Opioid drugs make pain tolerable, most long-term users say

their finances compared with a larger 17 percent who said they were negative. A 74-percent majority, though, said painkillers had no impact on their finances. Two areas where long-term opioid users report significant problems are dependence and adverse side effects. Roughly one-third (34 percent) of long-term opioid users say they became addicted to or physically dependent on the drugs (separately, 31 percent say they are dependent, 23 percent say they are addicted). Physical side effects are common, with 55 percent saying the drugs have caused constipation and another 50 percent reporting indigestion, dry mouth or nausea. The poll finds that people who live in the same household as a long-term opioid user report a more negative picture across the board — 54 percent say the person they live with is or was addicted to or dependent on painkillers. Household members are also significantly more concerned about side-effects than are opioid users themselves. A 67 percent majority say they’re at least somewhat concerned about side-effects of the painkillers, compared with 49 percent of those who use them. Household members are also more likely than opioid users themselves to say the painkillers have had negative impacts on the user's physical health (39 percent vs. 20 percent of users) and the user's mental health (39 percent vs. 19 percent). [Read full poll results] But regardless of the adverse effects, the Post-Kaiser survey results show clearly why opioid users feel the medication is necessary, and why they are worried about the impact of a crackdown on abuse of the drugs. Two-thirds of long-term users say they are very or somewhat concerned that efforts to decrease abuse of prescription painkillers could make it more difficult to obtain them. Nearly 6 in 10 say that as it is, prescription painkillers are difficult to obtain for medical purposes. Allaying those concerns represents a big task for those seeking to combat the worst effects of opioids and one that’s not likely to go away soon. This Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll was conducted by telephone Oct. 3-Nov. 9 among a random national sample of 622 adults age 18 and older who say they have taken strong prescription painkillers for a period of two months or more at some time in the past two years other than to treat pain from cancer or terminal illness and 187 household members of someone meeting the previous requirements. The results from the


Military hazing is often horrifying — and the Pentagon has no idea how often it happens

A group of soldiers are silhouetted against the evening sky in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in January 2011. (Photo by Ensign Haraz Ghanbari/ Defense Department) Five years ago, 21-year-old Marine Lance Cpl. Harry Lew kept falling asleep while on guard duty in Afghanistan, a major gaffe for any infantryman in combat. His sergeant told two other Marines in his unit that “peers correct peers,” and so Lew was punched, kicked and forced to do pushups, crunches and other exercises in the middle of the night while wearing body armor, according to a Marine Corps investigation of the incident. Soon after, Lew turned his gun on himself and ended his life. Lew’s suicide jump-started a debate: What constitutes hazing in the military, and what should the Pentagon do to crack down on the practice? Lew’s case generated significant interest in Washington in part because of his aunt: Rep. Judy Chu (D.-Calif.). She pressed successfully for an independent investigation by the Government Accountability Office, saying that the stories of her nephew and other victims of hazing — generally described as abusive behavior meant to correct a mistake or earn one’s way into a group — showed the military clearly needed to make improvements. The GAO released the investigation’s findings this week, reporting that the services have no uniform way of tracking the practice and unclear definitions of what constitutes hazing in the first place. About 12 percent of rank-and-file service members surveyed by the GAO believe that hazing was going on in their unit, the organization said. “We learned that despite having anti-hazing policies in place, these policies are unevenly implemented and done with little oversight,” Chu said. “In addition, the standards among branches can differ radically, with some not even having a system for collecting data on hazing. We cannot claim that any existing prevention and enforcement policies are adequate without understanding the full scope of the problem.” The GAO carried out the investigation from April 2015 through this month, and found that the Defense Department and Coast Guard have “limited visibility” over hazing incidents. For example, the Army, Navy and Marine Corps track data on hazing cases, but the data is “not complete and consistent due to varying tracking method that do not always include all reported incidents,” the report said. “For example, until October 2015, the Army only tracked cases investigated by criminal investigators or military police, while the Navy required


Files provide new insights into fatal 6-hour standoff in Baltimore County

the officers. The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund has called for an independent review of Gaines’s death and police department policies. Police declined to comment for this article, citing pending litigation in the case. An administrative review of the incident remains open. A separate review of the tactical response, standard after any barricade situation, also remains open. At the door It was already 80 degrees outside when Officers Allen Griffin and John Dowell arrived at the three-story Carriage Hill apartment complex that Monday morning, looking for Apartment T4. Police had two warrants: one for Gaines and another for her fiance, Kareem Courtney, 39. Gaines was wanted for failing to appear in court on charges related to a March traffic stop. Courtney was wanted on an assault charge related to domestic violence allegations filed by Gaines. Griffin knocked on the door about 9 a.m., announcing they were police. No one answered, but the officers said they could hear coughs and a crying child. They called for another officer from the Woodlawn precinct, who went to the apartment building’s rental office and got a key for the apartment. Officers tried to open the door with the key, but it was chain locked. Dowell then kicked in the door, and Griffin went inside, according to documents filed in Baltimore County District Court. Gaines, seated on the floor, allegedly pointed a shotgun at Griffin and told the officers to leave. At 9:41 a.m., tactical officers and members of the department’s Hostage Negotiation Team were paged to the apartment. Police were now describing the incident as a barricade situation. At the start, there were four people in the apartment: Gaines, Courtney, Gaines’s 5-year-old son Kodi and the couple’s 1-year-old daughter. But Courtney left apartment with the 1-year-old and surrendered to officers. He told police that he had tried to bring Kodi out as well, but the child went back to his mother. Now, it was only Gaines and Kodi in the apartment on Sulky Court, and an increasing number — eventually dozens — of tactical, hostage negotiation and patrol officers outside. Previous encounter recorded Gaines’s communications and social media activity became central to the standoff. Gaines turned to her devices throughout the day to document her interactions with police — something she had done before. In March, Gaines was arrested by county police for disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and other charges after being pulled


