Islamic State radio station taken out in suspected U.S. strike in Afghanistan

Newly-launched radio broadcasts by Islamic State militants are emerging as a new recruitment tool in efforts to lead the Islamist insurgency in eastern Afghanistan. KABUL — At the time, the station was in the middle of one of its nightly transmissions warning residents to show support for the Islamic State or else be killed. “It happened as the radio was broadcasting live,” said Hazart Hussain Mashrigiwal, a spokesman for the local police force. “The transmission just stopped operating, and we believe the airstrike was conducted by a drone.” According to Mashrigiwal, three Islamic State radio technicians were found in the rubble. Ahmad Ali Hazrat, head of the Nangahar provincial council, said at least five Islamic State technicians were killed. In a statement, the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan declined to discuss specifics of the reported strike. But Col. Michael Lawhorn, a spokesman for U.S forces in Afghanistan, said the military had conducted “two counterterrorism strikes” in Nangahar’s Achin district late Monday, according to the Associated Press. “For operational security reasons, we cannot discuss details of the counterterrorism operations,” Lawhorn said. When the station, dubbed “Caliphate Radio” by its operators, launched in December, it prompted fear throughout Afghanistan as well as Pakistan’s border region, where it also could be heard. Militants were now able to communicate directly with potential recruits and issue public threats to dissenters. Afghan military leaders initially said they couldn’t determine the origin of the radio broadcasts. That heightened concern among Afghans and Western analysts about Afghan forces’ ability to conduct even basic intelligence operations to halt the Islamic State’s advance. Now, however, the U.S. military appears to be stepping up its role in efforts to prevent the Islamic State from gaining a foothold in Afghanistan, as the group did in Syria and Iraq — and where it went on to create havens. Last month, the State Department named the Islamic State’s Khorasan branch — the group’s chapter in Afghanistan and Pakistan — a terrorist organization and imposed sanctions on its leaders. President Obama also gave the Pentagon wider latitude to take offensive action against the militant fighters in Afghanistan, according to media reports. In an interview published by the New York Times on Sunday, Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan, deputy chief of staff for U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, said the Pentagon now has the “ability to take the gloves off.” Still, some Afghan analysts worry that the airstrikes


Japan’s bullet train has made this well-preserved city more accessible than ever

along the canal that edges the castle’s mount, headed toward my hotel and the bustling, seafood-heavy Omicho market. Along the way, I visited Oyama (“big hill”) Shrine, whose name refers to the location of the castle that towers over it. The shrine is notable for a gatehouse with a most un-Japanese touch: stained glass windows. Despite such curiosities, Kanazawa’s temples and shrines are no match for Kyoto’s. But thanks to the new Shinkansen line, there’s no need to pick one city over the other. The next day, I boarded a limited express for the two-hour trip to Kyoto. The total traveling time from Tokyo was only slightly longer than if I’d gone to Kyoto directly. Jenkins writes about film, music and visual art for The Washington Post and NPR. More from Travel: Fawning over fauna: A guide to Tokyo’s menagerie of animal cafes Going Our Way: A plan for first-timers in Japan Carrying a ‘throwaway’ wallet and other tips in avoiding travel scams If you go Transportation From Tokyo station, the Hokuriku Shinkansen zips to Kanazawa in 21/2 hours. The trip is covered by the Japan Rail Pass; reservations are required. Hokutetsu Bus offers clockwise and counterclockwise loops of the city from 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. The $4 day pass includes the company’s other regular local lines, so you can keep riding after 6 p.m. Machi-nori, Kanazawa’s equivalent of Capital Bikeshare, maintains 18 docks. The bikes are not designed for riders with large frames or long limbs. Where to stay The area around Kanazawa station and the nearby business district contain outposts of all the usual Japanese hotel chains and none of the Western ones. Hotel Pacific 46 Jikkenmachi 011-81-76-264-3201 hotel-pacific.jp Remade as a boutique hostelry in 2014, this hotel has rooms that are small, clean and efficiently arranged. The reception desk doubles as a coffee bar. There’s an udon noodle restaurant on the first floor, and the minimalist design features black-and-white photographs of James Dean-era America. Located a few steps from Omicho market and a few minutes from Kenrokuen and Kanazwawa Castle. Single rooms about $42 and up. Where to eat There are hundreds of restaurants in and around Kanazawa station and Omicho market. MoriMoriZushi, which serves excellent sushi, has outlets in the market and on the sixth floor of the Forus Department Store, next to the station. Also, the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art includes a chic cafe.


Slain teen Nicole Lovell was stabbed, prosecutors say

at the news conference, clutching a stuffed panda bear to her chest. She spoke in hushed tones about her daughter’s health struggles and love of pandas but grew so emotional that she was forced to stop. Josh Blankenship, Lovell’s youth pastor, finished the statement: “Our hearts still ache in sadness.” Blacksburg’s police chief, Anthony Wilson, said authorities had received around 400 tips from the public about the case. Police said Tuesday evening that a funeral for Lovell was scheduled for Thursday in Blacksburg. The news conference provided a few new details, but it left many basic questions about the case unanswered. Authorities took no questions from the media. Police have not said what happened to Lovell after she disappeared from her home or revealed a motive for the slaying. Weeks spoke at length about her daughter, whom she called “Coley.” Lovell had a liver transplant as an infant and “fought for her life,” coming home from the hospital after her first birthday. “She tried to live a normal life,” Weeks said. But then Weeks said Lovell was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and spent six months in a coma after developing acute respiratory distress syndrome. Two former Virginia Tech students have been indicted in the killing of Nicole Lovell, a middle school student. Here is what you need to know about the case. “At this point, we almost lost her for the second time,” Weeks said. Medical experts and physicians told Weeks that her daughter had a 1 percent chance of survival, but Weeks said, “Coley once again beat the odds.” Lovell loved pandas, music and dancing and dreamed of being on “American Idol.” As she spoke, Weeks began to tremble. She placed her hand to her chest. “Nicole touched many people through her short life,” Weeks said before walking away from the podium, close to sobbing. “I can’t do it.” Lovell went missing after she pushed a nightstand against her bedroom door and apparently climbed out a window that was found open, her mother said. Her body was discovered Saturday afternoon near the Virginia-North Carolina border. Weeks previously said that her daughter needed to take daily medication for her liver transplant and that she had been bullied at school. Police have not said whether either of those issues played a role in her death. Eisenhauer was arrested early Saturday at his dorm at Virginia Tech and was charged with abduction


North Korea announces plan to launch rocket carrying observation satellite

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers remarks at a military parade in Pyongyang in October. (Wong Maye-E/AP) North Korea said Tuesday that it plans to launch a satellite-carrying rocket as soon as next week, a move that could demonstrate potential progress in the nation’s long-running mission to develop a reliable intercontinental ballistic missile. The North gave notice of the launch — which it said would come between Feb. 8 and Feb. 25 — in an alert to the International Maritime Organization, a group responsible for maritime safety. Although North Korea has described its satellite program as peaceful, the launches rely on long-range missile technology and defy sanctions designed to restrict the country’s weapons program. A launch coming just four weeks after an underground nuclear test would sharpen concern in the West and across Asia that Pyongyang is attempting to make progress on its ultimate goal — the ability to fire off a miniaturized nuclear warhead with an accurate ballistic missile. In Washington, the State Department official in charge of East Asian affairs, Daniel Russel, said the purported launch plans “argue even more strongly” for tougher U.N. sanctions on the North. The United States has led calls for additional measures by the U.N. Security Council in response to last month’s nuclear test, the North’s fourth since 2006. But North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, during his four years in power, has repeatedly signaled that he is willing to test weapons technology in defiance of the international community. Under Security Council resolutions, the North has long been prohibited from launching rockets using “ballistic missile technology.” White House spokesman Josh Earnest described North Korea's publicized plans to launch a satellite as "an irresponsible provocation" and "a clear violation of their international obligations," at a briefing on Feb. 2. In an apparent reference to China, Pyongyang’s ally, which has resisted the expansion of sanctions, Russel also said the planned rocket launch “would be an unmistakable slap in the face” to those who have backed “patience and dialogue” with the North rather than sanctions. North Korea’s official news agency has provided no details on the planned launch, which would be the authoritarian nation’s fifth, dating back to 1998. But the announcement came as little surprise to outside analysts: Recent satellite imagery had shown a flurry of activity at the North’s launch site, in the northwestern corner of the country. In recent years, the North


has used nuclear and missile tests as headline events for political celebrations, and some experts said the latest launch could serve as a showcase of might for the Feb. 16 birthday of former leader Kim Jong Il. Still, there is no guarantee of success: Of the North’s five launches, only the most recent one, in December 2012, reached orbit. And even that satellite appeared to malfunction days or hours after reaching space, said Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. “If it worked, it didn’t work for long,” McDowell said. Over the past two years, North Korea has taken steps to upgrade its launch facility, extending the launch tower to accommodate higher-powered rockets. Models of a larger rocket, known as Unha-9, have been displayed at various events across the country. Yet the North still faces many hurdles, and experts said Tuesday that this launch would be technologically similar to previous ones. Pyongyang’s latest maritime notice suggests that the first stage of the rocket will fall into the waters between South Korea and China; the second stage will plummet east of the Philippines. Those potential drop zones look much as they did in 2012 — suggesting a rocket of similar design, experts said. “This looks very similar to what they did a couple years ago,” said Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. “Ultimately, we’re talking about an observation satellite. If it works, maybe they’ll end up with some pictures they show. And if it doesn’t work, they’ll just fake some pictures.” There is still broad disagreement among analysts and intelligence experts about North Korea’s weapons capability. For Pyongyang to directly threaten the United States, it must be able to miniaturize a nuclear weapon — and hone the technology that would allow a rocket to reenter the atmosphere from space. In 2013, the Defense Intelligence Agency said that North Korea had the capability to mount a miniaturized warhead on a long-range missile, although the reliability of such a weapon would be “low.” But Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. quickly played down that assessment, saying that Pyongyang had “not yet demonstrated the full range of capabilities necessary for a nuclear armed missile.” The North itself has claimed that it has the ability to create small nuclear weapons suitable for missiles. According to the North, two of its earliest satellites — from


