A townhouse community takes root near the Red Line’s end

is at our disposal now that we can get to Bethesda and downtown by Metro,” says Lawver. “We can get to the zoo and museums easily, and my husband’s commute will be 20 minutes at most.” Planning for the 90-acre Westside at Shady Grove began nearly a decade ago, when Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) and Bob Youngentob, president and co-founder of EYA, began talking about redeveloping the area around the Metro station, says McLean Quinn, vice president of land acquisition and development for EYA. “They recognized that it was a waste of valuable land to use it for county industrial sites and parking buses,” says Quinn. The townhouses are priced from $604,900 to $718,289. Some workforce homes available The townhouses include 44 MPDUs (moderately priced dwelling units) for buyers who meet certain criteria, such as earning a $76,500 income for a family of four, and 25 workforce homes for buyers whose income is between $76,500 and $131,000 for a family of four. The market-range residences are priced from $604,900 to $718,289. More of the largest-size model will be available soon, with prices anticipated from the mid-$800,000s. About 10 percent of the townhouses have already been sold. “This community is designed for first-time buyers or for people who want to move up from a condo, with slightly smaller home sizes than in some of our communities that are designed for empty-nesters,” says Jack McLaurin, vice president of planning and design for EYA. “The homes are designed with two different exterior styles: the SoHo, which is influenced by West Coast cities, and the Tribeca, which is based on East Coast urban environments. Both styles have expansive windows.” The townhouses at Westside range from 1,700 to 2,600 square feet and include a roof terrace and a two-car garage with a rear entrance. The garage is one feature that appealed to Katherine Ng and Bing Wu, newlyweds and first-time home buyers. The couple were determined to purchase a newly built home within commuting distance of downtown Washington, where Wu works, and Bethesda, where Ng works. “We really love the fourth-level loft and roof terrace for outdoor space, while at the same time we don’t have to cut any grass or shovel snow,” says Ng. “It’s almost like living in the city because we can walk to Metro, but we have a house with plenty of space.” The main level is almost completely


While Latin America struggles over Zika, Haiti faces epidemic with a shrug

predicted Haiti would be hard-hit. So either Zika is being vastly underreported or it’s still in the process of emerging or it’s doing something very different compared to other patterns in the Americas.” Zika’s other telltale indicator is Guillain-Barré syndrome. The Partners in Health hospital has the only neurologist working in a country of 10 million people, Harvard professor Aaron Berkowitz, who right now splits his time between Boston and Mirebalais, where he is training a Haitian physician. Berkowitz said he and his Haitian colleagues first noticed something strange in January, when a man came in complaining of facial paralysis. Berkowitz diagnosed him with a rare form of Guillain-Barré syndrome. “A few days later, another man came in with the same symptoms,” said Berkowitz. The patient went to Boston for treatment, and his blood sample was sent to the CDC for testing, confirming he’d had Zika. A hospital room at Centre Hospitalier Eliazar Germain in Pétion-Ville, Haiti, on June 9, 2016. Demand for care more than doubled at the facility after striking health care workers forced the closure of public hospitals in Port-Au-Prince months ago. (Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post) In Brazil and Colombia, which together have reported more than 200,000 Zika infections so far, it’s possible to visit hospitals and find plenty of patients complaining of the virus’s symptoms. Not in Haiti. At one government hospital in Port-au-Prince that hasn’t been closed by the strike, doctors have not reported a single case of the virus, said medical director C. Henry Gateau. But it has had five cases of Guillain-Barré, one of which was fatal. “We did everything we could,” said Gateau. He added that he had never seen Guillain-Barré in his 15 years at the hospital. Without the sophisticated laboratory testing that can be done by the CDC, it is very difficult to confirm the presence of Zika, because the virus remains present in the blood for only about five days. But Poncelet, the PAHO director for Haiti, said it would be a mistake to invest in the kind of detailed epidemiological study that could give a more accurate sense of Zika’s spread in the country. “When you have such limited resources, you can do harm rather than solve problems if you only work on one disease, because it distorts the system,” said Poncelet. He noted that Haiti has 17,000 malaria infections a year and 34,000 cases of cholera.


Falling tree knocks out power in Upper Northwest DC

About 1200 homes and businesses lost power Monday afternoon in upper northwest Washington, Pepco said. The outages were reported in neighborhoods northwest of Nebraska Avenue NW. Pepco said it expected power would be restored in most instances by 10 p.m. At least some of them occurred when a tree fell on wires, the utility said. Only the day before a large tree limb fell at 9th and Constitution Avenues NW injuring two people.


Chinese hacking activity down sharply since mid-2014, researchers say

Japan. The shifts have coincided with ongoing political and military reforms in China, FireEye noted. Since taking power in late 2012, Chinese President Xi Jinping has worked to centralize China’s cyber operations, turning them toward support of a greater range of activity, the firm said. That redirection takes place as the U.S. military is building up its Cyber Command in support of defensive and offensive operations to benefit regional military commands as well as protect the nation. In September, Xi pledged that his country would not engage in state-sponsored commercial cyberespionage — the theft of intellectual property and trade secrets from one country to benefit another country’s own industries. FireEye found that the trend line was already sloping downward by the time Xi made his pledge, although the activity has not completely stopped. The firm has investigated a number of intrusions of corporate networks in the United States, Europe and Japan. Laura Galante, FireEye director of threat intelligence, points to several reasons for the downturn. In early 2013, the cybersecurity firm Mandiant issued a report describing in detail the activities of one prolific hacking unit from the People’s Liberation Army, Unit 61398. Mandiant is now owned by FireEye. That unleashed a flood of other reports outlining Chinese cyber operations. In May 2014, the Justice Department obtained indictments against five Chinese army officers in commercial cyberespionage, marking the first time the U.S. government had charged foreign government personnel with such crimes. In August 2015, The Washington Post reported that the Obama administration was developing economic sanctions to apply against Chinese companies and individuals who benefited through the cybertheft of U.S. companies’ intellectual property. Taken together, Galante said, these events probably influenced the change in China’s behavior. The analysts did not distinguish in their research between commercial and political espionage. The latter includes, for example, the Chinese government hack of the Office of Personnel Management, which U.S. officials have said was done more for classic spying purposes of gaining information that can be used to blackmail government employees or recruit them as agents. They also did not analyze whether intrusions were directed by military or intelligence agencies. The Post reported last year t hat the Ministry of State Security , an intelligence and security agency, probably was behind the OPM hack. Other researchers have detected more activity coming from the ministry rather than the Chinese army. “The volume has gone down so


Fatal mystery: Why was a wrecked SUV found near crash of FDA scientist?

Research biologist Victoria Hitchins was killed in a car crash early on June 17, and another car was found wrecked nearby. Police are still trying to piece together just what caused the crash, and how the two drivers are connected. Early Friday morning, a research biologist named Victoria “Vicki” Hitchins left her Rockville home, heading for work at the Food and Drug Administration in a tan Toyota Camry. By 7 a.m., the car was a crumpled wreck next to a large tree. Hitchins was dead, and a black SUV was, for some reason, smashed against a utility pole a few blocks away. That reason remains a mystery to Montgomery County crash investigators, who on Tuesday urged additional witnesses to come forward. “Every potential scenario — we are kind of playing through and seeing if it can make sense or not,” said Sgt. Nick Picerno, supervisor of the county police department’s collision-reconstruction unit. Investigators think that Hitchins, 71, and the people in the SUV had some type of interaction before each of the vehicles — moving at high speed — crashed in the county’s Colesville area. Police have no indication that Hitchins knew the people in the SUV. Police questioned the SUV’s driver and a passenger, but the two said little about why their 2005 Mercury Mountaineer crashed, according to authorities. It’s unclear how many people were inside the SUV, because at least two passengers fled before police arrived. Victoria “Vicki” Hitchins was a research biologist for the FDA. (COURTESY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY POLICE) One of the scenarios being considered involves an armed robbery in nearby Wheaton about seven hours before the crashes. In that crime, two suspects drove off in a black SUV. Could Hitchins have been robbed later while at a red light and then tried to speed away? Could she have been pursued by people worried that she had spotted something? “We’re not assigning blame to anyone at this point. It’s way too early for that,” Picerno said. The SUV’s driver was questioned, Picerno said. The driver has not been charged, and he and his relatives could not be reached to comment Tuesday. Meanwhile, at the FDA’s offices in the White Oak section of Montgomery, colleagues of Hitchins spent another day processing the sudden death of a biologist some had known for three decades. “Vicki was full of ideas,” said Kyle Myers, acting director of the laboratory section


SUV’s driver and a passenger, but the two said little about why their 2005 Mercury Mountaineer crashed, according to authorities. It’s unclear how many people were inside the SUV, because at least two passengers fled before police arrived. Victoria “Vicki” Hitchins was a research biologist for the FDA. (COURTESY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY POLICE) One of the scenarios being considered involves an armed robbery in nearby Wheaton about seven hours before the crashes. In that crime, two suspects drove off in a black SUV. Could Hitchins have been robbed later while at a red light and then tried to speed away? Could she have been pursued by people worried that she had spotted something? “We’re not assigning blame to anyone at this point. It’s way too early for that,” Picerno said. The SUV’s driver was questioned, Picerno said. The driver has not been charged, and he and his relatives could not be reached to comment Tuesday. Meanwhile, at the FDA’s offices in the White Oak section of Montgomery, colleagues of Hitchins spent another day processing the sudden death of a biologist some had known for three decades. “Vicki was full of ideas,” said Kyle Myers, acting director of the laboratory section where Hitchins worked. “She just bubbled over with ideas and life.” Hitchins received an MS and a PhD from Michigan State University’s microbiology department. In 1979, she joined the FDA as a Public Health Service officer and worked in a medical devices and radiological health division. After 30 years in the commissioned corps, having earned the rank of captain, she could have retired, but she became a civil servant for the FDA. The Camry looked like this before it was crushed. One right is the SUV after the wreck. (Montgomery County Police.) (MONTGOMERY COUNTY POLICE) Her research specialty: How best to clean and sterilize medical-testing instruments between patients — not easy given the complexity of the devices and how often they can be used. “She was a tenacious and effective scientist,” Myers wrote in a note to staffers. She loved classical music and mentoring young college and doctoral students, co-workers recalled. In the break room and at division seminars, her double-chocolate brownies often made appearances. “She led with laughter, humility and smartness — a great combination,” Myers said. In the crash investigation, the witnesses who have come forward — along with initial reconstruction efforts — have established that both vehicles


