The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a trade deal worth celebrating

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman speaks as the twelve Trans-Pacific Partnership member countries participate in the closing newsconference in Atlanta on Monday. (Erik S. Lesser/European Pressphoto Agency) THE UNITED STATES and 11 other nations concluded the long-awaited Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, or TPP, on Monday — demonstrating that it is still possible for this country to exercise world leadership, and to do big things in its own national interest, given consistent White House leadership and sufficient bipartisan support in Congress. As President Obama sees it, the TPP would achieve both economic and strategic goals. By slashing tariffs and harmonizing regulatory regimes covering 40 percent of the global economy, the deal would spur growth in the United States and abroad. By knitting the U.S. and Japanese economies together in their first free-trade deal — and binding both of them closer to rising Asian nations — the TPP would create a counterweight to China in East Asia. Not incidentally, the deal would also help Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, overcome domestic interest-group resistance to reforming his nation’s sclerotic economy. Those arguments persuaded bipartisan majorities of the Republican-controlled Congress to empower Mr. Obama’s negotiating team with so-called “fast-track” authority this year, and, as predicted, that vote helped win substantial new access to the Japanese and other markets for U.S. producers, as well as provisions on the environment and labor rights — including Vietnam’s first acceptance of possible independent trade unions. In granting the administration fast-track authority, Congress rejected claims from a legion of critics to the effect that the TPP would sell out U.S. workers, the environment or even public health. In fact, the tentative deal would ensure that a controversial dispute arbitration system is more transparent and cannot be used by tobacco makers to escape member nations’ tough regulations. The U.S. team also struck a compromise designed to protect the legitimate intellectual property interests of American drugmakers without depriving poor nations of access to life-saving medicine. It’s good that the critics lost the fast-track debate in Congress; but it’s not bad we had that debate, because it helped U.S. negotiators identify areas of legitimate concern and, accordingly, areas where the deal could incorporate those concerns. What’s emerged from the talks suggests that the TPP will indeed live up to Mr. Obama’s promise of a “21st-century” agreement: one that anchors the United States in a key region for decades to come, while increasing


Top U.S. general in Afghanistan: Hospital was ‘mistakenly struck’

Afghan government reclaim Kunduz, the first major Afghan city to fall to the Taliban since the war began in 2001, would be available after a Pentagon investigation. He declined to give a timeline for that probe. But numerous questions remain about how Saturday’s strike, in which an AC-130 gunship conducted repeated bombing raids on a building housing the hospital’s emergency rooms and intensive care unit, could have happened. Campbell described the incident as a mistake, but he did not specify whether the American pilots had tried to hit another target and missed or whether they intended to strike the hospital building but did not know it was a medical facility. Neither have officials said whether U.S. forces violated their own rules of engagement in Afghanistan, which permit the United States to use air power in three situations: for counterterrorism operations, in self-defense or to protect Afghan forces “in extremis.” In a statement released Tuesday, Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said he would hold those responsible accountable. “The U.S. military takes the greatest care in our operations to prevent the loss of innocent life,” Carter said. “And when we make mistakes, we own up to them.” Doctors Without Borders has described the attack as deliberate and a possible war crime. Twelve of the group’s staffers and 10 patients, including three children, were killed. White House press secretary Josh Earnest reacts to a U.S. general's testimony that a deadly U.S. air strike on a hospital in Afghanistan was a mistake. “This attack cannot be brushed aside as a mere mistake or an inevitable consequence of war,” Joanne Liu, president of MSF International, said in a statement. Doctors Without Borders is also known by its French initials, MSF. The organization said it repeatedly provided the hospital’s coordinates to U.S. and Afghan authorities. U.S. military officials have already revised their account of what occurred overnight on Saturday. On Monday, speaking at the Pentagon, Campbell said the attack was authorized after Afghan troops, under attack by the Taliban, requested American air support. That contradicted earlier statements from Pentagon officials that the strike was ordered to protect U.S. forces on the ground who were taking direct fire from the Taliban. According to Pentagon officials, U.S. Special Operations forces were positioned in Kunduz, advising elite Afghan troops nearby, when the strike took place. It now appears that U.S. forces were not facing direct attack from the Taliban.


Right-to-die advocates hope to mimic California victory in D.C., Maryland

Dan Diaz holds a photo of his late wife, Brittany Maynard, during a rally for right-to-die legislation at the Capitol in Sacramento on Sept. 24. Diaz has lobbied lawmakers across the country. (Rich Pedroncelli/AP) National right-to-die advocates are hoping their recent success in California will boost their efforts to allow terminally ill patients to legally end their lives in Maryland and the District. On Monday, California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed legislation making his state the fifth to allow doctors to prescribe fatal drugs to patients facing imminent deaths. At least two dozen states are considering similar laws on medically assisted suicide. While New Jersey and New York are considered the next states to push for the laws, advocates say the success in California helps buoy efforts in the District and Maryland. “Because it’s such a diverse and large state, it shows how widespread support really is for aid-in-dying and death with dignity,” said Brandi Alexander, a regional organizer with the national advocacy group Compassion and Choices. California’s law is modeled after one in Oregon, first approved by voters in 1994. Patients must self-administer medication with approval from two doctors who confirm that they are mentally sound and have less than six months to live. The movement was reinvigorated last year after Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old California woman with brain cancer, went public with her plans to move to Oregon to legally end her life. Maryland on Tuesday held a workshop on an assisted-suicide bill introduced by Del. Shane E. Pendergrass (D-Howard) where lawmakers heard from officials in Vermont and Oregon about the implementation of similar laws. Pendergrass started the hearing by reading Brown’s letter in signing California’s law, highlighting that the governor said he would not take options from others facing excruciating death despite his Catholic background. Oregon officials told lawmakers that nearly two decades of experience with prescribing fatal drugs showed that fears of coerced death do not come to fruition. Opponents of the laws in Oregon and Vermont countered that ending lives is antithetical to a doctor’s role. Lynne Vitzthum, a lobbyist for people with disabilities in Vermont, told lawmakers that nursing home staffers repeatedly told a 90-year-old woman admitted for a broken wrist that she could end her life. Vitzthum said she believed it was because Vermont mandated that doctors tell patients about end-of-life options. Maryland lawmakers are expected to discuss amending the right-to-die bill at


City Wildlife nurses baby squirrels and finds them new homes

Baby squirrels snuggle at City Wildlife, a rehabilitation center in Washington. The center is bustling with more than 60 baby squirrels. (City Wildlife) Inside the squirrel nursery at City Wildlife, a blue hammock bulges with sleepy, snuggling baby squirrels. One cage over, two bright-eyed babies squabble over a nut. Another youngster, this one in the hands of wildlife biologist Abigail Hehmeyer, grasps a plastic syringe with its tiny claws and guzzles formula. Across the hall, staff and volunteers at the wildlife rehabilitation center in Washington, D.C., care for other wild animals. There’s a songbird with a broken leg, a cardinal found stuck in a glue trap and orphaned baby bunnies. City Wildlife has more than 60 baby squirrels — from hairless infants to juveniles with bushy tails and big brown eyes. Some of the baby squirrels are orphans; others need medical care after suffering injuries from falls or bites by dogs or cats. Hehmeyer predicted that the nursery might soon have 100 baby squirrels. “That’s typical for this time of year,” she said during a visit last month. Born in spring and late summer, squirrels are an important part of our shared urban ecosystem. Wildlife conservationist and squirrel expert John Koprowski says the animals help plant trees by scattering and burying tree seeds. This is important for the growth and spread of forests. A squirrel drinks formula; some of the babies feed six times a day. (Kitson Jazynka) “Squirrels are small animals with a big role,” Koprowski said. Seven days a week, volunteers and staff arrive at City Wildlife as early as 6 a.m. to start long days of feeding, cleaning cages and more feeding. “In the wild, squirrels are up from dawn to dusk, so we try to mimic that schedule here,” Hehmeyer said. Some babies eat six times a day. Caregivers also create opportunities for the squirrels to practice skills necessary for survival in the wild, such as making nests, foraging for nuts and figuring out how to crack those nuts and cache (or store) them. The humans at City Wildlife limit their interaction with the babies so they maintain a fear of people — one of the requirements for release. After a couple of weeks in an outdoor enclosure at Second Chance Wildlife Center in Gaithersburg, young squirrels return to the city for release in wooded areas. “People ask if it’s hard to see the baby squirrels


U.S. trade deficit rose in August as exports hit three-year low

TRADE Trade deficit rose in August as exports fell The U.S. trade deficit jumped sharply in August as exports fell to the lowest level in nearly three years while imports increased, led by a surge in shipments of cellphones from China. The deficit grew 15.6 percent to $48.3 billion, the biggest deficit since March, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. Exports of goods and services dropped 2 percent to $185.1 billion, the lowest level since October 2012, while imports rose 1.2 percent to $233.4 billion. Exports have been hurt this year by the rising value of the dollar, which makes U.S. goods less competitive on overseas markets, and by weaker economic growth in China and other major export markets. Economists say they expect that these trends will combine to push the deficit higher and make trade a drag on overall growth this year. So far this year, the trade deficit is running at an annual rate of $531.6 billion, 4.6 percent higher than last year’s deficit of $508.3 billion. Canada, the United States’ largest trading partner, is in a recession, and China, the world’s second-largest economy, is growing much more slowly; meanwhile, many emerging market economies are being battered by a plunge in commodity prices. — Associated Press TRANSPORTATION Amtrak chief warns on safety deadline The head of Amtrak warned Congress that some passenger rail service outside the Northeast Corridor will be suspended if lawmakers don’t extend a Dec. 31 deadline for railroads to install safety technology. “There will be significant impacts to our service and on our customers and tenant railroads,” chief executive Joseph Boardman said in an Oct. 5 letter to Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. “The potential economic impacts would also be substantial.” The Senate included an extension in broader transportation legislation that is stalled. House transportation leaders last week introduced a standalone bill to extend the deadline for three years. Negotiations between the House and the Senate are underway, and the key lawmakers involved say they’re trying to get legislation to President Obama’s desk this month. Under current law, railroads have until Dec. 31 to install technology, known as positive control, that can automatically slow or stop trains to prevent crashes. Amtrak and other rail operators have long said they can’t meet the deadline to install it in all the areas where it’s required, including on all passenger routes and in areas


Man fatally shot Tuesday in Northeast Washington shortly before noon

A man was shot and killed Tuesday morning in Northeast Washington, the D.C. police said. The shooting occurred about a quarter to twelve in the 600 block of 42nd Street NE, according to Officer Hugh Carew, a police spokesman. The site is near a wooded tract in a largely residential area one half mile east of the Anacostia Freeway and the Minnesota Avenue metro stop. It is couple of blocks east of the Friendship Collegiate Academy public charter school . Few other details were available about the incident, which occurred outdoors.