Montgomery Animal Watch

These cases were 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. Touchy problem: Checking up on a pooch: Adopt dogs and cats at MCHS no-kill rescue: Rockville Reduced fees for cat adoption: Germantown Valentine’s cat adoption: Gaithersburg — Compiled by Lisa M. Bolton


Hole in jet may be result of bomb blast

A hole was ripped open on the side of this Somali Daalo Airlines jet shortly after takeoff. The plane was carrying 74 passengers, the airline said. MOGADISHU, Somalia — Residents of Balad, a town about 18 miles north of Mogadishu, found the body of a man who might have been blown out of the Airbus 321 in Tuesday’s blast, said police officer Mohamed Hassan. Abdiwahid Omar, the director of Somalia’s civil aviation authority, told state-run Radio Mogadishu that authorities were not sure if the body was the missing passenger. Government officials also said no evidence had been found so far of a criminal act. Mohammed Ibrahim Yassin, chief executive of Daallo Airlines, did not rule out a possible bomb. “At this stage, everything is possible,” Yassin said. No group claimed responsibility for the blast. Somalia faces an insurgency from the Islamic extremist group al-Shabab, which has carried out deadly attacks across the nation. A hole is photographed in a plane operated by Daallo Airlines as it sits on the runway of the airport in Mogadishu, Somalia. (AP) Capt. Vlatko Vodopivec, the pilot, said he and others were told the blast was caused by a bomb. Vodopivec said by phone from Mogadishu that the blast happened when the plane was at about 11,000 feet and climbing to its cruising altitude of 30,000 feet. Daallo Airlines said all passengers except one got off the plane safely. It previously said the plane, which was headed to Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, carried 74 passengers. Cellphone video taken during the flight showed passengers, some wearing oxygen masks, sitting toward the back of the jet, with empty seats in the front of the cabin near the hole in the fuselage. A loud sound of rushing air could be heard on the video, which was shot by Awale Kullane, Somalia’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations. “When we heard a loud bang, the co-pilot went back to the cabin to inspect the damage, and I took over the commands as the procedure demands,” the Serbian pilot said, adding that the engines and hydraulics functioned normally so he had no problem flying the aircraft back to Mogadishu. Read more: Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world


Roadkill: Loopy from lead poisoning, bald eagles are getting hit by cars

down on a roadkill rabbit. The eagle was 38 years old and must have survived all sorts of close encounters. “Eagles are beautiful, hugely charismatic birds,” said Dave McRuer, director of veterinary services at the Wildlife Center of Virginia, where many injured birds are treated. “Their primary diet in Virginia is living off of dead things, whether it’s a dead fish on the beach or a dead deer by the side of the road.” The side of the road is not a safe place to be. Getting hit by a vehicle, Dave said, is “a very common occurrence.” In the past five years, 25 of the 187 eagles admitted to the Wildlife Center, in Waynesboro, for rehabilitation — about 15 percent — had been hit by a vehicle. Data from 40 rehabilitation centers along the Eastern Seaboard tells a similar story: Of 679 eagles admitted, 99 had been involved in collisions. A bald eagle found near Fredericksburg, Va., was admitted Tuesday night. Its injuries are consistent with a vehicle strike. More eagles than ever are coming in to the Wildlife Center. Ten years ago, the staff was admitting about 20 eagles annually. Now it’s about 40 a year, Dave said. In a way, that’s good news — not that more bald eagles are getting hurt but that there are more bald eagles around to get hurt. That’s because there are more bald eagles. The species has rebounded since it was threatened with extinction in the 1970s because of DDT contamination, illegal shooting and habitat loss. Thanks to a range of protective measures, the bald eagle was removed from the endangered species list in 2007. Not that everything is hunky-dory. Dave said 80 percent of the eagles the Wildlife Center treats have measurable levels of lead in their systems, which is bad for you whether you are a Michigan schoolchild or a Virginia raptor. “The consequence is that lead affects the eagle’s nervous system,” Dave said. “It can make them more susceptible to being hit. They can’t maneuver their way away. It’s like they’re flying drunk.” Flying drunk in an open field is one thing. Flying drunk next to an interstate is another. Dave said bald eagles ingest lead from legally shot deer that have been field dressed by hunters, the guts cut out and left in a pile. The hunters “think they’re doing a good thing for wildlife,” giving animals


Troubles for trains as the demand for ‘stuff’ slows

Norfolk Southern, the railroad giant that operates 22,000 miles of track in 22 states, outlined new details for cutting jobs and closing tracks last week after posting a 29 percent drop in profits for the fourth quarter compared with the same period in 2014. It is another sign that the freight rail industry has been hit hard by changes in the American economy. Prices for commodities — materials such as coal, grain and oil — are down; 26 percent from their 52-week high, according to data from financial firm Stephens. And a strong dollar means domestic companies aren’t exporting commodities or industrial goods — such as steel, lumber and plastics — like they have in years past. “The commodities were kind of the last thing railroads had,” said Susan Helper, an economics professor at Case Western Reserve University and a former U.S. Commerce Department chief economist. All of that spells trouble for trains. U.S. consumers aren’t buying as much stuff and fewer U.S. workers are involved in making that stuff. The decline in U.S. manufacturing means railroads don’t have as much to carry. Freight traffic was down 2.5 percent in 2015. Consumer-facing products, rather than commodities and industrial goods, made up almost half of all cargo, according to the Association of American Railroads. “A lot of manufacturing, particularly labor-intensive manufacturing, has gone overseas where labor is cheaper,” said Susan Houseman, a senior economist at the W.E. Upjohn Institute, an economic think tank. Freight carriers mostly make money on the volume of their cargo. If demand for goods is high, they carry a lot more freight. The higher the demand, the more the freight is worth, the more they can charge to transport it. Carriers often offset low volume by adjusting prices and streamlining operations, said Justin Long, a transportation research analyst at Stephens. In Norfolk Southern’s case, the rail giant said it is slashing jobs, about 2,000 by 2020, cutting overtime by 50 percent from 2015 levels, disposing with or moving operations off 1,000 miles of track in 2016, and consolidating two divisions. The company hopes to achieve savings of more than $650 million a year. “Given current market dynamics, we are aggressively bringing down overtime, head count and our locomotive fleet size,” James A. Squires, the company’s chairman, president and chief executive, told investors. Taking those steps will cut costs, he said, but also will help Norfolk Southern improve


D.C. community calendar, Feb. 4-11, 2016

desert and tropical paradise atmosphere with a guide who may show bananas, cacao and coffee ripening on a tree or tell you about the next big breakthrough in medical plant research. Fridays, Mondays and Wednesdays at noon, Tuesdays at 2 p.m. Through Feb. 29. U.S. Botanic Garden, Conservatory Garden Court, 100 Maryland Ave. SW. 202-225-8333. www.usbg.gov. Free. Pipe organ recital Open Studio Fridays Art + coffee Shenzhen pop music show Chinese Lunar New Year celebration Friday ARTnights: Friday ARTnights: Knit and sip Clock lecture Saturday, Feb. 6 The Great Zucchini “La Chandeleur” (Crêpe Day) Family story time Ignite Your Garden with Spring Wildflowers Family story time All ages welcome to use these 30-40 minute sessions to improve language and literacy skills, participation of grownups is encouraged. Every other Saturday at 10:30 a.m. Cleveland Park Library, 3310 Connecticut Ave. NW. clevelandparklibrary@dc.gov . 202-282-3080. Free. Family story time Artist and Entrepreneurs bazaar Chinese New Year: family day activities Trading card meetup Yoga at Northwest One Portrait story days: George Washington Carver Allure of native shrubs and trees for the garden Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater “Revelations” performance 21st-Century Consorts: Crosscurrents This concert by the ensemble-in-residence draws on the transatlantic modernist influences evident in the exhibition “Crosscurrents,” performing a program featuring American and European masterpieces, with soprano Lucy Shelton singing Luciano Berio’s classic Circles, along with music for two pianos and percussion by John Adams, Bela Bartok and Eugene O’Brien. 6-8 p.m. Smithsonian American Art Museum, McEvoy Auditorium, Eighth and F streets NW. 202-633-1000. Free. Discussion with “Impact!” curator Emerson String Quartet Insingizi Sunday, Feb. 7 Museum community day “Throwing Curves - Eva Zeisel” First park, first monument: from equestrian to obelisk and back Kids @ Katzen Sunday yoga at the library Washington National Opera Young Artists Shaw knitting and crocheting circle Shenzhen Lily Girls’ Choir Monday, Feb. 8 Viniyoga with Robin Young Portrait Explorers: Sequoyah Therapeutic yoga classes Awareness through movement Fun and games Mondays Reader’s theatre After-school workshops China’s Henan Arts Troupe Speaking English Behind the science with Joe Palca: insights from scientific innovators Zumba O.B. Hardison poetry reading Two progressive poets, Reginald Dwayne Betts and William Archila, examine the power of verse as an agent for change. 7:30 p.m. Folger Shakespeare Library, 201 East Capitol St. SE. 202-544-7077. www.folger.edu. $15. Overbeck lecture: “A New History of Our City” ReDiscovery: “Dogg’s Hamlet Cahoot’s Macbeth” Tuesday, Feb. 9 Chair yoga classes Gently