The Brexit referendum transcends the economy

respect these institutions. The real surprise is not that the Leave activists dispute predictions of slower growth or financial chaos. It’s that they don’t care about them. As Financial Times columnist Janan Ganesh wrote recently, “They can live with a recession if they must.” It’s not “the economy, stupid” that matters anymore, in other words, but something quite different. George Orwell hit on the deep flaw in modern democratic political rhetoric in 1940, when he wrote about the powerful appeal of the undemocratic politics and the nationalist rhetoric of his time. “Human beings don’t only want comfort, safety, short working-hours, hygiene. . . . They also, at least intermittently, want struggle and self-sacrifice, not to mention drums, flags and loyalty-parades.” Just like the various “far-right” politicians in the Netherlands and France — and indeed the Trump campaign in the United States — the Brexit crowd is offering something higher and more transcendent than the dull world of taxes, spending, budgets. And if the drums and flags make us poorer, so what? Whatever the final result, all of this emotion carries a cost. It has already strained friendships, as I know. It may cause a political earthquake, too. If Britain does vote to remain in the E.U., then angry and disappointed Conservatives may rebel against their leaders, or even join Farage. The UKIP leader himself rules out nothing. He told a BBC interviewer recently that “if people feel that voting doesn’t change anything, then violence is the next step.” After a pro-European Labour member of Parliament, Jo Cox, was killed by a man reportedly shouting “Britain first!,” those words sound horribly prophetic. And if Britain votes to leave, which is certainly possible, what then? What if the economic costs are higher than expected? What if “control” turns out to be a chimera? Upon whom will the anger turn next? Maybe we’ll just go back to worrying about taxes, but I doubt it. Read more from Anne Applebaum’s archive, follow her on Twitter or subscribe to her updates on Facebook. Read more on this topic: Max Boot: Why Brexit alarms Britain’s Baltic allies Charles Lane: Will the European Union survive? Sebastian Mallaby: The economic shock of a ‘Brexit’ The Post’s View: A ‘Brexit’ would be perilous for not just for the U.K., but for the world George F. Will: The ‘Brexit’ referendum is the most important vote in Europe in a half-century


9 out of 10 experts agree: Britain doesn’t trust the experts on Brexit

Britain is not the only country where that’s true. The rise in the United States of Donald Trump, a man not known for his fidelity to facts and who breezily dismisses expert opinion, exemplifies the trend on the other side of the Atlantic. But unlike elections, which can be undone with the next vote, Britain’s choice on Thursday is considered irrevocable. And it has the potential to mark the biggest change in the country’s global role since it shed its empire after World War II. The fact that so much of the country wants to leave in spite of — or perhaps in part because of — an establishment consensus that Britain is better off staying in has challenged Britain’s notion of itself as a nation of pragmatic people who, when others veer wildly to the extremes, always make the rational choice. Since February, the pro-E.U. camp has trotted out endorsement upon endorsement from respected authorities within Britain and beyond, including President Obama. None of it seems to have made a dent. That’s been exasperating for “remain” leaders. Amid challenges from audience members over basic facts about the country’s E.U. membership, Cameron appeared on the verge of losing his temper when he made his case Sunday evening on “Question Time.” He said voters had become “confused” by the lies of pro-Brexit politicians and urged his countrymen to simply do what they would with any other decision. “The ‘leave’ campaign say, ‘Let’s not listen to experts,’ ” he said. “But if we are about to get into a car and drive our children on a motorway, and a mechanic says, ‘The brakes don’t work, the petrol gauge is faulty, the steering isn’t working,’ we wouldn’t get in the car.” The pro-Brexit advocates, Cameron argued, “are asking you to trust in just a sense it’s going to be okay, and I don’t think that’s good enough.” But for many voters, it apparently is. “We’ll be better off without the E.U. There’s no doubt about it. I’m not worried about nothing,” said Stephen Waller, a retired, 61-year-old “out” supporter. “That’s my opinion, obviously. Experts have their opinion. But I think we’ll be better off.” Politicians advocating “leave” have delighted in the country’s populist, anti-expert mood, and have fed it by dismissing the views of economists, scientists, military commanders, business leaders and others as part of an elitist conspiracy, “an establishment stitch-up.” “There is


For some growers, farmers markets just aren’t what they used to be

eyes,” says Lester, “and they don’t care about the season.” The change in market demographics, Lester says, has affected Tree and Leaf’s sales, which have dropped by as much as $50,000 annually at the Dupont market compared with his peak years in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Other farmers share similar tales: Heinz Thomet, co-owner of Next Step Produce in Southern Maryland, says his sales at Dupont have dipped as much as 50 percent from their peak. Hana Newcomb, co-owner and manager of Potomac Vegetable Farms in Virginia, says sales have dropped 30 percent in recent years at its farmers market stands, including ones in Takoma Park, Md., and Arlington, Va. Red Zebra pizzas get boxed up for customers at the Dupont Circle FreshFarm Market. Some farmers say an increasing number of customers seem more interested in prepared foods than produce. (Christian K. Lee/The Washington Post) The decline in sales is, arguably, one result of the contemporary farmers market, which has evolved to meet the needs of a new generation of shoppers who view these outdoor markets as more a lifestyle choice than an opportunity to support local agriculture. “Consumer and purchasing behaviors are changing, evolving, and Dupont is sort of the leader in many ways of those changes,” says Mike Koch, executive director of FreshFarm Markets and a cheese vendor himself. When the Dupont Circle market opened in 1997, Koch says, it practically had the organic produce market all to itself. It was a boon to farmers and home cooks alike. But those days are gone. Farmers markets now face stiff competition from bricks-and-mortar retailers such as Glen’s Garden Market and Whole Foods Market, and from online delivery services such as Washington’s Green Grocer and AmazonFresh. Farmers markets are even competing with each other: The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s national directory lists 8,553 farmers markets, almost double the 4,385 markets in 2006. Such shifts in the marketplace have forced farmers markets to become agile to meet the new demands. It seems to be paying off for FreshFarm: Gross reported sales from January to May are up 25 percent for its 13 markets compared with 2015, although Koch says “overall produce growers [sales] are flat, some up and some down.” Chris Curtis, executive director of the Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance in Seattle, notes that her region teems with people who work at technology and Internet companies, including Microsoft and


The U.S. nuclear industry has fallen behind

Tom Wallace leads a tour inside the Watts Bar nuclear plant near Spring City, Tenn., on April 29, 2015. (Mark Zaleski/Associated Press) As a former nuclear submarine reactor operator and inspector with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency, I suggest that the problems behind the demise of the U.S. nuclear power industry go beyond the risks of operating aging nuclear plants [“The first in decades may be one of the last,” front page, June 18]. First, all U.S. nuclear power plants are based on antiquated “thermal neutron” technology. Spent fuel rods from these reactors generate heat and high-level, long-lived (thousands of years) radioactive waste. Today, there are millions of spent fuel rods submerged in temporary fuel pools with no long-term disposal solution in the United States . Second, in 1985, the United States began to fall behind Russia, South Korea, China and Japan in nuclear power technology. The “new” Watts Bar 2 cited in the article is a 1,000-megawatt museum piece that nobody would buy today. In the meantime, Russia, China and South Korea are building and exporting large, standardized 1,400-megawatt power plants. Third, Russia has taken the lead in “fast neutron” reactors, which can reduce the total radiotoxicity of nuclear waste and dramatically reduce the waste’s radioactive lifetime. Russia also uses all or almost all of the fuel in the waste thanks to highly advanced automation. China has already bought two of these designs from Russia. This vital industry is a mess and may be a good candidate for nationalization. I wonder what the presidential hopefuls’ positions are on this. Joseph DeBor, Arlington


How Zika virus is affecting Caribbean travel

Beachgoers walk and play in San Juan, Puerto Rico. People have become increasingly reluctant to travel to areas experiencing an outbreak of Zika virus. (Brennan Linsley/AP) Fears of the Zika virus have a double impact in the Caribbean, where vulnerability to the mosquito-borne disease, linked to microcephaly and other fetal brain damage, challenges an economy dependent largely on tourism. Since January, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first warned pregnant women to avoid travel to certain Latin American and Caribbean countries, officials have been estimating the outbreak’s effect on the region’s prime tourist season. The results so far are mixed. In a June 2 announcement, the Caribbean Tourism Organization said that “the industry got off to a fast start in 2016, registering a 7.3 percent rise in the first quarter over the corresponding period last year.” Despite the fact that the CDC warning for pregnant women was broadened in April to include more than 20 Caribbean countries, the CTO said in June that it anticipates tourist arrivals to the region to increase by between 4.5 percent and 5.5 percent in 2016. Beverly Nicholson-Doty, commissioner of tourism for the U.S. Virgin Islands, reports that the territory “initially saw cancellations upwards of $250,000.” However, she said that in the last six months, “while concerns about Zika have impacted visitor arrivals, we’re not seeing widespread cancellations as a trend.” Not all tourism watchers project such rosy figures. Take Puerto Rico: According to the CTO, it recorded a 7 percent increase in tourist arrivals in January in February. But Ingrid I. Rivera Rocafort, executive director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, said that although the territory recorded 11 percent more hotel registrations in January than it did in January 2015, the picture changed after the CDC announcements. “Puerto Rico in February 2016 experienced a 3 percent decline and in March 2016, a 5 percent decline,” she said. “Based on room taxes, April 2016 is 4 percent below a year ago.” The visitor figures are not broken down by age, but “we have to assume that the decline is related to young families and people in their childbearing years,” she said. Zika has stung Puerto Rico’s meetings and convention business, a sector where bookings are confirmed a year or more in advance. “Forty-one thousand room nights were canceled going forward up to two years. That’s a loss of $28 million for 2016 through