Absolutely everything you need to know about how the government shutdown will work

military pay even when the government is closed. Obama signed it into law Monday night. So which parts of government actually shut down? Closed! Well, unless Arizona wants to pay to operate it. (Ron Watts / Corbios) Everything else, basically. It's a fairly long list, and you can check out in detail which activities the agencies are planning to halt in these contingency plans posted by each agency. Here are a few select examples: Health: Housing: Immigration: Law enforcement: Parks and museums: Regulatory agencies: Financial regulators. (Small parts of) Social Security: Visas and passports: During the previous shutdown in 1995-'96, around 20,000 to 30,000 applications from foreigners for visas went unprocessed each day. This time around, the State Department is planning to continue processing visas through the shutdown, since those operations are largely funded by fees collected. Veterans: What's more, if the shutdown lasts for more than two or three weeks, the Department of Veterans Affairs has said that it may not have enough money to pay disability claims and pension payments. That could affect some 3.6 million veterans. Women, Infants, and Children: Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) has a list of other possible effects of a shutdown. Funds to help states administer unemployment benefits could get disrupted, IRS tax-refund processing for certain returns would be suspended, farm loans and payments would stop, and Small Business Administration approval of business loan guarantees and direct loans would likely cease. Would the city of Washington D.C. be affected? D.C.'s garbage collection stops during a shutdown. (The Washington Post) Only if the shutdown goes on longer than a few weeks. In theory, the District of Columbia is supposed to shut down all but its most essential services during a government shutdown. But Mayor Vincent Gray has said that he will label all city services "essential" and use a cash reserve fund to keep everything going for as long as possible. Some background: The District of Columbia is the only city barred from spending funds during a federal government shutdown, save for a few select services. During the 1995-'96 shutdown, the city was only able to keep police, firefighters and EMS units on duty. Trash collection and street sweeping came to a stop until Congress finally intervened. This time, however, the District is taking a more defiant stance. How many federal employees would be affected by a government shutdown? Half of you go home. (Jeffrey


Will these 10 states be next to legalize pot?

Fast Eddy Aki’a of Hawaii smokes a joint to celebrate the state’s medicinal marijuana laws. (Marc Piscotty/Getty Images) If you’re trying to figure out which states will be next to relax restrictions on marijuana, it makes sense to keep tabs on the people most interested in seeing it happen. The Marijuana Policy Project, which was active in helping pass Colorado’s legalization law last November, announced Monday that it would support similar efforts in 10 additional states by 2017. MPP’s Director of State Policies Karen O’Keefe said the group breaks its 10 priority states into two general groups: the five states that have a voter-initiative process and the five states where only lawmakers can introduce such rules and laws. The group’s basic point is an economic one: States are throwing away money by not legalizing and taxing pot like alcohol, they argue. Here are the five so-called legislative states — the ones where MPP expects change to come through the state legislature — and why the group is focused on them: Rhode Island Vermont In July, New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan signed into law a bill that legalized marijuana for medicinal use. The House this year also passed a decriminalization bill, though it was later killed in the Senate. Hawaii Maryland’s The Marijuana Policy Project is supporting Alaskan activists in their drive to place an initiative on the August 2014 ballot, and plans to support similar initiatives in Arizona, California, Maine and Nevada in the 2016 election. That the 2016 election is a presidential one is important for legalization advocates, O’Keefe points out. Youth turnout tends to be higher during presidential elections and young Americans are most likely to support legalization, she says. Nearly 2 in 3 supported legalization in a March Pew poll. The Justice Department recently made clear it wouldn’t challenge state-level laws. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday afternoon exploring the conflict between state and federal marijuana laws.


The 10 best Ethiopian restaurants in the Washington area

the Washington Post) 5. Owner Meaza Zemedu’s space is looking a little threadbare these days, but her cooking remains as robust as ever. Her special kitfo, a cold-blooded flamethrower, continues to set the standard by which all others are measured. 5700 Columbia Pike, Falls Church. 703-820-2870. meazaethiopiancuisine.com. A vegetarian platter on injera at Meaza Ethiopian Cuisine in Falls Church. (Joseph Victor Stefanchik/For The Washington Post) 6. In a sunny space in downtown Silver Spring, this newcomer feels like an antidote to the once-standard Ethiopian experience, in which men (always men) huddle in dark, secluded corners to talk, argue and eat. Yet the food, fragrant and nuanced, tastes as if it caters to the expat community. 8201 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring. 301-448-1625. 7. Enat occupies an anchor spot at the Lincolnia Shopping Center, which looks as inviting as a biker bar at midnight. Don’t be fooled. Inside this unassuming storefront lies a restaurant and staff that lives up to the name of the place: Enat is Amharic for mother. They’ll treat you to some stylish home cooking, pungent and uncompromising. 4709 N. Chambliss St., Alexandria. 703-642-3628. enatrestaurant.com. 8. Dukem remains relevant even as new players strut onto the stage, thinking they can take a bite out of this U Street institution. Even in the daytime, when the place looks tired and the servers bored, the kitchen produces a platter that makes you realize you can never dismiss Dukem as yesterday’s news. 1114-1118 U St. NW. 202-667-8735. dukemrestaurant.com. Dukem Ethiopian Restaurant is an institution, serving the U Street corridor for more than 25 years. (Marvin Joseph/THE WASHINGTON POST) 9. Like other spots along the U Street corridor, Ghion frequently assumes a lounge persona on weekends: heavy on DJ mixes, light on Ethiopian spice mixes. But when the place focuses on food, the results are surprisingly strong, although not perfect. The lamb tibs, spiked with jalapeno and cardamom, make you sit up and pay attention. 2010 Ninth St. NW. 202-681-2008. ghionethiopianrestaurantdc.com. 10. I admire how this H Street NE restaurant has elevated the setting for Ethiopian finger food. I only wish the owners wouldn’t defang the more ferocious elements of the cuisine, whether tamping down the heat or limiting the menu to more American-friendly plates. 401 H St. NE. 202-675-2066. ethiopicrestaurant.com. The Vegetarian Sampler II at Ethiopic Restaurant in the Atlas District includes servings from seven vegetarian dishes. (James Buck/THE WASHINGTON POST) Runners-up