Obama apologizes to head of Doctors Without Borders for strike on hospital

inconsistencies in the U.S. and Afghan accounts of what happened over recent days,” Liu said. Liu said the proposed commission would gather evidence from the United States, NATO and Afghanistan. After that, the charity would decide whether to seek criminal charges for loss of life and damage. The group has said the attack might be deemed a war crime. “If we let this go, we are basically giving a blank check to any countries at war,” she said. Army General John Campbell clarified that the decision to provide air support to Afghan forces in Kunduz, which hit a hospital, was a U.S. decision. "We would never intentionally target a protected medical facility," Gen. Campbell said while testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Oct. 6. Liu, who spoke prior to the call with Obama, noted there had been no commitments yet on official cooperation with an independent investigation. But U.S. officials said that the United States would be unlikely to take part in an inquiry by the commission. The United States is not a party to the body. “We do participate in some international tribunals and are party to numerous treaties, but when it comes to investigations of our military activities, we do those ourselves,” said John Bellinger III, who was the State Department’s top lawyer from 2005 to 2009. Bellinger said the commission, which has never been activated, may not have the ability to quickly conduct an investigation of this type. “Because accidents or incidents . . . do happen not infrequently, the U.S. government knows how to conduct an investigation” such as the one now taking place. In a statement issued later in the day, Liu acknowledged the call with Obama and reiterated her call for an independent probe to determine “what happened in Kunduz, how it happened, and why it happened.” Obama also spoke on Wednesday with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to express condolences for the Afghans killed on Saturday. The president’s personal outreach is one sign of the administration’s concern about what is one of the worst instances of U.S. air power gone astray in Afghanistan in years. On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter promised to hold those responsible accountable, if necessary. The U.S. military rarely, if ever, disciplines individual service members for “collateral damage” or other actions that occur as part of combat. Officials are now scrambling to assemble an accurate account of


Police identify man who was shot and killed in Northeast Washington

Police identified a man who was fatally shot in Northeast Washington. Authorities said Muhammad Washington, 20, of that neighborhood was shot Tuesday around 11:42 a.m. in the 600 block of 42nd Street NE. When officers arrived, they found him suffering from a gunshot wound. He was taken to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead. Police said they are investigating the case as a homicide. D.C. Police are offering a reward of up to $25,000 to anyone who provides information that leads to an arrest and conviction.


Prince George’s approves food trucks, Montgomery extends vendors’ hours

Food trucks are seen behind customers in the District of Columbia, where their regulation and permitting has moved more quickly than in Prince George’s County. They only recently legalized mobile food vending after a decade-old prohibition. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post) Food trucks will be permitted in Prince George’s County for the first time in a decade and will be allowed to operate after dark in Montgomery County, thanks to bills that were passed by each jurisdiction’s county council on Tuesday. In Prince George’s, county lawmakers included unusually detailed oversight in their food-truck law, an effort to prevent the return of what they described as substandard roadside vendors that did business in some of the county’s blue-collar neighborhoods years ago. Today, food trucks are considered trendy, and county leaders said they believe the vendors can spark economic development and provide healthy food to underserved communities. “I hope we struck the right balance,” said Council member Dannielle Glaros (D-Riverdale Park), who sponsored the legislation. “We’re cracking the door open to start to enable our entrepreneurs to come into our community and provide amenities where we just don’t have them.” The mobile eateries will have to operate in approved “food truck hubs” located within a quarter-mile of certain Metro stations and county parks. They must comply with strict rules on garbage disposal, undergo extensive safety and health inspections, and pay a considerable licensing fee — $500 for 60-day operation and $3,500 for longer periods. “This is the most conservative regulatory regime we’ve faced,” said Ché Ruddell-Tabisola, executive director of the DMV Food Truck Association. “But it lays a foundation.” A committee of citizens will oversee the food-truck program, which is expected to launch in College Park and New Carrollton, both of which are in Glaros’s district. Each hub will be managed by a coordinator to ensure compliance with the various regulations. The council capped the total number of hubs at 12. It voted to exclude four Metro stations as possible hub locations — Branch Avenue, West Hyattsville, Largo Town Center and Prince George’s Plaza — after the council members who represent those locations said their constituents were concerned that food trucks would draw crime or trash or have other negative impacts. Among the vendors who hope to soon start operating in Prince George’s are longtime Bowie residents Corries and Roxie Hardy, both of whom quit their corporate jobs in order to sell barbecue


Montgomery County Animal Watch

This case was received by the Montgomery County Animal Services Division. For information, call 240-773-5900. This number provides recorded information on topics such as the new animal services and adoption center’s hours and location in Derwood, adoption and licensing procedures, and lost-and-found and field services. Dog treat trouble: “Strut Your Mutt” 5K fundraiser: “A Party for Paws”: Volunteers wanted: Reduced fees for cat adoption: Germantown Adoptable cats at no-kill shelter: Gaithersburg Adopt dogs and cats at MCHS no-kill rescue: Rockville — Compiled by Lisa M. Bolton


D.C. community calendar, Oct. 8-15, 2015

Thursday, OCT. 8 Memorials of the Reflecting Pool National Park Service rangers lead walking tours of the Lincoln, Vietnam Veterans, Korean War Veterans and World War II memorials, 10 a.m. and 2 and 6 p.m. Meet at the Hawaii-Alaska Plaque, below the Lincoln Memorial Steps, 23rd Street NW and West Potomac Park. 202-426-6841. Free. Tot Rock: Jammin’ at the Smithsonian Therapeutic yoga classes Gentle yoga classes to help reduce stress and balance the mind, body and spirit; all experience levels welcome. Thursdays with Kiersten Gallagher and Mondays with Beth Lawrence from 10:30-11:45 a.m. Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, 1632 U St. NW. 202-483-8600. smithcenter.org. $10 per class, $25/month. Spectacular statues Science lecture Stephen Rinehart, an astrophysicist and associate chief of the Laboratory for Observational Cosmology at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, discusses TESS, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, expected to launch in 2017 and search for planets outside our solar system. 11:30 a.m. Library of Congress, Madison Building, Mary Pickford Theater, 101 Independence Ave. SE. 202-707-1192. Free. Memorials of the Tidal Basin Gallery talk in ASL Queer self-fashioning lecture Sønning music concert Frederick Forsyth, grandmaster of international suspense Join the Smithsonian Rock ‘n Roll Chorus Beer garden blues: Prohibition-era songs and stories Talk of the Hill with Bill Press and Paul Theroux Musicians from Marlboro I performance “Inheritance Canyon” Music in a museum “Yerma” José Luis Arellano García directs an adaptation of the 1934 tragic poem by Spanish poet and writer Federico García Lorca, the tale of a woman with forbidden desires in a loveless marriage; performed in Spanish with English subtitles. Thursday-Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m. GALA Hispanic Theatre, 3333 14th St. NW. 202-234-7174. www.galatheatre.org. Thursday and Sunday evenings $38, Friday and Saturday evenings $42, seniors $26, students and military $20. Friday, OCT. 9 Farmers market Thirty-one vendors from USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service. Most Fridays from 9 a.m.-2 p.m., through Oct. 30. U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farmers Market, 12th Street and Independence Avenue SW. 866-632-9992. Free. Friday Morning Music Club recital Want to visit a jungle, desert or tropical paradise? Organ recital Ronald Stolk performs works by Dietrich Buxtehude and Paul Hindemith. 12:15-1 p.m. National City Christian Church, 5 Thomas Cir. NW. Free, donations welcome. 202-797-0103. Gardener’s focus: Fall seasonal design Gardeners discuss this fall’s seasonal plantings. Friday and Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens, 4155 Linnean Ave. NW. 202-686-5807. $15;


Svetlana Alexievich wins Nobel Prize in literature

Svetlana Alexievich is the author of, among other books, “Voices from Chernobyl,” about the survivors of the nuclear plant disaster in Ukraine in 1986. Belarusan journalist Svetlana Alexievich was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature Thursday for work that the Swedish Academy described as “a monument to suffering and courage in our time.” The Nobel committee rarely chooses nonfiction writers for the literature prize. Alexievich, 67, is the author of, among other books, “Voices From Chernobyl,” about survivors of the nuclear plant disaster in Ukraine in 1986. She has also been a forceful critic of Russian military action and of President Vladimir Putin. Reacting to the news, Alexievich told the CBT channel, “To become a winner is a huge event. Such an unexpected, almost unsettling feeling. I am thinking now about great Russian writers such as Pasternak.” Alexievich is the sixth winner who writes in Russian. The permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, Sara Danius, made the announcement in Stockholm. In a televised interview afterward, Danius called Alexievich “an extraordinary writer. . . . She’s actually devised a new genre, a new kind of literary genre.” “For the past 30 or 40 years, [Alexievich] has been busy mapping the Soviet and post-Soviet individual,” the Nobel secretary said. “But it’s not really about a history of events. It’s a history of emotions. What she’s offering us is really an emotional world. The Nobel Prize in literature was awarded to Belarusan journalist Svetlana Alexievich on Oct. 8. The Swedish Academy praised her work as "a monument to suffering and courage." “So,” Danius added, “these historical events that she’s sort of covering in her various [ways] — the Chernobyl disaster, the Soviet war in Afghanistan and so on — these are, in a way, just pretext for exploring the Soviet individual and the post-Soviet individual. She’s conducted thousands and thousands of interviews with children, with women and with men, and in this way she’s offering us a history of a human being about whom we don’t really know that much. . . . And at the same time, she’s offering us a history of emotions, a history of the soul.” When Alexievich got the call that she had won the Nobel Prize, she reportedly exclaimed, “Fantastic!” The award is worth about $960,000. Alexievich, who is half-Ukrainian, has decried Russia’s intervention in Ukraine and criticized the Russian president. Earlier this year, she told an