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. Vicious duo: Equine investigation: Reduced fees for cat adoption: Cats and kittens will be available for adoption at the next open house of Friends of Montgomery County Animals at the following location. Call 301-977-4833 or visit fmca.org or facebook.com/fmcainfo. Germantown Adoptable cats at no-kill shelter: Gaithersburg Adopt dogs and cats at MCHS no-kill rescue: Rockville — Compiled by Lisa M. Bolton


Métier review: An underground jewel box of a restaurant

Japan continues with a finger of premium kuroge beef, its richness foiled with shiso chimichurri and flattered with an elegant syrah (the 2014 Domaine Vincent Paris Cornas La Geynale). A dessert of “early fall fruits” gathers marbles of apple and pear, and small scoops of Concord grape sorbet and hazelnut ice cream, that together put autumn on a pedestal. As you depart, a server proffers a gift of kitchen-made honey-thyme vinaigrette (a big step up from the previous parting gesture, a bottle of water). Consider it a chance to dress your salad like a star back home. Previous: 3 1/2 stars Métier: 1015 Seventh St. NW. 202-737-7500. metierdc.com . Prices: Sound check: -- The following review was originally published June 22, 2016. Métier review: Eric Ziebold’s newest attraction tickles more than it transports Chef Eric Ziebold and his wife and partner, Celia Laurent, in the salon at Metier. (Deb Lindsey /For The Washington Post) EXCELLENT The only question I had after eating at Kinship, the suave, a la carte American restaurant introduced by Eric Ziebold last winter: How would the chef try to top the experience at Métier, his more exclusive dining retreat that followed downstairs this spring? Kinship, after all, made an uncommon three-star impression, with dishes such as lobster French toast and a setting whipped up by a noted interior designer, Washington’s own Darryl Carter. Now, with several meals at Métier under my ever-tighter belt, I can tell you the differences between the siblings are many and rich, sometimes even surprising. With Métier, for instance, you get an elevator ride from street level to basement that’s so slow and deliberate, you imagine your party ending up somewhere in China, tomorrow. Instead, the doors open to a high-ceilinged, softly lighted room that suggests a nobleman’s salon replete with low couches, flickering hearth, tables that fit together like pieces of a puzzle and men in jackets. Métier, named for the French word for skill in one’s job, is the rare restaurant that asks you to dress up for dinner. The first face you are likely to see is that of Celia Laurent, the chef’s wife and business partner, who asks if you’d like a drink and a preview of the menu, then returns with canapes that have included a delicate falafel dabbed with cumin yogurt and a two-bite lobster roll: seafood heaven. While there’s no rush to leave the cocoon,


Citing Zika concerns, Rory McIlroy withdraws from Rio Olympics

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland has withdrawn from the Rio Olympics due to Zika concerns. (Charlie Riedel/AP) Four-time major-championship winner Rory McIlroy announced Wednesday he was withdrawing from the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics over concerns about the Zika virus, the most prominent athlete yet — but probably not the last — to choose to stay home. “After speaking with those closest to me, I’ve come to realize that my health and my family’s health comes before anything else,” McIlroy, the world’s fourth-ranked golfer, said in a statement posted to his website. “Even though the risk of infection from the Zika virus is considered low, it is a risk nonetheless and a risk I am unwilling to take.” The loss of McIlroy, a 27-year-old from Northern Ireland and one of the most popular golfers in the world, is the latest blow for both the Rio Olympics and the sport of golf, which is returning to the Olympics this summer for the first time in 112 years. Other top golfers who have announced they will skip Rio — citing either Zika or “scheduling” issues — include Australians Adam Scott and Marc Leishman, South Africans Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel and Fiji’s Vijay Singh. American cyclist Tejay van Garderen also announced earlier this month he would skip the Olympics, citing concerns over the Zika virus and his wife’s pregnancy. Australia’s Adam Scott has also pulled out of the Olympics. (David Cannon/Getty Images) Zika, transmitted primarily by mosquitoes, has been found to cause a serious birth defect in some babies of infected women and has been linked to Guillain-Barre syndrome, which can cause paralysis in adults. The World Health Organization has classified the virus as a “public health emergency of international concern,” but along with the International Olympic Committee has resisted calls for the Olympics to be postponed or moved out of Brazil. The Olympics will run Aug. 5-21, which falls during Brazil’s winter, when mosquito populations are reduced. Brazil’s minister of sport said recently that cases of Zika in Rio de Janeiro had dropped from 7,000 in January to 700 in May, and officials hoped to have the number close to zero by August. “The [International Golf Federation] is disappointed with Rory’s decision but recognizes that some players will have to weigh personally a unique set of circumstances as they contemplate their participation in golf’s historic return” to the Olympics, golf’s worldwide


After poisonous campaign, British vote on E.U. ties shapes up as cliffhanger

of E.U. bureaucracy will restore Britain’s sovereignty. A powerful selling point for many votes is the claim that a farewell to E.U. ties could give the country the latitude to dramatically reduce immigration, which has hit record highs as Poles, Hungarians, Romanians and others from across Europe have flocked to the relative prosperity of the British economy. “I really think tomorrow can be independence day,” former London mayor Boris Johnson told supporters Wednesday as he posed for photos with fishmongers and waved copies of the virulently anti-E.U. Sun newspaper. But opponents say a vote to leave could be a grievous self-inflicted wound from which it would take years, if not decades, for Britain to recover. “We don’t solve our immigration challenge by leaving the European Union, but we do create a massive problem for our economy,” Cameron told the BBC on the eve of the vote. “This is irreversible. You can’t jump out of the airplane then climb back in through the cockpit hatch.” Most economic, political and defense authorities — including nearly all foreign leaders — have joined the call for Britain to stay, and they have issued dire warnings about the consequences of Brexit. Supporters hold banners as former London mayor Boris Johnson attends a "Vote Leave" rally in Selby, England, on Wednesday. (Ed Sykes/Reuters) Economic forecasters have said a British break could push the country back into recession, with the rest of the globe vulnerable to the ripples. Many geopolitical strategists also warn that a vote to leave could divide the Western alliance and be a boon to others such as Russian President Vladimir Putin. But many of the 46 million Britons eligible to vote have paid little heed, with surveys showing that anxiety over immigration is trumping all other voter concerns. The “leave” campaign has played on those fears, arguing — with little supporting evidence — that Turkey will soon join the European Union and intensify the flood of migrant workers arriving on British shores under the bloc’s free-movement rules. It has also dismissed warnings from independent experts as part of an elitist plot, what it terms “Project Fear.” Two of the top Brexit campaigners — Johnson and Justice Secretary Michael Gove — have invoked provocative Nazi comparisons. Johnson has suggested that E.U. ambitions mirror those of Hitler’s Germany, and Gove has painted Brexit critics as akin to Nazi propagandists who sought to discredit Albert Einstein.


Japanese entrepreneurs face a special challenge: the ‘wife block’

to produce a synthetic version. The fiber can be used for clothing, auto parts and medical devices. It has raised $130 million and now has 150 employees, all working out of a new building in Yamagata prefecture on Japan’s northwest coast. It has a deal with North Face and will start producing spider-fiber jackets later this year. Reluctant though they have been, large banks are gradually becoming more willing to back fledgling companies, and even a few angel investors have appeared. But the financial environment is still far from ideal. Not only are potential investors more risk averse and more demanding — it is not unusual to be asked for long financial statements and five-year plans, young entrepreneurs say — but they are also greedier. Some ask for a 20 or 30 percent stake in a company in return for giving it as little as $10,000. In Silicon Valley, investors routinely give exponentially more for single-digit stakes. But the biggest issue is the lack of support for people starting out. “In Silicon Valley, there’s someone working on their start-up in every cafe and there are lots of networking events,” said Watanabe, who is 40 and has continued running a business called Pipeline helping foreign companies get a foothold in the Japanese market, his way of mitigating the risk of starting his own company. “But here, you have to figure out what to do and where to go on your own. There are incubators, but they’re more closed and more formal,” he said. Even though Hagiwara is 47 and had worked in desktop and then digital publishing as a contractor, when he was starting Aquabit Spirals he soon discovered he needed help. Through training programs, Hagiwara has learned how to make a short and punchy pitch (his previous version took an hour). So they have learned to support themselves. Watanabe started a Facebook group for budding entrepreneurs, a less formal way of brainstorming ideas and swapping tales of rejection. The more established entrepreneurs are conscious of the need to give others a helping hand. “We would like to become the role models,” said Higashi of Spiber. “I think it’s a great thing to be able to take risks and try new things to advance technology. There’s a lot more that can take place in Japan. If we could become an example to encourage other people, that would be amazing.” Read more