The rise and fall of Subway, the world’s biggest food chain

2013, Subway was opening 50 new shops a week. Today, Subways serves nearly 2,800 sandwiches every minute, data from industry researcher IBISWorld shows. Still owned by Doctor’s Associates, the founders’ holding company, Subway has opened inside hundreds of U.S. colleges, malls, military bases and other, less-predictable locations: a car showroom in California, a Goodwill thrift store in South Carolina, a church in Buffalo. At 1 World Trade Center, a Subway housed in an American-flag-adorned trailer was hoisted floor by floor to serve construction workers building Freedom Tower. Franchise owner Richard Schragger, who beat out nine competing bidders for the honor, served hot dogs and ice cream along with the subs. DeLuca, the chief executive, said last year that the chain wanted to add 8,000 new American franchises to their existing 27,000, an explosion on par with adding the combined store count of Taco Bell and Chipotle. “We’re continually looking at just about any opportunity for someone to buy a sandwich, wherever that might be,” Don Fertman, the chief development officer, told the Wall Street Journal last year. “The closer we can get to the customer, the better.” The chain got one of its biggest early boosts in Washington in 1977, when Larry Feldman, then an assistant minority counsel to the House Banking Committee, opened one of the earliest franchises near a House office building. Feldman’s Subway Development Corp. has grown to 1,500 locations across the District and the mid-Atlantic states, and Feldman, the “secretary of sandwich,” has been called Subway’s most successful “development agent.” “The reason Larry Feldman got such a huge territory was his basic answer was, ‘Yes. I will do that,’ ” DeLuca told The Washington Post in 2008. “It’s like free land. Here is a bunch of acres for your ranch, now go do it.” Franchisee complaints Subway’s spread was soon conquering a bigger target than America’s strip malls: its airwaves. The chain spent half a billion dollars in 2013 on promotional spots, more than such prodigious advertisers as Progressive or Budweiser. The chain has excelled at sometimes-egregious uses of product placement. In a 2012 episode of CBS’s “Hawaii Five-O,” an actor called Subway “serious culinary fusion” and said its food would help him lose weight, adding, “It worked for Jared, and that dude was large.” But the all-franchise chain has expanded largely through winning over new franchisees, who run (and fund) their stores mostly independently of


under “extreme pressure” to keep the profits pumping amid sliding sales and the cost of keeping up with changing ingredients and menus. Cost pressures on franchise owners have little direct effect at Subway headquarters. Franchisees have to pay the corporate office a $15,000 start-up franchise fee, plus a 12 percent weekly cut of all revenues, no matter how well the business is doing. Fresh competition Jared Fogle, left, shows Anna Belle Wilder, center, and Brad LeGrand, right, a pair of his old pants that he used to fit into at a Subway sandwich shop in Birmingham in this 2003 file photo. (Steve Gates/FTWP) Subway’s reputation as a healthier lunch spot — though it also sells a foot-long Big Philly Cheesesteak packing 1,000 calories, twice as many as a Big Mac — has helped it torpedo fast-food rivals, even 15 years after first tapping Jared Fogle, with his tale of sub-aided weight loss, as its spokesman and “the Subway Guy.” But even with its vegetarian-friendly menu, Subway has struggled to maintain its healthful image. Consumer surveys by Technomic found Subway’s food taste, flavor and visual appeal sagged among American respondents over the past year. “In light of the intense competitive pressure from other sandwich concepts,” said Colleen Rothman, a Technomic manager of consumer insights, “Subway’s offerings just aren’t resonating with consumers as they used to.” The chain has also struggled with rude surprises. A petition campaign last year led by FoodBabe.com blogger Vani Hari slammed Subway for using the food additive azodicarbonamide, which she called a “yoga mat” chemical, in its bread. Though the additive is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in dough and is found in hundreds of other foods, Subway pledged to remove it as part of the chain’s “bread improvement efforts.” Subway has attempted to keep pace with changing food trends, offering toppings such as hummus and a creamy sriracha sauce to win back health-conscious customers. But analysts say they have often been too little, too late in a world where fast-casual rivals are better at marketing their quality, and even Wendy’s and McDonald’s are offering organic drinks, black-bean burgers and kale. “We’re in a new environment — the Chipotle environment . . . the fast-casual environment — with a new type of rhetoric, quality and marketability,” said Andrew Alvarez, a food analyst with IBISWorld. In comparison, “Subway’s platform, its presentation almost looks primordial.”