Doctors group denies Taliban fighters were using hospital as base

in Kunduz constituted a major breach of trust. A hospital is a place of safety, not carnage.” Afghan forces battle the Taliban in an effort to retake the city. Hospital officials previously said they had given Afghan and coalition troops the GPS coordinates of the buildings. Those coordinates pinpointed the front steps to the emergency room, officials said Thursday. Two 6-by-9-foot flags with the organization’s red-and-white logo also were draped across the roof, they said. U.S. officials have said that an AC-130 gunship, which is used to support American Special Operations troops and can fire a range of ammunition, carried out the raid. It is not immediately clear whether the crew of the close-air-support aircraft, which uses infrared technology at night, could distinguish the markings on a flag. Gen. Joseph F. Campbell, commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, said Monday that the Afghan military requested the airstrike but that it was vetted through the U.S. military chain of command. Afghan officials said they are awaiting the outcome of three coalition and Afghan military investigations before commenting on Campbell’s assertion. On Wednesday, Doctors Without Borders announced that it is seeking an independent investigation to explore whether it will press for war-crimes charges under the Geneva Conventions. President Obama called the organization’s executive director Wednesday to apologize. But Stokes said he and other hospital executives want assurances from Afghan leaders that they can safely continue their operations in Afghanistan. Doctors Without Borders also operates two clinics in Kabul, one in Khost province and one in Helmand province. Doctors Without Borders Executive President Jason Cone called on President Obama to support a fact-finding mission through the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission after the bombing of a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. In the aftermath of the bombing, which killed at least 22 people, some Afghan leaders suggested that the hospital had become a command center for Taliban fighters who seized control of Kunduz on Sept. 28. Hospital officials denied that assertion Thursday, although they conceded that they had been treating wounded Taliban fighters, some of whom probably were in the building at the time of the attack. They said Taliban fighters were cared for in the same manner as other patients in accordance with international law designating hospitals as “noncombatant” zones. “As soon as someone enters the gate of the hospital, there is no more affiliation, no more discrimination on their origin


As refugees stream into Europe, tourists face their own set of questions

by air, and carry proper identification and travel documents at all times.” Last month, Germany’s national railway, Deutsche Bahn, suspended long-distance passenger services between Munich and the main stations in Budapest and Salzburg, Austria. Austria’s national railway recently announced that it will halt services between Salzburg and Germany until at least Oct. 12. Knauf said travelers should check with the train operator or a travel agent before heading to the station. Todd Powell, co-founder and chief executive of Vacations By Rail, encouraged visitors to take alternate forms of transportation across the border, such as private transfers. U.S. embassies across Europe are providing updates as events unfold. William Cocks, a spokesman for the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs, directs Americans to the security messages that embassies issue as problems arise. For example, last month, the embassy in Budapest posted a message concerning delays at Keleti railway station. “Rail passengers should be prepared to show their passports to be admitted to the trains and platforms,” the message read. “Rail traffic to and from the station has been subject to significant delays. In some cases, departures have been cancelled.” Cocks also reminds travelers to make two copies of all critical documents and to leave a set with a friend or relative at home. Also sign up for the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program to receive alerts and avoid large demonstrations or gatherings. A sprinkling of protesters in Germany, Latvia and Finland have voiced their displeasure over recent developments, and iJet analysts said they are worried about future outbreaks regionwide as tensions build. Tourists that wish to help are encouraged to step forward. In Greece, some guests have altered their vacations to incorporate refugee assistance into their holiday plans. (One warning: Before you give anyone a ride, know the laws or you could be arrested for smuggling or human trafficking.) Experts suggest that visitors donate food, clothing, diapers and other necessities to aid organizations. Schoeffl, with the UNHCR, said tourists should reach out to local groups collaborating with authorities at train stations and borders. In Germany, Rentsch advised visitors to contact the Federal Border Police, Pro Asyl or the refuge council in each federal state. “Help is much appreciated,” Schoeffl said. “It can also be just listening and sharing a light moment.” More from Travel: Don’t get stuck in the millions-strong surge of passport applications. Ins and Outs of Getting Your Passport in Order


Getting justice after a tragic airstrike

Gen. John Campbell, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, testifies about the Kunduz airstrike before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday. (Jim Watson/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images) Regarding the Oct. 4 front-page article “Afghan hospital hit; U.S. blamed”: The airstrike on a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, was an apparent violation of the Geneva Conventions. Instead of the familiar accusations and denials by people on all sides, what we need is a thorough and impartial investigation by the U.S. military into what happened, followed by a trial of whoever was responsible — not just the soldiers involved, but those who gave the orders to attack a hospital, if, indeed, this is what happened. There is too much history of the military convicting the soldiers who carried out an inhumane attack and whitewashing the officers who ordered it. The United States should live up to its responsibility to behave as a civilized nation should. Henry D. Chadwick, Herndon


World Digest: Oct. 8, 2015

young people with no known links to armed groups, has shocked Israelis and raised fears of a new uprising. The violence continued Thursday with four separate stabbing attacks in Jerusalem, the West Bank, Tel Aviv and northern Israel that wounded several Israelis. In the Tel Aviv incident, a Palestinian stabbed four Israelis with a screwdriver before a soldier shot and killed him. Palestinian protesters, meanwhile, clashed with Israeli forces in a number of locations in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where a 20-year-old protester was killed by live fire, according to a Palestinian hospital official and witnesses. — Associated Press NIGERIA 10 are quarantined as Ebola worries surface Ten people have been quarantined after coming into contact with a patient with Ebola-like symptoms in the southern Nigerian city of Calabar, officials said Thursday, a year after the country was declared free of the disease. A patient came to the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital on Wednesday with symptoms consistent with the viral hemorrhagic fever, staff there said. Local media reported that the patient had died, though there was no official confirmation. “We have sent blood samples for testing and quarantined identified contacts,” said the hospital’s chief medical director, Queeneth Kalu. Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency said 10 people were in quarantine. Any confirmed case would cause major concern across the region, where experts hoped they were emerging from the worst epidemic of the disease on record. — Reuters Honduras Official unaware of U.S. laundering case Honduras’s top prosecutor said Thursday he had no information on money laundering allegations in a U.S. indictment against three members of one of the country’s most powerful business families. “Regarding the actions of a New York court against the Rosenthals, I cannot speak because I don’t know the issue,” Attorney General Óscar Chinchilla said. He spoke a day after U.S. authorities revealed a federal indictment against Jaime Rosenthal, son Yani Rosenthal and nephew Yankel Rosenthal on money laundering charges. Yankel Rosenthal was arrested Tuesday in Miami. On Wednesday, the U.S. Justice and Treasury departments said the family used its extensive business interests to launder money for Central American drug traffickers. The indictment also named Andrés Acosta García, a lawyer for the Rosenthals’ businesses. Each faces a charge of money laundering, which can bring up to 20 years in prison. — Associated Press Rome’s mayor resigns: Documents show Pinochet ordered hit: — From news services


Ludovic Morlot brings a pretty French touch to NSO concert

Sharon Isbin constituted luxury programming as a replacement for for the originally scheduled soloist, Milos Karadaglic, who had to withdraw because of a hand injury. (J. Henry Fair/J. Henry Fair) The National Symphony Orchestra’s subscription season is off to a good start. Thursday night’s concert, led by the French conductor Ludovic Morlot, may not have hit the highs of last week’s outing under Donald Runnicles, which seems to have left everyone feeling happy. Morlot did, though, get the orchestra to show its colors — many of them, with a lot of winds and brass, starting with a delicious wallow in the low brass in Berlioz’s overture to “Les Francs-Juges,” which the orchestra hadn’t played since 1987 under Mstislav Rostropovich. The program consisted of French and Spanish works that seem canonical but that the orchestra had not played for some time (apart from Dukas’s “Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” which the orchestra last played at a family concert in 2012). Morlot, the music director of the Seattle Symphony, has a particular affinity for French music, and he showed it here with detailed conducting and attention to the richness of the scores. If there was a weakness, it was in a tendency to the emphatic, which led to a slightly ponderous, heavy-handed stress of the beats in the last part of the Berlioz. There was a sense of being careful, perhaps to try to keep the instruments in line, and Ravel’s smoky, billowing scores — “Pavane for a Dead Princess” and “Rapsodie Espagnole” — came across as very pretty and slightly soporific in their languor as a result, despite such highlights as the ravishing golden horn line in the “Pavane.” The orchestra was definitely crisper during the first half of the program than the second, perhaps partly thanks to the presence of Sharon Isbin, the guitarist who represented luxurious replacement casting for the originally scheduled soloist, Milos Karadaglic, who had to withdraw because of a hand injury. Isbin is arguably today’s most famous active guitarist, supremely competent and much honored and the subject of a recent documentary, “Sharon Isbin: Troubadour.” She offers an intense, elastic sound, resilient and nuanced and controlled and brought across in all its detail with the help of a microphone (necessary in orchestral performances with this instrument). She made a small odyssey out of Joaquin Rodrigo’s familiar “Concierto de Aranjuez,” which she last played with the NSO in 1997. Morlot damped


Tunisian group wins Nobel Peace Prize

as a key negotiator in the resulting compromise that kept the peace. After tough negotiations, the Islamists surrendered power to a transitional government and agreed to a time frame for new elections and plans for a draft constitution. “This came down to the basics of negotiation,” said Sarah Chayes, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “It was a case of, ‘You shut up and let the other person speak.’ This is about how you make people speak with each other who don’t particularly want to.” Critics, however, suggested that the Nobel committee had failed to fully acknowledge the extent of the political violence still gripping Tunisia. But the prize was widely hailed as a nod toward the ability of Tunisia’s political and civil groups to seek dialogue while other Arab Spring neighbors have stumbled back to bloody power struggles or tighter rule. The nation has indeed struggled to find a lasting peace, and fears have reemerged about the threat to democracy following a crackdown against rising Islamist extremism. After a Tunisian gunman thought to have received training from Islamists in Libya killed 38 people at the beach resort of Sousse last June, the government vowed to shut down extremist mosques and take other steps to curb terrorism. In March, extremists staged a dramatic attack at a museum in downtown Tunis, killing 21 people. “This decision hit me like a rock,” said the Berlin-based Tunisian political scientist Hamdadi el-Aouni. “I do not know what these people of the committee were thinking. I’ve just come back from Tunisia. There is no state, just total chaos. And there is certainly no peace there.” In a congratulatory Twitter post, the Ennahda party hailed the award as “a victory for all Tunisians, who showed strength, patience & commitment to peace & democracy in the face of countless challenges.” A message on the Facebook page of the General Labor Union celebrated: “Alf mabrooooouk kul al Tuniseeeeeeen.” (A thousand congratulations to all Tunisians.) Read more: Why the Nobel peace prize was awarded to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet, in one map In birthplace of Arab Spring, Tunisia’s Islamists get sobering lesson in governing Tunisia’s president sets out goals Tourist in museum massacre: “Hoping just to survive” Erin Cunningham in Beirut, Heba Habib in Cairo, Stephanie Kirchner in Berlin and Brian Murphy, Kevin Sullivan and Mary Beth Sheridan in Washington contributed to this report.