Uncle Sam wants you — to vote

(Jeff Chiu/Associated Press) UNCLE SAM has always pointed his finger at men when the U.S. Army goes looking for soldiers . Today, those men are required to register for the draft when they turn 18 — and Congress is considering whether women should have to sign up, too. A Senate bill requiring as much might be a common-sense step toward gender equality. But it would be far more useful to treat this as an opportunity to rethink an obsolete system and register Americans to vote, not just to fight. There is little logical basis for excluding women from the duty to register for the Selective Service now that they may fight on the front lines alongside men. Most senators — including Republicans such as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) — agree: The Senate passed a defense bill last week that would require women turning 18 on or after Jan. 1, 2018, to register for the draft. The House version of the legislation does not include the measure, a difference that will have to be reconciled in conference. An apt question as legislators debate is whether the Selective Service system makes sense at all in the modern age. An all-volunteer force has worked well in the United States since 1973. It’s not clear that mass conscription would make sense for today’s high-tech military even if the nation faced a large-scale threat. Barring a move toward universal service beyond the armed forces, the Selective Service system may be outdated, especially when other databases could help the government conduct a draft should the need arise. The millions of dollars put into maintaining the system each year might be better spent on a more pressing problem: low levels of voter registration. Almost a quarter of the population is not registered. Because studies show that voting is habit-forming, it is particularly important to bring young people to the polls — but they register at even lower rates . Poor registration systems may deter potential voters, and they cause other problems, too: Estimates say about 24 million voter registrations are invalid or inaccurate. In D.C.’s Democratic primary June 14, a registration glitch erased some voters’ party affiliation and prevented them from casting ballots. A well-coordinated national system that automatically registered U.S. citizens at age 18 could brighten this picture. Five states employ some method of automatic registration through their departments of motor vehicles, and a bill


In stunning decision, Britain votes to leave the E.U.

After months of campaigning, the "Leave" camp has won and Britain will be leaving the E.U. The Post's Adam Taylor talks about what that means for the country and Europe. LONDON — The voters’ decision to jettison Britain’s membership in the European Union was expected to jolt markets worldwide on Friday and unsettle Western capitals. By the time the BBC had called the result at dawn in London Friday, the pound had already plummeted to its lowest level against the dollar in decades. The vote is perhaps the most dramatic to date in a wave of populist and nationalist uprisings occurring on both sides of the Atlantic that are overturning traditional notions of what is politically possible. For months, the political and economic elite had looked on with growing apprehension as Britain flirted with a choice — popularly known as Brexit — that experts had warned could lead to global recession and a rip in the Western alliance. The vote could also lead to Scottish secession, a broader E.U. unraveling and the fall of Prime Minister David Cameron’s government. But most analysts had predicted this pragmatically minded country would ultimately back away from the move, and opt to keep Britain in an organization regarded as a pillar of the global economic and political order. British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that he will resign before negotiations begin to leave the European Union. "I will do everything I can in future to help this great country succeed," Cameron said. Instead, a majority of British voters heeded the call of pro-Brexit campaigners to liberate the nation from what many here regard as an oppressive Brussels bureaucracy that enables mass migration into the country. “Let June the 23rd go down in our history as our independence day!” cried a jubilant Nigel Farage, a firebrand anti-E.U. leader, in a 4 a.m. celebration. All around him, “leave” campaigners clinked pints of beer and cheered their improbable victory. When polls closed six hours earlier, Farage had all but conceded defeat, saying he believed “remain” had won. But as results poured in through Thursday night and into the early hours of Friday, the “remain” camp was increasingly despairing. About a third of results had yet to be counted as of 4 a.m. local time. But the BBC reported that “leave” had taken an insurmountable lead. The results came after 15 hours of voting, from the remote Scottish


As Britain decided its future, striking parallels with U.S. political debates emerged

After months of campaigning, the "Leave" camp has won and Britain will be leaving the E.U. The Post's Adam Taylor talks about what that means for the country and Europe. LONDON — On both sides of the Atlantic, political establishments and the elites have found themselves on the defensive. Rising resentment over the fallout from globalization and the effects of the financial collapse of 2008, which has widened the gap between the rich and everyone else, has divided voters in Britain and the United States. Added to that are emotional issues of national and cultural identity at a time of growing demographic diversity, highlighted in both countries by often-angry debates over immigration. Both Trump and those pushing for Britain to leave the European Union have found the immigration issue to be their most potent political weapon. Trump’s slogan, “Make America Great Again,” could easily have been adapted to the messaging of those in the “leave” campaign across the pond. Here, that desire for a return to an earlier time — to make Britain great again — is expressed through the issue of control. In late June, many celebrated the referendum results, and British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that he will resign after Britons went to the polls. Those who have pushed for Britain to leave the E.U. want to reclaim a measure of sovereignty by wresting power from the bureaucrats in Brussels, the headquarters of the 28-member bloc. They feel about the E.U. bureaucracy as tea party Republicans do about the federal government. Even among people leaning toward a vote to remain in the E.U., sending a message to those in power has strong appeal. Early Thursday, Steve Devereux, an economist and teacher, was passing by the polling place at London’s Methodist Central Hall, a short distance from Parliament. If there is any place where sentiment tips heavily in favor of remaining in the E.U., it is here, near the seat of government, and Devereux said he was inclined to vote that way. But he called the choice “really, really complex,” in no small part because of dissatisfaction with the status quo. Asked why he would consider a vote to leave, he said, “Giving the government a kick in the backside and really telling them — actually, they can’t take people for granted.” On balance, Devereux said he feared that rattling the establishment’s doors by voting to leave the


In historic decision, British vote inflicts further damage on E.U.

After months of campaigning, the "Leave" camp has won and Britain will be leaving the E.U. The Post's Adam Taylor talks about what that means for the country and Europe. BRUSSELS — Leaders say that a project of greater economic and political integration — first imagined in the ashes of World War II — may have finally hit its limits amid surging skepticism about how much sovereignty to surrender to Brussels. Even before campaigners for a British exit appeared to prevail in the referendum held Thursday — according to projections from British broadcasters — they had already scored a broader victory. From cobblestone streets in France to Soviet-era apartment blocks in Slovakia, questions about the European Union’s reach and powers have been given new focus. In late June, many celebrated the referendum results, and British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that he will resign after Britons went to the polls. Even before the vote, European leaders said that British “leave” campaigners had a sweeping effect in the E.U. capital. “There is a clear signal all over Europe, not only Britain,” Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said shortly before the vote, calling for a large-scale discussion about the role of the E.U., no matter the outcome of the referendum, when the results are known. “We feel more and more doubts about the European project,” he told the Belgian VRT network. The first discussions are expected to take place as early as Friday, when leaders take stock of the stunning results. More substantive conversations will begin Tuesday, when E.U. leaders are to meet in Brussels for a summit scheduled long before the British vote. The British fury about the European Union stems in part from a centuries-old ambivalence about the nation’s relationship with the continent. But much of the anger is shared elsewhere in Europe. Populist parties from Spain to Poland have exploited the perception that Brussels is home to an unelected bureaucracy, conspiring to suck away self-rule and delivering only slender economic benefits. On June 23, Britain faces a fateful decision: whether or not to leave the European Union. And the world will be watching. “There are cracks everywhere,” gloated the leader of the French anti-E.U. National Front Party, Marine Le Pen, this week. She said would push for a referendum in her own nation, where 61 percent of residents hold an unfavorable view of the European Union, according to a


A new must for your medicine cabinet: Bug spray

(iStock) If the makers of bugs pray and U.S. health officials get their way, insect repellents will take up permanent space alongside toothpaste in America’s medicine cabinets. Drugstores and local health agencies are doing their part in the marketing push by issuing warnings about Zika, a virus that causes devastating birth defects in babies infected in the womb. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the species of mosquito that carries Zika has been found across most of the nation. “If you are going outside, wear mosquito repellent,” said Michael Beach, deputy incident manager for the CDC’s Zika response team. “It needs to be the same as putting on sunscreen or brushing your teeth.” Game change The goal of health experts isn’t to overwhelm or scare people but to prepare the public for the likelihood that Zika infections may start to transmit locally, Beach said. Several hundred pregnant women in the United States who contracted Zika through travel or infected partner are being monitored. There is already widespread local transmission in Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, and officials expect that about 20 percent of the island’s 3.5 million residents could become infected with Zika. “This virus is a game-changer from a reproductive-health standpoint because the birth defects are horrendous in nature,” Beach said. New York City launched a three-year Zika-control program in April that expands testing, monitoring and eradication. The city is tapping its experience from previous bouts with West Nile, a virus transmitted by a mosquito different from the one that carries Zika. West Nile doesn’t produce symptoms in most people, but it can cause serious symptoms such as paralysis and vision loss in about 1 in 150 infected people. The virus appeared in the Western Hemisphere in and around New York in 1999, causing dozens of serious illnesses and seven deaths that year. The city employed large-scale pesticide spraying, including by air. Subway advisories Today, it’s Zika that’s getting the attention in New York. “Reduce your risk of Zika virus,” says a sign accompanying an Off Deep Woods bug-spray display near the checkout of a Manhattan drugstore. Signs in the city’s subway system and elsewhere urge New Yorkers to “Fight Back” against Zika by using repellent and dumping standing water. It’s not enough for people to be vigilant only from dusk to dawn, when most mosquitoes bite, the CDC says. Aedes mosquitoes, the species that transmits Zika,


Before you get another medical test, figure out whether you really need it

(iStock) Having a battery of medical tests may seem like a good idea — it seems as though your doctor is leaving no stone unturned in the quest for hidden disease. And getting the right test at the right time can be lifesaving. But undergoing testing that you don’t need not only is a waste of time and money but also can cause harm. “It can expose you to radiation, cause unnecessary anxiety and lead to expensive follow-up tests and treatments that themselves carry risks, sometimes even more so than the disease you’re screening for,” says Tanveer Mir, chair of the Board of Regents of the American College of Physicians. Here are five examples of common tests that are done more often than necessary. Stress tests for heart disease Why you usually don’t need one: When it’s warranted: Chest X-rays before surgery Why you usually don’t need one: When it’s warranted: CT scans for headaches and concussions Why you usually don’t need one: In fact, 1 in 3 CT scans for minor head injuries aren’t useful, according to a 2015 study. “Concussions can’t be seen on a CT scan,” explains the lead author, Edward Melnick, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Yale University. In addition, 1 in 8 visits to a doctor for a headache or migraine leads to a CT or MRI scan, according to a 2014 study from the University of Michigan’s medical school. But even for people with recurring headaches, only 1 to 3 percent of scans finds a significant abnormality. When it’s warranted: For headaches, imaging tests may be appropriate if you have unusual symptoms or an abnormal neurological exam or if your doctor can’t diagnose the problem based on your symptoms. Carotid artery ultrasounds Why you usually don’t need one: The test doesn’t expose people to radiation, but it often suggests that they have a blockage when in fact they don’t, according to a 2014 review in Annals of Internal Medicine. When it’s warranted: Pelvic exams for women Why you usually don’t need one: When it’s warranted: Copyright 2016. Consumers Union of United States Inc. For further guidance, go to www.ConsumerReports.org/Health, where more detailed information, including CR’s ratings of prescription drugs, treatments, hospitals and healthy-living products, is available to subscribers.