‘House in the Alley’ movie review

Thao (Thanh Van Ngo) sinks into depression after losing her baby during childbirth, making life difficult for her husband, Thanh (Son Bao Tran), in “House in the Alley.” (Pathfinder Films) Early in “House in the Alley,” which is being described as the first Vietnamese horror movie, one of the main characters innocently touches an axe. In a wilier film, such a moment might be a wink at slasher-flick predictability. But there’s nothing sly about writer-director Le-Van Kiet’s scenario. Ultimately, that character will use that axe just as any veteran horror watcher would expect. Made in Ho Chi Minh City by the Vietnam-born, California-raised Kiet, “House in the Alley” evocatively depicts a land of warm nights, milky sunlight and sudden rains. There are scenes in the movie’s relatively quiet middle section that recall the gentle films of the great Franco-Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung. But this story begins and ends with bloodbaths. The first one is not supernatural. In the gory opening sequence, a midwife rushes to attend Thao (Thanh Van Ngo), who’s suffering childbirth agonies the older woman says are the worst she’s even seen. The baby is stillborn. Months later, Thao divides her time between brooding and sleeping. Her loyal husband, Thanh (Son Bao Tran), often stays home from work to look after her, despite his mother’s protests. Mom doesn’t like Thao very much and is unsympathetic to her depression. Also, Thanh’s family runs a factory that’s in crisis, and Mom would rather lose a daughter-in-law than the business. The couple’s upscale but poorly maintained home has a weird aura, and gradually the spookiness becomes manifest. Indeed, the house seems to be a magnet for creepshow cliches, from unexplainable thumps to eerie laughter. There’s even a recurring role for a black cat. The haunting could be attributed to Thao’s refusal to bury the baby, whose casket remains in the couple’s bedroom. Or the ghosts might be attached to the house itself, and are tormenting Thao and Thanh for things that happened before they moved in. It hardly matters. Either way, they lose. Thanh takes the brunt of the abuse. His attempts to solve the mystery lead to repeated physical injuries, verging on slapstick. The guy falls off roofs and balconies so often that you’d think he’d go looking for a ranch house in the ’burbs. Nicely photographed by Joel Spezeski, the movie makes much of Thanh Van Ngo, a


September begins with a ‘ring of fire’ solar eclipse over Africa

(NASA) Nature provides a cosmic gift to open September: A heavenly ring of fire around the moon. The last time an annular eclipse occurred was on April 29, 2014. An annular eclipse is very similar to a total eclipse. The moon glides between the Earth and the sun, but the moon is slightly farther out now, so it does not fully block the sun. Because of this, a ring of fire is created around the moon as it passes in front of the sun. Observers in the central region of Africa can see it in person, but the rest of us will have to watch online. In the United States, you can watch two ways — Slooh.com and the Astronomical Society Southern Africa’s YouTube channel. Get a nap and set the alarm — it’s very early. Slooh.com is a webcasting site specializing in astronomical events. Its broadcast starts at 2:45 a.m. Thursday, Eastern. Astronomer Paul Cox provides the cosmic play-by-play, as other astronomers Bob Berman and Eric Edelman add color. Joining the broadcast will be Fr. James Kurzynski of the Vatican Observatory, Shaykh Abdulbary Yahya of the Al Maghrib Institute, and psychologist Kate Russo — all of whom will provide a human outlook on the eclipse experience. Meanwhile, the Astronomical Society Southern Africa’s YouTube stream begins at 3 a.m., where the group will have properly filtered cameras providing visual feeds during the mostly partial phases. Each eclipse belongs to a series — called a saros — and this is number 39 out of 71 eclipses in Saros 135. Each eclipse within a saros is separated by 18 years. The first eclipse in the Saros 135 family happened on July 5, 1331, and the last one will be Aug. 17, 2593. This family’s previous eclipse was an annular event on Aug. 22, 1998, and the next one will be annular on Sept. 12, 2034. On Thursday, the eclipse centerline path includes Gabon, Congo, Tanzania, Mozambique and Madagascar, while a partial solar eclipse can be seen through most of Africa and the southern part of Saudi Arabia, according to Espenak. For sky gazers in southern Tanzania, the greatest eclipse starts at 09:07 Universal (5:07 a.m. Eastern) when it peaks at 3 minutes and 6 seconds, and the shadowy path is 62 miles wide, says Espenak. If you’re reading this from Africa, always protect your eyes during any type of solar eclipse. In


Human-caused climate change has been happening for a lot longer than we thought, scientists say

don’t have the full picture of how we’ve been changing the climate,” she said. The new research involved 25 scientists from around the world, including more than a dozen researchers from the The research team used these paleoclimate records to look back at the progression of industrial-era warming across the Earth over the past few hundred years. The industrial era is a period of time loosely beginning around the mid-18th century, when industrial growth around the world led to a sharp increase in the burning of fossil fuels and the emission of greenhouse gases, which contributed to the onset of anthropogenic climate change on Earth. If carbon emissions continue unabated, expanding oceans and massive ice melt would threaten global coastal communities, according to new projections. The team’s reconstructions indicated that significant and sustained warming began in the tropical oceans around the 1830s, about the same time it began over the continental land masses in the Northern Hemisphere. Warming in the Southern Hemisphere was delayed until about 50 years later, the reconstructions suggested — this likely has to do with differences in oceanic and atmospheric circulation there, Abram said. (This video, which the researchers have put together to help summarize their findings, helps illustrate the temperature changes indicated by the reconstructions over the past 500 years.) Video 1 The reconstructions suggest that the current pattern of sustained, long-term warming on Earth began much earlier than existing temperature records might lead us to believe. The findings are “further evidence that the climate has already changed significantly since the pre-industrial period,” said The researchers also examined climate models to find out whether climate simulations would match up with their reconstructions, as well as to gain some insight into what exactly was causing the warming effect. They found the models generally agree with their reconstructions for the Northern Hemisphere, although they don’t quite capture the delayed warming effect in the Southern Hemisphere for reasons that remain unclear. And importantly, the researchers say, the simulations suggest that the influence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is the cause behind the early onset of warming. The researchers suggest that this early, human-influenced onset of warming may mean the climate is more sensitive to the effects of greenhouse gas emissions than scientists previously thought. The researchers do note that “naturally forced climate cooling may have helped to set the stage for the widespread onset of industrial-era warming


