Maryland man arrested in killing of woman in his home

A Riverdale, Md., man has been arrested in the killing of a woman in his apartment, police said. Authorities said the man and the woman knew each other but did not specify the nature of their relationship. Luel Adal, 27, of Riverdale, was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Berhan Gebrekirstos, 24, according to Prince George’s County police. Gebrekirstos was pronounced dead at the scene after police arrived at the 6300 block of 64th Avenue around noon on July 25 for a report of an injured person, police said. Officers found Gebrekirstos suffering from trauma and Adal in the apartment. Her death was ruled a homicide. An autopsy determined that she died of “multiple traumatic injuries,” police said. Police are investigating the motive. Adal is in county jail and being held without bond. Online court records did not list an attorney for Adal. lynh.bui@washpost.com


The Technology 202: Mueller testimony a reminder Congress hasn’t passed bill targeting disinformation

interview. “And I think there’s a lot to be concerned about.” The presentation is guided by a case long made by academics: Facebook has moved into monopoly territory by systematically acquiring rivals such as Instagram and WhatsApp. While Hughes cashed out of Facebook over a decade ago, he “can frame the business practices of present-day Silicon Valley in ways that jibe with largely untested antitrust laws that were written for major oil and rail companies decades ago,” an advantage that could be crucial to an antitrust case Facebook says the FTC has launched. (Hughes might also be providing names of potential sources for investigators, Steve Lohr at the New York Times reported.) NIBBLES: The campaign for 2020 contender Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) is suing Google for $50 million after the platform suspended her campaign from advertising for six hours after the first Democratic debate in June. “Google’s discriminatory actions against my campaign are reflective of how dangerous their complete dominance over internet search is, and how the increasing dominance of big tech companies over our public discourse threatens our core American values,” Gabbard told the Times. Google said the campaign’s account was suspended because changes in account behavior flagged an automated fraud detection program. Gabbard, like other 2020 candidates including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), has called for the breakup of Big Tech. But her new claims more closely aligns with increasing alarm from conservatives about the unchecked power these platforms have to influence what content users see. Tech experts have slammed the suit for echoing unfounded claims by prominent conservatives that big tech companies discriminate against their content — even going as far as to cite the claims in the filings, as NBC News’s Ben Collins pointed out. BYTES: A group of 14 Democratic state attorneys general filed an antitrust suit in June to preemptively block the merger, claiming it would drive up prices for consumers. To clear resistance, the Justice Department worked with T-Mobile and Sprint on a deal that would allow Dish to pay $1.4 billion for Sprint assets and create a competitor to allay antitrust concerns. It was expected that the agency would settle with the companies this week and approve the merger. But now the DOJ is attempting to get state attorneys general onboard with the settlement before moving forward, Drew reports. The merger, first announced in April 2018, received approval from the Federal Communications Commission


National Digest: Navy SEALs sent home from Iraq after sex-assault claim

Times. The SEALs were members of SEAL Team 7, which has headquarters in San Diego when not deployed, one of the defense officials said. The defense official with familiarity with the sexual assault report said the Naval Criminal Investigative Service is overseeing the sexual assault case, while other military officials investigate administratively the culture and actions in the unit. The disclosure comes two days after the independent Navy Times reported six members of SEAL Team 10 in Virginia Beach tested positive last year for cocaine use. Some of them had masked their use of it in previous tests, some of the SEALs said. — Dan Lamothe 16 Marines arrested over human smuggling A human smuggling investigation by the military led to the arrest of 16 Marines on Thursday while carrying out a battalion formation at California’s Camp Pendleton, a base about an hour’s drive from the U.S.-Mexico border. None of the Marines were involved in helping to enforce border security, the Marine Corps said in a news release. The arrests come only weeks after two Marines were arrested near the border by a Border Patrol agent. The two Marines were accused of smuggling three Mexicans into the United States. The Marine Corps said information gained from those arrests led to Thursday’s arrests. Officials say the Marines are charged with crimes ranging from human smuggling to drug-related offenses. Another eight are being questioned about their alleged involvement in drug offenses as part of a separate investigation. Camp Pendleton, the Marine Corps’ largest base on the West Coast, is about 55 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. Marines this year were brought in to help support the Department of Homeland Security in reinforcing the border by installing razor wire on top of barriers. Military troops are barred from making arrests of immigrants. — Associated Press Man gets 300 years in prison for killing 4: An Indiana man who admitted to killing four people, including his unborn child, was sentenced to 300 years in prison Thursday. Marcus Dansby, 23, of Fort Wayne pleaded guilty to four counts of murder in May after prosecutors agreed not to pursue the death penalty if he admitted to the September 2016 killings. Dansby admitted carrying out the shooting and stabbing deaths of Traeven Harris, 18, Consuela Arrington, 37, Dajahiona Arrington, 18, and the near-term fetus she was carrying. He also shot and stabbed a 14-ye — Associated Press


Navy SEALs kicked out of Iraq for drinking alcohol after reported sexual assault, officials say

been reported. The officials said that the SEALs involved violated General Order No. 1, which bans alcohol use while deployed. The SEALs were members of SEAL Team 7, which has headquarters in San Diego when not deployed, one of the defense officials said. The defense official with familiarity with the sexual assault report said that the Naval Criminal Investigative Service is overseeing the sexual assault case, while other military officials investigate administratively the culture and actions in the unit. Cmdr. Tamara Lawrence, a spokeswoman for Naval Special Warfare Command, said in a statement on Wednesday night that her unit is “actively reinforcing” with the entire force “basic leadership, readiness, responsibility and ethical principles that must form the foundation of special operations.” “Leaders at all levels must lead in a way that sustains and sharpens that foundation,” she said. “Discipline is a competitive advantage, and enforcing those standards is critical to our success on the battlefield.” The disclosure by the military comes two days after the independent Navy Times reported that six members of SEAL Team 10 in Virginia Beach tested positive last year for cocaine use. Some of them had masked their use of it in previous tests, some of the SEALs told investigators, Navy Times reported. The Iraq incident also comes after Navy SEALs were implicated in the death of Army Staff Sgt. Logan Melgar, a Special Forces soldier who was strangled in Mali in June 2017. Two members of SEAL Team 6 — Chief Special Warfare Operator Adam C. Matthews and Chief Special Warfare Operator Anthony DeDolph — and two Marine Raiders were charged with murder. Matthews and one of the Marines, Staff Sgt. Kevin Maxwell, have pleaded guilty to lesser charges, and testified that Melgar was accidentally killed in what the military has called a hazing incident involving alcohol. Another SEAL, Chief Special Warfare Operator Edward Gallagher, recently faced court-martial on war-crimes charges that included murder. He was acquitted of the most serious charges but was convicted of posing for an unlawful photo with the remains of an Islamic State fighter. The government’s case against him fell apart after another SEAL who was offered immunity from prosecution to testify said under oath that he, not Gallagher, had been the one who killed a wounded Islamic State fighter. This story was first published Wednesday night, July 24, and updated Thursday evening with information about the reported sexual assault.


The other greens in your bagged lettuce: Frogs, snakes and lizards

is probably as good a look at the problem as we’ll get; companies aren’t transparent about incidents like this, largely because they don’t have to be, the researchers write. Prepackaged leafy green vegetables are one of the fastest-growing segments of the fresh-produce industry in the U.S. Bagged salads came to the market in the late 1980s and, according to the Produce Marketing Association, were commonplace by the mid-1990s. Over the past year, consumers spent $4.7 billion on prepackaged salads, according to Nielsen. Slaw and salad kits saw the biggest rise over the past year, while prepackaged sales of kale seem to be on the decline. Daniel Hughes, a herpetologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a co-author of the study, says the researchers are hoping to help farms develop strategies for keeping frogs and other small wildlife out of fields. “Because we didn’t have good data on how often these situations occurred, if we implement these cool new technologies how do we convince industry that we fixed a problem?” he says. Wildlife ventures into farm territory are becoming more common because of the large-scale annexation of natural habitats to cultivable agricultural lands. Modern farming techniques are also a big factor. Mechanical harvesting of crops means fewer human eyes and hands to spot anomalies (those snakes in green beans, for instance, were machine-segmented into proper green bean bite sizes). Then there’s processing and bagging of produce at the farm — a heat-sealed bag is nearly inescapable even for the most motivated creature. When leafy greens were largely transported in cardboard cartons, a stowaway could make a stealthy escape. Some of this is preventable, Hughes says. Because frogs are moisture-seeking and crops have more moisture at night, Hughes and team suggest day harvesting to avoid scooping up critters. The researchers are also prototyping new rough-surfaced fencing that’s harder for amphibians to climb, as well as acoustic devices that broadcast a playback of male frog vocalizations to lure the females, Barry White-style, out of agricultural fields and to safer places. Jaydee Hanson, policy director at the Center for Food Safety, says bagged produce is more problematic than produce that is sold loose, and not just because of tree frogs. He says triple-washed bagged produce arose as two-earner households became more prevalent and convenience became central to the American diet. Also, he says, leafy greens in the winter are grown in the