Country’s biggest banks pass Federal Reserve’s gloom-and-doom ‘stress tests’

A worker attaches roofing to a house under construction at the KB Home Magnolia at Patterson Ranch community in Fremont, California. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg) BANKING 33 biggest U.S. banks pass Fed ‘stress tests’ The nation’s largest financial institutions have enough armor to withstand the turmoil of a major and prolonged U.S. and global recession, the Federal Reserve said Thursday. The annual “stress tests” show that the 33 largest financial institutions, including JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, all hold more capital than they did the year before. They also hold enough capital that, even if faced with billions of dollars in losses from loans during an economic crisis, they would still function. The stress tests were created in the wake of the financial crisis and Great Recession, when the U.S. housing market imploded and several large banks failed or were rescued by U.S. taxpayers at a cost of $700 billion. This is the sixth round of stress tests the Fed has performed. Under the Fed’s most extreme scenario in this year’s test, the U.S. economy falls into a deep recession, causing the stock market to plunge by 50 percent. Unemployment exceeds 10 percent, housing prices drop by 25 percent, and commercial real estate prices fall by 30 percent. Yields on short-term Treasurys would go negative. The Fed said Thursday that the 33 largest banks would have $526 billion in loan losses under the most extreme scenario. — Associated Press HOUSING New-home sales dropped in May Americans pulled back from buying new homes in May, reversing strong gains made in April as sales fell sharply in the Northeast and West. New-home sales dropped 6 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted rate of 551,000 from a downwardly revised 586,000 in April, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Still, sales are 6.4 percent higher year-to-date. Job growth and low mortgage rates have helped drive the increase. May’s median sales price was up 1 percent from a year ago to $290,400. Northeast sales slumped 33 percent from April to May; the West suffered a 15.6 percent decline. Sales barely slipped in the South and improved 12.9 percent in the Midwest. Sales of existing homes reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.53 million, the best since early 2007. — Associated Press Also in Business ● Bank of America admitted to wrongdoing in settling U.S. allegations that it misused billions of dollars


said Thursday. Still, sales are 6.4 percent higher year-to-date. Job growth and low mortgage rates have helped drive the increase. May’s median sales price was up 1 percent from a year ago to $290,400. Northeast sales slumped 33 percent from April to May; the West suffered a 15.6 percent decline. Sales barely slipped in the South and improved 12.9 percent in the Midwest. Sales of existing homes reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.53 million, the best since early 2007. — Associated Press Also in Business ● Bank of America admitted to wrongdoing in settling U.S. allegations that it misused billions of dollars in customer funds to finance trades that benefited the firm. The bank will pay $415 million over claims that its Merrill Lynch unit engaged in complex transactions to reduce the amount of client funds set aside in reserve accounts, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a statement Thursday. The $356 million fine portion of the settlement is the largest for a firm accused of violating the SEC’s customer protection rule. ● A group of Walmart employees and labor activists are asking the retailer not to support the Republican National Convention, joining a chorus of groups pressuring companies to distance themselves from the GOP and presumptive nominee Donald Trump. Making Change at Wal-Mart sent a letter to chief executive Doug McMillon on Thursday, asking the retailer to speak out against Trump’s “racist, misogynistic, anti-veteran, and Islamophobic” remarks. If Walmart doesn’t respond by next week, the group plans to protest at stores and Trump properties, and petition the retailer’s customers to sign the petition letter. ● Mexico’s largest airline says it has indefinitely suspended flights to Venezuela’s capital due to the complicated economic situation in the South American nation. Aeromexico said in a statement Thursday that passengers holding tickets may contact the airline for refunds. Last month, Chile-based LATAM and Germany’s Lufthansa announced they were suspending flights to Venezuela because of the economic situation. ● Danish conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk, an oil company and the world’s largest shipper, has appointed the head of its shipping branch as its new chief executive. Soeren Skou, chief executive of container-shipping division Maersk Line, is replacing Nils Smedegaard Andersen starting next month to “further develop the strategic options,” the company said Thursday. Maersk said Skou would remain chief executive of Maersk Line, which he has headed since 2012. — From news services


British exit from the E.U. sets up a European crisis of diminished power

France and Holland, among other countries, tweeted their support for E.U.-exit referendums. As it departs the union, Britain may lose much of its voice in European affairs. But the rest of Europe stands to suffer, too; most experts predict at least a freezing if not a serious rollback of decades of strides toward regional integration. The E.U., experts say, will be forced to take a hard look at itself. Its caretakers now must undertake not only a messy extraction of Britain, but a reinvention of the bloc in a manner that makes it more accessible and vital to voters across Europe. Britain’s exit is likely to provoke “a crisis of tremendous proportions, one beyond any that we have known so far,” said Steven Blockmans, a senior research fellow at the Center for European Policy Studies. “You are not dealing with just one crisis but several interlocking ones.” Even if the rest of the E.U. manages to hold itself together without Britain, the fallout could still be severe. A continent already facing a convergence of woes — including a refugee crisis, lingering sovereign debt problems and a continuing, low-grade war in Ukraine — will now find its attention monopolized by protracted negotiations over Britain’s withdrawal. “Uncertainty and unpredictability always create challenges to our security,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview Friday. “It is a more unpredictable situation now than before the U.K. decided to leave.” When the E.U. and Britain finally do part ways — a process expected to take at least two years — the bloc will be greatly diminished. In late June, many celebrated the referendum results, and British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that he will resign after Britons went to the polls. Gone will be its most significant military and diplomatic power, as well as the second-largest economy in a union stretching from Ireland to Greece, Latvia to Portugal. What’s left will be a bloc more centered than ever on its most populous and economically powerful nation — Germany. That reality is likely to generate new tensions. The Germans remain reluctant leaders unwilling to embrace the kind of muscular diplomacy, backed by military strength, that the region may need to exert serious global influence. Some of Germany’s neighbors, mindful of two world wars in the 20th century, still distrust Berlin. Those old concerns are now compounded by newer ones — notably Berlin’s insistence on


Britain’s shock vote brings swift consequences as leader to resign, markets plunge

in Scotland on Friday to open a golf course, celebrated the Brexit vote and said he saw parallels with his own anti-establishment campaign. “They took back their country,” said Trump, who sported a white “Make America Great Again” cap and was serenaded by bagpipers as he toured his course. “That’s a great thing.” Iranian and Russian officials also cheered Britain’s vote, with a senior Iranian adviser to the country’s president tweeting that “the stars of the E.U.’s flag are falling down.” Britain’s exit will indeed have a profound effect on the E.U., which will lose a major military and diplomatic power. “This looks to be a sad day for Europe and for Britain,” said Germany’s foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Polls had forecast a narrow victory for “remain,” and most analysts concurred. But in the end, “leave” won by more than a million votes — out of some 33 million cast, representing nearly three-quarters of eligible voters. The “remain” campaign won wide majorities in Scotland and London. The “leave” camp racked up resounding victories across provincial England, winning in small towns, rural areas and struggling postindustrial cities. In a campaign marked by a relentlessly negative tone from both sides, “remain” was never able to answer charges from the “leave” campaign over immigration. Backed by the tabloid press, Brexit leaders portrayed the E.U. as an open door to millions of immigrants who threatened to change the country’s cultural fabric. Instead of engaging on the issue, the “remain” camp changed the subject: It warned of the economic and political perils of departure — a line of attack that the pro-Brexit camp denounced as “Project Fear.” But if Friday was an indication, the fear had real grounding. Jeremy Greenstock, a retired senior British diplomat, wrote in an analysis that the impacts seen Friday were just the beginning and that Britain should brace for serious economic damage from job cuts, tax hikes, higher interest rates and reduced foreign investment. Greenstock, now chairman of the Gatehouse Advisory firm, also warned that Britain would have less international clout for the foreseeable future. “The people of the U.K. are looking at a period of at least a decade when their economy and their global impact will stand at lower levels as a result of this decision,” he said. “This will have to be adjusted to.” Karla Adam in London and Brian Murphy in Washington contributed to this report.