A year ago, ISIS burned a Jordanian pilot to death. His family is still anguished

his grim fate. In an interview with the Middle East Eye website, Kaseasbeh's brother, Jawad, spoke of his family’s frustration over some of the unexplained details surrounding Muath’s death and lamented the hard times that have befallen them in the months since. The pilot disappeared during a sortie conducted on Christmas Eve of 2014. The weeks that followed were shrouded with confusion until the video of Muath’s immolation was released by the extremist militant group. Even then, rumors reached the family from former captives that Muath was actually still alive. They eventually disregarded the hearsay, but remain unsure about how his plane could have been downed by the Islamic State. “What happened with Muath? In our own opinion, it was set up. He was given a task that wasn’t his to do, and in his last call with us, he was uncomfortable with it,” Jawad told the Middle East Eye, though it’s unclear from the report what, exactly, he believes was the ‘setup.’ In recent interviews, family members have also expressed reservations about Jordan's military entanglement in Syria. The last Jordanian airstrikes against the Islamic State were carried out in August last year. “Everything is foggy. Nothing is clear. The coalition gave us a different explanation than Jordan did, then the U.S. gave us a different explanation, and IS claims they shot down the airplane," said Jawad. The article also suggests that the past year has exacted a deep toll on Kaseasbeh's family, which has had to fend off strangers trying to mooch off their tragic celebrity while also coping with health issues. The Middle East Eye describes Jawad's own despair: The 34-year-old computer engineer and former Air Force captain has been ground down as much by the disintegration of his surviving family as by the loss of his brother. His father, Safi, previously strong and capable, has been in and out of hospital. His mother has become a shell of the woman she used to be — photos Jawad showed MEE of her with Muath in the months before his death might have been of another woman. "It’s been a year of sadness. A year of tears. A year of memories. I remember him when I eat, when I sleep, when I pray, I never stop thinking of him,” Safi al-Kaseasbeh, the pilot's father, told CNN. “And if you knew Muath, you wouldn't be able to forget him either.”


The polio endgame

THE WORLD IS closer than ever to eradicating the polio virus. When the effort began in 1988, the disease was endemic in 125 countries, but now just three remain: Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan. In recent months, there have been fewer cases in fewer districts of fewer countries than at any time in history. Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), said recently that the battle against polio is at a “tipping point between success and failure.” Polio is a highly infectious disease that affects the nervous system and can lead to paralysis. It largely strikes children 5 years old and younger, but there have been more cases involving adults in recent years, with higher lethality. Obliterated in the United States 30 years ago, polio has proved a stubborn foe elsewhere in the world. As recently as the 1980s, polio killed or paralyzed more than 350,000 children each year. But the eradication effort has come a long way. There were only 650 cases last year and only 73 so far this year. The potential benefits of wiping out polio are improved lives for millions of children. Yet eradicating diseases is immensely difficult. So far, the campaign against smallpox stands as the only success. For years, there was concern that if the transmission of polio could not be halted in India, eradication would be impossible. But India has been free of polio since January 2011. Also, a more effective oral vaccine is targeting the two strains of the virus that are most prevalent. On May 26, the 194 member states of the WHO declared polio eradication a “programmatic emergency.” The idea is to galvanize work in the remaining polio-infected areas of Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan. All three nations suffered alarming spikes in cases last year, and the goal of delivering oral vaccine to every child is up against the formidable obstacles of war, corruption, weak public health systems and widespread migration. This appears to be another make-or-break moment. A renewed campaign will be costly. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative, set up in 1988 by the WHO, UNICEF, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Rotary International, says that it needs an additional $945 million for a total budget of $2.19 billion this year and next. For the current fiscal year, the United States has boosted support to $151.1 million, up $17.6 million over last year. Rotary International has


Two U.S. troops die battling Islamic State militants in eastern Afghanistan

An Army helicopter crew member mans a gun on the rear gate as it departs Resolute Support headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan on April 24. (Jonathan Ernst/Associated Press) Two U.S. service members were killed during operations against the Islamic State in eastern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said Thursday, the latest sign of the security challenges the Trump administration faces in America’s longest and most costly war. Military officials said the deaths occurred during a joint U.S.-Afghan raid on Wednesday evening in Nangahar province, where a small but virulent Islamic State cell poses a threat to Afghan and U.S. coalition forces. A third service member was wounded in the same operation, the U.S. military command in Afghanistan said in a statement. The Pentagon on Friday identified Sgt. Joshua P. Rodgers, 22, and Sgt. Cameron H. Thomas, 23, as the Army Rangers killed. The soldiers were members of 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, an elite Army force that specializes in raid operations. “The fight against ISIS-K is important for the world, but sadly, it is not without sacrifice,” said Gen. John Nicholson, the commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, referring to the Islamic State branch in Afghanistan, known as Islamic State-Khorasan Province. The incident took place in Nangahar’s Achin district near a site where the U.S. military unleashed a massive 22,000-pound bomb this month, a sign of the scale of the ongoing conflict nearly 16 years after U.S. troops arrived in Afghanistan. The recent fighting in Achin, including the first-ever use of the GBU-43 bomb and Wednesday’s incident, which killed two Americans, illustrates the danger posed by just one of multiple militant groups in a conflict that U.S. officials have described as a stalemate. A Taliban resurgence across Afghanistan has meant that the government in Kabul controls only slightly more than half the country’s territory, according to a U.S. government watchdog, and that the United States has been forced to return forces to areas pacified at great cost under President Barack Obama’s 2009-2011 troop surge. At the same time, local forces are struggling to contain an array of militant groups along the country’s border with Pakistan, including the Islamic State. Faced with those challenges, the Trump administration is reevaluating its strategy for Afghanistan and considering sending additional U.S. troops to support local forces. Nicholson has called for thousands of extra service members to help train and support the Afghan military. According to Navy