Four U.S. athletes injured in fatal South Korean nightclub accident

GWANGJU, South Korea — Athletes competing in the FINA world championships were dancing at a nightclub early Saturday morning when an interior structure collapsed, reportedly killing two people and injuring more than a dozen others. Four members of the U.S. national water polo teams were among those injured in the late-night accident. Kaleigh Gilchrist, 27, suffered a serious laceration on her leg and underwent surgery Saturday in a hospital, according to USA Water Polo. The Newport Beach, Calif., native was a member of the American squad that won gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics and was part of the team that won a third straight world title Friday and visited the nightclub later that night to celebrate. Three other American water polo athletes also suffered injuries when a second-floor interior balcony collapsed inside the club: Paige Hauschild, a 19-year-old University of Southern California student, required stitches for lacerations on her right arm; Johnny Hooper, a 22-year-old from Los Angeles, required stitches on his left hand; and 21-year-old Ben Hallock, who was a member of the U.S. team at the 2016 Olympics, suffered minor scrapes on his legs. Two South Koreans reportedly died when the balcony collapsed inside the club around 2:30 a.m., according to the BBC. Neither was an athlete. Media reports have confirmed that water polo athletes from the United States, Australia and New Zealand were among those at the nightclub. A spokesperson for the committee that’s staging these championships said eight athletes were involved in the accident, seven of whom suffered minor injuries. A spokesman for USA Water Polo initially declined to comment on any injuries out of “respect to athlete privacy” but confirmed the injuries later Saturday. All of the American water polo athletes “are safe and accounted for,” the organization said in a statement. The U.S. women’s team concluded its tournament Friday, winning the world title over Spain. “This is an awful tragedy,” Christopher Ramsey, chief executive of USA Water Polo, said in a statement. “Players from our men’s and women’s teams were celebrating the women’s world championship victory when the collapse occurred at a public club. Our hearts go out to the victims of the crash and their families.” A USA Swimming spokeswoman said no American swimmers were present at the club Friday night. FINA, the international governing body for aquatic sports, said in a statement Saturday, “As some Championships’ participants were present at the


Baltimore Police struggle to investigate their own, new consent decree report says

The Baltimore Police Department is close to completing internal investigations of officers implicated in the sweeping Gun Trace Task Force scandal, but the department still struggles to fully investigate its own, the latest consent decree report said. The problem is particularly acute when complaints originate with members of the public, federal monitors found. Two years after the department entered into a consent decree with the U.S. Justice Department, the monitoring team helping to implement reforms said that misconduct investigations have shown “encouraging developments” but continue to be deficient. The monitors cited “inexcusable negligence” over a recent instance in which a dozen misconduct cases against officers were tossed out because the department’s internal affairs team allowed them to expire. The unit, which lacks a permanent leader, needs more investigators to conduct thorough and timely reviews of cases, the report said. The report again cites concerns that the department has not finished internal investigations related to the Gun Trace Task Force scandal in which eight officers were convicted of robbing residents and selling drugs. It noted that the “BPD also has not yet authorized the promised independent investigation of the root causes of the scandal.” “The need for BPD to repair its Public Integrity Bureau . . . is at the heart of the Consent Decree reform effort,” the report said. In conversations with members of the monitoring team, “community members continue to focus on BPD’s ability to effectively police itself, underscoring that a properly functioning PIB is essential to re-establishing the community’s trust.” At a news conference Tuesday, Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said the department has been making strides, even if “it sometimes doesn’t seem like a lot.” “A lot has been done, and we’re building the foundation to really move the department forward,” Harrison said. The first year of the consent decree, before Harrison arrived in January, was largely about rewriting policies. This year, the focus has been on training officers, he said. The department is formulating policies to lessen the caseloads of internal affairs investigators, according to court filings submitted as part of the consent agreement. The quarterly public hearing before U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar is scheduled for Thursday at the federal courthouse downtown. The consent decree was reached between the city and the Justice Department in April 2017. It requires the department to rewrite policies, retrain officers and retain the monitoring team — which includes lawyers


Boris Johnson and his regressive cabinet mean disaster for Britain

believers, xenophobia-peddlers and people so wedded to “free market economics” that they believe workers’ rights get in the way of economic growth. It’s easy to see how they would make poverty and inequality worse. Yet this is also about what their ascendancy means for politics as a whole. Trying to fend off the far-right Brexit Party — headed by the former stockbroker and self-styled “man of the people” Nigel Farage — Johnson and his cabinet seem determined to turn the political dial even further to the right. Positioning themselves as nationalists with little concern about what that might mean for the United Kingdom and all of its constituent parts, they have embraced exclusionary politics that prioritizes the few over the many — and set a terrifying precedent for the country. Moreover, throughout the leadership contest and in his first few days in office, Johnson has channeled a kind of “can do” attitude toward Brexit that harks back to the days of empire. By implying he’ll restore the country to its supposed former glory, he is almost harnessing a British version of “Make America Great Again” nostalgia. And he is no stranger to romanticizing colonialism. But the Britain of then was not as benevolent or positive as he would have us believe, amassing wealth and power through violence, racism and exploitation. And the Britain of now, with its industry largely shattered, its importance reduced and a world economy structured around trade deals and partnership, couldn’t “go it alone” if it wanted to. Johnson’s vision of the country, which idealizes Winston Churchill and projects himself as the person to embody him again, is one that glorifies the worst aspects of our history and distracts from our reality. In a country that already struggles to come to terms with its imperial past — never mind its imperial present — where children’s futures are being destroyed by disastrous economic policies and immigrants are still subject to policies that are designed to project and produce hostility, a Johnson-led government is a very worrying and dangerous thing indeed. Read more: Anne Applebaum: Boris Johnson’s victory proves it’s fiction, not fact, that Tories want to hear The Post’s View: Boris Johnson is optimistic. How long will that last? Fareed Zakaria: Boris Johnson will accelerate the decline of Europe Jason Rezaian: Iran could make or break Boris Johnson Ryan Bourne: Don’t lump Boris Johnson together with Donald Trump


World Digest: July 26, 2019

the migrants had been turned back from the center and were instead being released into the surrounding town. — Associated Press BRAZIL $30 million in gold gone within minutes It took less than three minutes for a group of armed men to make off with $30 million in gold bars from Sao Paulo’s main airport Thursday — possibly the second-largest heist in Brazil’s history. Men disguised as federal police drove to Sao Paulo-Guarulhos airport in an SUV and flatbed truck, both fashioned to look official, according to the airport’s press office. Security footage shows them wearing balaclavas and giving orders to cargo terminal employees, one of whom used a forklift to load the gold. State police said the group had first kidnapped the airport’s cargo director and his family to force his cooperation. — Bloomberg News IRELAND Leader wants to meet with Johnson on Brexit Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said Friday that he would need to meet his British counterpart, Boris Johnson, to understand his “real red lines” on Brexit, and that Ireland had shown that it could be flexible. Varadkar’s deputy, Simon Coveney, had earlier called Johnson’s approach to Brexit “very unhelpful.” “What I would like to do . . .is to get a sense from him as to what he is thinking and what his plans are,” Varadkar told a politics forum. “He has demonstrated a degree of flexibility in the past.” Varadkar said Johnson was taking “a much harder-line position” than predecessor Theresa May, in particular by calling for the scrapping of the Irish border backstop — Ireland’s own main red line in the talks. The backstop aims to ensure that E.U. member Ireland’s now-invisible border with the British province of Northern Ireland remains open, but some British politicians fear it could tie the United Kingdom into the E.U.’s customs union indefinitely. — Reuters PHILIPPINES 8 killed as strong quakes rock islands Two strong earthquakes hours apart struck a group of sparsely populated islands in the Luzon Strait in the northern Philippines early Saturday, killing at least eight people, injuring about 60 and causing substantial damage. The quakes collapsed houses built of stone and wood, said Roldan Esdicul of the Batanes provincial disaster response office. The Philippine seismology agency said the quakes measured 5.4 and 5.9. A third, at magnitude 5.7, struck later Saturday. — Associated Press Tanzania to alter game reserve: — From news services


House associated with Charles Manson murders lists for $1.98 million in Los Angeles

The Los Angeles home that nearly 50 years ago was the scene of two of seven murders in a two-day crime spree by followers of Charles Manson is for sale, according to listing agent Robert Giambalvo of Redfin. The two-bedroom, two-bathroom residence lists for $1.98 million. Several of Manson’s cult members murdered Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in the house in Los Angeles’s Los Feliz section in August 1969, the night after killing actress Sharon Tate and four others at her Los Angeles home. Why the LaBiancas were targeted has never been discovered. Manson initially was sentenced to death for the murders but resentenced in 1977 to life in prison after California abolished its death penalty. He died in 2017 of natural causes. Manson’s crime is a story line in the upcoming Quentin Tarantino film, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” starring Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio. The Spanish-style home was built in 1922 and has had several upgrades under different owners in the intervening years. Situated high on a steep slope, the 1,600-square-foot home has privacy from the street, yet is close to the popular Griffiths Park and Glendale restaurant and retail centers. The “Hollywood” sign is around the corner, according to Giambalvo. “The grade level of the house is probably equal to or greater than the height of a two-story home,” said Giambalvo. “Even when you’re standing at the gate you can hardly see the house. It has that grandeur feeling to it [as] you go up the driveway.” The “wedding style” ceiling in several of the main living rooms include concentric circles of stucco in shaded gradients, according to Giambalvo. The dining area has an ornate chandelier and sliding-glass door to the outside. A modern kitchen accommodates a breakfast table and movable island. The backyard has a pool, hot tub and free-standing sauna. A covered patio near the pool is directly off the kitchen. Several mature fruit and avocado trees not only provide fruit when in season but also add to the privacy. Louver-style vents in the attic help circulate the air so the home stays cool, even without the use of air conditioning. A two-car garage is behind the property.


Community deaths

Obituaries of residents from the District, Maryland and Northern Virginia. Virginia 'Ginny' Watkin, law firm partner Virginia “Ginny” Watkin, 93, who became one of the first female partners at the Covington & Burling law firm in Washington, died April 14 at a D.C. hospital. The cause was a brain tumor, said a daughter, Mary Ellen Watkin. Mrs. Watkin was born Virginia Guild in Clinton, Mass., and was a lawyer in Boston specializing in litigation and corporate law before becoming a Covington & Burling partner in 1974. She used her knowledge of Spanish to work on infrastructure issues with the Puerto Rico’s government. She retired in 1994 and was president of the Cosmos Club in 2003. Six years later, she hiked the Galapagos Islands. C. Wayne Callaway, physician C. Wayne Callaway, 77, a physician who specialized in nutrition, diets and obesity and practiced at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota from 1971 to 1986 and later in Washington, died May 11 at his home in Washington. The cause was Alzheimer’s disease, said his wife, Jackie Chalkley. Dr. Callaway was born in Easton, Md. At the Mayo Clinic, he taught at the medical school, directed the nutrition clinic and the nutrition consulting service and directed the lipid clinic. From 1986 to 1988, he was director of the center for clinical nutrition at George Washington University Medical Center. He had a private practice in Washington from 1988 to 2007. He wrote diet books. Robert Taylor, Howard medical school dean Robert Taylor, 76, a Howard University medical school administrator who served as dean from 2008 to 2011, died July 17 at his home in Silver Spring, Md. The cause was a heart ailment, said his wife, Carmen Paniagua. Before his appointment to dean, Dr. Taylor spent three years as interim dean and had been pharmacology department chairman since 1992. He had also served as director of Howard’s Collaborative Alcohol Research Center, funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health. After stepping down as dean, Dr. Taylor was instrumental in securing federal grants for Howard’s Health Careers Opportunity Program, an effort to attract minority students to the health-care profession, and served as program director. He was also a faculty fellow at Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, Calif. Dr. Taylor, a Chattanooga, Tenn., native, was a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and a fellow of the American College of Physicians and


After unpredictable world championships, Americans realize Tokyo Games should pack a punch

here, and Italy’s Simona Quadarella actually led into the final turn in the 800 on Saturday and finished within two seconds of Ledecky. Because of her lingering illness, which forced her to spend nearly a full day in a South Korean hospital at one point, Ledecky understandably doesn’t feel this week’s showing says much about where her swimming is or what’s in store a year from now. “The results didn’t show this week, but I can still take a lot from the training that I put in this year,” she said. She will enter Tokyo as one of the faces of Team USA, and Dressel will likely be right beside her. After a tough 2018 season, Dressel put to rest any concerns about the trajectory of his career. His eight-medal haul included sweeping the 50- and 100-meter races in both the freestyle and butterfly strokes. On Saturday, he won three gold medals in a single session. And he didn’t seem to be overly impressed with any of it, convinced he is capable of more. “I probably sound like a broken record every time I do a race, but I always look for the bad. That’s just kind of how I work,” he said Saturday night. “ . . . There’s plenty to improve on.” While the swimmers will leave South Korea with their medals and their lessons, they will have a year to fine-tune technique and game-plan for the Games. The sport also has a year to address some of the problems that continue to fester. FINA allowed Sun to compete here and felt the backlash from other competitors. The Court of Arbitration for Sport will rule on Sun’s case in September, but beyond that, FINA has a trust issue on its hands. “I think all of us would say that we’re racing dopers at some point,” American Lilly King told reporters before the meet. FINA was miffed when Australia’s Mack Horton and Britain’s Duncan Scott refused to stand beside Yang for photographs — and footage of Yang shouting at Scott on the podium instantly went viral. But collectively the athletes sent a big message here. “I think it’s been really great this week to see athletes standing up for what they believe in,” Ledecky said, “and making a stand and making it loud and clear that doping can’t be tolerated. And I’ll join the voices in saying that.” rick.maese@washpost.com


Older Americans face a housing crisis. Here’s what Congress should do about it.

the home loan. Millions of seniors would find themselves without a mortgage bill to pay and not facing a staggering tax bill as a consequence. The Urban Institute concluded that the most valuable nonfinancial asset in the United States is a home, and that 69 percent of all families own one. Housing is the key element of financial security in retirement. Allowing Americans to use the money they have saved to pay off the homes they have purchased is the most obvious “fix” in the world, but congressional staff I have asked about this always reply that it increases the risk of seniors having lower incomes from savings while also reducing future tax receipts. The latter objection makes little sense, as the taxable event of a withdrawal to pay off mortgage debt can simply be postponed from the date of the withdrawal to the date of the sale of the home. What opponents of allowing Americans to use their money to lower or eliminate housing costs won’t see or refuse to admit is that retirement security begins with a place to live. A senior American doesn’t need as much savings if his or her home loans are paid off. This should be a no-brainer for every legislator, but it’s not part of the draft laws circulating though the House or Senate. Current data is difficult to find, but a 2012 New York Times story found that 1.5 million homeowners over 55 lost their homes between 2007 and 2011, with the largest group being over 75 years of age. Those years followed the panic, of course, but even if seniors with mortgage debt are not losing their homes, they are enjoying life less if they are making a mortgage payment they could avoid if their own retirement assets were available to pay off the mortgage. The biggest obstacle to this obvious reform is the same one to most reforms: Permanent D.C. didn’t think it up and hasn’t internalized its logic. Maybe Grassley can change that, and in so doing, improve the quality of retirement for millions of Americans. Read more: Robert J. Samuelson: We haven’t prepared for the aging monster Andrew G. Biggs: The ‘retirement crisis’ that isn’t Letters to the Editor: Inequity in retirement saving Helaine Olen: The Trump administration has made it harder to save for retirement Tom Daschle and Tommy Thompson: Who will care for America’s aging population?


A closer look at Obama’s $7 billion plan to bring electricity to Africa

with Obama's climate goals? Tom Hart, the executive director of the ONE Campaign, an advocacy group, thinks that the two goals don't necessarily need to conflict. "We think an exception can be made for poorest and least-emitting countries," he says. "If you provided 580 million Africans with basic energy access, that would increase global carbon emissions by just 1 percent." In other words, if Obama wants to tackle global warming, Africa isn't the place to start. It's possible, however, that some environmental rules could limit U.S. involvement. The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), which just pledged $1.5 billion in energy projects for sub-Saharan Africa, currently has an internal cap on greenhouse-gas emissions. Those rules would prevent OPIC from financing more than one medium-sized natural-gas plant, for example. Todd Moss of the Center for Global Development has proposed lifting OPIC's emissions cap slightly for the poorest, least-emitting countries in Africa. "More than half the people in low-income neighborhoods in Nairobi and Dakar have no access to electricity," he told me earlier this year. "For reaching urban centers and powering industrial zones, you'll likely need traditional large-scale power plants. And current U.S. rules are keeping businesses out of that area." That said, Moss adds that OPIC's heavy focus on clean energy is appropriate in many cases: "In some places, when people are far from the power grid and it makes more sense to invest in off-grid renewables, absolutely." (The International Energy Agency, for instance, has found that renewable power could be the most cost-effective option for expanding energy access in about 70 percent of rural areas in developing countries.) 2) What counts as "electricity access"? Roger Pielke Jr., an environmental studies professor at the University of Colorado, has pointed out that the international community’s definition of “modern energy access” tends to be quite scant — it means providing people with a mere 2.2 percent of the energy that the average American uses. Hart says that how "access" gets defined is something he'll be watching very closely in U.S. plans to promote electricity in Africa. 3) How much money would it take to make sure everyone had access to A recent report from the World Bank and International Energy Agency found that it would take a truly enormous push to close that gap by 2030. That's because current rates of electrification are actually slower than population growth. "With regard to universal access,” the


Could Boris Johnson’s ‘no-deal’ Brexit break up the United Kingdom?

withdrawal agreement was “dead” and that he could strike a new, better deal — despite assertions by European leaders that there will be no renegotiation. “We are not aiming for a no-deal Brexit at all,” Johnson told reporters, even as his new minister charged with preparing for a no-deal departure, Michael Gove, said the government now assumed it would exit without a deal. John Curtice, a politics professor at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, said that if a Johnson government leaves the bloc without a deal, “and if it’s as bad as some claim it will be, then obviously it’s easier for the [Scottish Nationalist Party] to pursue the independence argument.” Curtice added that Johnson — who was a leader of the Brexit campaign in 2016 — is deeply unpopular across the United Kingdom with people who voted against Brexit. Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain in the E.U.; England and Wales voted to leave. Scottish nationalists are not alone in warning of the union coming apart. In a rare intervention in British politics, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said Friday, “One of the things, ironically, that could really undermine the union, the United Kingdom union, is a hard Brexit.” Varadkar suggested that “a nationalist Britain” might encourage more people in Northern Ireland to want to dissociate themselves. “People who you might describe as moderate nationalists or moderate Catholics, who were more or less happy with the status quo, will look more towards a united Ireland,” Varadkar said. Some in Britain have sounded similar alarm bells. May’s de facto deputy prime minister, David Lidington, told the BBC this month that the union “would be under much greater strain in the event of a no-deal.” He added, “My view comes not just from Scottish nationalism and pressure for Irish unification — it comes from indifference among English opinion to the value of the union.” Gordon Brown, a former Labour Party prime minister, said at an event in London last week that Johnson could be remembered “not as the 55th prime minister of the U.K. but as the first prime minister of England.” To win his new role, Johnson prevailed with a total 92,153 votes in a contest that involved only dues-paying members of the Conservative Party — who make up about 0.35 percent of the U.K. electorate and largely live in the southern half of England. Hours after he


Dalilah Muhammad breaks through, sets world record in 400-meter hurdles

DES MOINES — The record had stood for nearly 16 years as a barrier no women’s 400-meter hurdler could cross, but Dalilah Muhammad had come to view breaking it as an inevitability. She had won the gold medal at the 2016 Olympics, which redefined how she viewed herself. She had come within three-hundredths of a second of the mark in 2017, which opened her mind to the possibility. Lately, she had matched the record pace in practice. Muhammad’s coach, Lawrence Johnson, started telling her, “There’s no way you can’t do it.” Sunday night, on a rain-drenched track in Drake Stadium at the U.S. outdoor track and field championships, Muhammad crossed the finish line, glanced at the clock and took a deep breath. “I did it,” she thought. And even though she had come to expect it, she still felt stunned. “I’m still in shock,” she said. “I broke the world record. I don’t think it’s hit me yet.” Muhammad, a 29-year-old from New York City, ran once around the blue oval and leaped over 10 hurdles in 52.20 seconds. The previous record of 52.34, held by Russian Yuliya Pechonkina, had stood since August 2003. Muhammad became the second American woman to hold the record, joining Kim Batten, who set her mark in 1995. “This year, the world record has been on my mind,” Muhammad said. “I knew the field was so strong going in. I think we all decided going in, that’s what we would have to chase for to make the team.” Sydney McLaughlin, a 19-year-old phenom, caught Muhammad from behind at a race this summer in Oslo, making her the favorite here in some minds. She finished second in 52.88 seconds, followed by Ashley Spencer in third in 53.11. McLaughlin and Muhammad said a U.S. medal sweep is possible in this fall’s world championships in Qatar. “I’m sure it’s not going to be too long before it’s broken again,” McLaughlin said of the world record. Hunter heads to worlds Drew Hunter, a Loudoun Valley High alum and Purcellville native, made the world championships in the men’s 5,000 meters. He finished fifth in 13:29.19, but he qualified as one of the Americans’ three entrants because two of the runners ahead of him — winner Lopez Lomong and third-place Woody Kincaid — have not achieved the qualifying standard time, but Hunter has. “Looks like we’re going to Doha,” Hunter said.


“I worked for that. It was not easy.” Hunter, 21, became the youngest American to make the world championships in a decade. He turned professional out of high school and experienced a difficult transition but said he has never had regrets. “You always have high goals and really, really dream for this,” he said. “I was about the most nervous person in that call room. This is the first time in my professional career I felt like something was on the line.” Lomong (13:25.53) and Paul Chelimo, who won silver at the 2016 Olympics, sprinted neck-and-neck down the final straightaway. Lomong eked in front of Chelimo, bumping his arm at the finish line, to win his second title this weekend. On Thursday, he claimed the 10,000 meters. Centrowitz is moving on Matthew Centrowitz, the reigning Olympic gold medalist in the 1,500 meters and a former Broadneck High standout, finished second in the event in 3:44.97, barely losing to Craig Engels (3:44.93) at the tape. Centrowitz, who changed coaches this year, found solace in making another world championship team. “I’m getting older, man,” he said. “I don’t want to say I play conservative. But I felt like I had to make sure I made that team more than go for the win. I don’t take these teams for granted.” Quite a combination On Saturday, promising 200-meter sprinter Kenny Bednarek provided a compelling update about his training — and about controversial American sprinting giant Justin Gatlin. Bednarek, 20, turned professional and signed with Nike early this summer after a breakout performance in junior college. He said he is being coached by Dennis Mitchell, a notorious figure in the sport who received a ban in 1998 after testing positive for high testosterone levels. At the time, he blamed the failed test on drinking beer and having too much sex with his wife. In the 2008 BALCO case, Mitchell testified he had received performance-enhancing substances from Trevor Graham, who has since been banned from the sport by USA Track and Field. Graham once coached Gatlin, too, before Gatlin served a doping suspension from 2006 to 2010. Afterward, Gatlin hired Mitchell. Bednarek said he had no idea about Mitchell’s history. “Nike wanted to send me somewhere, and I just kind of listened,” he said. After he researched Mitchell, Bednarek felt comfortable. “People make mistakes, but that’s all in the past,” he said. “I know he’s


How the NSO and Noseda brought fresh air to the summer heat at Wolf Trap

There were so many cars at Wolf Trap on Friday night that I briefly wondered whether I had come to the wrong concert. But it was indeed the National Symphony Orchestra, offering its one straight classical program in a Wolf Trap season that runs mainly to pops concerts and live film accompaniment — and it was playing with its own music director, Gianandrea Noseda, to boot. As an onlooker, it’s hard to tell what draws audiences to a particular event — Noseda’s presence; Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony; or the fact that there are so few NSO classical concerts at Wolf Trap this summer — but something, at least, got people out in force. And they got a good show. Noseda loves to perform in different venues, and he has a knack for communication. He picked up the microphone and said a few words about how excited he was to be there for the first time, and what a gift it was for all the musicians to perform such great music. And then he turned around, picked up the baton and sounded as if he really meant it. The program consisted of Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto and the Beethoven symphony, which is about as standard and popular as the repertory gets. But while I usually encourage orchestras to show more variety, I can’t complain too much about this one. True, Wolf Trap used to present more challenging classical-music offerings, but my feeling now, sitting in a crowd of people who were clearly not all regular orchestra attendees, is that it wasn’t the worst thing to give the audience the satisfaction of experiencing not one but two “greatest hits.” It certainly makes a better case for the institution than some other recent, more ambitious programs, such as the muddled puppet “Firebird” three years ago. The other reason I can’t complain is that the musicians brought such verve to it; everyone played as though they were in a major concert hall, and unlike some NSO concerts of memory, it didn’t feel phoned in. Violinist Ning Feng wasn’t the first significant soloist playing his first NSO concert at Wolf Trap. In the past, this has been a mixed blessing because the Filene Center’s acoustics and amplification don’t always feel conducive to a fair hearing. However, the mic’ing was less of a factor Friday than I’ve ever heard it at a Wolf Trap classical concert; from inside


Man fatally shot in Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Northeast Washington

THE DISTRICT Man is fatally shot in Lincoln Heights A man was fatally shot early Friday in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Northeast Washington, according to D.C. police. The shooting occurred shortly after midnight in the 300 block of 50th Street NE. Police identified the victim as Francis Lee Savoy, 37, of Southeast Washington. Authorities said he was shot several times inside a vehicle. The shooting occurred in a residential area near the Kelly Miller Recreation Center. The death follows a surge of fatal shootings this month in the District, including nine in a span of five days. Through Friday, police said, there have been 88 homicides in the city this year, up 9 percent from this time in 2018. — Peter Hermann MARYLAND Man accused of killing woman in his home A man has been arrested in the killing of a woman in his apartment, police said. Authorities said the man and the woman knew each other but did not specify the nature of their relationship. Luel Adal, 27, of Riverdale was charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Berhan Gebrekirstos, 24, according to Prince George’s County police. Gebrekirstos was pronounced dead at the scene after police arrived at the 6300 block of 64th Avenue about noon Thursday, police said. Officers said Adal was in the apartment. An autopsy determined Gebrekirstos died of “multiple traumatic injuries,” police said. Police are investigating the motive. Adal was in county jail and being held without bond. Online court records did not list an attorney for Adal. — Lynh Bui Three plead guilty in prison bribery scheme Three people charged in a prison bribery scheme pleaded guilty in federal court this week in a case prosecutors say involved correction officers accepting kickbacks to sneak contraband to prison inmates. The guilty pleas, according to prosecutors, come from an employee at the prison, Patricia McDaniel, 26, and two women who collected inmate payments for contraband — India Parker, 33, and Tyirisha Johnson, 23. McDaniel, a dietary corrections officer, admitted to sneaking phones, tobacco, drugs and other banned material supplied by Johnson and Parker into the Maryland Correctional Institution in Jessup, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland. McDaniel smuggled contraband into the prison on weekends and delivered them “to an inmate with whom she had a personal relationship” or other inmates, prosecutors said. McDaniel and Johnson pleaded guilty to a single count of


In Sweden, a DIY dining adventure

The message traveled down a quiet country road in the Swedish province of Smaland, from the mouth of the chef to the ears of the foragers. We need more yarrow — pass it on. “There’s a big load over here,” said Dave Martin, a Briton living in Sweden with his wife and toddler. “There’s like a lot, a lot. There are also bees around here.” Dave stuck an arm into enemy territory, grabbed his prize and deposited the greens in a basket already brimming with salad ingredients. Then he went in again. Our party of five, all participants of the Edible Country program, couldn’t let a few stinging insects derail our lunch plans. Plus, we had as much of a right to be here as they did. So, fly aside, bee. “Being in nature is very much a part of Swedish culture and our childhood,” said Mina Carlsson, who works at Asa Herrgard, the hotel that runs the dining program in Smaland. “Because of the ‘right to roam,’ we take advantage of the outdoors. We also learn how not to die.” In Sweden, outdoor access is a constitutional right. The privilege, which dates to the Middle Ages, is as integral to the Swedish lifestyle as universal health care, generous parental leave and pickled herring. Allemansratt, which translates to “everyman’s right,” guarantees the freedom to ramble, even on private lands. The law applies to all types of outdoor recreationists, including foragers, who can collect plant life on most tracts of land, with a few exceptions. Among them: No Peter Rabbit-ing in private gardens or on cultivated parcels, and no venturing within 75 yards of a private residence. But as long as you follow the edict of “do not disturb or destroy,” you, too, can shop in Sweden’s supermarket without walls. “We have a long history of picking edible things in nature. One is the freedom to roam, and the other is we had been very poor not so long ago,” said Cathrine Rydstrom, who works for Destination Smaland, the region’s tourism office. “Today it is still quite common to go pick berries and mushrooms, even if you can buy them in the market. It’s a thing to do during the weekend and bring fika with you or barbecue.” (Fika is a snack break.) Unfortunately for many of us, our plant knowledge begins with poison ivy and ends with marijuana leaves. Edible


The military is kicking out foreign recruits it needs — for having foreign ties

to national security? They can’t articulate it here.” Other rejections point to speculative or seemingly benign information for immigrants living typical lives. “You revealed that you maintain routine contact with your father and mother who are citizens of and reside in China,” one document said. An Indian-born recruit was cut loose after an investigation determined that family members “work for or have worked for the Indian army,” according to one document, even thought India and the United States share a defense relationship. Recruits from South Korea, a key U.S. defense ally, have been penalized because their fathers are required by conscription to serve, Stock said. Maxwell declined to say why a family member’s involvement in a friendly military would raise suspicions. Another enlistee was rejected for “multiple wire transfers” through U.S. banks, though the screening review did not describe the nature of the transfers or whether they were unlawful. One recruit, a Chinese doctoral student, was turned away because a screener with no medical experience said the recruit had Asperger’s syndrome — on the basis that the screener once observed a family member with autism, The Post previously reported. Potential persecution of Li’s family could be aided by the U.S. military itself. U.S. Army recruiters inadvertently exposed the private information of hundreds of Chinese-born recruits, heightening the risk that Chinese government officials would target their families, a lawmaker said. Those disclosures and enlistment delays have forced several to apply for U.S. asylum protection, including Li, while he fights the Army’s determination that he is unsuitable for service. He said wants to bring his family to the United States. Until then, he has taken a rather American path: He helps design grain enclosures and spreaders for a farm equipment company in Minnesota, with an eye to eventually transitioning from the Army to the Air Force. Li wants to be a pilot, he said, perhaps for the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft. Fighters can be flashy, he said. But the Hercules can get him more time in the cockpit on missions around the world. Read more: He’s a U.S. soldier deployed on the southern border — and an unlawful immigrant The Army kicked out dozens of immigrant recruits. Now it’s allowing them back amid a legal battle. David Simon called Trump a ‘race-hating fraud,’ then opened a fire hose of profanity at the trolls Donald Trump and Al Sharpton’s relationship status: It’s complicated


Boris Johnson may be planning an electoral coup straight out of the Trump playbook

minority party can emerge as a big winner as long as it piles up votes in the right places. A strong brand and clever political positioning are all-important. By moving rightward and co-opting the hard-line Brexiteers, Johnson is calculating that he can consolidate most of the “leave” vote behind him. The “remain” vote, meanwhile, is split between Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens, the Scottish nationalists and various “independent” groups. Underpinning the Johnson strategy is the need to avoid the scenario of the recent Peterborough by-election, in which Nigel Farage’s new Brexit Party siphoned away much of the Conservative vote, allowing Labour to win the seat. A strong clue to Johnson’s intentions is his recruitment of the mastermind of the 2016 leave campaign, Dominic Cummings, as his senior adviser. Articulate and disheveled, Cummings combines the anti-establishment fervor of a Stephen K. Bannon with the political ruthlessness of a Lee Atwater. As in 2016, when he fanned fears of uncontrolled immigration into Britain from Eastern Europe, his job will be to come up with the winning political message, regardless of the actual facts. An electoral coup of the type now being contemplated by Johnson and his advisers would be much more difficult to accomplish in most European countries. A German-style system of proportional representation obliges the political party that wins most votes in an election to share power with others. The French system of two rounds of voting in presidential elections also favors the political center at the expense of the extremes. In both cases, a leader needs to command an electoral majority in order to govern. In Britain and the United States, this is not the case. Traditionally, we Anglo-Saxons have prided ourselves on our political moderation and pragmatism. Our electoral systems have provided for stable, strong and sensible governments over many decades, based on widely shared values and national goals. But now, it seems, these same systems reward crude populism. Perhaps the time has come to rethink political arrangements that favor a determined minority over a diverse majority. Read more: Maya Goodfellow: Boris Johnson and his regressive cabinet mean disaster for Britain Anne Applebaum: Boris Johnson’s victory proves it’s fiction, not fact, that Tories want to hear The Post’s View: Boris Johnson is optimistic. How long will that last? Fareed Zakaria: Boris Johnson will accelerate the decline of Europe Ryan Bourne: Don’t lump Boris Johnson together with Donald Trump


Senate panel: Negligence by Olympic, USA Gymnastics officials enabled abuse by ex-team doctor Nassar

Following an 18-month inquiry into the factors that enabled USA Gymnastics’ former team doctor to sexually abuse more than 300 athletes over a two-decade span, a congressional subcommittee Tuesday will introduce legislation designed to ensure the safety of Olympic and amateur athletes going forward. In broad stokes, the Empowering Olympic and Amateur Athletes Act of 2019, if approved, would mandate significant reform of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee governance structure in three key areas. The changes are being recommended after a bipartisan Senate Commerce subcommittee, led by Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), reached conclusions of negligent behavior on the part of former executives of the U.S. Olympic Committee and USA Gymnastics following a review of thousands of documents, four hearings and interviews with athletes, survivors, coaches, parents, advocates, Olympic officials and law enforcement officers. Although Larry Nassar, the former team physician for USA Gymnastics, acted alone and is now serving an effective life sentence for child pornography and sexually abusing girls and young women under the guise of medical treatment, the congressional panel concluded the negligence of the USOC and USA Gymnastics enabled his abuse. Moreover, the panel concluded the USOC and USA Gymnastics “knowingly concealed abuse by Larry Nassar, leading to the abuse of dozens of additional amateur athletes from summer 2015 to September 2016.” (The USOC changed its name last month to the USOPC to be more inclusive by recognizing Paralympic athletes.) The panel also concluded gymnastics was not the only setting for the abuse of prospective Olympians. Rather, in a fact pattern repeated in other Olympic sports, institutions “failed to act aggressively to report wrongdoing,” and officials in positions of power “prioritized their own reputation or the reputation of [a sport’s national governing body] over the health and safety of the athletes” and tried to conceal their negligence. Moran and Blumenthal addressed the findings and discussed the remedies proposed in their bill during a conference call Monday. They characterized it as “a moment of reckoning,” one year in advance of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. “Larry Nassar was not a lone wolf; he was not the only predator or monster out there,” Blumenthal said. “The USOC has to be made accountable, and that’s one of the key goals of this legislation.” Added Moran: “We want to change the culture and thought process so there are no more . . . victims of sexual


Driven to the end: Olympic cyclist Kelly Catlin could do it all. Until it all became too much.

Valentine’s Day, thanked Birch for sending her an anatomically correct chocolate heart. The countries and trails changed, and somehow so did Kelly. She recoiled and disappeared less often — even standing there, arms dangling, when Bergen insisted on celebrating the end of a stage by wrapping each of her teammates in a big, sweaty, 15-second hug. “She wouldn’t hug back,” Bergen says. “But she wouldn’t run from them anymore.” In the fall of 2018, And that was part of the problem: Cycling was a chore now, not an escape. In October, she crashed and broke her arm. Another crash led to a concussion. She had opened herself to new friendships, sure, but what about the politics of being an Olympian? She had begun to dread the grind, 40 days at a track camp between November and December 2018, and when she returned to school there waited a mountain of work. It felt overwhelming, and one day last year she at last allowed herself to cry. She nonetheless filled recovery days with studying and makeup tests, and though she’d been admitted to one of her dream schools, she was never there for the classes, the guest lectures, the networking events. The 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, which she saw as a correction of Rio and a chance to win gold, were on the horizon. She couldn’t just stop, and indeed Kelly wept not because there were no worlds left to conquer but because there were so many. Late last January, with a chocolate chip cookie at her side, Kelly stood at her desk and began typing, “Well hello, one and all!” In what eventually became an eight-page letter to six people — Mark and Carolyn, Christine and Colin, a cycling coach and a former high school classmate — Kelly included a confession: Yes, she cried. More and more often she’d wake in the night, feeling no guilt, and just let it rip. On this evening, she typed that she felt “somehow unequal” to Stanford and that she had sent a collectible dagger out for sharpening, intending to stab herself in the heart. She was curious about the sensation of bleeding out, she wrote, going on to explain a fantasy of becoming a serial killer with an elaborate and meticulous ritual. “Oh, the drama I could create,” she wrote. Instead, she had rented two cylinders of compressed helium and waited for the halls


Toys R Us founder Charles Lazarus has died. Here’s how he built — and lost — an empire.

This story has been updated. In the early 1980s, a week before Christmas, a woman walked into a supermarket-size store in Tysons Corner, Va., and became so dumbfounded that she started talking to herself. “Where’s the robot?” she said. “And the hairy monster?” A Washington Post story that recounted her muttering did not say she was delusional. She was simply overwhelmed by a store that had become, in The Washington Post’s words, “like McDonald’s … an American institution.” Toys R Us. Listen to this story on “Retropod”: For more forgotten stories from history, subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Amazon Echo | Google Home and more “What we are is a supermarket for toys,” founder Charles Lazarus once told The Post. “We don’t have a competitor in variety. There is none.” Lazarus died Thursday at age 94 — just a week after the company, which he was no longer associated with, announced that it was closing all of its stores. Of course, many other toy dealers would eventually come along — Target, Costco, Walmart, Amazon — but back in the 1980s, and for several decades before, Lazarus was right. Nobody could compete. The “Toy King,” headlines called him. Lazarus never aspired to the throne. In 1948, at the age of 25, Lazarus opened Children’s Bargain Town below his father’s bike shop on 18th Street in Northwest Washington. Business was brisk. Parents soon began asking Lazarus where they could buy toys — so he stocked them. When a parent came back to buy another toy after the first one broke, Lazarus had an epiphany: He might only sell one crib to a family, but toy customers would keep them coming back. Late in life, Lazarus was asked in a “I was fortunate to join it,” he said. “I had no idea to what size the toy business could be.” Big. Very, very big. Lazarus got out of the baby furniture business and exclusively into toys, renaming his store — soon to be stores — several times before settling on Toys R Us, with the R spelled backward as a gimmick. Supermarkets were his model. Long aisles. Products stacked high. Variety. Big enough to get products at discounts that could be passed on to shoppers. The Toy King could play rough, too. “Lazarus offered toy manufacturers the tantalizing picture of year-round toy sales and the ability to produce 12 months a year,” Eric Clark


The Technology 202: Silicon Valley can breathe a sigh of relief after that Democratic debate

a positive impact. But people still don’t seem to distrust them as much as other institutions that have been political targets. While 33 percent of respondents said technology companies are having a negative impact on the U.S., there was a 39 percent faction that said the same of banks and 64 percent about the news media. However, tech giants such as Amazon and Google still have cause for concern beyond tech policy issues: It's likely that there could be more tech news onstage tonight as the second round of debates kicks off. It could also be tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang’s last chance to be on the debate stage and make his case for a universal basic income, which he says will protect American workers against a coming wave of job automation driven by artificial intelligence. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), who sued Google last week for censoring her campaign, will have her moment in the spotlight. Expect her to potentially make a case against the company’s dominance. She said during an interview on Fox News this week that Google’s power is a threat to elections and free speech. “Tech platforms will continue to be in the spotlight because they are unavoidable centers of power in our elections and our commerce,” Stoller told me. You are reading The Technology 202 , our guide to the intersection of technology and politics. BITS: Members of Congress wasted no time in using Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) suggested that stronger laws such as the one he’s been pushing are needed to hold CEOs accountable for breaches: Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) said that he and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois) are currently drafting “comprehensive data privacy and security legislation to protect consumers.” Efforts by both parties in Congress to roll out new privacy legislation has moved slowly, but the newest breach could add urgency to the process. Much like with Equifax, which recently paid out $700 million to settle with U.S. regulators after exposing the social security numbers of more than 147 million Americans in 2017, lawmakers are also looking to haul in the company for a congressional hearing. From Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.): Capital One is already facing an investigation from the New York Attorney General's office as well as a class action lawsuit filed in federal court yesterday. NIBBLES: Trump amplified two Twitter accounts affiliated with online conspiracy theory community QAnon One of the accounts


Major U.S. television networks sue free streaming service Locast

said the group’s nonprofit status and the fact it was not charging for the service put it on “sound legal footing.” Broadcasters disagreed. “Locast is not the Robin Hood of television; instead, Locast’s founding, funding, and operations reveal its decidedly commercial purposes,” according to the lawsuit. — Reuters LABOR Small-business hiring edged up in July Small-business employment edged up during July as owners gingerly took on new hires. That report came Wednesday from payroll provider ADP, which counted 11,000 new jobs at its small-business customers, those with up to 49 employees. ADP’s smallest customers, those with up to 19 employees, cut 18,000 jobs. The slim overall increase in hiring followed two months of job cuts — small companies cut 13,000 jobs in June and 34,000 in May, ADP said. That followed a gain of 66,000 in April. Small-business hiring has been constrained by a confluence of factors. Owners have been conservative about adding to their payrolls since the recession. They have also struggled along with larger companies to find qualified workers partly because they generally cannot offer the salaries and benefits big corporations do. ADP said all of its business customers created 156,000 jobs in July. — Associated Press FOOD INDUSTRY Impossible Burger gets okay on color additive The Impossible Burger, so far only available at restaurants, could finally be making its way to U.S. grocery store shelves. It also announced on Wednesday plans to produce more of the meat-free patties through a new collaboration. In response to a petition submitted by Impossible Foods, the Silicon Valley-based maker of the burger, the Food and Drug Administration has amended its rules to call the use of soy leghemoglobin safe as a color additive in imitation beef, clearing a key hurdle in the company’s push to sell raw product inside grocery stores. The rule change is effective Sept. 4, though petitioners still have a chance to file objections. The original petition filed in December specified heme could “not exceed 0.8 percent by weight” of the final product. Separately, the company said it had signed a deal with global food producer OSI Group to expand production. OSI will begin making the Impossible Burger starting next month, adding short-term capacity to Impossible’s own Oakland, Calif., factory. — Bloomberg News ALSO IN BUSINESS The annual wages Pagani gave video-game fans — From news reports COMING TODAY 10 a.m.: 10 a.m.: 10 a.m.: All day: Earnings:


Senators introduce bipartisan measure to punish Saudis for Khashoggi murder

Sens. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) introduced bipartisan legislation Wednesday seeking to punish the Saudi government for the October murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Their bill, similar to one passed overwhelmingly in the House earlier this month, would require the director of national intelligence to identify which Saudi officials were involved in killing Khashoggi and require the Trump administration to impose visa sanctions on those individuals and deny them entry into the United States. “This bill is another important message to the Saudis that the murder of Jamal Khashoggi will not go unpunished,” Graham said in a statement. “If you played a role in the murder, you have no business traveling to the United States. This bill accomplishes that goal.” This new legislation comes days after the Senate failed to override President Trump’s vetoes of three bills blocking arms deals benefiting Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which lawmakers sought as a way to hold Saudi leaders accountable for the slaying of Khashoggi and for the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Yemen. The president has resisted calls from Congress to punish Saudi leaders, putting Republicans in a difficult position as they determine how hard to push for sanctions on Saudi officials in defiance of Trump. Last week, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman James E. Risch (R-S.C.) offered a watered down bill that would restrict U.S. visas for some members of the Saudi kingdom but not Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Over Risch’s objections, committee members advanced a stricter sanctions bill to impose a moratorium on all nondefensive arms transfers to Saudi Arabia and to impose sanctions on Saudi leaders involved in Khashoggi’s death, including the crown prince. Risch has said there’s no point pushing a bill that is going to be vetoed by the president. “We cannot let our foreign policy be dictated solely by narrow economic and security concerns. Our values are equally if not more important than our interests,” Coons said in a statement. “We have a long history with Saudi Arabia but the President has failed to hold the country’s senior leadership to account for the horrendous murder of Jamal Khashoggi. This legislation will ensure the United States doesn’t turn a blind eye to egregious violations of human rights.” colby.itkowitz@washpost.com karoun.demirjian@washpost.com


The cities of the future used to feature flying cars. A warming world demands new dreams.

Ned Cramer is the editor in chief of Architect magazine. Last week, temperatures neared 110 degrees across Europe, where only 1 in 20 households has air conditioning. Such record-breaking fits of nature are increasingly the norm. To maintain our quality of life, which is to say, civilization, we must transform our way of life, starting with the built environment. Yesterday’s visions of the cities of tomorrow were big on bravura, with giant robots, flying cars and mile-high skyscrapers. As the principles of a more ecologically balanced architecture and urbanism take shape, it is evident that utility, not flash, will be the dominant theme. But just because the possibilities for transforming our built environment now being tested in tech labs and design studios offer less spectacle, that doesn’t make them any less remarkable. Our first concern in a heat wave such as this recent one may be how buildings can keep us cool. But our built environment plays a worrisome role warming the world. The construction and operation of buildings are responsible for nearly 40 percent of the world’s greenhouse-gas emissions. The same techniques that have given us some of our most visually distinct architecture are helping us tackle this problem. Architects such as Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid used modeling software to design buildings with radical and expressive forms. Increasingly, however, architects and engineers are using computation to model and monitor building performance, so buildings can manage light, water, temperature and airflow with less energy, and provide healthier conditions for occupants. Structures can now be made to operate so efficiently that they produce as much or more power — via solar panels, geothermal heat pumps and other renewable sources — than they consume. At the American Geophysical Union headquarters near Dupont Circle, work is nearing completion on Washington’s first net-zero energy building renovation. Some innovations will reduce our dependence on technology. For instance, no one has yet found a way to make air conditioning significantly less energy-intensive. So to reduce dependence on climate control, homes will simply need to be better insulated — and people will also learn to live within a slightly broader indoor temperature range. And much of that insulation will be made of natural materials such as wool and cotton, recycled from discarded clothes. But design can get us only so far: Other changes will need to couple virtuous design with major changes in taste and behavior.


Northern Ireland’s politicians don’t agree on much. Except that Boris Johnson’s no-deal Brexit would be a disaster.

threat to take Britain out of the E.U. without a deal, without a trade pact or a transition period, was folly, or worse. “We are in a crisis, and Brexit is adding to the chaos,” said Naomi Long, the leader of the Alliance Party. Mary Lou McDonald, the Sinn Fein president, said Johnson’s plan for a no-deal Brexit has increased the likelihood that the United Kingdom will splinter — by boosting the case for Irish reunification. Speaking to the BBC on Wednesday morning, McDonald said: “Traditionally, the argument and the discourse has been between green and orange, between Irishness and Britishness. But Brexit changed that and added a new dimension, a critical dimension, which is: European or not? Inside the European Union or not?” Northern Ireland is slated to leave the E.U. along with the rest of the United Kingdom. The Republic of Ireland to the south will remain a member of the E.U. One of the most vexing challenges of Brexit is what to do about the border between the two. Under what terms will milk, machine parts, beer, financial services, bacon and people move across? Johnson has said he will not meet with European leaders until they agree to strike the Irish border “backstop,” or guarantee, from the withdrawal agreement they negotiated with his predecessor, Theresa May. The backstop seeks to ensure an open border by essentially tying Britain to E.U. rules and regulations in the case the two sides cannot agree to a trade deal that makes such a guarantee unnecessary. After her meeting with Johnson, Sinn Fein’s McDonald said that if there was a hard Brexit, she would push for a vote for Northern Ireland to leave the United Kingdom. Nichola Mallon, a leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, said she had a “very blunt meeting” with Johnson and observed that he did not have a full grasp of the “complexities” of Northern Ireland. She said she told Johnson that he “must avoid a hard Brexit at all costs.” Mallon said she reminded the prime minister that he had responsibilities under the Good Friday Agreement, which ended 30 years of sectarian violence, and that he “must live up to them.” Mallon said, “We pressed him time and time again and just got stock responses.” On the other hand, Arlene Foster, the leader of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, said she and Johnson had a


A year after a journalist’s assassination, Saudi Arabia announces media forum to ‘boost’ reputation

many of the region’s journalists censor themselves or have stopped writing altogether.” Khashoggi, a veteran journalist from Saudi Arabia, was last seen in October, walking into the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, trying to obtain documents for his upcoming wedding. After he didn’t emerge for four hours, his fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, called the police. His family, friends and co-workers feared for his safety immediately. He had lived in the United States in a self-imposed exile since 2017, when he fled Saudi Arabia out of a fear that his criticism of the kingdom’s leadership would jeopardize his safety. Though Mohammed initially said, “We have nothing to hide,” grisly details about Khashoggi’s final moments emerged in the days and weeks that followed his disappearance. On Oct. 31, Turkey’s top prosecutor detailed the murder, carried out by a 15-man hit team dispatched from Saudi Arabia. Agents, the prosecutor said, strangled Khashoggi shortly after he entered the consulate, and then killed and dismembered him. As officials in Riyadh changed their story repeatedly, President Trump continued to back the crown prince, calling him a “strong person” who “truly loves his country.” Trump doubled down on his defense of Mohammed even as the CIA concluded that the crown prince had indeed ordered Khashoggi’s assassination. He called the country a “great ally.” But in a sharp rebuke to the president, the Senate voted in December to condemn Mohammed for the killing. This summer, the U.N. report refocused international attention on Mohammed’s role. The author, human rights expert Agnes Callamard, wrote that everyone she consulted found it “inconceivable that an operation of this scale could be implemented without the Crown Prince being aware, at a minimum, that some sort of mission of a criminal nature, directed at Mr. Khashoggi, was being launched.” Callamard called for sanctions and a U.N.-assisted criminal inquiry into the matter. The kingdom hasn’t set a date for its forum, but journalists have already begun expressing trepidation about the fate that could befall its attendees. Brian Whitaker, former Middle East editor at the Guardian, summed up the sentiment in a succinct Twitter post: “Saudi Arabia plans to host an international media forum,” he wrote. “Attend at your own risk.” Read more: Facing uproar over Khashoggi killing, Saudi Arabia invited global press freedom group for visit Why was MBS so afraid of Jamal Khashoggi? Jamal Khashoggi’s final column: What the Arab world needs most is free expression


Democrats face a foreign policy conundrum

whether some combination of diplomacy and ongoing nonmilitary assistance can ensure stability if we remove all forces. In a new report, Kelly Magsamen and Michael Fuchs of the Center for American Progress argue: To formulate a responsible policy will mean being honest about the current situation (e.g., we are at a stalemate) and the risks of leaving (we will lose intelligence-gathering, risk a resurgence of terrorist groups, possibly provoke a collapse of the Afghan government) as well as explaining the downsides of staying (e.g., focus and resources are best spent elsewhere, we are hurting military readiness for other purposes). The authors’ suggestion that we “simultaneously pursue an over-the-horizon rapid-reaction military capability to ensure that forces could be quickly deployed in the case of an urgent threat to U.S. diplomatic personnel or the Afghan government” should be pursued, as should enhanced regional support for the Afghan government. (However, I am less sanguine than the authors about delinking our military withdrawal from progress in negotiations with the Taliban, nor do I think a reduced troop presence in Afghanistan (total forces went down to 8,400 under President Barack Obama) should be ruled out. Afghanistan policy should be part of an overall policy vision. Writing about Yemen last year, Brian Katulis and Lawrence J. Korb argued that ending wars “will require a set of investments in diplomacy, economic statecraft tools, and a long-term strategy for the broader Middle East that has been missing in action long before Donald Trump came to office.” If Democrats want to advocate a different strategy in Afghanistan, they need to explain how that benefits our overall security; if they want to curtail the defense budget, they had better explain how they expect our forces to do more with less. For purposes of the campaign, Democratic candidates should focus on widely popular objectives — maintaining vigilance against terrorism, countering economic and cyber-aggression by China, protecting our democracy from foreign sabotage and developing sane approaches to the worldwide refugee and climate change crises — but also create an effective response to counter President Trump’s counterproductive yet catchy message (“America First”). “America Best” — the responsible defender against international threats, the glue to hold critical alliances together, the leader on necessary transnational deal-making (on cyberthreats, climate change, nuclear proliferation, etc.) and the confident democracy able to resist toadying to dictators — might hold promise. In this regard, Democrats need more Teddy Roosevelt


If Boris Johnson gets his Brexit, it may break the United Kingdom

of the European Union. “Brexit in any shape promises to weaken the bonds between the nations of the British Isles. In the extreme form that seems to be the working assumption by Johnson’s new administration, it will impose intolerable strains. This could set in train a process that ends with the break-up of the union.” The most intolerable strain would lie across the Irish Sea. A Brexit that doesn’t include an Irish backstop could stoke old tensions, explained my colleague Siobhán O’Grady: “The border is a highly sensitive issue in Ireland because its current arrangement was negotiated as part of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that put an end to the 30-year period known as ‘the Troubles.’ During that time, sectarian violence between Unionists, who wanted Northern Ireland to stay part of the United Kingdom, and Nationalists, who wanted it to belong to the Republic of Ireland, left more than 3,500 dead. Now, there are fears that the reinstatement of tight border controls between the two sides could ignite a dangerous new wave of tensions reminiscent of that era.” That’s why officials in Dublin and Brussels consider the backstop nonnegotiable. On Tuesday, almost a full week after taking office, Johnson placed his first phone call to Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar. Their exchange was reportedly “testy” and not particularly productive. According to an Irish readout, Varadkar reminded Johnson that the backstop was “a consequence” of Britain’s political decision to embark on Brexit and that Ireland had the full strength of the E.U. behind it. On Friday, Varadkar hinted at the possibility of Northern Ireland severing its ties with the United Kingdom in the event of a no-deal Brexit. “I think increasingly you see liberal Protestants and Unionists who will start to ask where they feel more at home,” he said. “One of the things that ironically could really undermine the union of the U.K. is a hard Brexit, both for Northern Ireland and for Scotland, and that is a problem they are going to have to face.” Not for nothing did former British prime minister Gordon Brown remark at a London event last week that Johnson could be remembered “not as the 55th prime minister of the U.K. but as the first prime minister of England.” Want smart analysis of the most important news in your inbox every weekday along with other global reads, interesting ideas and opinions to know?


Struggling National Philharmonic gets two lifelines, but the way forward isn’t clear-cut

Two weeks ago, the Maryland-based National Philharmonic announced that it was planning to close because it had run out of money. Now, the group has an embarrassment of riches. On Tuesday, the orchestra administration said that it had raised the funds needed to stay open, while on Monday night, a local musician and businessman presented to the board a concrete proposal to save the year-round regional orchestra, which performs at Strathmore in Montgomery County. “We certainly are thrilled beyond belief that the community has come together to support this organization with its hard-earned dollars for the organization to move forward,” said Leanne Ferfolia, the orchestra’s president, who has been working overtime on an emergency fundraising campaign to raise the $150,000 needed by Wednesday. Meanwhile, James Kelly, a violist who is co-owner of Potter Violins in Silver Spring, said he had pledges from 12 donors, including himself, amounting to $275,000. The only contingency: that the orchestra boot its leadership and allow him to take over as interim president. Now the orchestra’s board has to decide what to do with all of this bounty — and with the two competing plans — so its season can start as announced Sept. 21. Kelly’s plan is not as far-fetched as it may sound. He has played with the orchestra for six seasons and worked as its personnel manager for the past two. Before Kelly’s meeting with the board Monday, the orchestra’s musicians — whose contract expired June 30 — voted unanimously to support him. Also on his bandwagon are the National Philharmonic’s founder and music director, Piotr Gajewski; the artistic director of the National Philharmonic Chorale, Stan Engebretson; and some board members who worked with him on the plan. Kelly also said he wants the president’s job only for a year, without pay. (Gajewski and Engebretson have agreed to work without pay for a year as well, amounting, Kelly said, to an additional savings of $140,000.) “This is not a power trip for me at all,” Kelly, 42, said Tuesday. “I feel an obligation to do this because no one else is rising up. I know I can do this, and I know I can surround myself with the right team. I will work with consultants to do a full audit and pass the torch to someone much more qualified. “I am not throwing management under the bus. Executive management has worked really, really


Zeppelin is fun, but its sushi doesn’t quite fly

(Satisfactory/Good) I’m half-tempted to say that the best part about Zeppelin is the backstory to the Shaw restaurant, the one with the glorious monster mural on the side of the building. But that would imply the place has no other charms, which is not the case. I would like to suggest, however, that Ari and Micah Wilder’s original vision for their refined Japanese playhouse would have made for a much cooler spot. When the brothers and co-owners sketched out plans for Zeppelin, they imagined that the multi-concept establishment — sushi house, izakaya, yakitori, karaoke bar — would sit above Chaplin’s, their ramen-forward restaurant, also in Shaw. They wanted to suspend a scaled reproduction of a German airship from the rooftop, a zeppelin that would be visible for blocks in every direction in this low-slung city. They had hoped the dirigible would become a Washington landmark, separate from the august monuments that honor our nation’s guts and glory, a kind of Randy’s Donuts for the District. But when the city’s regulatory dweebs nixed their plans, the brothers settled on a location just down the block from Chaplin’s on Ninth Street NW. Zeppelin moved into a two-story structure with a short, snakebit history as a dining destination. The previous two tenants to occupy the space — Kwame Onwuachi’s Shaw Bijou and the French Quarter Brasserie — didn’t survive a year there. Combined. Restaurateurs with less nerve might have balked at such a spot. But the brothers Wilder were born with moxie in their blood. They’re the sons of an iconoclastic father who passed along his affection for silent movies, whose heyday happened to coincide with the rise of commercial airship travel, which is how these siblings connected the dots between Charlie Chaplin and Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin’s famous dirigible. From there, the Wilders were only one small free association away from making the leap from Count Zeppelin to Led Zeppelin, whose debut album featured a high-contrast image of the Hindenburg, mid-explosion, a disaster that would effectively end the airship era. Somehow, some way, the owners pour this entire strange brew into one Japanese restaurant. The interior, designed by Reid & Taylor Studio, draws inspiration from Art Deco, German airships and Japanese minimalism. A soft, glowing light box hangs above the second-floor dining room. Its panels illuminate a faithful Japanese translation of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir,” courtesy of partner Minoru Ogawa, the chef better


Eating better, getting better and finding a new community along the way

So far, so good. More than six months into my plant-based, whole-food dietary journey, what began as a trudge has eased into a stroll. Still crave some sweets, but I do not miss meat. Give me an extra helping of beans, rice, fruits and veggies, please. My old eating habits verged on corporate-sponsored suicide by food — especially that artery-clogging, mind-numbing fare I’d get from fast-food joints. Within days of making the change, I began experiencing health benefits — lower cholesterol, normal blood pressure, reasonable weight. Even mental acuity improves when the brain is not saturated with fried-chicken fat. Kindred spirits have made the journey even more enjoyable. I’ve met many in the vegan community. Just everyday people — only healthier, more energetic, happier, better able to handle stress. Hundreds of them had gathered in the District over the weekend for the International Conference on Nutrition in Medicine. The topics included the role of food in triggering “pathological processes” and how foods can reverse chronic diseases. Eric L. Adams, a former New York City police captain now serving as Brooklyn borough president, was among the participants. He’d been diagnosed with diabetes three years ago and declared legally blind in one eye. He was told he’d probably have to turn in his driver’s license and be on medication for the rest of his life. “That was my wake-up call,” Adams told me. He began doing research on treatments that didn’t involve a lifetime of insulin shots and discovered the work of physicians Michael Greger, Dean Ornish, Neal Barnard and Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr. and biochemist T. Colin Campbell, which showed that diabetes and other chronic diseases could be prevented and even reversed with a plant-based diet. “I changed my diet and three weeks later, my vision had cleared up,” said Adams, who is 58. “The tingling sensation in my hands and feet stopped. My ulcers disappeared, my cholesterol dropped. It was like a complete reversal.” His mother had been a diabetic for 15 years and had spent seven years on insulin. “Two months after going plant-based, she was off the insulin,” Adams said. He used to think that diabetes was just a part of his genetic inheritance, something he could not have done anything to prevent. “What I learned was that the problem was not my DNA; it was my dinner,” he said. At his job as borough president, Adams turned


Why Boris Johnson is already clashing with Ireland over Brexit

of the United Kingdom could be drawn into question. “I think increasingly you see liberal Protestants and unionists who will start to ask where they feel more at home,” he said. “One of the things that ironically could really undermine the union of the U.K. is a hard Brexit, both for Northern Ireland and for Scotland, and that is a problem they are going to have to face.” But over the weekend, Johnson doubled down on the comments, calling a backstop “anti-democratic.” Although the Troubles technically ended in the late 1990s, a number of violent incidents have rocked the area near the Irish border in Northern Ireland in recent months. In April, journalist Lyra McKee was shot and killed after riots broke out in the northern Irish town of Londonderry, home to a large population of Irish nationalists. Former U.S. senator George J. Mitchell, who chaired the peace talks that led to the Good Friday Agreement, wrote in an op-ed for The Washington Post late last year that changing the border “could increase the possibility of a resumption of violence.” Fears over a hard border deepened in January, after then-Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal was overwhelmingly struck down by British lawmakers, who ordered her to return to the drawing board and determine a new arrangement for the border with Ireland. Some who oppose a hard border saw that as May essentially reneging on the Good Friday Agreement, a claim May insisted was untrue. E.U. leaders made clear at that time that the backstop was nonnegotiable. But now, Johnson’s renewed calls to abolish the backstop that would protect the current border arrangements have left many confused about what may come next. Johnson has threatened to leave the E.U. without a deal if he can’t renegotiate a new one by the October deadline. And E.U. commissioner Claude Juncker has made clear that the E.U. is unwilling to consider a renegotiation — especially one that abolishes the backstop. In his first call with Johnson last week, he said the most recently negotiated arrangement was “the best and only agreement possible." And chief E.U. Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier called Johnson’s insistence on removing the Irish backstop “unacceptable.” Read more The Good Friday Agreement ended decades of conflict. Ireland worries Brexit could unravel it. Could Brexit bring new troubles to Northern Ireland? A battle over language is at the heart of Northern Ireland crisis


State Department wasted millions on security compound in Afghanistan, report says

spell out the circumstances under which it will undertake construction projects and designate formal responsibility. The State Department disagreed, responding in a letter to the inspector general’s office that the doomed Camp Eggers project presented “very unique circumstance” and that no two projects are alike. The report underscores how long the U.S. government has struggled to protect U.S. diplomats and service members based in Afghanistan, which is the longest war in American history. On Monday, two U.S. service members were fatally shot and a third was wounded when an Afghan soldier opened fire on a group of Americans at a military base in a conflict-torn region of southern Kandahar province, Afghan defense and police officials said Tuesday. The Department of Defense identified the two soldiers as Pfc. Brandon Jay Kreischer, 20, of Stryker, Ohio; and Spc. Michael Isaiah Nance, 24, of Chicago. They were assigned to the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, based in Fort Bragg, N.C., a Pentagon spokesman said in a statement Tuesday evening. The soldiers died in Tarin Kowt, in Uruzgan province, “as a result of wounds sustained in a combat related incident,” the spokesman said. The incident is under investigation, he said. According to Afghan officials, the shooter was wounded in return fire and taken into Afghan military custody. It was the first “insider” attack since November, when Brent Taylor, a major in the Utah National Guard and the mayor of a town in Utah, was killed by an Afghan soldier in Kabul. No information was immediately available about the shooter except that he was an Afghan soldier. Insider attacks have been a problem for U.S. forces in Afghanistan over the past decade, peaking in 2012 with several high-profile incidents. But they declined significantly after U.S. military officials began placing “guardian angel” forces in the battlefield, Afghan security officials improved vetting of recruits, and a major U.S. troop drawdown began in 2014. A total of 2,400 U.S. troops have been killed in the 18-year conflict. The Taliban has intensified its attacks in recent months, as peace negotiations with U.S. officials have continued in Qatar. As its presidential election campaign kicked off this week, Afghanistan is especially jittery amid fears of more violence. On Sunday, President Ashraf Ghani’s top running mate, former national intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh, narrowly escaped death when attackers besieged his political office in Kabul. The attack, which began with a suicide car bombing, turned


a letter to the inspector general’s office that the doomed Camp Eggers project presented “very unique circumstance” and that no two projects are alike. The report underscores how long the U.S. government has struggled to protect U.S. diplomats and service members based in Afghanistan, which is the longest war in American history. On Monday, two U.S. service members were fatally shot and a third was wounded when an Afghan soldier opened fire on a group of Americans at a military base in a conflict-torn region of southern Kandahar province, Afghan defense and police officials said Tuesday. The Department of Defense identified the two soldiers as Pfc. Brandon Jay Kreischer, 20, of Stryker, Ohio; and Spc. Michael Isaiah Nance, 24, of Chicago. They were assigned to the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, based in Fort Bragg, N.C., a Pentagon spokesman said in a statement Tuesday evening. The soldiers died in Tarin Kowt, in Uruzgan province, “as a result of wounds sustained in a combat related incident,” the spokesman said. The incident is under investigation, he said. According to Afghan officials, the shooter was wounded in return fire and taken into Afghan military custody. It was the first “insider” attack since November, when Brent Taylor, a major in the Utah National Guard and the mayor of a town in Utah, was killed by an Afghan soldier in Kabul. No information was immediately available about the shooter except that he was an Afghan soldier. Insider attacks have been a problem for U.S. forces in Afghanistan over the past decade, peaking in 2012 with several high-profile incidents. But they declined significantly after U.S. military officials began placing “guardian angel” forces in the battlefield, Afghan security officials improved vetting of recruits, and a major U.S. troop drawdown began in 2014. A total of 2,400 U.S. troops have been killed in the 18-year conflict. The Taliban has intensified its attacks in recent months, as peace negotiations with U.S. officials have continued in Qatar. As its presidential election campaign kicked off this week, Afghanistan is especially jittery amid fears of more violence. On Sunday, President Ashraf Ghani’s top running mate, former national intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh, narrowly escaped death when attackers besieged his political office in Kabul. The attack, which began with a suicide car bombing, turned into a six-hour gun battle between security forces and heavily armed attackers, who killed 20 people and injured 50. carol.morello@washpost.com pamela.constable@washpost.com


The European health-care models eyed by Democrats are at risk of faltering

the political effect of that shift will be most noticeable in Europe, where combined costs are high and people have long relied on the type of world-class universal health care some leading Democrats appear to be inspired by. Amid uncertainty over Brexit, thousands of E.U. nurses have left the country in recent years. A no-deal Brexit scenario could result in widespread shortages of crucial drugs, according to the pharmaceutical industry. NHS supporters fear that all of those woes combined may eventually pressure Britain into a far-reaching mistake. One year before his death in 2018, British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who suffered from motor neuron disease, warned in a Guardian op-ed that the NHS was under enormous pressure from, as a headline on the post put it, “politicians who want to privatize it — when public opinion, and the evidence, point in the opposite direction.” Hawking’s warnings sounded more timely than ever when President Trump suggested this June that the NHS would be part of post-Brexit trade-deal discussions. After public backlash, Trump backtracked. But even the remote possibility of the NHS coming up for sale prompted weeks-long discussions. After Trump’s comments, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock rushed to clarify: “The NHS isn’t on the table in trade talks — and never will be. Not on my watch.” New Prime Minister Boris Johnson echoed those comments last week, saying that “under no circumstances” would he agree to such a scenario. Despite the strong defenses of Europe’s health-care systems, pressure to make concessions will only mount — and so will political efforts to exploit the uphill battle. Similar concerns were echoed in Sweden, where voters named the country’s strained health-care system as the second-most-important campaign issue ahead of elections last year, just behind immigration. In Austria, where elections will take place this fall, sustaining the country’s health-care system is among voters’ top concerns, according to surveys. Meanwhile, in France, President Emmanuel Macron promised substantial changes to his country’s still-excellent but overburdened system last year. There is a good chance that health care will remain a top political issue on both sides of the Atlantic for years to come. While Europe’s shrinking working-age population will have to fund health care for a growing population of pensioners, the United States’ demographic change is projected to proceed more slowly. Demographics may play into the hands of Democrats supporting a single-payer health-care system, but they could become