The secretive government agency where ‘anything imagined can be tried’

was based on technology that DARPA’s Defense Science Office had developed after an E. coli outbreak at Jack in the Box restaurants in 1993: self-sterilizing packages triggered by light or humidity. DARPA adapted that technology to help it quickly decontaminate the office building. From the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency: DARPA’s Towed Airborne Lift of Naval Systems (TALONS) research effort recently demonstrated a prototype of a low-cost, fully automated parafoil system designed to extend maritime vessels’ long-distance communications and improve their domain awareness. Then there is my personal favorite: the Stealthy Insect Sensor Project, which used honeybees to locate bombs. “Bees have sensing capabilities that outperform the dog’s nose by a trillion parts per second,” Jacobsen writes. “Using Pavlovian techniques, scientists cooled down groups of bees in a refrigerator, then strapped them into tiny boxes using masking tape, leaving their heads, and most of the antennae, poking out the top. Using a sugar water reward system, the scientists trained the bees to use their tongues to ‘sniff out’ explosives, resulting in a reaction the scientists call a ‘purr.’ . . . The bees were tested with various explosives, including TNT and C4” and were working well. “But when the Army learned that DARPA planned to send bees to Iraq as a countermeasure to the IED threat,” Jacobsen writes, “they rejected the idea. The reality of depending on insect performance in a war zone was implausible.” The decision took the sting out of the project; the bees never deployed. To produce the book, Jacobsen conducted dozens of interviews with former DARPA members. She clearly has plenty of material to work with, but sometimes it is difficult to know how she feels about it all — she seems conflicted, and that uneasiness is apparent to the reader. An organization that works under the credo “anything imagined can be tried” clearly makes Jacobsen uncomfortable, and she suggests time and again that while the agency’s descent to the dark side isn’t inevitable, it is something to keep watch over. DARPA, Jacobsen writes, was responsible not only for early research into brainwashing and Agent Orange, but also the hearts and minds campaign in Vietnam and post-9/11 data-mining programs that seemed, at a minimum, to dance along the edge of our civil liberties. Even in the area of brain science, there is reason to be both hopeful and worried. DARPA researchers have “developed and are testing


The National Symphony Orchestra’s forte for falling flat

The National Symphony Orchestra performing under the direction of music director Christoph Eschenbach at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, on September, 2012. (Juana Arias/For the Washington Post) The National Symphony Orchestra performing under the direction of music director Christoph Eschenbach at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. on September, 2012. (Juana Arias/For the Washington Post) It’s one of the highest-paid orchestras in the United States. Its name gives the impression that it’s our country’s national orchestra. It’s filled with excellent musicians. So why is the National Symphony Orchestra so lackluster, haunted by the curse of mediocrity? Now at the start of its 85th season, embarked on yet another search for a new music director, the Kennedy Center’s There’s a lot you can blame for the NSO’s problems. There’s the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, in which it is hard for the players onstage to hear each other and, consequently, to play together. There’s a lack, for most of its history, of a galvanizing leader with both the commitment and the technical ability to give it a thorough grounding in the nuts and bolts of ensemble playing. And there’s the Kennedy Center itself, which, while it protects the orchestra and its players from some measure of accountability, “hasn’t given [the orchestra] the resources, institutionally, to really go for it” — in the words of the Kennedy Center’s president, Deborah Rutter. But everyone involved seems to put the blame on someone else rather than take responsibility for fixing it. And each successive music director, each new initiative, represents a small step toward improvement while failing to address the larger issues, keeping the orchestra on a treadmill of perpetual advancement without actually getting anywhere. Is it sufficient for the NSO simply to be good enough? It’s testing out the kinds of outreach and community initiatives that orchestras are supposed to be doing in the 21st century. It turns in some fine performances on individual nights, even if it sometimes seems that fewer people are buying tickets. What does an orchestra need to be, anyway? The Kennedy Center and the NSO — along with pretty much every orchestra in the United States — are trying to figure that out. ‘That’ll do’ The NSO is a puzzle. It doesn’t lack for money; it doesn’t lack for talent. There have always been some excellent musicians in its ranks, and in recent years, some of the weaker


Documentarian Davis Guggenheim is a man with a mission (sort of)

Director Davis Guggenheim, whose film “An Inconvenient Truth” received an Oscar, has a new documentary out — about Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who was wounded by the Taliban for advocating for girls’ education. (Bob Richman) Sitting down for an interview in the Georgetown Ritz-Carlton, just across the street from the unassuming brick building where his father, Charles Guggenheim, put together his Oscar-winning documentaries, filmmaker Davis Guggenheim reflects on his roots. The 51-year-old D.C. native turned California moviemaker — himself an Oscar winner for “An Inconvenient Truth” (2006) — is back in the town where he grew up to promote his latest documentary, “He Named Me Malala,” about Pakistani education activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai. Guggenheim spent two years filming Malala in Birmingham, England, where her family moved after the teenager was shot in 2012 by a Taliban hitman assigned to silence her for her outspoken advocacy of girls’ education. As the film makes clear, her voice has not been muted since then. In fact, Malala’s celebrity is a bully pulpit, affording her the opportunity to speak out on an array of human rights issues. Two years ago, Malala visited the White House, where she confronted President Obama about drone strikes, saying they fueled terrorism. We chatted with Guggenheim, who cut his teeth on television dramas, about his unexpected career trajectory and the teenage documentary subject he says he will remember when he’s 70 as one of the most unforgettable individuals he’s ever encountered. Where did the idea to make a film about Malala come from? (From L-R) Director Davis Guggenheim, Malala Yousafzai, and Ziauddinuddin Yousafzai in Birmingham, England on Dec 16, 2013. (Caroline Furneaux) Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald — the producers — originally wanted to do a movie with an actress. They’d gotten the life [story] rights to Malala. But after they met with her and flew back to L.A., they said, “Who would even play that part?” So they called me. There are many remarkable things about Malala, but the most remarkable of them may be her unremarkableness. I think it’s important to say that she is an ordinary girl. It’s a dangerous thing when we make people like this into our idols, into icons. Because then we say, “I can’t be that.” But I believe that my daughters can be as brave as Malala. On the movie poster, it has the quote


The military incident we should scrutinize

Doctors Without Borders leaders at a news conference in Kabul on Oct. 8. (Omar Sobhani/Reuters) Oops, the military has acknowledged that it made a mistake when it dropped multiple bombs on a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders, killing 22 people [“U.S. general: Kunduz hospital was ‘mistakenly struck,’ ” news, Oct. 7]. After having changed the story from helping out U.S. ground forces in the area to helping out Afghan forces on the ground, the military says sorry. Now we will move on and concentrate on the Benghazi Affair, which happened three years ago and is still under scrutiny by House Republicans and their relentless zeal to find a culprit [“Democrats keep heat on head of Benghazi panel before Clinton testifies,” news, Oct. 7]. I suggest that they look into this incident in Kunduz and find out what happened and who is responsible. Yes, we want names. Saying that it was “a mistake” will not do. The homeland was not under any threat. But the U.S. reputation on the global stage is. Maybe it is time we look into our behavior in the Middle East before we accuse everybody else. Marie Weiblen, Fairfax


I’m a gun owner. The NRA doesn’t speak for me.

40,000 incidents of gun violence resulting in more than 10,000 deaths and 20,000 injuries. Among those numbers, there have been more than 2,000 youths, ages 12 to 17, killed or wounded, as well as 560 children under 12. And the year’s not over. What to do, what to do? Gun violence is a scourge on America. But what kind of gun violence are we talking about? The only variety that seem to stir emotion are the mass shootings that occurred in Roseburg, Ore., at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., at Texas’s Fort Hood, in Tucson, and in Blacksburg, Va. They are the attention-getters that spark cries for gun-law reform. The National Rifle Association doesn’t speak for this gun owner. Bring on the controls. Expand background checks for all gun sales and close gun-show loopholes. Come down hard on “straw purchasers” who legally acquire guns only to pass them on to people prohibited from owning weapons. Why do hunters — or households, for that matter — need a military-style assault weapon? Ban them, says this gun owner. And if mental-health services will help address the problem, provide that, too. But the response shouldn’t be limited to mass murders, which don’t take the greatest toll. Since the start of the year, the District has had 120 homicides — that’s 11 times the gun deaths in Roseburg, and more than four times the number of victims murdered at Sandy Hook. Sadly, these individual deaths seem to draw only brief media attention, after the weather and traffic. But whether it is the District, Chicago, Baltimore or a college campus in the far Northwest, we’re talking about a willingness to pull the trigger on the defenseless and end another person’s life. Most of us, thankfully, cringe at the thought. Not true for the mass murderer, armed carjacker or gang member. Is one any less deranged than the other? Their motives may differ. The consequences of their actions do not. They are the extreme ends of the gun culture that permeates our social fabric. Therein lies the challenge. Drill down deeper on gun violence. We know how and with what weapons killers kill. We need to know more about the why, and how to deal with this public health crisis, which is of our own making. Read more from Colbert King’s archive. Read more here: E.J. Dionne


Beer of the Week goes pink: Green Flash Treasure Chest

Green Flash Treasure Chest IPA. (Scott Suchman for The Washington Post) October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which means you’ll be seeing pink everywhere, from the playing fields of the National Football League to the tower of the Empire State Building. One unexpected place to find a fluorescent shade of pink: your beer cooler. Since 2011, California’s Green Flash Brewing has produced a limited-release beer called Treasure Chest to raise money for local and national breast cancer-related charities. The reason is personal: Lisa Hinkley, who founded the San Diego brewery with her husband, Mike, in 2002, received a diagnosis of breast cancer in 2010. After undergoing a bilateral mastectomy, she has been cancer-free for five years. Each Treasure Chest is different from the last. Last year’s was a saison aged on plums, with a distinctive purple color. For 2015, Treasure Chest is what I’d call a tiki IPA: a lively 5.7 percent IPA brewed with grapefruit juice, prickly pear juice and hibiscus flowers. Mosaic hops and the prickly pear provide a lot of tropical fruit and floral notes in the nose. The first taste is sweetness, with pink grapefruit and juicy mango. The herbal, earthy dryness in the finish provides a nice contrast. There’s a slight pink tinge to the golden beer — not really the “natural pink hue” the label promises that the hibiscus would provide. Sales of Treasure Chest bottles and an annual Treasure Chest Fest at the brewery have raised a total of $150,000 for charity over the past four years. But this year, Green Flash is taking the beer nationwide in an attempt to raise $150,000 in 2015 alone. Treasure Chest is a novelty beer, very different from Green Flash’s bolder West Coast IPA or Palate Wrecker, but it’s a solid and refreshing IPA for a great cause. — Fritz Hahn Green Flash Brewing: www.greenflashbrew.com. $7.49 for a 22-ounce bottle at selected retailers, including Total Wine More and Whole Foods Markets. More from Food: Beer Column


National digest: Oct. 11, 2015

of newly registered voters to California’s voter rolls, improving a lackluster registration system that has led to some of the lowest participation rates in the country. Some Republican lawmakers say voters shouldn’t be forced to sign up. They warn that automatic registration could lead to voter fraud if people who are not eligible are accidentally registered. Critics have also argued that merely increasing voter registration will not make Californians more engaged in the political process or interested in voting. — Associated Press TEXAS Lawyer: Ofﬁcer nixes prison for Bergdahl The attorney for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl said Saturday that an investigating officer has recommended against the most serious kind of court-martial and prison time in the soldier’s desertion case, despite a months-long manhunt in Afghanistan that put other U.S. troops at risk after he walked away from his base. The investigating officer, Lt. Col. Mark Visger, recommended a special court-martial, rather than a general court-martial, said Eugene Fidell, Bergdahl’s attorney. The process carries with it a maximum penalty of 12 months of confinement, forfeiture of two-thirds of a service member’s pay for a year, reduction in rank to private and a bad-conduct discharge. Visger called for even lighter penalties than that, though, Fidell said. Visger recommended against both a bad-conduct discharge and confinement, Fidell said, potentially allowing the soldier to receive military benefits after he leaves the Army. The recommendation comes after a two-day preliminary hearing in San Antonio in September, in which Visger heard testimony in Bergdahl’s case. He faces charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy and is accused of walking away from his patrol base late on June 29, 2009. Fellow soldiers on his small combat outpost discovered Bergdahl was missing the following morning, but it was too late: He was captured by insurgents affiliated with the Taliban and held captive for nearly five years. Gen. Mark Abrams, the commanding general of U.S. Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg, N.C., could still decide to send Bergdahl to the more serious kind of court-martial, potentially upping his penalties. He faces up to life in prison if that occurs. An Army spokesman, Paul Boyce, declined to comment Saturday on the case. “We will notify the public and interested news media when further information about this ongoing legal action potentially is available,” he said. — Dan Lamothe Reviews say Ohio officer was justified in shooting boy: — Associated Press


By evening, a hospital. By morning, a war zone.

could plan some operations that had been delayed before,” Molinie said. Shortly before midnight, clashes erupted nearby between Taliban and government forces and quickly intensified, said Islamuddin, a Kunduz resident who lives about 50 yards from the hospital gates and, like many Afghans, goes by one name. At the airport, U.S. advisers received a request from Afghan special forces for urgent help in the vicinity of the hospital, where they reported receiving Taliban fire. Scrambling to assist, American Special Operations forces advisers requested immediate close air support for the Afghan commandos. Soon after, an AC-130U from the 4th Special Operations Squadron — call sign “Hammer” — was lumbering through a mostly clear night sky toward the target position. The AC-130U is one variant of the AC-130 gunship. A holdover from the Vietnam War, the plane is a converted transport aircraft loaded with 25mm and 40mm cannons as well as a 105mm howitzer. As its weapons jut from the left side the aircraft, the AC-130 engages targets in a wide left turn. Crewed by a dozen airmen, including a Special Operations Ground liaison officer responsible for coordinating with ground forces, the AC-130 has low-light and thermal sensors that give it a “God’s eye” of the battlefield in almost all weather conditions. According to individuals familiar with the incident, American forces from the JOC directed the aircraft over the Afghan special forces and sent up the initial “call for fire” to the aircraft. The request gave the aircraft the necessary targeting information as well as the location of friendly forces. According to an individual familiar with the aircraft’s operations that night, the sensor operators identified fighters moving into and firing from one of the hospital’s front porticos. The crew, piloting an aircraft that rarely targets buildings, asked the JOC twice if they wanted the aircraft to engage, the individual said. How close active Taliban forces may have been to the hospital — a point where the accounts of the charity’s personnel and Afghan security officials diverge — is now a central question for investigators. Even if Taliban militants were firing from the compound, U.S. rules of engagement would not have allowed an airstrike if the crew knew it was a protected civilian facility. On Saturday, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said that the U.S. military was authorized to make “appropriate” condolence payments to the families of civilians killed in the hospital attack,


Opener of Library of Congress’s concert series is heard, a bit too loudly

Piano and percussion quartet Yarn/Wire. (Fisher) The Library of Congress marks a special anniversary this year, having opened its 90th season of concerts Saturday night. This free concert series on Capitol Hill has continued to change in content, reflecting the musical interests of its programmers. In recent years, early-music ensembles have been added to the mix of more traditional chamber music, as well as folk music, Broadway and others. One thing has remained constant: a devotion to music by living composers. Opening the season with the piano and percussion quartet Yarn/Wire, playing music mostly from the past decade, was an admirable symbolic gesture. Tristan Murail’s “Travel Notes” gave a sense of movement with the opening theme, clusters traded back and forth between the two pianos, in a refrain that functioned like the promenade music in Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.” Otherwise, much of the piece seemed like barely comprehensible cacophony, with the tubular bells at the climax painfully loud in the library’s small auditorium. Luciano Berio’s “Linea,” from the distant past of 1973, grew out of a single melodic line that itself grew out of the opening interval, a minor third. A swinging coda veered oddly in the direction of Bernstein and American jazz. Alex Mincek’s “Pendulum VI: Trigger” combined four-hand prepared piano scratches and percussion thuds in a mostly pitch-less groove, its steady pulse a welcome relief from a largely non-metrical evening. In David Brynjar Franzson’s “Negotiation of Context (B),” the rising chromatic scale heard several times in the piano pointed, perhaps unintentionally, to the tuning of a piano as one of the everyday sounds used by the composer. Misato Mochizuki added the dimension of spatiality in “Le monde des ronds et des carrés” by having the percussionists walk about the auditorium. When all four players ended up together pounding on a drum set, it was another assault on the ears. Downey is a freelance writer.


Paul Chelimo edges Nicholas Kipruto in Army Ten-Miler

In more ways than one could imagine, Paul Chelimo and Nicholas Kipruto ventured upon nearly identical paths to the final 100-meter stretch of Sunday’s 31st annual Army Ten-Miler. Both runners were born in Kenya but left home several years ago after receiving full scholarships to attend college in the United States, where they would also be a part of Division I cross-country and track and field programs. After Chelimo graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2014 and Kipruto from the University of New Mexico in 2012, both enlisted in the Army. They never got an opportunity to run against each other in college, but they did so when their paths crossed at last year’s Army Ten-Miler, in which Kipruto finished fifth and Chelimo 32nd. On Sunday, Chelimo, 24, and Kipruto, 31, had the luxury of running together as teammates on the All-Army Team, which consisted of seven runners — all of whom are Kenya natives who ran collegiately in the United States before joining the military. Together, they set the pace, but midway through mile nine a few fell behind. Chelimo and Kipruto emerged around the race’s final turn ahead of everyone. So in these brief moments down the stretch, they were admittedly no longer teammates. They were fierce competitors. Steps before the finish line, Chelimo burst ahead of Kipruto to claim first place in 48 minutes and 19 seconds. The official results also list Kipruto’s time as 48:19. “Just microseconds behind me,” Chelimo said afterward with a smile. The All-Army Team placed all seven of its runners in the top 15 and claimed all top five spots. Shadrack Kipchirchir, Augustus Maiyo, who won the 2012 Marines Corps Marathon, and Hillary Bor followed up Chelimo and Kipruto to round out the top five. Emmanuel Bor finished in ninth while Julius Bor placed 14th, 3:30 behind Chelimo. “The Army told us to work together, work as a group,” Chelimo said. “We worked together till the finish line. Toward the finish line, that’s when we decided who’s gonna go for the win. The strongest guy would go for the win.” In Kipruto’s mind, he was going to win it all, though his hope failed to materialize. “When it comes to that last 100 meters, it’s like who really wants it? It comes down to how good you’ve trained for it. At the end of the day, as much


Montgomery football notebook: Clarksburg gets a clutch kick; Gaithersburg overcomes mistakes

Ian Krishnan Krishnan is a former travel team goalie, and though he no longer plays soccer, he hasn’t forgotten how to kick a ball. So with the Coyotes facing fourth and long and trailing by one point with three minutes remaining in the game, Coach Larry Hurd looked over to the 6-foot-2 receiver — who hadn’t attempted a field goal this season — and asked him whether he could hit a 45-yarder. “He said two words: hell yeah,” Hurd said. Krishnan kept his word, kicking a line drive that bounced off the crossbar and through the uprights. The kick not only turned out be the game-winner in the Coyotes’ 9-7 victory, but also set a school record. “I didn’t have any time to get nervous or anything,” Krishnan said. “It just happened.” Host B.J. Koubaroulis runs through the top plays from the week of football in the D.C., Maryland and Virginia area. Krishnan is in his first season with the Coyotes (4-2) football team. He transferred from Good Counsel to Clarksburg after his freshman year and decided to sit out the 2014 fall season after missing summer workouts. The junior has made an immediate impact this season as a receiver and a placekicker. He was responsible for all nine of Clarksburg’s points against Urbana, catching a 58-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Hunter Reimers in the first half. The Hawks took the lead with a touchdown in the fourth quarter, but not for long thanks to Krishnan’s clutch kick. Though Justin Parrales usually takes field goals, Hurd sent out the more powerful Krishnan, who was hitting from 50 yards in warmups. Clarksburg’s sideline erupted after he converted the field goal, but the game wasn’t over until the ensuing possession, when Clarksburg intercepted Urbana to seal the victory. “That is definitely my number one [sports moment],” Krishnan said. “I’ve had a couple buzzer-beaters, but this felt a little better than those.” Goal-line stand gives Gaithersburg a win Running back Marqel Simpkins was watching from the sidelines and had no control over what was about to happen. The Gaithersburg senior had put together a dominant, two-touchdown performance from the backfield, but the game wouldn’t come down to him. Instead, it would be decided by the Trojans’ defense and a Whitman two-point conversion. With 20 seconds remaining, Gaithersburg came through. Johnathan Lyles Jr. made a game-saving tackle and the Trojans held on for the


South Korea was once an economic tiger but seems to have ‘lost its mojo’

South Korea President Park Geun-hye, center, receives German President Joachim Gauck and his partner, Daniela Schadt, at a ceremony in Seoul on Oct. 12, 2015. (Wolfgang Kumm/European Pressphoto Agency) SUWON, South Korea The business contingent was to include the presidents of Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor and the head of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Also slated to accompany the president is Chey Tae-won, the chairman of SK Group, the country’s third-largest conglomerate, whose conviction for misappropriating company funds Park recently quashed, releasing him from prison and saying that the South Korean economy needed him back. Park’s biggest challenge is not North Korea and its nuclear weapons, or cozying up to China without alienating the United States. It’s the economy. And the fact that she has taken such a huge business delegation to the United States reflects that. “There are still many mountains to cross for a new economic takeoff,” Park said during a meeting with her economic advisers last week, according to a Yonhap News Agency report. Park will confer with President Obama at the White House on Friday, a meeting that was delayed when she canceled a planned visit in June to stay home and deal with the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome — which itself became another economic challenge, deterring much-needed tourist visits. South Korea went through several decades of astonishingly fast industrialization — propelled by exports of high-tech ships and low-cost cars, and led by Park’s father, former president Park Chung-hee — to become a global manufacturing powerhouse. But now the economy is hitting the buffers. “This feels like an economy that’s lost its mojo,” said Frederic Neumann, co-head of Asian economic research at HSBC in Hong Kong. Exports account for half of South Korea’s economy, with 60 percent of outbound goods heading to emerging markets. Chief among them is China, which is going through its own economic slowdown, crimping demand for Korean products. Then there’s North Korea’s saber rattling and China’s devalued currency, which is making it more expensive for Chinese tourists to come here. These factors have coincided to bring about a fall in South Korea’s exports for nine consecutive months, including by 8.3 percent in September from a year earlier. “Korea is a highly export-dependent economy and has been for decades,” said Neumann of HSBC. “That means that it’s at the forefront of this global trade downturn.” Things at home are


Hope fades on Obama’s vow to bring troops home before presidency ends

its own destiny?” Dempsey, who spent two years overseeing the training of the Iraqi army, asked in a recent interview with Joint Forces Quarterly. “I don’t know.” The failure to find capable local partners or build effective indigenous forces was driving the president to rely more heavily on fighter jets and drones. Even as drone strikes diminished in Pakistan, where al-Qaeda had been badly damaged, they were ramping up in Syria and Iraq. These long-distance sniper shots were hardly satisfying to the White House or the military, which saw its mission as fighting and winning the nation’s wars. But neither the president nor his commanders saw better options. “Everywhere I’ve gone for the past year — shoot, the past decade — I hear the mantra that we can’t kill our way to victory. I never disagree,” said a senior U.S. military commander involved in counterterrorism operations. “However, with no clear strategy, there’s lots of killing to be done to keep the wolves at bay and buy space and time. My only satisfaction is that we aren’t wasting precious American lives while we figure things out.” Debate within White House Here’s what Obama and his war cabinet were trying to figure out earlier this year in Afghanistan: If they kept withdrawing forces under the president’s current plan, would Afghan troops crumble and would the government fall apart? Chastened by the collapse of Iraqi forces a few months earlier and the Afghan army’s battlefield struggles, U.S. military commanders were asking Obama to freeze troop levels at 9,800 this year, a departure from the president’s plan to shrink to about 5,000. Afghanistan’s new president, Ashraf Ghani, was eager to maintain a large American presence as well. The request from Ghani and the military provoked an emotional debate inside the White House. The United States had been working with the Afghan army and police forces for more than a decade, said James R. Clapper Jr., Obama’s director of national intelligence. Just about every plan to cut troop levels was met with a request from the military to slow the withdrawal. The extra troops and time never seemed to be enough. “What’s the definition of insanity?” Clapper asked during one White House meeting, according to several administration officials. “It’s doing something over and over and expecting different results.” Susan E. Rice, Obama’s national security adviser, took a similar position. The Afghan troops’ struggles had been


Will those new smart-chip-equipped ATM cards be easier to lose?

our responsibility to swipe the card, just so. (“Now?” “Not yet. Okay: Now.”) Automated teller machines are slightly different. Some have a little motor that pulls the card inside and keeps it until you are done. Others require the dip. Eventually all debit cards will be inserted and left there briefly. I suppose the same will be true of fuel pumps at gas stations. “It definitely will require some changes in consumer behavior,” said the ATM association’s Tente. The reason for the change is the introduction of the fingernail-size EMV smart chip. (EMV stands for Europay, MasterCard and Visa, the companies that created the standards for the cards.) The technology was already in use when I lived in England eight years ago. There they call it “chip and PIN” because you complete a credit card transaction by entering your four-digit personal identification number, or passcode. In the United States, credit card transactions will be “chip and signature.” Just as we’ve always done, we’ll simply sign. Randy Vanderhoof “The chip technology adds security by having the payment data that’s stored on the magnetic stripe stored in a secure computing chamber inside the chip,” Vanderhoof said. “Each time the card is used, that chip adds additional security data to the transaction. That makes that transaction data unique so it can’t be copied or counterfeited.” What the changeover to smart cards won’t do is prevent the sort of data breaches we’ve seen bedevil large retailers. And, because inserting and removing takes longer than swiping, it will add time when we buy something at a store with a credit card. “An EMV transaction is slower than a magnetic swipe transaction,” Tente said. “Even an extra second at Wal-Mart can make huge differences with their lines.” Vanderhoof said things will go smoother as consumers and retailers become familiar with the cards. That’s credit cards. But what about ATM cards? Are banks girding for an onslaught of forgotten cards as people blithely walk out after pocketing their cash, as I nearly did? “In other markets that have implemented this, they have had the experience of consumers leaving cards behind,” Vanderhoof said. “But again, it usually is a very small percentage doing such. Once they become more accustomed to the technology, it’s no longer a problem.” And now that you’ve read this column, it won’t be a problem for you. Twitter: @johnkelly For previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/johnkelly.


How to make good food choices for your family while staying sane

only issue is that customers don’t recognize the CNG label. But hopefully, one conversation at a time, it will gain recognition. I understand why people seek out the organic label, and why they ask for it when they choose their veggies. But it’s helpful for me to dig a little deeper to try to understand their priority behind the question before I shape my answer. Is it pesticide use? GMO seeds? Locally produced food? Or is there just an ease that comes with knowing the food is organic? As more troublesome information comes to light about the sources of our food, the natural response is to draw lines between this label and that. To state clearly and definitively that it is how we eat. Or that I won’t eat anything that’s not [fill in the blank]. But like most aspects of our food system, each of these labels is complex, and carries both positive and negative consequences. As consumers, it’s essential to prioritize what we want from our food and to understand that a label is not an end in itself; it is simply a tool to help us find the food we want to buy. The more we know about the various labels and how much they reflect our own priorities, the more informed our choices can be. I could fill pages about these labels, but there are a few that lead the way: local. Seasonal. And, of course, organic. The prevalence of the organic label has changed the way we shop at the grocery store. When we buy “organic,” we know that the food was grown or raised without the traditional chemicals of conventional counterparts, but we also can assume that a certain amount of thought went into the production of that item. The organic label serves to provide peace of mind and, on the whole, signals a better product than a conventional option. But there’s a flipside as well. Organic food tends to cost more, and with that, the promise of healthy and conscious eating becomes available only to a certain part of the population. The expense is sometimes real and sometimes perceived, but the higher cost of organic and local food not only excludes those who might not be able to afford it, it also limits the capability of organic and local food to reach a greater audience. It’s getting better, but slowly. A decade ago,


First giant panda cubs born in Canada

Twin panda cubs are shown the day they were born at the Toronto Zoo. It's the first time giant pandas have been born in Canada. (Toronto Zoo) A giant panda at the Toronto Zoo gave birth Tuesday to twins, the first and second pandas born in Canada. The zoo said one of the cubs weighed four ounces and the other just under 6.6 ounces. Zoo officials say the cubs and their mother, Er Shun, “all appear to be doing well.” After the birth of the second cub, zookeepers retrieved it and placed it in an incubator. They later swapped cubs so Er Shun could have bonding time with each. Giant pandas often have a difficult time caring for more than one cub. The National Zoo followed that same process after the birth of its twin cubs in August. One of those cubs did not survive. Toronto Zoo head veterinarian Christopher Dutton, right, works with panda experts from China to care for the newborn cubs. (Toronto Zoo) Toronto Zoo officials noted that the next few weeks are critical and that 8-year-old Er Shun and the cubs will be monitored around the clock. If they survive, the cubs initially will live at the zoo and will be sent to China at about age 4. Er Shun and a male panda, Da Mao, arrived in 2013 and are slated to move to the Calgary Zoo in western Canada in 2018. — Wire and staff reports


Globe artichoke, one cool delicacy for the home garden

You sow them in a warm greenhouse in January or February, set them out in a cool but protected spot to chill (they can take light frosts) and then let them respond to warming temperatures by making buds. But the big breakthrough was making this easier to do by breeding new annual varieties. The best is one called Imperial Star. It requires only two weeks of weather below 50 degrees to set its inner procreative timer to “Go.” We’ve found it more productive than other varieties, too. Things get a bit more complicated in areas where summers are not coastal-California cool but beastly hot. The plants might make buds, but they’re fibrous and not good to eat. Studies done by Virginia Tech, in which the plants were tested in various plots throughout the state, pointed out that limitation. So the recommendation for mild winter-hot summer climates is to set out the plants in fall and let them get their chill from winter. They will bear in the spring before severe prolonged heat sets in. Because the plants are able to survive from one year to the next, they are cut or mowed down after the late summer/early fall crop and left to regenerate in spring. Winter protections such as heavy mulches or low plastic-covered hoop tunnels can be used when winters are not quite mild enough. But what about an area, say, in the Midwest that has a severely cold winter and a blazing hot summer as well? You could dig up plants and store them in the cellar, divide them like dahlias and replant them in the spring, but growth might not be fast enough to beat the heat. Maybe there are some places where you can’t raise artichokes, or maybe not every year. Then again, it depends on what you’re after. The plants will still be strong architectural elements in the garden. If heat compromises the buds, they will still open in fall and send up flares of gas-burner blue, which will be fragrant and lure pollinating bees. I’d be okay with that. Damrosch is author of “The Four Season Farm Gardener’s Cookbook.” Tip of the week Now that the rains have hydrated plants and softened the soil, take the opportunity to transplant shrubs that were planted too close to adjacent plants, walls or paths. Surplus plants can be installed elsewhere or given to friends and neighbors. A


U.S. should conduct open investigation of Afghan airstrike

This photograph released by Medecins Sans Frontieres on Oct. 7 shows medical personnel as they treat patients in a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, in the aftermath of an airstrike. (MSF/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images) Regarding the Oct. 11 front-page article “U.S. airstrike on hospital still unexplained”: The United States should conduct an open investigation, similar to the U.S. Navy investigation of the sinking of a Japanese training ship for high schoolers by the USS Greeneville in 2001. While such an investigation would fall short of the international investigation that Doctors Without Borders is calling for, it would provide much-needed transparency while allowing the U.S. military to control access to, or release of, classified information. Paul Durand, Potomac


Perfectly in tune, onstage and in the pit

Rhythm,” “Someone to Watch Over Me” and “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off.” The program also includes variations on “Summertime,” as performed by the concertmaster, Washington native Henry Flory, and several songs showcasing Broadway dancers Johnny Stellard and Julia Freyer. The union orchestra’s season is scheduled to continue in December with “A Broadway Christmas,” featuring Elaine Page and Ron Raines, and in April with a program of torch songs from the 1960s. As of Tuesday morning, free tickets for Friday night’s concert were still available on the discount site Goldstar. (Full price is $35 to $65 at lisner.gwu.edu.) Frazier declined to specify how he is funding the nonprofit orchestra, saying only that he has some “angel investors.” “I’m trying to produce intelligent pops programming with a nimble orchestra,” Frazier said. “It takes time for people to get the word out, and I want to build trust with my audiences.” Back to Shakespeare The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s 2014 performance of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was an impressive collaboration between an area theater and a musical ensemble. The BSO performed Mendelssohn’s incidental music for the play, while Folger Theatre actors tackled significant scenes, in costume and off book. Among the evening’s highlights was a gut-busting performance by longtime Folger favorite Kate Eastwood Norris, who played Helena and Snout the Tinker, a.k.a. the Wall. The event was so successful — nearly selling out the Music Center at Strathmore — that BSO Artistic Director Marin Alsop and her friend Edward Berkeley, an opera director and Shakespeare scholar, decided to do it again, this time with Prokofiev’s 1940 score for the ballet “Romeo and Juliet.” The collaboration debuts Friday in Baltimore and moves to Strathmore on Saturday. Since the score clocks in at 151 minutes, Alsop and Berkeley had to do extensive chopping. In rehearsals this week, the actors — including Folger vets Lise Bruneau, Louis Butelli and Nehal Joshi — have been bemoaning cuts to their favorite scenes, while Alsop has argued for her favorite musical movements. “When you are doing cutting, you are always in this trap of knowing that you are cutting someone’s favorite line,” Berkeley said. “But this is one of the real masterpieces in terms of ballet scores — Prokofiev’s innate sense of drama is so strong. We are making a new creature, which is a ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by both Prokofiev and Shakespeare.” Ritzel is a freelance writer.


A cyclone brews over Saudi Arabia

growing stronger there. Mohammed bin Nayef has also been undercut by the disbanding of the royal court structure that was available for previous crown princes. Without his own court, he’s had to rely on the king’s son, who, though nominally his deputy, controls access to the king and makes most key decisions. The succession quarrel has opened the way for a broader debate within the family, including four open letters calling for removal of the king and his crown princes. I spoke several times recently by telephone with a senior prince who wrote two of the letters, which were first noted in a Sept. 28 article in the Guardian by its Cairo correspondent, Hugh Miles. The dissident prince told me he favors the installation of Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, 73, a son of the founding King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud. “He would be the choice of 85 percent of the Al-Saud family,” argued this prince, who requested anonymity. Ahmed served briefly as minister of interior but he was never in the line of succession to King Abdullah, who died in January. The prince’s first letter criticized “the marginalization of the sons of Abdul-Aziz” and danger to “the strength and closeness of the family and its staying in power.” He followed with a second, shorter letter discussing King Salman’s “weakness” and arguing that he was “completely reliant on his son’s rule.” Two other inflammatory letters have surfaced, supposedly written by other anonymous family members. Power politics suggests that the current stalemate could continue awhile. King Salman controls the money; Mohammed bin Nayef controls the interior ministry and its surveillance network; and Mohammed bin Salman controls the key oil and economic ministries. The deputy crown prince told a recent visitor that he didn’t expect to be king until he was 55, which is roughly Mohammed bin Nayef’s age. That informal comment is hardly a guarantee of stability, however. How will this Saudi political cyclone evolve? Given the uproar in the normally placid kingdom over the past nine months, the answer from veteran Saudi watchers is: Nobody knows. Read more from David Ignatius’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. Read more on this issue: David Ignatius: The son who would be the Saudis’ king? What does the Saudi king’s succession move mean for democracy in the Middle East? The Post’s View: Shake-up in the House of Saud


If the Anheuser-Busch beer mega-merger happens, what will change?

SABMiller Plc's Newlands brewery in Cape Town, South Africa. (Halden Krog/Bloomberg) Anheuser-Busch InBev announced Tuesday that it had reached a $106 billion deal to acquire SABMiller, creating a behemoth that would control nearly a third of the world’s beer supply. The acquisition, which was agreed to after several failed offers over the past few years, would make it the fourth-largest takeover in corporate history. Anheuser-Busch InBev, based in Belgium, owns a handful of the world’s most famous beer brands, including Bud Light — which accounts for one in every five beers sold in the United States — Corona, Stella Artois, Beck’s and Modelo. London-based SABMiller, meanwhile, sells a number of well-known drinks, too, including Castle Beer, Miller Lite and Miller Genuine Draft. The company also has found success with a selection of more localized beers, such as Aguila and Poker, which are popular in parts of Latin America. Together, the combined reach after the pending deal would be like nothing seen before in the industry — the two companies together would generate about $64 billion in revenue annually. And for that reason, there has been some apprehension regarding what that kind of power could mean for beer markets around the world and in the United States, where the two companies control more than 70 percent of sales. But some analysts say there is reason to believe this deal has more to do with synergies across the world than it does with exerting power over any single market. “I keep hearing people talk about how this is going to affect the U.S. market, but there will be virtually no impact at all,” said Mike Mazzoni, a senior partner at Seema International and longtime beer industry veteran. “Things will literally be just as they were before.” The expectation, according to Mazzoni and others in the industry, is that Anheuser-Busch InBev will have to sell its ownership stakes in companies such as MillerCoors to gain the approval of antitrust officials. As a result, familiar brands such as Miller Lite and Coors Light could end up in the hands of a third party. “I’m told Molson Coors, which operates globally . . . and sells Molson and Coors, is the likeliest buyer,” Mazzoni said. (MillerCoors is a joint venture between MolsonCoors and SABMiller.) Gene Kimmelman, president of Public Knowledge and a former top U.S. antitrust official, says the buyer probably will have to be


Man found fatally stabbed in SE D.C.

A man was found fatally stabbed Tuesday in Southeast Washington, the D.C. police said. They said the man was found about 1 p.m. in the 300 block of Parkland Place after an unconscious person was reported there. The man was not identified immediately. Police said they are continuing to investigate.


Prince George’s County news in brief

Learn about free college courses for county high school students Two information sessions are planned for high school juniors and seniors and their families to learn about the county’s dual enrollment program, which allows students to take college-level courses for credit at any Maryland public college or university while attending high school. Prince George’s County public schools will pay tuition for students accepted into the program. Those who receive free and reduced meals will receive additional funds to cover textbooks and course-related fees. Families can learn more about the dual enrollment program by attending an information session Thursday at Northwestern High School, 7000 Adelphi Rd., Hyattsville, or Wednesday at Oxon Hill High School, 6701 Leyte Dr., Oxon Hill. The sessions will begin at 6:30 p.m. For information, visit www1.pgcps.org/dualenrollment or e-mail dual.enrollment@pgcps.org. Fort Washington facility named Public Building of the Year Southern Regional Technology and Recreation Complex in Fort Washington was recently named the Public Building of the Year by the American Institute of Architects Maryland. The award recognizes the outstanding architectural achievements used in the 37,000-square-foot building, which opened in 2013. The LEED Silver-certified building was designed by D.C. architecture firm Sorg Architects and includes a colored-glass front with blue and green hues to complement its surrounding landscape, a green roof and items for water and energy conservation, an environmental science lab, a double gymnasium, a dance studio, fitness rooms, teen and adult cafes, and a recording studio. The facility was selected from a pool of 129 entries from across Maryland, Virginia, the District, Pennsylvania and New York. The jury noted that the community complex “is a model for architecture in the public realm.” For information about the award, visit www.aiamd.org. Southern Regional Technology and Recreation Complex is at 7007 Bock Rd. For hours and information, visit www.pgparks.com. Animal management celebrates National Adopt-a-Dog Month The Prince George’s County Department of the Environment’s Animal Management Division has lowered its adoption fee for dogs, normally $225, to $125 in celebration of National Adopt-a-Dog Month. The reduced fee includes microchipping; pet licensing fee; rabies, distemper and bordetella shots; heartworm medicine; and spay/neuter surgery. For a list of dogs and other pets available for adoption at the shelter, go to www.princegeorgespets4us.com or visit the shelter, 3750 Brown Station Rd., Upper Marlboro. — Compiled by Jillian S. Jarrett


Restaurant industry leader Danny Meyer ends tipping. Who will follow?

No tips required at Sally's Middle Name on H Street NE, which charges a service fee instead . (Dixie D. Vereen/For The Washington Post) If you happen to have a late-November reservation at the Modern, Danny Meyer’s two-Michelin-star restaurant in New York’s Museum of Modern Art, here’s some good news: When the bill comes, you’ll no longer have to do any fuzzy math on a full stomach and a few glasses of champagne. Meyer, head of the Union Square Hospitality Group, announced Wednesday that he is eliminating tipping at his fullservice restaurants, beginning late next month. Unfortunately, there’s some bad news, too: Meyer’s initiative, which he is calling Hospitality Included, will raise prices 20 to 35 percent. So that $138 tasting menu could soon cost about $170. The new policy will be rolled out at all of Meyer’s restaurants in the next year; Shake Shack, his fast-food chain — and his only D.C. presence — will not be affected by the change. But as the restaurant industry begins to rethink the way its employees are compensated, the no-gratuity business model — which has already been implemented in two local restaurants — may catch hold in Washington. Though Meyer certainly isn’t the first restaurateur to eliminate tipping — restaurants such as New York’s Dirt Candy and Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., have already instituted service charges instead — his 13 restaurants will set a high-profile example for others in the industry struggling to retain an often low-paid staff. That’s because the reasons for eliminating tipping go beyond just sparing diners an arithmetic problem when they’re a little tipsy. Tipping is an unequal system by which servers can make more than three times what highly trained cooks preparing the food earn, even though a waiter’s base minimum wage is less. That’s one of the primary reasons Meyer says he is doing away with the practice. “We believe hospitality is a team sport, and that it takes an entire team to provide you with the experiences you have come to expect from us,” Mayer wrote in a statement. “Unfortunately, many of our colleagues — our cooks, reservationists, and dishwashers to name a few — aren’t able to share in our guests’ generosity.” He put it in starker terms to the Web site Eater: “I hate those Saturday nights where the whole dining room is high-fiving because they just set a record, and they’re


Obama outlines plan to keep 5,500 troops in Afghanistan

Administration officials portrayed the decision as a natural extension of a strategy that was making progress, rather than an indication that the president’s original plan had failed. “I don’t think anyone ever intended that the job, so to speak, would be finished” despite Obama’s timetable, said Lisa Monaco, a senior White House official. “We always said that we would continue to have a presence there.” Under the new plan, the U.S. military will retain bases in Kabul, as planned, but also have forces at Bagram air base and at bases outside Kandahar and Jalalabad, the largest cities in Afghanistan’s southern and eastern regions. Obama emphasized that Afghans would continue to take the lead role in the fighting, with Americans providing advice and some counterterrorism support from bases outside Kabul. “These bases will give us the presence and the reach our forces require to achieve their mission,” he said. The larger force of 5,500 troops is projected to cost about $15 billion a year, or about $5 billion more than the smaller, 1,000-person Kabul-based force would have cost. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter, speaking at the Pentagon, said the next president will probably need to make decisions about the long-term position of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. “Is it going to be 5,500 forever?” he told reporters. “I can only say this: That is our best estimate now of what we should plan for and are planning for and budgeting for for 2017.” Although U.S. deaths have fallen off dramatically in recent years, the change may also mean more U.S. casualties. This year, 25 American service members and civilians have been killed in the country. Obama emphasized that the relatively small American military presence, down from 100,000 at the war’s peak, would not decide the war’s outcome, and he emphasized that peace talks offered the sole viable solution to the long, bloody civil war. “By now, it should be clear to the Taliban and all who oppose Afghanistan’s progress, the only real way to achieve the full drawdown of U.S. and foreign troops from Afghanistan is through a lasting political settlement with the Afghan government,” Obama said. Sudarsan Raghavan, Sayed Salahuddin and Mohammad Sharif in Kabul contributed to this report. Read more: In Afghanistan, the art of fighting extremism Afghans who once watched war from afar forced to flee as front lines shift Afghan forces straining to keep the Taliban at bay


Baltimore activists arrested after protest at City Hall over police moves

Activists in Baltimore protesting the permanent appointment of interim Police Commissioner Kevin Davis were arrested early Thursday after they refused to leave City Hall. The demonstrators began the sit-in before a City Council subcommittee Wednesday approved the appointment of Davis, who took the interim post in July amid the fallout from the death of a African American man in police custody and concerns over rising gun violence in the city. A full council vote on Davis is scheduled for Monday. The protesters’ demands included changes to police tactics and more money toward education. “After hours of communication and warnings, a small number of protesters inside of City Hall decided to leave the building,” the Baltimore Police Department wrote in a statement posted on Facebook. “The remaining protesters refused to leave the building. As a direct result of their failure to comply, the remaining protesters have been arrested and charged with trespassing.” At least 12 people were arrested, according to the Baltimore Sun, and no injuries were reported. The protesters, which included high school students, were members of the Baltimore Uprising Coalition and, during the occupy of city hall, organized under the hashtags of #BaltimoreUprising and #OccupyCityHall. Protesters shout as council members leave City Hall in Baltimore late Wednesday after a subcommittee voted to back Kevin Davis as permanent police commissioner. (Colin Campbell/AP) “We are out here trying to demand greater accountability and transparency in the Baltimore Police department and city government as a whole,” activist Tre Murphy said in a video posted on YouTube. After exhausting all other avenues and going through the quote unquote proper way to handle business as usual . . . What we’re saying is that has failed and business as usual cannot continue.” As the council subcommittee voted for the police commissioner, protestors shouted from the upper gallery of City Council chambers, the Associated Press reported. “All night, all day, we will fight for Freddie Gray! No justice, no peace!” they chanted in reference to the 25-year-old Baltimore man who died in April of spinal-related trauma while in police custody. The death set off days of some of the worst unrest in the city in years. Six police officers involved in Gray’s arrest face criminal charges. Three of the subcommittee’s five members voted in favor of Davis, the AP reported. Councilman Nick Mosby, the husband of State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, voted against the confirmation, and


‘The Natural World of Winnie-the-Pooh’ is a honey pot of nostalgia

adventure with his playthings Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo and Tigger. (The books’ other characters, Owl and Rabbit, most likely derive from the area’s native fauna.) Milne, in turn, found inspiration for the two children’s books that were to eclipse his entire literary output, a source of frustration in later years for the prolific writer. No matter Dorothy Parker’s acerbic review — “Tonstant Weader fwowed up” — in the New Yorker, the Pooh books became popular immediately. To date, they have sold about 20 million copies and been translated into more than 50 languages. There have been Disney film adaptations, related merchandise, critical spoofs by Frederick Crews and a disappointing authorized sequel, “Return to the Hundred Acre Wood,” in 2009. Aalto goes back to the source: the creators, muses and settings. From the beginning, Milne recognized illustrator Ernest H. Shepard as an important contributor. The Punch cartoonist visited Cotchford Farm and sketched the Scots pines, heath and toys that he later rendered in ink, pen and black crayon. The only deviation was his use of his own son’s stuffed bear, Growler, as the model for Pooh. Milne was so pleased with the drawings that he insisted that Shepard receive a share of royalties, rather than the more usual, for the time, flat fee per illustration. “Poohsticks Bridge” from ‘The Natural World of Winnie-the-Pooh,’ by Kathryn Aalto (Timber Press) (Photo by Kathryn Aalto) Shepard’s art punctuates Aalto’s genial, knowledgeable text, and the generous use of period and full-color contemporary photos immerses readers in literary history and a living landscape. In addition to familiar haunts — Poohsticks Bridge, the Hundred Acre Wood — Aalto attends to the natural and social history of the area. Once marked as royal hunting ground by William the Conqueror and much later described as “villainously ugly” by an English journalist, the woodlands and heaths of Ashdown Forest are now a protected habitat for the rare nightjar and Dartford warbler as well as the damselflies, butterflies, bees and violets depicted in the books. The gorse-bushes that once pricked Pooh still flourish. As he grew, Christopher Robin’s relationship to the books and the father who made him famous became more fraught, and he struggled to break free of the public’s fixation on his young bob-haired self. Aalto never ventures into this darker territory. She references the first memoir, “The Enchanted Places,” by Christopher Milne (he preferred “Christopher” as an