Want to see the Perseids? These are the best places to see meteors near D.C.

sights in the August night sky. Loudoun, Fauquier, Charles or St. Mary’s counties Driving distance: 50-60 miles (about one hour) Meteor viewing quality: Decent This is by far the easiest option, short of just walking outside and looking up. Light pollution in western Loudoun and most of Fauquier counties tapers off quite a bit. Depending on where you’re located, Charles or St. Mary’s counties might be an easier trip. Using satellite data, scientists published a brand new sky-brightness atlas earlier this summer. They measure sky brightness in a ratio — how bright is the sky compared to “natural” sky? The brightness ratio in these counties is around one — meaning the sky is 100 percent brighter than a natural sky. This might seem like a lot, but the scale goes up to 41, and urban areas like the District are in that category. Ocean City area Driving distance: 150 miles (three hours) Meteor viewing quality: Good The Ocean City area is a good option if you happen to leave on the Eastern Shore or you’re already out there enjoying the last days of summer. Ocean City itself is not a good place to view meteors — there’s still too much light there — but if you take a short drive down Highway 113 into Cedartown, Md., for example, you’ll be treated to some relatively light-free skies. Assateague State Park would be an even better spot, but the park closes at sunset so you’ll need to get a camping permit to hang around through the night. Shenandoah National Park Driving distance: 90 miles (2.5 hours) Meteor viewing quality: Great This is obviously the best option if you want to take a drive on Friday or Saturday evening. Many people make the trek from Washington to Shenandoah during August to view the Perseids. The light pollution ratio around Old Rag is just 0.16 to 0.32 — the best you can get so close to the Beltway. Cherry Springs State Park Driving distance: 280 miles (five hours) Meteor viewing quality: Amazing Cherry Springs State Park The park is one of the International Dark Sky Association’s designated “dark places.” The light pollution ratio is a mere 0.04 to 0.08. “They are one of the darker areas that’s left in the Eastern U.S.,” Barentine said. Light pollution atlas. Reds and pinks are areas with high light pollution. Blues and greens are low light pollution. (CIRES/NOAA)


Garrison review: A chef finds his place — and his groove — on Barracks Row

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 10: Crispy Skin Arctic Char with dill and cucumbers (foreground) and Parker House Rolls (background) at Garrison (Photo by Dixie D. Vereen/For The Washington Post) (Dixie D. Vereen/For The Washington Post) Fruit is an obvious choice for dessert at Garrison. Here, stone fruit are cooked in parchment and served with a ricotta sauce. (Dixie D. Vereen/For The Washington Post) ★ ★ ★ EXCELLENT This review appears in The Washington Post’s 2015 Fall Dining Guide. With the notable exception of Rose’s Luxury, Capitol Hill is one of the city’s least interesting neighborhoods for dining. As packed as the neighborhood is with places to eat, few of them tug at a chowhound’s heartstrings. The situation took a turn for the affirmative this July with the debut of Garrison by Rob Weland. Best known locally for his cooking at Cork Wine Bar and Poste Moderne Brasserie, the chef shines as never before in the first restaurant of his own. Three-bean salad is made supreme with anchovies sheathed in crackling tempura, tortellini shouts “summer!” with a filling of sweet corn, duck gets rubbed the right way (with lavender), and if there’s a better steak salad than sliced bison with juicy tomatoes and sharp blue cheese, I have yet to call it. Most impressive of all is the acreage Weland devotes to vegetables on his menu, and the interesting treatments he has devised for eggplant (enhanced with tomatoes, dill and hazelnuts) and king trumpet mushrooms (paired with avocado, thyme and jalapeño). Rose’s remains king of the Hill, but Garrison maintains a singular advantage: The new kid on the block takes reservations. Previous: -- This review was published in The Washington Post Magazine on Sept. 27, 2015. By now, everyone who likes to eat knows that if you aren’t POTUS or FLOTUS, you’re going to have to wait in line for the chance to inhale a bowl of pork, peanuts and lychees at Rose’s Luxury on Capitol Hill. Even if you make the effort, your timing has to be nearly perfect to score a table in the famously no-reservations hotspot. My timing wasn’t perfect the last time I showed up at Rose’s. My luck, on the other hand, was impeccable: The American-themed Garrison had just opened down the street, replacing Tash, a Middle Eastern restaurant, on Barracks Row. And there were seats open. “Good evening!” the host welcomed me. A few courses


Ukrainian forces seek to take the offensive with assault on rebel bastion of Slovyansk

the rebels’ best-fortified positions, and the insurgent leaders in the city have aggressively deployed their forces to take down government aircraft and ambush troop convoys. Stella Khorosheva, a spokeswoman for the rebels in Slovyansk, called Tuesday’s assault “the heaviest and longest attack” since the government’s counterinsurgency operation began several weeks ago. Khorosheva said the city came under bombardment from artillery and helicopter gunships at 6 a.m., with only brief pauses throughout the day. Ukrainian troops, she said, were massing on the city’s outskirts and appeared poised to move in. “They’re going to destroy the whole city,” she said. Writing on his Facebook page, Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said government troops had broken through rebel checkpoints on the outskirts of the city in what he described as “a very intense firefight.” Vladislav Seleznev, a Ukrainian army spokesman, had said earlier that a convoy of troops in armored personnel carriers was ambushed overnight while en route to Slovyansk, leaving one soldier dead and 13 wounded. The violence in southeastern Ukraine has intensified in recent weeks, particularly after the election of chocolate tycoon Petro Poroshenko as the country’s new president. The vote largely did not take place in the southeast because conditions were too volatile. Poroshenko is due to be sworn in Saturday. About 350 recruits are engaged in exercises with Ukraine's national guard in preparation for deployment to the east. The new president’s first order of business will be to decide how aggressively to take on the insurgency, which has appeared to gain traction as reinforcements and supplies have flowed in across a porous border with Russia. On Monday, guards fended off a coordinated assault by up to 500 rebels on a border command center in the far-eastern region of Luhansk. Oleg Slobodyan, a spokesman for the Ukrainian border service, said that the area was quiet Tuesday but that there were indications that insurgents were regrouping for another attempt. In a sign of the worsening conditions across the southeast, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said it would curtail its monitoring work in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, both of which have declared themselves to be “sovereign” republics. The OSCE has lost contact with two groups of international monitors in the past week, with both presumed to have been detained. Spokesman Michael Bociurkiw said the OSCE was asking anyone with information about the monitors to contact the organization. Morello


Boston Marathon bombings: Investigators sifting through images, debris for clues

More of the injured would have died if strangers and emergency crews hadn’t immediately contained the bleeding, said Joseph Blansfield, program manager at the Boston Medical Center trauma unit. “Tourniquets are a difference maker; tourniquets can save a life,” he said. As she supervised a triage center for runners still looking to recover belongings and make their way home, Boston Health Commissioner Barbara Ferrer said, “So many volunteers have stepped up in so many big ways and small ways with thousands of acts of kindness.” Students at Boston College said they would walk the final five miles of the race route on Friday because, as organizers of the effort said, “we decide when our marathon ends.” Away from the site of the bombings, Boston sprang back a bit on Tuesday with Red Sox Nation resiliency — at least as much as it could, given that 12 blocks of the city’s Back Bay neighborhood remained cordoned off as the most complex crime scene in city history. Less than 24 hours after the attack, diners sat at tables adorned with white napkins outside 5 Napkin Burger. At Dartmouth and Stuart streets, the corner Starbucks was offering free coffee and pastries. A few blocks away, city officials delivered 1,500 gear bags that had been waiting at the finish line for runners who didn’t get to complete the race. Along several city blocks, investigators continued the search for physical and digital clues. A federal law enforcement official said the FBI was examining cellphone activity on towers near the scene — data that could be useful if the explosives were detonated by phone. If the data yield suspicious numbers, investigators can get the subscriber’s billing information. If the phone was a disposable model, it’s possible to learn where it was bought. Surveillance cameras near the point of sale could provide further clues, former prosecutors said. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Tex.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said the bombs were akin to the improvised explosive devices deployed against U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and were “most likely dropped in a backpack.” Police had swept the marathon route for explosives twice on Monday before the race, said Michael Bouchard, a former assistant director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who is president of Security Dynamics Group. But “anyone carrying a backpack or duffel bag could have carried the bombs in,” he said.


Report: At least 50 teams were paid by Department of Defense for patriotic displays

not been paid by the military and would never accept military funds to recognize those who have served.” From the report’s introduction: “At the time [parts of the report surfaced], both the DOD and the NFL downplayed our assessment, characterizing it as an unfounded and inaccurate portrayal of the contracts, the report states. A National Guard spokesman, in particular, assured American taxpayers that the contracts were for legitimate advertising activities that support recruiting efforts. And, the NFL said our legislation ‘paint[ed] a completely distorted picture of the relationship between NFL teams and our military.’ “For the past several months, we have continued to work with DOD to fully understand the nature and extent of these contracts. In all, the military services reported $53 million in spending on marketing and advertising contracts with sports teams between 2012 and 2015. More than $10 million of that total was paid to teams in the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA), National Hockey League (NHL) and Major League Soccer (MLS). “Over the course of the effort, we discovered the startling fact that DOD cannot accurately account for how many contracts it has awarded or how much has been spent; its official response to our request only accounted for 62 percent of its 122 contracts with the major league teams that we were able to uncover and 70 percent of the more than $10 million it actually spent on these contracts. And, although DOD has indicated the purpose of these contracts is to support recruiting, the Department doesn’t uniformly measure how and whether the activities under contract are actually contributing to recruiting.” The 145-page report cites contributions to 18 NFL teams, 10 MLB teams, eight NBA teams, six NHL teams, eight soccer teams, as well as NASCAR, Iron Dog and Indiana University Purdue University. The Atlanta Falcons, for instance, were the top recipients, getting $879,000 over four years. Over the same period, for instance, the New England Patriots received $700,000 and the Buffalo Bills $650,000. The report includes a memo from the NFL to its teams giving guidance on “paid patriotism” issues. Commissioner Roger Goodell followed with a letter to the committee dated Nov. 2, writing that the league will conduct an audit of all of its contracts with military branches and national guard units. “If we find that inappropriate payments were made,” Goodell wrote, “they will be refunded


Leaked treaty is a Hollywood wish list. Could it derail Obama’s trade agenda?