Scottish leader threatens a second independence referendum

Ireland. “English votes have overturned the democratic will of Northern Ireland,” Declan Kearney, Sinn Fein’s national chairman, said in a statement Friday morning. Hundreds protested in Scotland outside the parliament in Edinburgh following Britain's referendum vote on European Union membership which resulted in a vote to leave the E.U. “This British government has forfeited any mandate to represent the economic or political interests of people in Northern Ireland,” he said. Likewise, 62 percent of Scottish voters sided with the Remain camp, compared with just 47 percent in England. “I am proud of Scotland and how we voted yesterday,” Sturgeon said. “We proved that we are a modern, outward-looking and inclusive country, and we said clearly that we do not want to leave the European Union.” “Decisions have consequences,” Fiona Hyslop, Scotland’s external-affairs minister, told reporters. “If the United Kingdom has made a decision against the interests of the Scottish people, that will have consequences.” In Wales, where 52 percent of voters backed Brexit, despite the billions of euros the region has received from Brussels in structural funding, First Minister Carwyn Jones was quick to express displeasure with the vote. In a statement, Jones said the referendum was grounds for an entire reworking of the political relationships among Britain’s devolved capitals, putting the country onto an “entirely different footing.” The potential details of a second Scottish referendum remain unclear, as do those of a newly independent Scotland’s accession to the E.U. Sturgeon declined to comment, and the Scottish National Party declined to elaborate on her Friday morning speech. A second Scottish referendum would probably occur in a notably different economic environment than in 2014. For one, Scotland ran up a deficit last year roughly twice the size of the rest of the U.K.’s, due among other things to lower tax revenue from fallen oil prices. A second Scottish referendum could also lead to border controls between Scotland and an England increasingly wary of E.U. migrants. Those potential borders could curb the billions of pounds of commerce that flow between the two countries every year. For many, the vote has already struck at the heart of the United Kingdom, politically integrated since 1707. J.K. Rowling, the Scottish author of the best-selling Harry Potter books, tweeted Friday that Scotland will surely “seek independence now.” “Cameron’s legacy will be breaking up two unions,” she wrote of the British prime minister. “Neither needed to happen.”


Britain’s decision to leave the E.U. is a warning to America

his Scottish golf resort June 24. Northern Ireland voted to stay in Europe, and so the unification of northern and southern Ireland becomes a live issue again. Minutes after the referendum result was announced, Sinn Fein, the Irish nationalist party, declared that “this British Government has forfeited any mandate to represent the economic or political interests of people in Northern Ireland,” and so it has. It can be only a matter of time before a movement calling for a Northern Irish referendum takes off. Other European countries may now face political instability as well. The British vote has, in just a few hours, energized the supporters of anti-European — and in some cases anti-democratic — parties elsewhere in Europe. Not just in the smaller European nations but also in big countries — France, the Netherlands, Italy and possibly even Germany — the political scene may shift dramatically, particularly given the likelihood of slower economic growth. Once again, much of the damage will be invisible, taking the form of things that will not happen. The Dutch prime minister, the German chancellor or the French president, consumed with fighting off new political challenges at home, will not have time to think creatively about their own economies or Europe’s institutional structures, let alone the outside world. Finally, I do realize that it’s facile to talk about the impact on a U.S. election that is still many months away, that it’s too simple to say “first Brexit, then Donald Trump.” But there is a way in which this election has to be seen, at the very least, as a possible harbinger of the future. This referendum campaign, as I wrote a few days ago, was not fought on the issues that are normally central to British elections. Identity politics trumped economics; arguments about “independence” and “sovereignty” defeated arguments about British influence and importance. The advice of once-trusted institutions was ignored. Elected leaders were swept aside. If that kind of transformation can take place in the U.K., then it can happen in the United States, too. We have been warned. Read more from Anne Applebaum’s archive, follow her on Twitter or subscribe to her updates on Facebook. Read more about this topic: Anne Applebaum: The Brexit referendum transcends the economy In late June, many celebrated the referendum results, and British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that he will resign after Britons went to the polls.


U.S. bears some responsibility for Brexit

debt crisis to the Syrian refugee crisis. During the Greek debt crisis, I had the occasion to ask the president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, whether the United States was making a difference to his efforts to stabilize Europe. I got raised eyebrows in response and little answer. Then there is the impact of social media. Introducing Facebook in this context may seem like a category mistake, but it’s not. A great political and social invention, Facebook, along with other social media tools, has changed the world’s political dynamics, most importantly by making it possible for dissenting minorities within countries to cross an organizational threshold permitting them to convert mere voice into actual influence and to operate transnationally. Sometimes this is for good, but sometimes it is for ill. One of the most striking details in the story about last week’s murder of British parliamentarian Jo Cox was that her alleged killer, Thomas Mair, appears to be affiliated with the Leeds chapter of the National Alliance, a U.S.-based neo-Nazi organization. In February, when I wrote a column arguing that it was time for Republicans to join together to stop Donald Trump, I received a substantial amount of hate mail and hate tweets. When a friend did a network analysis of the sources, I was surprised to discover that one of the most aggressive tweeters appeared to be affiliated with the British National Party, using the handle BadboyBNP. The United States needs to wake up to its responsibilities in Europe. On this issue, too, our choice in the upcoming presidential election could not be more consequential. While Hillary Clinton bears significant responsibility for the pivot to Asia and the failure to pay sufficient attention to Europe, she has the knowledge and experience to correct course and help us recover our national capacity to support stability in the world order. Trump, like France’s Marine Le Pen, is celebrating Brexit. He is doing so in Scotland, the part of Britain that voted most strongly for staying in the union. There he is having staff at his Scottish golf resort wear “Make Turnberry Great Again” caps. His foreign policy is farce. Read more on this topic: Anne Applebaum: Britain’s decision to leave the E.U. is a warning to America Anne Applebaum: The Brexit referendum transcends the economy Ilya Somin: Thoughts on Britain’s vote for Brexit Charles Lane: Will the European Union survive?


Britain’s awful vote may be a tipping point

A poster featuring a Brexit vote ballot with "out" tagged is on display at a bookshop window in Berlin on Friday. (John MacDougall/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images) The British vote to leave the European Union may come to be seen as a tipping point in global politics, perhaps more consequential than anything since the fall of the Berlin Wall. It may mark the moment when Europe comes face to face with its own constitutional dysfunction, when the idea of the “West” finally ceases to be plausible and when the United States is confirmed in its sense that its interests lie more in Asia than in its traditional Atlantic sphere of influence. After months of campaigning, the "Leave" camp has won and Britain will be leaving the E.U. The Post's Adam Taylor talks about what that means for the country and Europe. The shock of the referendum will be felt initially in Britain. In politics, Prime Minister David Cameron has already announced he will be going, but in an agonizingly slow way. The business of replacing him requires a two-stage vote, one by Conservative members of Parliament and the next by rank-and-file members of the Conservative Party; this process will drag into the fall. In the meantime, the country will be led through its crisis by a lame duck. Even once a new leader is chosen, that leader will either be a Brexiteer, in which case he or she will be at odds with a majority of Parliament — and therefore vulnerable to a vote of no confidence, which could trigger an early election. Alternatively, the new leader will be a Remainer, in which case he or she will be at odds with the outcome of a referendum in which fully 72 percent voted. Nor is the situation going to be stabilized by other political developments. There is talk that the Labour Party may seize this moment to defenestrate its leftist leader, Jeremy Corbyn. The Scottish National Party has already predicted a second referendum on independence from the United Kingdom. There will be consequences for financial markets, both in Britain and abroad. Already, the British pound and the London stock market have been hammered, anticipating the recession that is likely to come. So-called “safe haven” currencies are rising: the Japanese yen, the Swiss franc, the U.S. dollar. For all these economies, stronger currencies mean weaker exports and lower inflation. Do not


Britain votes to leave the European Union

an independent United Kingdom,” said Nigel Farage, leader of the U.K. Independence Party. “Let June 23 go down in our history as our independence day!” The decision begins a long process to renegotiate trade, business and political links between the United Kingdom and what would become a 27-nation bloc. The process could take years to complete. Prime Minister David Cameron, who had led the campaign to keep Britain in the E.U., said he would resign by October. Cameron wanted his country to stay in the E.U., a bloc of European nations that was founded more than 50 years ago. Voters decided Britain should leave. (Ben Stansall/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images) “I will do everything I can as prime minister to steady the ship over the coming weeks and months,” he said, “but I do not think it would be right for me to try to be the captain that steers the country to its next destination.” Immigration was one of the big issues in the referendum, or vote on a political question. The side that favored leaving the European Union accused immigrants of straining Britain’s housing market, public services and available jobs. Former London mayor Boris Johnson was one of the biggest supporters of leaving the European Union. He described the E.U. as a noble idea which was no longer right for Britain. He said the result in no way means the United Kingdom will be “less united” or “less European.” The result of the vote shocked investors, and stock markets plummeted around the world on concerns that severing ties with Europe’s single market will hurt the British economy and undermine London’s position as a global financial center. Bank of England Governor Mark Carney sought to reassure the markets. “We are well prepared for this,” Carney said. “The Treasury and the Bank of England have engaged in extensive contingency planning. . . . We have taken all the necessary steps to prepare for today’s events.” The European Union started in 1958 with just six members: France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Those countries’ leaders sought to build links and avoid future military conflicts. Britain joined what was then called the European Economic Community in 1973. Since that time, the European Union has grown to 28 members, including many in Eastern Europe. The talks about how Britain will leave the union are expected to last at least two years.


Here’s what to read and watch to understand the European Union

A tent tagged with the initials of the United Kingdom inside the "Jungle" camp for migrants and refugees in Calais. (Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images) Amy Studdart is a fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. On Thursday, 52 percent of my British compatriots voted to leave the European Union. Politicians and pundits seemed shocked by the result, which caused markets to tumble and cost Prime Minister David Cameron his job. But the U.K.’s international ambivalence didn’t come out of the blue; it was built on decades of fears and fissures. Here are some great books, a binge-worthy political drama and some really rubbish TV to help you better understand Europe and Britain’s role within it. “Jean Monnet: The First Statesman of Interdependence,” by François Duchêne The founding father of the European project, Monnet was simultaneously French, British and American. Throughout the two world wars, he led the charge for a more collaborative approach among the world’s democratic leaders. In the aftermath, he traded on his contacts, reputation and intellect to build a European community that could secure permanent peace. Duchêne’s biography of Monnet is a masterpiece as relevant to America as it is to Europe. “This Blessed Plot: Britain and Europe From Churchill to Blair,” by Hugo Young Britain and its leaders have long struggled with the country’s European identity. Do we have a closer affinity with America and the Anglosphere, or with France, Germany and Italy? How do we balance the pride at having been the world’s superpower with being one among equals in the European project? Those questions have never definitively been answered, leaving Britain to lurch back and forth in its commitment to the E.U. “This Blessed Plot,” written after the launch of the euro, traces this history from Winston Churchill through Tony Blair. “Borgen” “Borgen” is the European equivalent of “House of Cards.” The show, which chronicles the rise of a fictional prime minister of Denmark, pulls off an incredible feat: It turns coalition building and compromise into political drama. Reportedly inspired by the current Danish commissioner in Brussels, Margrethe Vestager (well known in Silicon Valley for leading the E.U. crackdowns on Google and Apple), “Borgen” is a compelling snapshot of the art of modern European politics. “European Spring,” Philippe Legrain Even many fervent Europeanists believe that the European Union is a flawed attempt at realizing a worthwhile idea. The fear-mongering and sloganeering around


Travel to Britain just got cheaper with Brexit

into Britain. “Right now, when you go to, say, London, you arrive at Heathrow, there’s one line for everyone in the E.U. and there’s one line for everyone else,” she said. “The ‘everyone else’ line is going to get much bigger, which is bad for us North Americans.” Joel Brandon-Bravo, U.K. managing director of Travelzoo, said that with the initial shock to currency, travelers should book their travel when they think the British pound has reached its low. He suggests purchasing currency online or buying a prepaid card to avoid charges on every transaction abroad. “If you think it’s bottomed out, buy your pounds now. It could fall further or recover,” he said. “Same applies if you haven’t booked your hotel. Right now, your dollars buy more pounds than yesterday, so watch the currency and prepay the hotel if you think the pound has bottomed out against the dollar.” George Hobica, president of Airfarewatchdog, said that he’s already seeing airfare fall. “The day after the Brexit vote, we saw airfares to London on Virgin Atlantic and other airlines for fall travel reduced to $500 round-trip,” he said. For those who booked a trip before the recent vote, Hobica suggested reaching out to hotels, tours and other agencies to see whether you can re-book at a better price, now that exchange rates have fallen. Hobica added that border control could also change in coming years. “Beyond the immediate effects of Brexit, the future looks murkier, but once border controls are put in place it will become harder to move between countries,” he said. “If Scotland, which voted overwhelmingly to remain in the E.U., becomes a separate country, you’ll need to go through border controls and show a passport between London and Edinburgh.” The same could ring true between Northern Ireland and Ireland, since Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom while Ireland is a part of the European Union. Britain’s exit from the E.U. is expected to take at least two years, and experts say that in coming months there may not be any significant changes. For now, that means it’s a great time to take advantage of the exchange rate — as long as it lasts. More from Travel: How Zika virus is affecting Caribbean travel Corpse in the garden: A worst-case guide to vacation rental nightmares Carrying a ‘throwaway’ wallet and other tips in avoiding travel scams


Stopping dark forces in our post-Brexit world

Prime Minister David Cameron lacked when he agreed to hold a referendum, to explain the benefits and defend against demagogic attacks on the hated “status quo” or shadowy “elites.” Now, if leadership continues to be lacking, we may learn that such institutions are far easier to dismantle than they are to build. Scotland and Northern Ireland, where majorities voted to stay in Europe, may decide to leave the United Kingdom. Other restive provinces in Europe (such as Catalonia) will seek to break up other nations. Meanwhile, France, the Netherlands and other countries will debate following Britain out of the E.U. Can all this be accomplished cheerfully, with a happy nod to returning democratic control closer to the people and no price to pay? Possibly. But anyone passingly familiar with European history of the past century knows that, when relations between even seemingly enlightened countries breach, very dark forces can take control. Some voters Thursday may have been motivated by a carefully researched resentment of Brussels-imposed regulations, but others were moved by more emotional fears of refugees and other foreigners. Unscrupulous leaders are exploiting similar anxieties from France to Poland and in between. Managing the U.K.’s demand for a divorce will be a complex task, with implications for the whole world economy. Whoever leads Britain after Mr. Cameron must strive to keep the country as interconnected with Europe as possible, following the model of Norway or Switzerland. Europe, in turn, must resist the understandable urge to punish a country that has just spurned it, and allow a graceful exit. Europe has tried the alternative path of unrestrained nationalism, escalating rounds of retributive economic policy and the autarkic misery that resulted. Donald Trump’s substance-free railings against “stupid” trade deals and free-riding allies echo the appeal to voters’ suspicions that prevailed in Britain. Brexit’s success should offer one more argument against complacency to those who fear Mr. Trump’s appeals to bigotry. But no precise analogies can be drawn between Europe and the United States, nor between Mr. Trump and the Brexiteers. Americans still have an opportunity to make their own decisions and write their own history. Read more about this topic: Anne Applebaum: Britain’s decision to leave the E.U. is a warning to America Daniel W. Drezner: What does Brexit mean for the 2016 election? Danielle Allen: U.S. bears some responsibility for Brexit Sebastian Mallaby: Britain’s awful vote may be a tipping point


Some possible Brexit consequences

An arrangement of newspapers pictured on June 24 shows the front page of the London Evening Standard newspaper reporting the resignation of British Prime Minister David Cameron following the result of the U.K.'s vote to leave the E.U. (Daniel Sorabji/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images) On June 1, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development issued its latest economic forecasts. In 2016, it predicted that the world economy would grow 3 percent, the United Kingdom 1.7 percent and the euro area (the 19 E.U. countries using the euro) 1.6 percent. We don’t know how these figures will now be revised, but we do know the direction: down. Whatever the long-term consequences of Brexit — Britain’s decision to leave the European Union — the immediate effects are adverse. So are the channels by which they operate. Consider. Lower stock markets in Europe and elsewhere will hurt consumer spending, as wealthier shoppers feel poorer and less certain about the future. Multinational companies will delay or cancel new investment projects as they reevaluate whether the United Kingdom remains a viable export platform for the E.U. market. Multinational banks will reconsider their operations in London, now Europe’s financial center. Capital flight from emerging-market nations may accelerate, reducing economic growth in these countries. To these mainly economic effects must also be added the political fallout. Donald Trump is correct in comparing his campaign for the U.S. presidency to Brexit. Both are acts of political defiance: repudiations of conventional wisdom by masses of voters. The more this happens, the more “normal” it becomes. Volatile politics also cloud the economic future. Economists at Morgan Stanley are pessimistic about the immediate outlook. Brexit will “likely trigger a downturn, if not a recession, in Europe,” they write. “Depending on how Europe responds politically, concerns about euro breakup could start to creep back into markets, causing financial conditions to tighten” — interest rates and lending standards would increase. The United States could not entirely escape adverse spillovers, the economists argue. The most likely channel, they say, is through weaker exports. There would be a double whammy. Slower growth or an outright recession in Europe would reduce demand for U.S. goods and services. In addition, the expected appreciation of the dollar on foreign exchange markets would lower the competitiveness of U.S. exports. Writing on his blog, economist and former U.S. treasury secretary Lawrence Summers rates the possibility of a U.S. recession starting


Growing medical marijuana could mean big business in Maryland. Here’s who wants in.

know the key people and know how the game is played,” Kadens said. Monroe agreed to invest after spending two months vetting the company and considering other potential growers, Kadens said. He has closely watched the approval process, even attending commission meetings, and this year became a vocal advocate for using medical pot. Until now, his investment in Green Thumb Industries was not publicly known. Baltimore Ravens tackle Eugene Monroe in 2014. Monroe is an investor in Green Thumb Industries. (Lynne Sladky/Associated Press) Some out-of-state applicants hail from Colorado’s thriving recreational market, while others are rebounding from a fiercely competitive process in New York that awarded five medical-marijuana licenses out of 43 applicants. There’s Ethan Ruby of Peak Harvest Health, a grower and activist who learned the trade in Colorado before setting up shop in Minnesota and Connecticut and amassing more than $12 million for a proposed expansion into Maryland. And there’s Brian Vicente and Christian Sederberg, partners at a Colorado legal practice that advises cannabis businesses and calls itself “the marijuana law firm.” Physician Greg Daniel created Alternative Medicine Maryland, a local subsidiary of his company based in Buffalo, N.Y., after narrowly missing out on licenses to grow medical pot in New York and Hawaii. Daniel, who founded and sold a national chain of urgent-care centers, calls marijuana “a pharmaceutical that needs to become mainstream.” He says he has close to $25 million to invest in a cannabis operation inside an old Black & Decker factory in Easton, Md., and is trying to secure research partnerships with Canada and Israel. To knock on doors in Annapolis, he hired John Pica, a former state senator-turned-lobbyist, and former Baltimore housing commissioner Danny Henson. To help with security, he hired Tomaszewski, who worked as a DEA special agent in Baltimore in the late 1990s. At least two of the five businesses that won cultivation licenses in New York — PharmaCannis and Columbia Care — have also applied in Maryland through subsidiaries set up in the state, the application documents show. Columbia Care is teaming up with David Guard, who operates a dispensary in the District, where medical pot has been allowed for six years. There is also global interest in Maryland’s market. Yehuda Baruch, a physician who was the top regulator during the first 10 years of Israel’s medical pot program, is applying to grow the drug with the help of former


An ex-Raven wants the NFL to back medical marijuana. But he may make money off it, too.

Former Baltimore Ravens tackle Eugene Monroe has been pushing the NFL to accept medical uses for marijuana. (Lynne Sladky/AP) Former Baltimore Ravens lineman Eugene Monroe delighted marijuana advocates and irked the National Football League in March when he became an outspoken advocate of medical pot. In a steady stream of media interviews, the imposing 29-year-old bemoaned the frequent injuries that come with tackling 300-pound men for a living, and he laid into the NFL for what he called an overreliance on opiates in treating chronic pain. He publicly pressured the league to recognize marijuana as a viable painkiller and announced that he was donating $80,000 to medical-marijuana research. What Monroe did not say was that he had a direct financial stake in seeing the drug go mainstream. Documents obtained by The Washington Post from the state of Maryland show that Monroe has a share worth at least 5 percent in Green Thumb Industries (GTI), one of 144 companies seeking a license to grow medical marijuana in Maryland. Former Baltimore Ravens and University of Virginia football player Eugene Monroe is fighting to get marijuana removed from a list of substances banned by the NFL. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post) Monroe declined to say how much money he has invested in GTI Maryland, the local outpost of the company that operates massive grow houses in Illinois and has licenses in Nevada. He agreed to invest in August and says he has no plans to invest in other marijuana companies. “Right now, I’ve made a decision to invest with GTI, and I guess that’s all I’ll talk about right now,” Monroe said in an interview. He described the investment as a vehicle to help make medical pot commercially viable. “People across our country, and especially athletes, need access to medical cannabis,” Monroe said. “I think my investment in GTI represents my commitment to helping make this possible for people.” The Ravens organization may see it somewhat differently. Earlier this month, the team released Monroe from his $37.5 million contract. He had been injured and unable to play for the better part of two years, despite collecting the highest base salary of any player on the team. An article posted on the team’s website appeared to chide Monroe’s advocacy efforts. “Monroe had surgery to repair a torn labrum (shoulder) this offseason, and used the time off to become the first active NFL player to openly


What scientists plan to do with the most powerful electron beam in the world

Scott Windham, left, and Jason Delk work at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, where scientists plan to use the world’s most powerful electron beam to find signs of a particle that interacts with both dark and light matter. (Judith Lowery/Newport News Daily Press via AP) NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A paltry 5 percent of what the universe is made of, that’s what. All the rest is what scientists call the dark sector, composed of things we can’t see directly, things we can observe only by their impacts on other objects. This summer at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News, a team headed by MIT physicists will begin a multiyear effort to try to glean evidence of at least one tiny theoretical piece of all that darkness: a dark photon — a particle that interacts with both dark and light matter. Called the DarkLight experiment, it could unearth the first evidence of what one researcher calls a bridge between the universe’s visible and invisible sectors. So far, bare hints of the existence of dark photons have been teased out from nuclear and particle physics experiments and from astrophysical observations. “When you look out into the universe, you see galaxies spiraling, rotating,” said Richard Milner, a former director of MIT’s Laboratory of Nuclear Science. “And, of course, what you see are objects that emit light — the so-called visible matter. If you look at how the matter in a galaxy behaves as you go out from the center of the galaxy, you can only explain the motion if there’s a lot of matter that you do not see but which interacts gravitationally with the matter that you do see. Hence, it’s called dark matter.” Dark matter Physicists believe dark matter comprises about 27 percent of the total matter in the universe. There’s also dark energy, which is even less understood, comprising 68 percent of total matter and based on observations that the universe is accelerating and expanding. Milner and his colleague Peter Fisher hope to gain harder evidence of a dark photon by using the Jefferson lab’s free-electron laser, the most powerful electron beam in the world. “It’s going to be very pioneering,” Milner said. “Jefferson Lab has absolutely unique accelerator facilities — it’s the only place in the world where you could imagine doing this experiment.” But a dark photon isn’t the only thing they’ll be hunting.


In Omaha for Olympic trials, U.S. swimmers are focused — on doping scandals

intrigue, with the Olympic movement facing one of its worst doping crises ever. Over the past several months, Russia has been accused of running a state-sponsored doping program, track and field’s governing body has voted to ban Russia’s athletes from the Rio de Janeiro Games, and the World Anti-Drug Agency has launched investigations into alleged doping by Chinese and Russian swimmers. Russian individual medley specialist Yana Martynova, a three-time Olympian, was recently suspended four years for doping, while breaststroker Yulia Efimova, a London bronze medalist and 2015 world champion, is awaiting word on her appeal after a positive test for meldonium. “There is a level of frustration and anger . . . when there are swimmers caught [doping], and you see that [doping is happening] maybe at a larger scale than people would have thought,” Ledecky said. “I think we’re all happy people are getting caught. [But] things need to get tougher.” Ledecky, perhaps with the naivete of youth, spoke hopefully about a “clean” competition in Rio this summer, but others were far less optimistic about that possibility. Bethesda teen will swim four events in Rio. “No, I’m not. I’m definitely not,” Team USA veteran Elizabeth Beisel, 23, a two-time Olympic medalist seeking her third Olympics berth, said when asked whether she was confident the Rio swimming competition would be clean. “I’m 100 percent confident that the U.S. Olympic team will be 100 percent clean. There is no doubt in my mind. [But] it’s sad that some athletes, no matter what sport you are in, are choosing to dope.” David Marsh, Team USA’s head women’s coach, called doping “the biggest threat to the integrity of the Games,” and 11-time Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte, 31, said he has been tested more in the past year than at any other point in his career. “All I can say about myself is I’m clean,” Lochte said. “I just hope everyone else stays on that track and that they test more athletes and just try to make the sport cleaner.” At 66 years old and having run USA Swimming for the past 19 years, Wielgus regards the current doping crisis as part of a continuum: The substances change, as do the testing protocols, but the battle between dopers and testers wears on. And in that regard, the recent developments represent something closer to progress than a new crisis. “This comes up every single Olympics,”


Brexit and . . . a beer? Some head to the pub to mourn.

buzzing over the big news. “I Googled ‘British pubs’ and this was the one closest to where I work,” said Kosakow, 29, a market researcher. “I thought it would be interesting to see how people were reacting.” Alas, there didn’t seem to be much going on. Above him, three television screens blared with CNN’s coverage of the Brexit. But around him, it was mostly business as usual: People in suits and lanyards having just another lunch at the bar. “I was kind of expecting more excitement,” he said, adding that he had never been to Britain. “But I think a lot of people here are just Americans like me.” Ziyad Vathiche was at the other end of the bar drinking beer with three colleagues. He had come to the pub for a simple reason that had nothing to do with British politics: “Why am I here? It’s Friday,” the 29-year-old said, taking a sip of his Stella Artois. “I didn’t follow the vote, but I heard all about it — and I saw the Dow drop.” Debra Cannon, 61, hadn’t paid much attention to the Brexit vote, either. That is, until Friday morning, when she woke up and saw the stock market tanking. “My first thought was ‘What’s going to happen to my 403(b)?’ ” said the elementary school teacher, referring to her retirement savings plan. “I thought about calling my financial planner, but I’m sure he’s already inundated.” Cannon, who was visiting from Lodi, Calif., said she had been watching her retirement portfolio all morning. “It was already down quite a bit — and, of course, who knows how it’s doing now?” she said before walking into Elephant & Castle for lunch and a beer. Daniel Friedheim had come to the pub with his daughter for a shepherd’s pie and a snakebite — a mix of lager and cider that’s popular in Britain. “We don’t agree with it, but we thought we would at least honor the Brexit vote,” said Friedheim, 58, founding partner of International Insights, an advisory firm that specializes in foreign markets. He said his daughter, who had studied abroad in Scotland, was crushed by the outcome of the vote. “It’s obviously going to have lots of impact on things that people can’t even imagine,” he said. “This could change the entire face of the European Union.” And then he took another sip of his beer.


British exit from E.U. could pose major foreign policy challenges for U.S.

President Obama pauses while speaking about Britain’s exit from the European Union during the Global Entrepreneurship Summit on Friday at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters) Britain’s decision to leave the European Union could make it more difficult to maintain transatlantic agreement on sanctions on Russia over Ukraine, and distract Britain and the E.U. from other pressing foreign policy issues as they disentangle their ties, analysts said Friday. On the day after the historic vote known as Brexit, with financial markets plummeting worldwide, foreign policy and national security analysts were trying to predict the implications for the United States in its relations with the E.U and Britain, allies that separately and together have been key partners on a host of global issues, from the war in Syria to the nuclear deal with Iran. Some adversaries immediately saw chinks in Europe’s armor as a result of the vote. Politicians in Moscow predicted it would sap the E.U. of a strong member and ultimately hasten the lifting of sanctions with damaging effects for the United States. “In my opinion, the most important long-term consequence of all this is that the exit will take Europe away from the anglo-saxons, meaning from the USA,” said the Kremlin’s small-business ombudsman, Boris Titov, in a Facebook post. “It’s not the independence of Britain from Europe, but the independence of Europe from the USA.” Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, tweeted as much, writing that Russian President Vladimir “Putin benefits from a weaker Europe. UK vote makes EU weaker. It’s just that simple.” In a stunning victory for the "Leave" campaign, Britain has voted to exit the European Union. Here's what happens next. When President Obama visited London in April, he said Britain’s membership in the E.U. “magnifies” its influence and warned they would have to go in “the back of the queue” for future trade deals if they left. He sounded more conciliatory on Friday, saying the “special relationship” between the two countries would endure. But analysts said the British vote could signal a more inward-looking Europe as it copes with the decision. “One of the strongest cards we have to play against Putin is transatlantic unity,” said Julianne Smith, a national security analyst with the Center for a New American Security. “This creates two years of navel gazing and internal debate about where do we go from here and Britain’s place