In the galleries: The roots of these gardens run deep

Santiago Ramón y Cajal. Elsewhere in the gallery, constructions of wire give a more industrial vibe to Kamen’s attempts to depict the world’s inner workings. “Matter Informing Space,” from 2009, uses steel wire to orbit wads of painted Mylar, which could represent either heavenly bodies or stray thoughts. Human consciousness and outer space may be puzzles of entirely different kinds, but they’re equally enigmatic. And, as Kamen learned from Albert Einstein that “the most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.” Rebecca Kamen: Continuum Jefferson Pinder, "Black Hole," 2016. Glitter, black ink, and white neon. (Jefferson Pinder/Washington Project for the Arts and Curator's Office) Other Worlds, Other Stories On the quest to explore outer space, pulp writers and illustrators got a head start on fine artists. So it’s only fair that the Washington Project for the Arts’ cosmically themed “Other Worlds, Other Stories” includes works from both camps. Lucy West’s realist space-scapes are precise, luminous and grand, suitable for the covers of 1950s intergalactic adventure novels. It’s the art-worlders who focus on gritty details, make inside jokes or gaze backward. A duo trading as Menu4Mars offers materials for dining in a seriously takeaway setting, while Roxana Pérez-Méndez imagines Puerto Rico’s version of NASA. Casey Johnson’s massive “Oculus” combines a simulated observatory with a wooden space capsule that recalls Jules Verne-era notions of sailing to the stars. “Oculus” is suspended in midair, just a few feet from Jefferson Pinder’s elegant “Black Hole,” a large, wall-mounted disc that appears to float. Its ebony surface glitters, while neon light from behind the circle gives it a heavenly glow. In another setting, though, it might seem merely stark, not spacey. Two other artists’ contributions draw on interplanetary phenomena, yet are more art than science. Felipe Gonclaves’s large wall painting spins a cartoonish wormhole across a cosmic backdrop, creating the illusion that its center has been cut into slices that have been yanked to one side. Adam Fung’s pattern paintings, inspired by astronomy, superimpose geometric forms over twinkling black skies. His gemlike “New Star” is an act of abstraction, not observation. Other Worlds, Other Stories Masha Trebukova. "Untitled," 1993. Pastel on paper; on view at Gallery Neptune & Brown. (Masha Trebukova/Robert Brown Gallery) Minah & Papapostolou As Morris Louis brilliantly did a half-century ago, Greg Minah pours acrylic pigment on canvas. But the similarity ends there, as Minah’s show at the VisArts Gibbs Street


often feature white-painted areas that evoke hazy mist or churning surf. That’s apt, because the Baltimore-based artist’s technique relies on water. Minah drizzles thinned colors on the canvas, then tilts and spins to diffuse them. He subtracts as well as adds, sometimes removing most of a layer of paint with jets of water. The results are complex and fluid, whether they hint at the ocean or, more thickly, streams of lava. Yet the outlines of purged paint create honeycombed lines, often reversed into darker areas. Minah’s lush color-field paintings are also accidental drawings. Installed in the darkened, mostly empty VisArts Kaplan Gallery, Thanasi Papapostolou’s “Eikona/Image” consists of eight humanoid sculptures under spotlights. Five, dubbed “amorphous herms,” have only heads atop plaster pillars. One is a full and realistic female nude, expertly rendered in a neoclassical style. The other two are more like the herms, but with certain, um, details to indicate their gender. The local artist explains the figures as reflections of the “dilemma/crisis of self-projection” in the contemporary world. Yet as installed here, they seem more ancient than modern. “Eikona/Image” resembles a secular Greek temple, and its solemnity suggests a quest for the sort of ritual and meaning that was once integral to daily life. Wash: New Paintings by Greg Minah Trebukova and Kudryashov Two Russian expats of different generations but similar influences, Masha Trebukova and Oleg Kudryashov appear compatible in Gallery Neptune & Brown’s “Anything but Silent.” Kudryashov, who’s often shown by Brown, makes one-of-a-kind prints that he hand-colors and sometimes cuts and folds into 3-D constructions. Heavy blacks bracket lighter, brighter hues, most subtly in a piece where the only color contrast is pale green. The younger Trebukova uses some similar gestures. but her drawing-paintings are freer and less geometric, without Kudryashov’s straight lines and regular circles. Her often-untitled abstractions can resemble landscapes and pile pastel, watercolor and pencil as if they were layers of rock and sediment. Natural-world shades abound, but two of the most striking pieces are more electric. One (which is in the flat file, not on the wall) takes its cues from the peacock-blue paper on which it’s made; the other is sort of a night vision, its black accented by red and blue. Where Kudryashov’s style is rooted in memories of urban Moscow, Trebukova sets out for wilder territory. Anything but Silent: Masha Trebukova and Oleg Kudryashov Jenkins is a freelance writer.


Stretched by its fight against Taliban, Afghan army raises recruitment age

power in Kabul after five years of brutal rule. Many analysts believe the Afghan army suffered a record number of casualties last year, although it has not released specific figures. Col. Michael T. Lawhorn, director of public affairs for the U.S.-led coalition, said Afghan forces suffered a 28 percent increase in casualties in 2015. Lawhorn said Gen. John F. Campbell, commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, has been urging the Afghan army to change how it recruits and deploys its soldiers. While pushing army commanders to simplify the recruitment process, Campbell has also advised them to shift soldiers from checkpoints into more-mobile infantry units. The army also has to be large enough that it can more easily cycle soldiers between combat and leave time, Lawhorn said. “What has happened the last couple years is some of these units have been in battle the entire time,” Lawhorn said. “So this winter, what we are trying to do is rebuild, reequip and re-man.” Waziri said Afghan military commanders hope about 5 to 10 percent of recruits will come from the 35-to-40 age bracket. The Afghan army has a targeted strength of 195,000 soldiers, but it has consistently failed to meet its recruitment goals. In his report to Congress, Sopko said the force currently claims about 170,000 soldiers. But that figure may be inflated, he cautioned. Last month, an Associated Press investigation found that official Afghan army enlistment numbers probably include thousands of “ghost soldiers” who do not regularly report for duty or who have retired, defected to the Taliban or been killed. With the move to accept recruits up to age 40, it appears as if the Afghan military will have one of the world’s least restrictive age requirements for military service. Neighboring Pakistan, for example, generally does not accept infantry recruits older than 23, according to military officials in that country. India generally does not accept infantry recruits over 24. But in recent years, the U.S. military has loosened some of its age requirements for enlistment. Two years ago, the Air Force raised its maximum age from 27 to 39, according to the Stars and Stripes newspaper. The Army’s enlistment age is capped at 35 and the Marine Corps’ at 28, barring an official waiver. Sayed Salahuddin contributed to this report. Read more: Commando-style assault on Afghan jail frees scores of Taliban inmates Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world


Six months out, Rio organizers are still a long way from the finish line

even removing televisions from athletes’ rooms. When reports circulated that athletes staying in the Olympic Village would have to do without air conditioning, Olympic officials quickly found the money to quell concerns. This has become even more important following the Zika outbreak — Andrada said that athletes are advised to keep windows closed and the air conditioning on to avoid mosquito bites in the Olympic Village. Some key transport works are still not completed — including a new metro line that will link Rio’s famous beach suburbs to the West Rio area where the Olympic park and venue are. Although violence in Rio’s many favelas has been worsening over the last year as cracks increasingly show in a “pacification” program that installed armed police bases, government and Olympic officials insist that security will not be impacted. Rio will have a variety of police and security forces throughout the Summer Games, more than 85,000 officers in total. “Rio will be the safest city in the world during the Games,” Andrada said. “So we have no worry with the security of the tourists, of the athletes and those who will work on the Games.” Rio officials say with six months to go, construction at competition venues is 70 percent complete, and they’re confident everything will be done on time. Twenty-two test events have been staged, and 23 more are planned for the next three months. Officials had to postpone the velodrome testing event last month by at least six weeks until the track is operable. “We’d rather take the heat on having an event postponed and making sure that the real event and the Games will be perfect,” Andrada said. Water pollution remains a concern. The former chief executive of World Sailing says he was forced out for trying to move the Olympic competition away from polluted Guanabara Bay after independent testing conducted by the Associated Press found disease-causing viruses linked to human sewage at levels thousands of times above what would be considered alarming in the United States or Europe. The tests include the sailing venue as well as those for rowing, canoeing, open-water swimming and triathlon. In a recent BMX test event, competitors had safety concerns with the course, and officials scurried to improve the track in the hours before competition. “The highway of the preparation of the Games is not straight and flat,” Andrada said Maese reported from Washington.


The food movement is small? Not from where we sit, it isn’t.

want to buy more fresh fruits and vegetables. Or look at indicators from the marketplace: Flagging profits at Walmart are a sign of the public’s changing attitudes toward food. The company was seen as a mortal threat to traditional food retailers when it entered the market, more than 15 years ago. Today, Walmart finds itself competing poorly with smaller stores offering fresh, local produce and even with other big-box stores, such as Costco, now the nation’s largest seller of organic food. Meanwhile, sales of regular soda in the United States have declined a jaw-dropping 25 percent in the past two decades. This, despite Coca-Cola’s spending $3.5 billion on advertising in 2014 alone and dispensing millions in charitable donations to woo the public and deflect concern about its most profitable — and least healthful — products. Soft-drink manufacturers have mounted expensive marketing and PR campaigns but are still seeing a decline in sales of regular soda in the United States. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters) Those consumption trends are a reflection that Americans increasingly care about where their food comes from, how it is grown and the health and environmental implications of what they feed their families. Let’s be clear: These changes didn’t just happen. The shifts we are talking about are occurring as a result of the concerted work of dedicated advocates, activists and community-based organizations that are changing the marketplace and the food system. They are doing it not just through purchasing decisions but also by holding their elected officials accountable and demanding better food policy at local, state and national levels — all against the backdrop of billions in marketing by the processed-food and fast-food industries. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a food movement to us. Yes, conventionally grown food still makes up the vast majority of what Americans buy on a daily basis. But that doesn’t reflect a lack of demand for organic food; it reflects a lack of supply. We’ve heard personally from the people who run large food companies that one of their biggest challenges is meeting the demand for organic fruits, vegetables, dairy and meat. And this brings up a very important point: The staggering gap between supply and demand reflects the regulations, policies, infrastructure — and even financial markets — that greatly favor conventional agriculture through billions of dollars’ worth of subsidies, generous insurance coverage, extensive research, technical help and even marketing


Rites of spring: Classical concerts not to miss

(Ping Zhu for The Washington Post ) (Ping Zhu for The Washington Post ) The big guns are out in 2016: Iván Fischer brings his Budapest Festival Orchestra to the Kennedy Center (Feb. 15); Daniil Trifonov performs Prokofiev with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra (March 14); Yuri Temirkanov returns to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (March 17); and the Ring Cycle finally makes it to Washington (April 30). D.C. is in for a tremendous spring season, studded with big names, big events, and exciting work. There’s so much star power, in fact, that some of the smaller events may get overlooked. My list for spring, therefore, includes five can’t-miss events that I’m concerned you might miss, with my reasons why I think you’ll be glad you went. Mad about opera. Wings of song. Anniversary notes. Jennifer Koh. (Juergen Frank) Ursula Oppens. (Courtesy of the artist) Little big man. Another notable premiere, for another notable anniversary, is a new work by the composer David T. Little, a darling of the new-music scene largely because of the success of his opera “Dog Days.” Little, who teaches and heads the new-music program at Shenandoah University, has written a new piece for the ensemble Eighth Blackbird — a group that perhaps no longer counts as a young new-music group, as it celebrates its own 20th anniversary in 2016. “Ghostlight,” which the composer describes as a departure, draws from interviews he conducted with members of the ensemble; it will be paired with “Murder Ballades” by Bryce Dessner, guitarist with the band The National and a successful alt-classical composer, and performed at the Kennedy Center on March 7. The classics.


Inside Peyton Manning’s secret investigation into Al Jazeera documentary

Sly’s lawyer, Travis Cohron, also said his client’s statement — which Sly issued without knowing exactly what he was recanting — was Sly’s idea. According to Cohron, everything Sly said in the documentary about helping pro athletes take performance-enhancing drugs was a fabrication to impress Al Jazeera’s undercover reporter, whom Sly claims he thought was a potential business partner. “It was pure puffery,” Cohron said of his client’s words. “He was manufacturing a story to bolster his own appearance.” The story Sly said he made up contained at least a bit of truth, though: The Guyer Institute did ship medication to Ashley Manning, Fleischer confirmed. Citing Ashley’s right to privacy, Fleischer declined to specify whether the medication was human growth hormone, which is banned by professional sports leagues and only legal to prescribe in America for a few specific conditions, such as growth hormone deficiency, HIV wasting syndrome and short bowel syndrome. Here's what we know about the man who told Al Jazeera he gave performance enhancing drugs to Peyton Manning, Ryan Zimmerman, and other pro athletes. Manning’s pre-emptive investigation, Fleischer said, was a “natural reaction” to being asked to respond to anonymous allegations. “When somebody accuses you of doing something you didn’t do — and Al Jazeera refused to tell us who it was — it’s only logical to say, ‘Who is it, and why are they doing this?’ ” Fleischer said. “That’s human nature.” Search for the source In the Al Jazeera documentary, Liam Collins, a former British hurdler, went undercover and claimed to pharmacists and doctors he was trying to revive his running career and was willing to cheat. With hidden cameras, Collins recorded Sly and asked him about procuring performance-enhancing drugs. In speaking with Collins, Sly alleged illicit drug use by Washington Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman and Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard, as well as by Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison. Sly also said he helped numerous Green Bay Packers take banned substances, including linebackers Clay Matthews and Mike Neal, and defensive end Julius Peppers. (All of the players have denied the claims; Zimmerman and Howard have sued Al Jazeera for libel.) On Dec. 4, Al Jazeera sent a wave of emails marked “urgent.” One arrived in the inbox of Tom Condon, Manning’s agent. Another went to Dr. Leonard “Dale” Guyer. Another went to Charlie Sly. The personalized emails — which Al Jazeera said


To you, it’s a chore. To me, it’s a quest with benefits.

My happy place: A wide aisle, a sturdy cart and treasures I wasn’t even looking for. (Mike Blake/Reuters) First things first: I am not one of those shopaholics. It just so happens that because of my recipe duties at The Post, I spend an inordinate amount of time buying groceries. I prefer to think of food shopping as a quest with benefits. A challenge. Kinda fun. Yeah, “love” fits. My dear departed mother set me on this track, as a Canadian transplant to Florida who derived great pleasure from obtaining mass quantities of discount pantry goods and stocking enough of them to feed any army that might be passing by. A place more thrilling to her than a closet full of Ferragamo leather goods was the salvage warehouse that was open to the public, not particularly close to our house and just behind the best fried chicken carryout in town. My folks could afford to, and did, shop at regular supermarkets and such; in becoming a salvage-grocery devotee, Mom was either an exemplar of her austere upbringing or a consumer way ahead of her time, what with food-closeout stores now trending and our raised awareness to embrace all manner of bruised produce. Thing is, I never saw too many of “the public” when the Benwick girls were busy inspecting 12-count cases of canned asparagus spears. (All there? Dents?) The warehouse was football-field vast, it seemed to me as a kid, and we had it to ourselves. Once home, we would restock the kitchen shelves with our treasure. Tins of pink salmon for a luncheon-party mousse, quarts of off-brand mayo, jars of reconstituted lemon juice, a retail-display box full of Knox Gelatine envelopes: We had multiples, all the time. These days, my food shopping quests beyond your run-of-the-mill ingredients begin with Googling and phone calls. You might surprised by a) how much effort is required to connect a store-department employee with a customer inquiry and b) how unfamiliar with the inventory said employee can be. Sometimes the quests go far into the suburbs, on weekends, where the errand-induced traffic is fiercer than in rush hour. My favorite time to shop is mid-morning near the beginning of the week; that’s when stores restock and hordes are nonexistent. My fallback, when pressed for time, is asking a colleague to pick up what’s most probably at the Asian supermarket that’s closer to her house


bruised produce. Thing is, I never saw too many of “the public” when the Benwick girls were busy inspecting 12-count cases of canned asparagus spears. (All there? Dents?) The warehouse was football-field vast, it seemed to me as a kid, and we had it to ourselves. Once home, we would restock the kitchen shelves with our treasure. Tins of pink salmon for a luncheon-party mousse, quarts of off-brand mayo, jars of reconstituted lemon juice, a retail-display box full of Knox Gelatine envelopes: We had multiples, all the time. These days, my food shopping quests beyond your run-of-the-mill ingredients begin with Googling and phone calls. You might surprised by a) how much effort is required to connect a store-department employee with a customer inquiry and b) how unfamiliar with the inventory said employee can be. Sometimes the quests go far into the suburbs, on weekends, where the errand-induced traffic is fiercer than in rush hour. My favorite time to shop is mid-morning near the beginning of the week; that’s when stores restock and hordes are nonexistent. My fallback, when pressed for time, is asking a colleague to pick up what’s most probably at the Asian supermarket that’s closer to her house than mine. (See “shopped by proxy,” anon.) The quest is a must. Is the ingredient available and widely accessible? If it’s less of the latter, I try to get it for recipe testing anyway, even if it’s just to understand how substitute-able it might be. The benefits accrue when I happen upon a source of salt-packed capers (Rodman’s, Amazon) or freshly made fish stock (Ivy City Smokehouse). I might not grab those on the spot, but I’ll remember where I saw them, the same way some guys can instantly recall on-base percentages and model years of guitars. The intel pays off, eventually. Recently, I shopped by proxy via Instacart. The service is handy and efficient, albeit limited to stores that have similar inventories. Was unpacking the groceries at my door as satisfying as cruising the aisles of the store? Close, but no lamb phyllo cigar. The Old Bay Seasoning that couldn’t be located sent me back out into the night. I picked some up at a market where I discovered dressed soft-shell crabs in the freezer case. Love that. More from Food: My refrigerator: Commercial, see-through, and the best thing about my kitchen Have questions about cooking? Join our live


WikiLeaks founder: U.N. panel’s backing over detention ‘significant’ win

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says via a video link from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, that a U.N. panel ruling saying he should be allowed to go free and be awarded compensation is a "really significant victory". LONDON — Assange, speaking by video link from his refuge inside the Ecuadoran Embassy in London, said he considered the declaration by the U.N. group to be a “significant” victory, but he gave no indication of whether he would attempt to end his more than three-year stay inside the diplomatic compound. He urged authorities to abide by the decision and lift orders for his arrest and extradition to Sweden, where he faces questioning on allegations including rape — charges that he strongly denies. “It’s now the task of Sweden and Britain to implement the verdict” of the U.N. group, Assange said, calling the decision the “end of the road” for the arrest orders. British and Swedish officials, however, rejected the ruling and said that Assange has not been detained and is free to leave the embassy whenever he wants. If he walks out, he faces arrest under a European Arrest Warrant and for skipping bail. Hours earlier in Geneva, the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said Assange has been “arbitrarily detained” and urged Britain and Sweden to end his “deprivation of liberty.” Assange is “entitled to his freedom of movement and to compensation,” said a statement from the panel. Assange’s supporters fear that Sweden could hand him over to the United States to face possible charges over leaked documents, including hundreds of thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables. The U.N. panel has no legal standing, but its decisions often carry moral clout in international disputes. “Having concluded that there was a continuous deprivation of liberty, the Working Group also found that the detention was arbitrary because he was held in isolation during the first stage of detention and because of the lack of diligence by the Swedish Prosecutor in its investigations, which resulted in the lengthy detention of Mr. Assange,” the panel’s statement said in explaining its determination. Early in his legal wrangles, Assange was briefly held in a British jail, at times in an isolation unit. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be released and compensated for his years of detention, a UN panel has said. Natasha Howitt reports. Assange’s lawyers called the declaration a “resounding victory” and urged his immediate release. Wearing


Meet the 87-year-old bassist who just made symphony history

Jane Little began playing bass in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra when she was a teen. (Dustin Thomas Chambers/for The Washington Post) ATLANTA “Seventy-one years ago,” Little sighed during intermission, overcome by emotion after a five-minute-long standing ovation. “It’s hard to remember when I wasn’t here.” She was 16 and wearing a pastel evening gown when she made her debut on Feb. 4, 1945. That same Sunday, a long way from Atlanta, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill gathered to start the Yalta Conference. Guinness does not list an official record for longest orchestra tenure, though that will change when the ASO sends documentation next week to have Little’s feat registered. The unofficial record had been held by Frances Darger, a violinist in the Utah Symphony who retired in 2012 after 70 years. Just over a handful of musicians have played more than a half century in the same orchestra, including New York Philharmonic clarinetist Stanley Drucker (60), Boston Symphony Orchestra violinist Rolland Tapley (58), and San Francisco Symphony flutist Paul Renzi (52). Little’s quest is even more remarkable when you consider that she plays an instrument more than a foot taller than she is. Jane Little holds roses backstage. (Dustin Thomas Chambers/for The Washington Post) “It’s just mind-boggling,” says Timothy Cobb, the principal bassist with the New York Philharmonic. “It takes a tremendous amount of physical power, frankly, and just brute force to play in a big orchestra. I have had friends who have made it into their 70s but to be pumping it out in the orchestra is really something.” Little grew up in Atlanta during the Depression, her family too poor to afford a piano. But she loved music and was encouraged to try bass because, simply put, the orchestra at the Atlanta Girls High School didn’t need her to play clarinet, her first choice. She made her debut in 1945 with the Atlanta Youth Symphony, which became the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in 1947. Over the decades, Little has had her ups — performances with Igor Stravinsky and Arthur Rubinstein – and downs, none of them harder than the 2002 death of her husband, Warren Little, a longtime ASO flutist. Little has also had a number of physical setbacks. She currently has multiple myeloma, a cancer that’s being managed with chemotherapy and pills. She’s broken her shoulder, elbow and pelvis over the years. Then, last August,


Scientists discover Zika virus is ‘active’ in saliva and urine

present in urine and saliva. This is the first time that we showed that the virus is active — in other words, with the potential to provoke infection,” Myrna Bonaldo, a researcher and one of the team leaders, said in the statement. Infectious-disease specialists said the discovery should not take the focus away from the battle to control the mosquito that carries the virus. Brazil is in the midst of a Zika epidemic that the government blames for potentially thousands of cases of microcephaly, a rare congenital disorder that causes babies to be born with small heads and possible brain damage. Friday’s news came at the beginning of the annual Carnival festivities here and across the Americas, when revelers often kiss strangers in the streets and casually engage in other forms of intimate contact. The World Heath Organization has declared a global public health emergency over Zika and its suspected link to complications in newborns but has not scientifically confirmed a definite connection between Zika and microcephaly. Doctors cautioned that the results released Friday are preliminary and said more testing was needed. Peter Hotez, dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, said that scientists do not know yet whether the virus actually can be transmitted through saliva or urine. “That’s the big question,” Hotez said. Jesse Alves, a specialist at the Emílio Ribas Institute of Infectious Diseases, a government hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil, said the relevance of the findings is unclear. “It is more information, but it does not necessarily mean that this is a source of contamination,” he said. Alves added that many other viruses are also present in saliva. “An example is the HIV virus,” he said. “You can identify it in saliva, but this does not make it a relevant transmission source.” Still, the new discovery could make saliva testing a more effective way to identify the disease, Alves said. Research performed in French Polynesia during an outbreak of Zika in 2013 and 2014 found more traces of Zika in saliva than it did in blood. The Oswaldo Cruz Foundation team examined samples from two patients with Zika symptoms, it said. Researchers first identified genetic material from the Zika virus. A molecular biology test was then used to confirm the results. The foundation developed the test, which could offer a weapon in Brazil’s battle to control the


When the who of drug abuse changes the treatment-arrest equation

Sen. Kelly Ayotte (D-N.H.) testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the U.S. epidemic of opioid abuse, on Jan. 27 in Washington. (Alex Brandon/Associated Press) As a middle-age white man of comfortable means and right-of-center views on many issues, I may have been oblivious to certain things longer than others. Recent headlines make it impossible to ignore disparities, however. An armed man in open revolt against the law of the land is killed by law enforcement officials [“Bundy patriarch shows no regrets,” Politics & The Nation, Feb. 1]. There is hand-wringing and second-guessing, even though his death occurs only after a month of confrontation and not-very-veiled threats. Contrast this with the deaths of unarmed African American males whose fates are decided by police officers in a matter of seconds. Presidential candidates campaigning in the rural Northeast express sympathy for the plight of drug addicts and profess an eagerness to provide treatment [“Congress jumping on opioid-abuse crisis ,” The Fed Page, Feb. 1]. Drug abuse among white Americans in small towns is a public-health emergency. But drug abuse among minority populations was a crime addressed by filling the prisons with hundreds of thousands of nonviolent offenders. It is a terrible thing that anyone dies needlessly. It is a terrible thing that lives are ruined by drugs. It’s an even more terrible thing, though, that we seem to decide how terrible these things are based on whom they’re happening to. David Simpson, Vienna


The U.K. leaving the European Union could mean the end of both of them

banking union. Because the rest of Europe is coping with an extraordinary tide of refugees, a political and military challenge from Russia, and the ongoing economic crisis in Greece, nobody was ever going to reopen discussion of the major treaties that govern Europe’s “single market,” the continent-wide free-trade zone, of which Britain is in any case a major beneficiary. Instead, Cameron asked for, and has just received, a number of promises — Britain will not be forced to join a European political union, which isn’t happening anyway — plus an ugly little “opt-out” from E.U. laws: Europeans working in Britain will receive fewer benefits than British citizens. The response has been unsurprisingly negative. “Tinkering with the small print,” cried the Daily Mail. An “establishment stitch-up,” said a headline in the Daily Telegraph. With that exercise out of the way, the referendum campaign was launched. The vote may take place as soon as June. Opinion polls show the result could go either way. What could happen if Britain votes to leave? As I said: We don’t know. Britain might have to drop out of Europe’s single market, in which case the British would pay more to trade in Europe. Several large companies have already declared that if that happens, they will leave. Alternatively, Britain might stay in the single market but lose the right to influence E.U. regulations and be forced, as others are, to abide by them anyway. Presumably Britain would no longer be a part of E.U. trade negotiations and treaties, and so would have to launch all of those from scratch. In any case, laws on employment, contracts, taxation and intellectual property would all be affected, and the legal wrangling would go on for years. “Law firms prepare for Brexit bonanza,” declared a recent headline in the Financial Times. But the consequences would not be purely economic. If Britain were outside the E.U., it would surely cease to be part of any form of common European foreign policy. As I’ve written elsewhere, Europe’s voice has grown notably weaker over the past couple of years, not least because Britain, preoccupied with its own problems, has scarcely been able to interest itself in foreign countries. A dramatic British exit would necessarily weaken Europe’s ability to speak unanimously even further. Would it be possible for the E.U. to formulate a joint policy toward Russia if Britain is not in the room?


Maryland lawmaker calls for state to exit drug war, focus on treatment

Maryland Del. Dan K. Morhaim (D-Baltimore County) on Friday proposed four bills that would radically change the state’s approach to dealing with drug problems, in part by removing criminal penalties for low-level possession and adding emphasis on addiction treatment. One measure would create “safe spaces” for drug use, with facilities that provide sterile injection equipment, medical care and connections to social services. Another bill would establish a pilot program to test the effectiveness of treating addicts with the supervised use of free, pharmaceutical-grade opioids such as heroin and hydromorphone, with the goal of weaning users off their addiction. Morhaim, an emergency-room physician and faculty member at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the University of Maryland Medical School, also proposed legislation to require hospitals to make addiction counselors available to patients at all times and have arrangements for transferring drug users to appropriate detoxification and rehabilitation centers. The bill to decriminalize low-level drug possession would expand on a 2014 law that made the possession of small amounts of marijuana subject to a civil fine, not a criminal charge. Similar rules would apply to all narcotics under the legislation Morhaim proposed Friday. Morhaim, who plans to introduce the bills in the House of Delegates next week, said his legislative package would push Maryland out of what he calls the “failing” war on drugs and closer to addiction treatment. He said his proposals are likely to be highly controversial but noted that various studies of similar programs in Europe and other foreign jurisdictions suggest that his strategies could lower the costs of health-care, criminal-justice and insurance programs while reducing damage to communities and the education system. “Frankly, I didn’t buy into these approaches either when I first heard about them, but my thinking has evolved,” he said. “I think people will come to see these bills as I do — positive, rational and cost-effective steps forward.” Morhaim’s plans arise as the state grapples with a fast-growing heroin epidemic. In Maryland, 578 people died of heroin overdoses in 2014, a 25 percent increase over 2013 and more than twice the number who died from the drug in 2010. Nationwide, the incidence of fatal heroin overdoses nearly quadrupled from 0.7 deaths per 100,000 of population in 2000 to 2.7 deaths per 100,000 in 2013, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Morhaim’s announcement came less than two weeks


Register for the vote, not the draft

Pfc. Janelle Zalkovsky of the 101st Airborne Division is shown serving in Iraq in 2005. (U.S. Army handout/Reuters) THE QUESTION of whether women should — like men — be required to register for the military draft was thrust into the national conversation last week by Army and Marine Corps leaders who favor the idea. Now that women are eligible for all combat roles, it is a natural question. But is the Selective Service system needed at all, for men or women? Wouldn’t it make more sense, as presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton suggested during Wednesday’s CNN town hall, to put the effort instead into registering all Americans to vote when they turn 18? Gen. Mark A. Milley, Army chief of staff, and Gen. Robert B. Neller, commandant of the Marine Corps, Tuesday told the Senate Armed Services Committee that they favor having all Americans who are physically qualified register for the draft, which applies to those ages 18 through 25. The comments favoring the inclusion of women in Selective Service registration constitute a first in the Defense Department. Other military leaders — including Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Army acting secretary Patrick Murphy — did not endorse the idea, pushing instead for a national debate on the issue. Congress should take up that suggestion and start with a clear-eyed assessment of what purpose is served by the Selective Service system and the millions of dollars devoted to it. The draft hasn’t been used since 1973. The all-volunteer military has proved successful and is favored by military leaders over forcing people into service for relatively short terms. Given the 402-to-2 vote in the House against a draft in 2004, it’s clear there is no political support for its comeback. The strongest argument for maintaining the registration system is in the remote possibility of a major calamity confronting the country, but other government databases, nonexistent when the Selective Service Act was enacted in 1917, are available to assist in a mobilization. A far more urgent need for the country is getting people registered to vote. It is estimated that 24 percent of eligible Americans, or 51 million people, are not registered to vote, and studies show the percentage is even higher for those between the ages of 18 and 24. One big reason is an outmoded and mistake-prone system of registration that needlessly frustrates access to the ballot. When U.S. citizens reach the


In Okinawa, protesters dig in as work proceeds to relocate U.S. Marine base

troops. On weekends and public holidays, younger locals and families attend. “The people who are protesting are the children of the people who experienced the war,” said Yamashiro, who grew up in central Okinawa listening to the gruesome stories told by his father, who was a soldier in the Japanese Imperial Army and spent two years as a prisoner of war in Hawaii. Yamashiro has been arrested twice since construction at Henoko began in earnest in mid-2014, and he had to take five months off last year while he was treated for lymphoma. But he was soon back at the encampment. “I’m angry with the Japanese government and the American government for trying to use Okinawa for war-related causes rather than using it for the Okinawan people,” he said. “I want Okinawa to be freed of this and to become a peaceful island.” The shadow of war indeed hangs over daily life on Okinawa. Driving through residential and shopping districts in the island’s crowded center, it’s normal to pass huge military vehicles being driven by helmeted U.S. Marines. Meanwhile, the roar of jets from Kadena Air Base in the skies above is constant and deafening. In addition to the usual deployments, Okinawa has seen an influx of U.S. jet fighters and stealth bombers since North Korea conducted a nuclear test last month. The long-range rocket North Korea launched Sunday passed over Okinawa. The central government appears to think it can outlast the protesters, said Douglas Lummis, an American political scientist who has lived in Okinawa for 16 years and regularly visits the protest site. “When Governor Onaga said last year that he wouldn’t be able to cancel the [reclamation] permit until July [2015], it made me angry because I thought the protest would fade out,” Lummis said. “I was completely wrong. It’s getting larger and stronger.” Indeed, Yamashiro vows to continue, even as the central government pushes ahead. “The government in Tokyo has been trying to make us give up for a long time,” he said. “But we’ve been pushed around for 70 years, and we’re not going to take it anymore.” Yuki Oda contributed to this report. Read more: Young South Koreans call their country ‘hell’ and look for ways out The latest innovation from the home of sushi: Chocolate french fries In South Korea, a rehab camp for Internet-addicted teenagers Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world


End mandatory draft registration

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller testifies on Capitol Hill on Feb. 2. (Cliff Owen/Associated Press) I take issue with the generals who testified Tuesday regarding draft registration for all Americans between ages 18 and 26 [“Generals say women should register,” Politics & The Nation, Feb. 3]. Rather than adding women to this draconian law, we should advocate that registration be discontinued and that those being punished under the law be given amnesty. Most men who have not registered Marine Gen. Robert B. Neller’s comment that Selective Service registration should be a rite of passage for all eligible young people lacks sense. Are we really to believe that being willing to kill on command is what makes a young person a good citizen? Betty Booker, Salisbury, Md.


Odd teeth: A mother’s Internet sleuthing led to her daughter’s troubling diagnosis

by neurologists” who were focused on their brains. “In fact,” she said, “it was a crucial clue.” Increasing unease At first Erica, who was born in 2006, seemed much like her older brother and two sisters, her mother recalled. One of the few differences was that she was “extremely fussy” and far more prone to respiratory infections. She also seemed slower to develop: She did not roll over until she was 7 months old, and was unable to sit without being propped up until 8 months. “I began having some concerns” but didn’t tell anyone, recalled Rennon, who lives in rural Culpeper County, Va. “I thought, ‘Well, maybe it’s because we’re all just carting her around all the time.’ ” At her nine-month checkup, Rennon asked the pediatrician about Erica’s inability to crawl on all fours: instead she dragged herself by her arms, not using her legs. He said he wasn’t concerned because she was growing well and other indicators were normal. Three months later, when she had no teeth — most babies have several by this time — and was unable to stand without support or crawl on all fours, he again tried to reassure her. Rennon, who had been a medic in the Army, was skeptical. The pediatrician was a neighbor, and she worried that his fondness for her family might be clouding his judgment. For her 18-month checkup, she took Erica to a new pediatrician. “She noticed things immediately,” Rennon recalled. Erica’s muscle tone was abnormal, she was unusually small and she barely spoke. The toddler still could not stand unassisted, and the teeth that had erupted were in the back of her mouth, not the front, as is typical. The new pediatrician gently agreed that something was wrong, and referred Rennon to a state-sponsored early intervention program that assesses and treats children with disabilities. “It was validation,” Rennon said. “I had felt for nine months that something was going on.” She remembers thinking, “She’ll get physical therapy for four months and be walking by 2 years and be all caught up.” At the time, Rennon was juggling many balls. In addition to caring for four children and working, she had enrolled at Mary Washington, a two-hour round-trip drive from her home. Her goal was a bachelor’s degree in psychology, a pursuit that had been interrupted by her Army service, marriage and motherhood. Erica began receiving speech


China’s booming ocean parks mean misery for bears, belugas and more

in the United States,” said Naomi Rose, a marine-mammal scientist with the Animal Welfare Institute in Washington, part of the CCA. “China is at the stage the U.S. was 50 years ago.” Missed opportunity Awareness of animal-welfare issues is relatively low in China, yet it is growing among the young. Images of animals on display in the Guangzhou shopping mall have provoked outrage on social media, and a few of the tourists there on a recent day could be overheard expressing concern about the “skinny” and “pathetic”-looking animals. At Chimelong, one young girl was overheard telling her mother that the polar bears looked angry. “They are just a little bit anxious,” her mother replied comfortingly. Yet the reality may not be so comforting. A whale shark swims past the window of a restaurant at Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in Zhuhai on Feb. 2, 2016. (Simon Denyer/The Washington Post) In the arctic, some polar bears’ home ranges can be up to 50,000 square miles. The animals can smell a seal 35 miles away across the ice, run at 30 miles an hour to catch their prey and swim for hundreds of miles between ice floes. Confined in a glass and concrete box, pacing between pools of their own urine, the bears at Chimelong and the Guangzhou mall showed what experts call repetitive “stereotypic behaviors.” “The stereotypes observed in the polar bears are likely to have developed out of stress and deprivation caused by the captive situation,” said Dave Neale, animal-welfare director at Animals Asia. “Prolonged periods of stress are likely to cause both physiological and psychological problems.” China’s ocean theme parks are ideally placed to raise popular awareness about the threats to wild dolphins, whales and polar bears and to generate public pressure for better conservation efforts. But the parks, the CCA report said, depict the animals as entertainers, impart little or no information to the public during shows, and are unlikely to leave visitors motivated to take action to preserve ocean and arctic habitats. For the animals, it is a missed opportunity of cruel proportions. “It is very dismaying to see the expansion of ocean theme parks in China even as we are finally making incredible progress in the West,” Rose said. Xu Jing contributed to this report. In China, victory for wildlife conservation as citizens persuaded to give up shark fin soup Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world


Newest homes built to stand up to Mother Nature’s fiercest outbursts

through solar panels. They also have high-efficiency irrigation and drought-resistant landscaping. A lot of permeable surfaces allow rainwater to penetrate through to the ground rather than run off.” Smart sensors on the roofs can detect rain and communicate with the lawn’s irrigation system to conserve water. At the California Science Center in Los Angeles, a tiny home on display through Tuesday presents a novel way to showcase innovative plastic building products that can improve durability and ease maintenance while saving homeowners money on energy bills. Richard Skorpenske, director of advocacy and sustainability at Covestro, formerly known as Bayer MaterialScience, was a member of the building and construction team for the 170-square-foot portable structure. The building envelope enables the miniature home to withstand wind shear. Insulation inside and out adds strength and resilience to the walls, while solar shingles reduce dependence on a power grid. Plastic abounds in everything from decorative touches to pipes. “Of course, the one obvious thing plastics bring is durability and long life of the product,” Skorpenske said. “It can survive in elements and maintain functionality. . . . The trim does not rot. The vinyl siding will not deteriorate with sunlight or aging. The double-paned windows have plastic window frames. The plastic pipes don’t corrode. A home is resilient when it doesn’t have to depend on a grid for support. A resilient home is a home that can heal itself despite the weather, climate change or economic-stressor events.” In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, Robert Weitz, a former home builder and founder of RTK Environmental Group, an environmental testing firm that services the Northeast from Boston to the Washington area, has been working closely with builders to repair homes damaged by mold and construct new homes that are more resistant to climate change. The certified microbial investigator outlined key considerations when building a resilient home: ●Build aboveground to avoid water intrusion into the lower level and lessen potential radon infiltration. ●Make sure your builder uses a high-quality housewrap to protect against damaging wind and rain that can penetrate exterior siding. “In the Northeast, they used to take a roof shingle and nail it right onto the plywood,” Weitz said. “Now, the code is to use a weather shield or ice shield.” ●Use drywall panels that are specially treated to resist mold, mildew, moisture and fire. ●Incorporate proper building orientation and daylighting strategies to ensure


With a strong U.S. dollar, now’s the time to fulfill your dream ski vacation in Canada

town and mountain’s authenticity and slow, welcoming pace, is priceless. Walker writes about travel, the environment and family from her home in Boulder, Colo. Find her on Twitter at @racheljowalker. More from Travel: Now ski here: A user’s guide to U.S. ski resorts For a different kind of snow day, take a skiing day trip with the kids ‘America’s oldest ski shop’ is a New Hampshire landmark If you go Transportation The regional Kelowna (YLW) is the closest airport (125 miles southwest) to Revelstoke, and the Greyhound bus goes to Revelstoke (the bus station is accessible via taxi from the airport); travelers can also fly to Calgary International Airport (YYC), rent a car, and drive 292 miles west to Revelstoke. Where to stay Sutton Place Hotel 2950 Camozzi Rd. 1-250-814-5000 suttonplace.com/revelstoke The only ski in/ski out property at Revelstoke, Sutton Place offers condo-style rooms and 1- to 2-bedroom suites with upscale kitchens and bathrooms. Studio suites start around $280 per night. Swiss Chalet 1101 West Victoria Rd.1-250-837-4650 swisschaletmotel.com The extensive continental breakfast (included) will fuel a long day on the slopes, and this clean, simple budget hotel has ski and stay packages starting around $90 per person per night. Where to eat Chubby Funsters 114 MacKenzie Ave. 1-250-837-2014 Classic comfort food (juicy burgers, short ribs) meet intricately prepared entrees (wild boar gnocchi, beet lasagna) at this popular eatery, open for lunch and dinner. Entrees start at $13. Village Idiot 306 MacKenzie Ave. 1-250-837-6240 Come for the pizza, stay for the beer. A local’s favorite, this watering hole has longsated the appetite and thirst of many a ski bum. With a casual, friendly atmosphere and frequent live music, this is the place to relax after a long day on the slopes. Pizzas start at $16. What to do Revelstoke Mountain Resort 1-250-814-0087 www.revelstokemountainresort.com Opened in 2007, Revelstoke Mountain Resort features the longest vertical drop in North America, 5,620 feet. It’s also the only resort to offer lift-, guided backcountry, cat- and heli-skiing from the base. Lift tickets start at $59. Great Canadian Snowmobile Tours 1870 Glacier Lane 1-250-837-5030 www.RideRevelstoke.ca Don’t ski? Don’t worry. Revelstoke is also a popular snowmobile destination, and Great Canadian Snowmobile Tours takes guests on guided backcountry trips. Tours range from one-hour ($70) to all-day ($285). Information British Columbia and Alberta have countless ski areas. Explore other British Columbia destinations at www.winterwithin.ca and Alberta options at goskialberta.com. R.W.


Suspect charged in daytime killing in Southeast last year

A suspect was charged Tuesday in a daytime killing that occurred in November in Southeast Washington, the D.C. police said. They said William Lee Lewis, 20, of Southeast, was charged with murder in the fatal shooting of Tyree Banks, 19, of Southeast. Banks was found shot Nov. 3 about 3:30 p.m. in the 5000 block of Benning Road SE. Police specified no motive for the shooting.


Man shot in NoMa neighborhood has died, D.C. police say

A man who was shot Tuesday night in the District’s NoMa neighborhood has died, according to D.C. police. The shooting occurred about 8:45 p.m. at North Capitol and M streets in Northwest Washington. The victim was identified as Jamar Morris, 28, of Northwest. NoMa is the designation given to a fast-developing neighborhood on both sides of North Capitol Street, north of Massachusetts Avenue. The shooting was one block south of New York Avenue, a main route into the District during rush hour. The area is near Tyler House, a subsidized-apartment building, where 13 people were shot in a single incident in 2013. It is also near or in Sursum Corda, a public-housing complex long troubled by crime.


How refugees fleeing Syria and ISIS are keeping their Olympic hopes alive

Raheleh Asemani of Iran fights Noh Eun-sil of South Korea in the women's under-62 kg taekwondo final at the 16th Asian Games in 2010. Asemani is among the displaced athletes being helped by the IOC. (ANTONY DICKSON/AFP/Getty Images) Yusra Mardini, a 17-year-old Syrian swimmer, endured harrowing physical and emotional travails to escape her native Damascus and make it to Berlin. This summer, she may face another journey: flying from Germany to Rio to compete in the Olympics. In August, after fleeing Syria, Mardini and her older sister, Sarah, boarded a packed inflatable boat near Izmir in Turkey bound for Lesbos. Most of the 20 or so passengers didn’t know how to swim, so when the motor broke down, the sisters kicked through the waves for much of the 3 1/ 2 -hour journey. After further travel by train through mainland Greece, the Balkans, Hungary and Austria, Mardini finally reached Germany to end her 35-day slog — first staying in Munich and then Berlin. Her next adventure is possible thanks in part to an unusual investment. Given the refugee crisis amid Syria’s civil war and the geopolitical tension wrought by extremist groups such as the Islamic State and Boko Haram, the International Olympic Committee established a $2 million emergency fund in September 2015 for National Olympic Committees to help displaced athletes. To date, 13 NOCs, including those of Greece, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark and Slovenia, have received $1.4 million. The IOC is in the process of identifying several promising athletes who have the potential to qualify for the Summer Games in Rio. In many cases, these athletes are actively seeking asylum. International Olympic Committee chairman Thomas Bach speaks with a child during a visit to the Elaionas camp for migrants and refugees in Athens last month. The facility accommodates hundreds of people from war-torn or impoverished nations who have not been allowed to continue their journey to northern Europe. (Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images) Mardini is one such athlete. So is Raheleh Asemani, an Iranian living in Belgium who will compete in taekwondo, and Popole Misenga, a Congolese living in Brazil who will compete in judo. In Rio, these athletes would not represent any one nation but will compete under the Olympic flag. During the civil war in the former Yugoslavia, 59 athletes from Yugoslavia and Macedonia competed in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona under the Olympic flag. To allow banished or stateless


International Olympic Committee established a $2 million emergency fund in September 2015 for National Olympic Committees to help displaced athletes. To date, 13 NOCs, including those of Greece, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark and Slovenia, have received $1.4 million. The IOC is in the process of identifying several promising athletes who have the potential to qualify for the Summer Games in Rio. In many cases, these athletes are actively seeking asylum. International Olympic Committee chairman Thomas Bach speaks with a child during a visit to the Elaionas camp for migrants and refugees in Athens last month. The facility accommodates hundreds of people from war-torn or impoverished nations who have not been allowed to continue their journey to northern Europe. (Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images) Mardini is one such athlete. So is Raheleh Asemani, an Iranian living in Belgium who will compete in taekwondo, and Popole Misenga, a Congolese living in Brazil who will compete in judo. In Rio, these athletes would not represent any one nation but will compete under the Olympic flag. During the civil war in the former Yugoslavia, 59 athletes from Yugoslavia and Macedonia competed in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona under the Olympic flag. To allow banished or stateless athletes to compete, the IOC repeated this measure at the 2000 and 2012 Summer Games and the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. Both Mardini and Asemani have been awarded IOC Olympic Solidarity scholarships. Through this program and its Olympic Scholarships for Athletes program, the IOC tries to help smaller NOCs prepare and qualify athletes for the Olympics. As part of this effort, the IOC has been calling upon all international federations and NOCs to highlight top-level refugee athletes who potentially have what it takes to qualify for the Olympics. “The priority for the IOC is to focus primarily on athletes who need the assistance the most and to place them on an equal footing with their competitors from more developed regions of the world,” said Emmanuelle Moreau, head of media relations at the IOC. This move is in keeping with the true spirit of the Games, said Jon Velie, a Norman, Okla.-based immigration attorney specializing in athletes and Olympians. “The Olympics bring out the best in nations, even when they may be at their worst,” he said. “These [refugee athletes] will provide hope for their embattled brethren and give them a stage to show their spirit of perseverance through sport


the athlete a chance to pursue her Olympic dream,” German Olympic Sports Confederation Director General Michael Vesper said in a statement. “At the same time, this great and humane gesture acknowledges the commitment of her club, Wasserfreunde Spandau 04, and all who help Yusra in Berlin.” Mardini’s parents and younger siblings have joined her in Berlin, and they share housing near the pool. The German Olympic Sports Confederation and the swim club are helping with her refugee paperwork. In Germany, there has been backlash about the risks refugees pose to national security and public assistance funds. Those who support refugee aid, by contrast, are convinced this sort of plan is an important and emblematic gesture of the necessity to assist this portion of humanity. “Programs like these are, quite literally, lifelines for refugees fleeing terrorism,” said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, a Washington-based U.S. immigration policy organization. “Whether it is the IOC helping elite athletes seeking refuge or churches resettling refugee families, at times like this, public and private institutions have a powerful impact on the debate.” More athletes seek support Sports programs can be the pathway to a sustainable future for many refugees, and the opportunities extend beyond those offered by the IOC. In Kenya, for example, more than 20 refugee athletes are already receiving training and support from the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation Refugee Athletic Support program, founded and chaired by Olympian and former marathon world record holder Tegla Loroupe. The IOC’s efforts to allocate funds for refugees have been integral to helping Mardini, Asemani and Misenga, who fled the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo three years ago when his mother was murdered. But still more athletes are looking for support. Several other Syrian refugees — cyclists Ahmad Badr Waid and Nazir Jaser and triathlete Mohamad Masoo — have been identified as having the potential to make successful Olympic bids. As the search continues for more refugee athletes, the IOC’s program of finding and espousing elite refugee athletes helps personalize what has been a sweeping and amorphous refugee narrative, according to Michael Schirp, deputy head of media relations and public affairs at the German Olympic Sports Confederation. “Maybe we’ll identify two or three,” he said. “But this is not the point. The point is that they stand for these million. They are one of the very popular chances to give face to the anonymity.”


Serena Burla beat cancer. Now she’ll try to beat a field of Olympic marathon hopefuls.

of the contenders to finish in the top three and qualify for the Olympic team. ‘The most driven’ As a child, Burla would chase her father, Chris Ramsey, during cross-country meets in the suburbs of Wisconsin, trying to keep up and cheer on the Waukesha West High School runners. Runner Serena Burla during the Oakley Mini 10K in New York City in June 2015. (Kevin Morris Photography) Ramsey, the coach of the school’s cross-country and track and field teams for the past 41 years, could always count on Burla’s presence at meets. There was nowhere else she would rather be. Born into a running family as the third of four children, Burla was immersed with the sport from the start. She was running impressive times and displayed raw talent by middle school, Ramsey recalled. “All of the other kids did really well, and had a lot of success, but she had the most success,” Ramsey said. “And she’s probably the most driven one out of the four.” Isaya Okwiya observed that same drive from afar. The Kenya native was starting a post-collegiate professional team based out of Westchester County, N.Y. and was impressed by the progression Burla made while running at the University of Missouri. She was a three-time NCAA Cross Country Championship qualifier and placed sixth in the 10,000 meters at the NCAA Championships her senior year with a then-school record of 33:52.59 despite entering as the 25th seed. “My first impressions were that she was somebody who was incredibly driven, very focused,” Okwiya said. “She wanted it. Period.” Washington Post sports aide Kelyn Soong is an avid runner and regularly competes in longer-distance races. He spent a day training with some of the fastest middle distance runners in the country to see if he could keep up. Okwiya, who is also a family practice doctor in Maryland, recruited Burla to join his team. Burla, however, had not been training much after graduating from Missouri. She was teaching full-time and was hesitant to join Okwiya and his team at the U.S. Track and Field National Club Cross Country Championships in late 2006. Okwiya offered to fly her out to San Francisco, where the race was, but added that there was no pressure. Burla decided to get on the flight. “It was the best decision I’ve made,” she said. “It’s just kind of neat to look back and be like,


At 100, orchestra has a midlife crisis

and a suite from “West Side Story” with the ubiquitous violinist Joshua Bell. On the bright side, it also includes pieces by Mason Bates (“Mothership”) and Kristin Kuster — whose piece, a world premiere, is the first of 10 centennial commissions by the company Classical Movements that the BSO will present over this season and next. If your goal is to emphasize newer American music while pleasing all your patrons, including your presumably more traditional core constituency, you could do a lot worse. Now the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, along with most other orchestras in the 21st century, is faced with the challenge of reinventing itself for the next 100 years. But what does reinvention mean in a field that appears to prize tradition above all else? For some it means experimenting with programming, concert formats and repertory — like the BSO or Alan Gilbert’s New York Philharmonic, which has put costumes on players for “Petrushka,” experimented with semi-staged opera and started new-music programs including a much-vaunted Biennial. Yet conventional wisdom is cautious. The main thrust of orchestral initiatives in the 21st century — in which the BSO is a national leader — remains not finding new ways to approach the art, but rather new ways to perpetuate the existing tradition — that is, finding new audiences for the same thing. Hence the focus on the kinds of programs at which the BSO excels: Orchkids, establishing music training in inner-city schools in hopes of improving children’s lives, or the Academy, a (paid) summer music camp at which adult amateurs can have intensive teaching and playing sessions with musicians from the orchestra. It’s open to question whether any of this makes orchestra concerts more exciting or approachable (and watching the ranks of concert-goers dwindle at orchestral performances in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall in recent months has been rather alarming). It certainly doesn’t change the basic terms of the equation. But there are only so many new tricks you can expect a centenarian to learn. Nor should we forget the fact that we cherish this past for a reason, and that it does give us cause for celebration. Over and over and over and over and over and over. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra eyerhoff in Baltimore. It will then play three regular subscription concerts with Joshua Bell on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday — of an entirely different and even more conventional program.


Alexandria-Arlington community calendar, Feb. 11-18, 2016

Thursday, Feb. 11 Arlington Education and Employment Program open house Prevention of Blindness program Discussed by the Low Vision Resource Group, sponsored by the Prevention of Blindness Society of Metropolitan Washington. 1:30 p.m. Charles E. Beatley Library, 5005 Duke St., Alexandria. 703-746-1762. Free. “Color and Shape” exhibit “Maestro” documentary film Second Thursday Art Night Arlington Historical Society program Nature study: The Mating Game One-Act Play: “The Girls Who Glow” Friday, Feb. 12 Breast cancer patients with children support group Saturday, Feb. 13 Beyond the Battlefield National Capital Area Skeptics program Nature program: Hanssen Spy Talk Flying squirrel lore and more National Chamber Ensemble Alexandria Symphony Orchestra Sunday, Feb. 14 Revolutionary Ward Day Valentine’s Day “Sweetheart Tea” “Walking With Washington” Music in the Gallery “Adulteration” of Chocolate Tasting Alexandria Symphony Orchestra Nature Center: “Notable Nature” Lenten Choral Evensong George Washington’s Birthday Celebration Monday, Feb. 15 GI Cancers support group Tuesday, Feb. 16 NARFE Meeting Knitting with friends Vegetable gardening workshop “Road Show” “Avian Visions” exhibit Wednesday, Feb. 17 ANV’s “Coffee and Conversation” “Space Bop” Alzheimer’s caregiver support group Alexandria Summer Camp Fair Reiki for cancer patients “Romeo and Juliet” Thursday, Feb. 18 Environmentally Friendly Landscaping — Compiled by Ria Manglapus To submit an event Email: Fax: Mail: Details:


The geography of love

noticed a man in line with his head down. He waited for her window. “He wrote on a quarter wrapper, ‘Please call me, Ben Ali,’ and put a phone number,” Virginia says. “In 1957 you wouldn’t dare call a man you didn’t know, so I ignored it.” Ben called that day to ask why she hadn’t called. She agreed to dinner but had him meet her family first. They were heading to the Watergate restaurant, when “I said, ‘You missed the turn,’ and he said, ‘I just don’t want to take you somewhere someone has taken you already.’” They went to a nightclub at 14th and H streets NW. They wed Oct. 10, 1958. (Jason Merritt/Getty Images/Ben Feldman) (Jason Merritt/Getty Images/Michelle Mulitz ) Ben Feldman and Michelle Mulitz (actors) Site: Smokey Glen Farm, 16407 Riffleford Rd., Gaithersburg In “Mad Men,” copywriter Michael Ginsberg (played by D.C. native Ben Feldman) cuts off his nipple and presents it as a sign of his love for colleague Peggy Olson. Feldman’s real-life courtship with actor Michelle Mulitz was far less deranged. The two were connected over email by Feldman’s stepmother and married in 2013 at a farm in Gaithersburg, Md., during the government shutdown. (Doby Photography) (Washington Post/Robin Brand) Neda Ulaby (NPR reporter) and Robin Brand (RMB Strategies president) Site: “Robin and I met so long ago that the dating website we met on doesn’t exist anymore,” Neda Ulaby says. At Robin Brand’s suggestion, in 2003, they met in person at Zoo Bar, a no-frills dive across from the National Zoo. “I thought it would be a relaxed atmosphere to have a first date in,” she says. Within a year they’d bought a house and moved in together. “Every time we drive by we smile a little bit,” Ulaby says. The two wed in Middlebury, Vt., in 2014. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) (Kevin Wolf/AP/Teresa Heinz Kerry) John Kerry (secretary of state) and Teresa Heinz Kerry (philanthropist) Site: The Mall On April 22, 1990, thousands of nature lovers descended on the Mall for an Earth Day rally. Among them were then-Sen. John Kerry and Teresa Heinz. They were reportedly introduced by Heinz’s then-husband, Henry John Heinz III. A year later, John died in a plane crash. In 1992, Kerry and Heinz reconnected at the Earth Summit, a United Nations conference in Rio de Janeiro. The two married three years later.


D.C. police say woman stabs man at NE hospital

alerted police about the infant and that a parent was later found and was being questioned. Authorities have not released the name of the dead boy. Dustin Sternbeck, a D.C. police spokesman, said the boy was less than a year old. Mindy Good, a spokeswoman for the D.C. Child and Family Services Agency, said her office is investigating why children were alone in the house. Officers were called about 8 a.m. to the unit block of Van Buren Street at North Capitol Street in the Takoma neighborhood. Sternbeck said there were no obvious signs of trauma on the body. — Peter Hermann and Clarence Williams Man is killed near library in Anacostia A man was fatally shot Wednesday afternoon near a public library in the Anacostia neighborhood of Southeast Washington, D.C. police said. Police went to the 1800 block of U Place SE, about a half block behind the Anacostia Neighborhood Library, to investigate the report of a shooting about 4 p.m., said Officer Hugh Carew, a police spokesman. Authorities took the man to a hospital. Several hours later, he died of his wounds. Police did not release information about a possible assailant or a motive. — Clarence Williams NW man is fatally shot in NoMa area A man who was shot Tuesday night in the District’s NoMa neighborhood has died, D.C. police said. The shooting occurred about 8:45 p.m. at North Capitol and M streets. The man was identified as Jamar Morris, 28, of Northwest Washington. — Peter Hermann MARYLAND Skeletal remains believed to be human Prince George’s County police said they found skeletal remains that appear to be human in Temple Hills on Wednesday afternoon. Police said that they do not think the deceased person was a victim of foul play but that they will submit the bones for an autopsy. Police said they got a call about the remains at 1:45 p.m. and found the bones near the intersection of Naylor Road and Oxon Hill Drive. — Julie Zauzmer VIRGINIA Man fatally stabbed in Fairfax County A 19-year-old man was stabbed to death Wednesday in Springfield, Fairfax County police said. Shaki Ezekiel Phillip was attacked on a sidewalk in the 7400 block of Loughboro Lane about 1:45 p.m., police said. Police said two people in their late teens fled in a blue four-door Toyota or Honda. They were last seen heading north on Franconia-Springfield Parkway. Police said


The Dabney review: A tribute to Mid-Atlantic cooking

might be crisp skate in a tender sweet potato roll, an off-the-menu fish sandwich worthy of more exposure — and yet another reason to applaud the service. Previous: 3 stars The Dabney: 122 Blagden Alley NW. 202-450-1015. thedabney.com . Prices: Sound check: -- The following review appeared in The Washington Post’s 2016 Spring Dining Guide as No. 8 on a list of the year’s 10 best new restaurants. GOOD/EXCELLENT In his Valentine to the Mid-Atlantic in Blagden Alley, Jeremiah Langhorne is so obsessed with using only regional ingredients, the chef nixes olives for cocktails and even makes his own Worcestershire sauce. The heart of the restaurant is a massive hearth that’s part eye candy, part source of some very good eating: vegetables smoky from the embers in which they’re tucked, quail bronzed from brushes with fire, and cornbread cooked on a griddle in a cast-iron skillet. (Lard makes the dish lovely.) Langhorne claims a soft spot for heart (lamb or pork), slices of which are grilled and combined with potato soup, beer-pickled onions and a froth of buttermilk: a fist bump for offal. Named for a Virginia ancestor of the chef, the room fits the food, with old area maps gracing the walls and captain’s chairs pushed into sturdy wood tables. -- The following review was originally published Feb. 24, 2016. The Dabney review: Bringing Mid-Atlantic cuisine to life Chef Jeremiah Langhorne preps food during the dinner service at his restaurant, the Dabney. (Deb Lindsey /For The Washington Post) My martini-inclined tablemate has just been informed that olives are unavailable as a garnish. Hoping to salvage my guest’s drink request, our flannel-clad server counters, “I can bring you something pickled, though!” There’s commitment to local sourcing, and then there’s the Dabney. Introduced in Shaw on Halloween by Jeremiah Langhorne, the former chef de cuisine of the Dixie-dandy restaurant McCrady’s in Charleston, S.C., the District addition goes further than any establishment in years in stocking its pantry with nearby ingredients with the aim of articulating Mid-Atlantic cuisine. Competitors might offer rockfish yanked fresh from the Chesapeake and call it a day. Langhorne tags menhaden and turns the catch into fish sauce. His curiosity and obsessiveness go beyond bragging rights — rare is the chef who bothers to concoct his own Worcestershire sauce, using the leaves of young black walnuts — to embrace dishes assembled mostly from area fields and streams, sometimes