by a brand-name drug maker — a step that would make it harder for generic manufacturers to enter the pharmaceutical market and could raise drug prices. In some cases, such as the length of copyright term, the United States is seeking to enshrine current provisions of U.S. law as an international norm. But in other cases, the U.S. position appears to run counter to U.S. law. For example, Canada has proposed language protecting Internet service providers such as YouTube from liability if their customers use their service to distribute works that infringe copyright. American law has provided such liability protection since 1998, yet the Obama administration is listed as opposing a requirement that nations "shall limit the liability of, or the availability of remedies against, internet service providers." (Update (November 18): This turns out to be a poorly-chosen example. The US favored an alternative safe harbor proposal that seems to be roughly as protective of ISPs and closer to US law. It's my fault for not reading the draft carefully enough before posting this story.) "It's impressive to me how well this chapter plays into the fears that folks who are concerned about intellectual property expansion have about the TPP," says Bill Watson, a trade scholar at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. "It really seems to be their worst nightmare." Watson is an advocate for free trade, and warns that "intellectual property issues are coming to threaten the trade agenda. Folks who are concerned about IP policy are going to oppose this agreement just on those grounds." It wouldn't be unprecedented for concerns about patent and trademark issues to derail the larger TPP treaty. Last year, in the wake of a populist backlash against the Stop Online Piracy Act in the United States, European activists stopped ratification of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement in the European parliament. Update: The intellectual property negotiation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership discussions has not been completed and a final text has not been agreed to. We are working with Congress, stakeholders, and our TPP negotiating partners to reach an outcome that promotes high-paying jobs in innovative American industries and reflects our values, including by seeking strong and balanced copyright protections, as well as advancing access to medicines while incentivizing the development of new, life-saving drugs. Correction: Disclosure: I worked at the Cato Institute from 2003 to 2005. Details are available on my disclosure page.


What 6 feet of sea level rise looks like for our vulnerable coastal cities

In a groundbreaking climate change study, scientists have found that by neglecting to include the melting of Antarctica, we have vastly underestimated the potential for sea level rise over the next 80 years — and beyond. The most widely cited estimate of around three feet by 2100 includes sea level rise from thermal expansion (water expands when it warms) and the melting of smaller glaciers. It includes minimal contributions from Greenland and Antarctica. According to a new study, high levels of greenhouse gas emissions could cause oceans to rise by close to two meters in total (over six feet) by the end of the century, and more than 13 meters (42 feet) from Antarctica alone by 2500. Instead, this study published in the journal Nature suggests that we should actually double that forecast when we include melting in Antarctica: approximately six feet of sea level rise by 2100. Just as alarming is the projection that Antarctica by itself could add 50 feet of sea level rise by 2500. What does that even look like? The 50-foot estimate is hard to imagine. The study essentially concludes that we could alter the face of the Earth over the next 100 to 500 years. In the study’s projection for 2500, almost the entire state of Delaware would disappear. Much of Manhattan and Brooklyn would be reduced to just slivers of their current selves. The southern coast of Florida would end north of Lake Okeechobee. California’s Central Valley would flood from Modesto to Colusa, and the state capital of Sacramento would be entirely under water. And this says nothing about the millions — billions? — of people who could be displaced around the globe. It’s a little easier to picture the 2100 projection, which, if this study is correct, would significantly change coastlines in the United States. Each of these maps was created by the research team at Climate Central. You can explore more coastlines in the interactive viewer. Climate Central used the highest resolution elevation maps available to create these projections. The researchers take into account the mitigating effects of levees, under the assumption that all levees will be able to withstand the pressure of rising seas (despite the fact that only 8 percent of the monitored levees in the United States are considered in “acceptable” condition). The outcomes range from dire in places such as Miami and New Orleans to avoidable with


Five key questions – and answers – about the arrest of Gerry Adams

government react? The Irish government will be concerned about maintaining political stability in Northern Ireland. It will not have any particular desire to help Gerry Adams, except insofar as it’s necessary toward that end. First of all, Sinn Fein is a potent political threat to government parties in the Republic of Ireland, and was forecast to do well in the forthcoming local and European Parliament elections. Second, there has long been a hostile relationship between Fine Gael, the majority party in the Irish government, and Sinn Fein. The two parties have their origins in different sides on the Irish civil war; Fine Gael has always seen itself as the party of the Irish state and of law and order, while Sinn Fein until very recently saw itself as the sole true heir of an Irish republicanism that had been abandoned by southern Ireland. While the two parties have had to work together, because of Sinn Fein’s role in power sharing in the Northern Ireland government, they do not like each other. Sinn Fein’s presence as a political force on both sides of the border is usually a strength. This time around, it may be a liability. How will this affect Sinn Fein’s electoral prospects? It will likely damage them in the Republic of Ireland. The McConville murder was one of the more sordid and brutal events of Northern Ireland’s “Troubles.” Although the IRA alleged that Jean McConville was an informer, others have suggested that her crime was merely to offer water to a wounded British soldier. Adams himself has described the murder as a “grievous injustice.” Sinn Fein has worked quite successfully to reposition itself as an anti-economic austerity party, soft-pedaling its past connections to terrorism. This will remind voters that the past is not buried very deep. It is likely to have far less impact on likely Sinn Fein voters in Northern Ireland, who are effectively inured to past terrorist incidents. What are the long term consequences for Irish politics? If a broader crisis is averted, its most important consequence may be to rapidly accelerate a generational change in Sinn Fein. Younger politicians like Mary Lou McDonald, a member of the Irish Parliament, are better positioned to sell the party to Irish voters. