construct a wind farm off eastern Long Island that would be the nation’s largest offshore wind energy project, three times larger than one scheduled to go online this year off Rhode Island. The Long Island Power Authority’s


Local Digest: Man killed in D.C. when vehicle on jack falls on him

THE DISTRICT Man is killed when vehicle falls on him A man was killed early Thursday when a jack apparently failed and a vehicle fell on him in Northwest Washington, according to D.C. police and fire officials. The incident occurred about 5:15 a.m. in the rear of a rowhouse in the 4400 block of Kansas Avenue NW, in the Petworth neighborhood. The D.C. fire department posted the call on its Twitter feed, saying the person was trapped under the vehicle and was dead at the scene. Police said the investigation is continuing, and no further information was immediately available. The name of the man who died was not released. — Peter Hermann Woman shot near home July 4 has died A woman who was shot near her home in Northeast Washington on July 4 died Wednesday, according to D.C. police. She has been identified as Deeniqua Dodds, 22, who was known in her neighborhood as Dee Dee. She lived with her aunt, Joeann Lewis, 56, in Clay Terrace, a public housing development, a few streets from where she was shot. Police said they have no motive or suspects in the shooting, which occurred shortly before 3 a.m. in the 200 block of Division Avenue NE. Dodds was taken to a hospital and placed on life support, which was removed Wednesday, her family said. “She was a beautiful person, and we don’t understand why this happened,” said Lewis, who raised her niece since birth and said Dodds had always wanted to be a model. “She loved to be around her family.” D.C. police used two names to identify Dodds in a statement announcing her death: Gregory and Deeniqua. Lewis said Dodds was a transgender woman. — Peter Hermann MARYLAND Man is fatally shot; police seek motive A 33-year-old man was shot dead Wednesday night in Prince George’s County. Police in Bladensburg said the shooting occurred about 9:20 p.m. in the 4400 block of Blue Heron Way. Officers responding to a shooting call found the victim and performed CPR until medical responders arrived, but the man was pronounced dead at the scene. He was later identified as James Linzy of Fort Washington. A reward of up to $25,000 is being offered. Anyone with information should call 301-772-4925. — Dana Hedgpeth VIRGINIA Statue is defaced in Richmond Authorities said vandals defaced a memorial statue in Richmond honoring fallen police officers after the recent


Fox News commentator who feds say faked a CIA career sentenced to 33 months in prison

Wayne Simmons appears on Fox News. (Fox News) Wayne Simmons was a professional football player, a drug trafficker, a nightclub doorman, a Fox News guest analyst and an intelligence adviser in Afghanistan. What Simmons, 62, was not, according to all available evidence, was a CIA agent. In federal court in Virginia on Friday, just before he was sentenced to 33 months in prison, he apologized for lying about his security clearance, his criminal history and his finances. “There is not a day that goes by that I am not haunted by these mistakes,” Simmons said. “I stand before you a shameful and broken man.” But Simmons, who wore a blue suit and an American flag lapel pin, did not back down from his claims that he spent 27 years as an agency operative doing work so dangerous and secretive that it went entirely unrecorded. He said Friday that he lied his way into military contractor work to make use of a “special skill set” he implied was acquired undercover. Judge T.S. Ellis III was unconvinced. “I read spy novels,” the judge said before issuing his sentence. “Every spy novel has black-ops, off-the-books operations. Maybe these things exist.” He said that, like the many people Simmons fooled, he was initially impressed by the defendant’s charisma and “fascinated” to see what proof Simmons would offer — only to get none. Simmons’s supposed CIA career, he concluded, was “not just implausible but beyond incredible.” Over the years, Simmons’s claims were convincing enough to get him a regular spot as an unpaid commentator on Fox News; a post on a 2013 civilian panel investigating the attacks in Benghazi, Libya; and two jobs with defense contractors working in Afghanistan. Authorities first began investigating Simmons in the fall of 2013 when a woman he had a romantic relationship with came to the FBI saying he had taken her money in a real estate scam. The probe ended up going much deeper. Authorities excavated Simmons’s life and career, starting with his claim that he was recruited to the CIA out of the Navy in 1973. In fact, according to prosecutors, Simmons was discharged from the Navy for medical reasons just a couple of weeks after he enlisted. And former CIA officials told the government that they did not recruit agents out of basic training. Simmons went on to briefly work on a pipeline in Alaska and then


What’s the best way to battle the expanding Zika epidemic?

that in August 2015, babies with the small heads and deformed brains indicative of microcephaly began appearing in maternity wards in the northeastern tip of Brazil. The condition became popularly known as doença misteriosa, Portuguese for “mystery disease.” A few months later, a local public health agency identified it as an African virus first discovered in 1947 in a monkey in the Zika forest in Uganda. When the Brazilian health minister learned this, the connection between the virus and microcephaly was not yet established, and his reaction was relief. “Zika doesn’t worry us. It’s a benign disease,” he said. Indeed, the result of being bitten by a Zika-carrying mosquito had typically been a mild affair: a rash, fever and headache in the vast majority of people. Some infected individuals experienced no symptoms at all. Compared with the ravages of other diseases common in South America — such as malaria, dengue, yellow fever and chikungunya, which are carried by the same species of mosquito, Aedes aegypti — there was little reason to panic. McNeil’s early pages conjure the kind of eerie calm that comes before doom. Zika, as the world has come to learn, is not your run-of-the-mill “bug.” According to the WHO, it is now a public health emergency, with the potential to leave massive damage and heartbreak in its wake — and disrupt this year’s Summer Olympics in Rio. “Never before in history has there been a situation where a bite from a mosquito can result in a devastating malformation” of offspring, said the CDC’s Frieden. This dread distinction is due to Zika’s ability, unique for a mosquito-borne virus, to routinely cross the placenta; it is also the only mosquito-borne virus that is sexually transmitted. Though 80 to 90 percent of cases are thankfully mild, 1 to 13 percent of infected pregnant women will have microcephalic babies. Such children may be blind or deaf. Some may never learn to stand, walk or control their bowels. Serious learning disabilities persist from childhood on. In adults, the Zika virus can trigger the rare but debilitating Guillain-Barre syndrome, an autoimmune condition in which paralysis sets in. The condition is usually temporary, but if it affects the diaphragmatic muscles, the patient must receive life support to enable breathing. The story of Zika, like many biographies of pandemics, remains a mystery narrative, even after the pathogen has been identified as the culprit. How exactly


U.S. military has launched a new digital war against the Islamic State

Gen. Edward Cardon, commander of U.S. Army Cyber Command, leaves a House Armed Services Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee hearing titled 'Cyber Operations: Improving the Military Cyber Security Posture in an Uncertain Threat Environment,' on Capitol Hill i on March 4. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) An unprecedented Pentagon cyber-offensive against the Islamic State has gotten off to a slow start, officials said, frustrating Pentagon leaders and threatening to undermine efforts to counter the militant group’s sophisticated use of technology for recruiting, operations and propaganda. The U.S. military’s new cyberwar, which strikes across networks at its communications systems and other infrastructure, is the first major, publicly declared use by any nation’s military of digital weapons that are more commonly associated with covert actions by intelligence services. The debut effort is testing the ability of the military’s seven-year-old U.S. Cyber Command’s mission to conduct offensive operations against an enemy that has proved to be an adept user of technology to organize operations, recruit fighters and move money. But defense officials said the command is still working to put the right staff in place and has not yet developed a full suite of malware and other tools tailored to attack an adversary dramatically different from the nation-states Cybercom was created to fight. In an effort to accelerate the pace of digital operations against the Islamic State, the Cybercom commander, Adm. Michael S. Rogers, created a unit in May headed by Lt. Gen. Edward Cardon that is tasked with developing digital weapons — fashioned from malware and other cyber-tools — that can intensify efforts to damage and destroy the Islamic State’s networks, computers and cellphones. The group, called Joint Task Force Ares, is coordinating operations more closely with U.S. Central Command, which is leading the military fight and working to sharpen offensive operations. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter has pressed Rogers repeatedly to pick up the pace of the nascent cyber-offensive, ensuring it plays a more active role in the overall campaign against the Islamic State. “Cybercom has not been as effective as the department would expect them to be, and they’re not as effective as they need to be,” said a senior defense official who, like other officials, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations. “They need to deliver results.” Although officials declined to detail current operations, they said that cyberattacks occurring under the new task force might, for instance, disrupt


To avoid drug-cheat embarrassment, Olympic medal ceremonies could be for show only

the colorful marching of each participating country’s team into the main stadium that has started the Games since 1908. We follow — though not uncomfortably as we should — the torch relay, an idea birthed by Carl Diem, the German sports czar who oversaw Berlin’s 1936 Summer Olympics under the patronage of Adolf Hitler. We know the Olympic flame, which the torch relay delivers from Greece, where the Olympics were born, to a giant cauldron in the new host country’s chosen city. We anticipate the medal ceremony, when the elite of the elite are draped with gold, silver and bronze medallions before hearing the national anthem of the winner’s home country. And now we expect the announcements of shame, which often come after everyone’s gone home, as with, for example, Darya Pishchalnikova of Russia. Months after the Closing Ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympics, at which Pishchalnikova won silver in the discus, she was handed a 10-year ban from competition after testing positive for a steroid called oxandrolone. It’s a drug meant for patients in need of weight gain after surgery, trauma or an illness like AIDS, or to soothe bone pain caused by osteoporosis. That’s the insidious side effect of drug cheating in sports. Athletes use drugs meant to help those in need merely to improve endurance, strength or recovery. Pishchalnikova was one of eight medal winners in London who subsequently were stripped of their honors because they were caught doping. Pishchalnikova stood out among those stripped of medals because she was one of the Russian athletes who blew the whistle on a systematic program in which Russia filled its track and field athletes with all manner of drugs for performance-enhancing purposes. As a result, the International Olympic Committee earlier this summer upheld a provisional ban of the Russian track and field team from competition by the governing body of the sport. (Russian athletes can petition to be allowed to compete under a neutral flag if they can demonstrate they are “clean.”) The ruling should ensure that no Russian runners, throwers and jumpers will make a mockery of the Rio Games by winning one day and being asked to hand back their medals the next. That’s the other problem with the now-routine practice of stripping medals. The Olympic body isn’t a court of law that can demand the return of awards. It can only hope that an athlete who


has cheated has enough conscience or Olympic spirit left to do the right thing after having done the wrong thing. The absence of the Russian track and field team doesn’t, however, guarantee that the Rio Games will be embarrassment-free when it comes to drug-induced medal winners. Drug cheating is universal among countries that can afford it. At least eight medal winners from six countries were stripped of their awards from the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing because of drugs. The 2004 Summer Games in Athens resulted in at least a baker’s dozen athletes asked to return their medals, including two U.S. winners, cyclist Tyler Hamilton and sprinter Crystal Cox. Hamilton was discovered to have blood-doped; Cox admitted to using steroids. So the list has gone since 1968, when the Games first started testing for drugs it ruled unfair. That summer at the Mexico City Olympics, Swedish modern pentathlete Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall lost his medal after testing positive for alcohol. He imbibed. Two beers. Cheating has picked up speed and gotten more serious since, not to diminish Liljenwall’s combining alcohol with gunplay . What is worrisome about the Rio Olympics is that winners will be judged under questions about the drug-testing lab there that as of Wednesday was still awaiting a stamp of approval from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which certifies drug-testing in sports everywhere. WADA shuttered the lab last month, saying it had failed to conform to international testing standards. If the lab isn’t up to snuff by the Games’ start, athletes’ samples may have to be shipped off the continent to be tested, making the process that much more complicated and in danger of compromise. It all brings me to the remedy so many college graduations unwittingly provide to the now infamous Olympic custom of defrocking. Announce that the winners and runners-up are, as we say in political-season parlance, presumptive. Give them an Olympic receipt to be redeemed at a later date for their medals after their pee, blood and whatever other bodily fluids can be tested for illegal enhancement come back clean. The IOC, with all its loot, can put on an international awards ball at some swanky joint in Switzerland, where it’s based, and fly in every winner and their immediate family. NBC can televise it so the real winners can get their deserving spotlight in a process that along the way dampens the peal of all


Five myths about the European Union

the bloc, but country code +49 is not the only way you reach the people in charge. Myth No. 3 Brussels produces excessive and ridiculous regulation. Euroskeptics say the E.U. wants a rule banning bendy bananas so that the shelves of grocers across the single market are filled only with straight bananas. They claim there are 26,911 words of regulation devoted to the sale of cabbage in the E.U. and that Brussels would like to rid London’s streets of the beloved double-decker bus. These are all supposedly signs that the Eurocrats interfere too much in daily life with superfluous rules. For one thing, these claims are often false: There is no ban on double-decker buses or funky banana shapes (though the highest grade of commercial banana, like the highest grade of USDA beef, cannot have certain flaws, including “abnormal curvature”). But some guidelines criticized as intrusive simply because they exist are boons for consumers; rules that make buses accessible for the disabled and set safety standards for food are written to protect the well-being of E.U. citizens. The E.U., for instance, stipulated in 2014 that vacuum cleaners be energy efficient and not exceed 1,600 watts, which led to an outcry in Britain, where critics claimed that the new regulation would affect the suction strength of Hoovers. The rule’s text actually maintained standards for performance and noise level (so it could hardly be called excessive), while reducing consumer energy bills and protecting the environment (so it could hardly be called ridiculous). Sure, regulation can be burdensome for businesses, but it also helps create standards for consumer protection and can spur innovation. Myth No. 4 The E.U. wants to create an army. During the Brexit campaign, several newspapers wrote about a stealth plan to create a European army. “EU army plans kept secret from voters,” blared the Times. The Express said the body would start with the merger of Dutch and German forces. British pols fretted about losing sovereignty, upsetting Washington and undermining NATO. The dream of a European army does exist, as Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker recently said openly. Federalists who take inspiration from U.S. history argue that Europe as a political union can exist only when Europeans are willing to die for Europe. But the realities of security and defense cooperation are sobering. E.U. member states do work together, but on strictly intergovernmental grounds where national capitals can veto any


Congress releases long-classified ‘28 pages’ on alleged Saudi ties to 9/11

similar allegations and were “never able to find sufficient evidence to support them.” That may not be the most welcome news to certain relatives of 9/11 victims, who are pushing for the House to take up a Senate-passed bill they hope would let them sue Saudi Arabia over its alleged support for terrorism. They also have been campaigning for the release of the previously classified pages. Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the release of the pages means that victims’ families “now will be able to go to court and sue” the Saudi government over its purported support of the hijackers. “If the Saudi government was complicit in 9/11, they should pay the price to the families who deserve justice, and they should pay the price so no other government will think of playing footsie with terrorists the way the Saudi government may have done in 2001,” Schumer said. This spring, the Senate passed legislation clarifying when courts can waive foreign immunity in cases involving terrorist acts on U.S. soil. But the House has yet to take up the bill, and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) gave no indication Friday that he planned to hustle the measure to the floor. “While this ultimately doesn’t change what we know, it marks an important step forward for transparency,” he said in a statement. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Friday that the pages “don’t shed any new light or change any of the conclusions about responsibilities for the 9/11 attacks” but that the administration released them to be “consistent with the commitments to transparency that the administration has tried to apply to even sensitive national security issues.” Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, who postponed his departure from an unrelated trip to Washington when it appeared that the release of the pages was imminent, said he “welcomed it” and noted that his government had called for years for the document to be made public. He said, as have others, that the suspicions listed in the pages reflect initial investigative leads at a time, immediately after the 9/11 attacks, when it was “natural for people wanting to pursue any lead. We welcomed it. We cooperated” with that pursuit, he said, and all the questions asked in the pages have long since been answered. “They concluded . . . there was no there there.” “The matter is now finished,” Jubeir said, adding that


A less glamorous side of Olympic life: Peeing in a cup under watchful eyes

been tested a total of 10 times in her career. “I don’t really care at this point,” Infeld added. Tests become routine To aspire to the Olympics is to surrender a degree of privacy and autonomy. Athletes in the drug-testing pool must submit “whereabouts,” which is essentially their anticipated location, at all times, in case USADA plans a surprise test. They must make themselves available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days out of the year. They go online to fill out their whereabouts quarterly, providing training times, competition schedule and any other travel plans. They can then use an app on their smartphone to provide daily updates. Some choose to be very specific with what they share. “That’s the hardest part,” said English Gardner, a 24-year-old sprinter who will represent the United States in the women’s 100 meters in Rio. “Saying I’m going to the grocery store to pick up eggs for breakfast. But first I have to tag in and tell USADA I’m going.” Three missed tests count the same as a positive and can result in a suspension. For Gardner, it’s all pretty routine. She said the officers came almost weekly last fall, often at dawn. She doesn’t mind. “I’d rather they test me more,” she said. “I’m clean. I have nothing to hide.” The doping control officers show up with a testing kit and an iPad. The entire process is paperless. If they intend to draw blood, they will be accompanied by a phlebotomist, and if they’re testing a minor, they will have a chaperone on hand for an extra set of eyes. The tests are never random. If an athlete is receiving increased testing, it’s not by accident. And if they’re being tested for blood, in addition to urine, it’s likely because they compete in a sport, such as cycling or track, in which abuse often involves substances that are easier to identify in blood. “The idea of just choosing people off a list and showing up is not in my opinion an effective way of allocating resources,” said Matt Fedoruk, USADA’s science director. The test itself is the same whether it takes place at an athlete’s home or at a competition. The doping control officer offers three sealed cups and three sealed Styrofoam kits, allowing the athlete to inspect each for tampering before choosing one. The kit has a bar code


three-time Olympian and four-time medalist. “With what’s coming out now, it’s an unfortunate situation.” Wariner, who failed to qualify for the Rio Games, has been tested 71 times by USADA and many more times competing overseas. Distrust and whispers can be inherent in a sport in which a tenth of a second can have a profound impact on money, fame and legacy. But Wariner says sound testing can alleviate that and at least provide the semblance of a balanced playing field. The doping control officer tries to assuage any concerns on the front end. The athlete places the bottles into plastic bags and then back into the Styrofoam box. The bags are sealed, and then the box is, too. After the athlete clicks a few more boxes on the iPad and offers a signature, the information is instantly transmitted to USADA and the testing lab, and the athlete receives an email. The officer then usually will pack the kit into a gray UPS envelope labeled “biological sample.” At a big event like the Olympic trials, USADA officials will pack up to 24 kits into a blue bag, a plastic seal locking the zippers into place to prevent tampering. If there’s blood involved — it’s typically less than a tablespoon, so it won’t affect competition or training — the samples are shipped in a box along with cooling packs and a thermometer. The blood must stay between 35 and 46 degrees to remain viable for testing and arrive at the lab within 36 hours of being drawn. Trying to keep pace Nestled in the foothills of the Wasatch mountains in Salt Lake City sits a nondescript brick office park with no signage out front. The UPS deliveryman arrives at least once every day and must get buzzed inside. Most doors in the space require a key card for entry, cameras are situated on the ceiling inside, and there’s 24-hour security on hand, too. The Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory is one of two labs in the country accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency and one of only 34 in the world. It processes 20,000 drug tests in a year for a variety of sports organizations, including around 5,000 for USADA. Travis Tygart, the head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, addresses the media in Brussels in 2013. (Geert Vanden Wijngaert/Associated Press) Once the UPS shipment is unpacked, the “B” sample heads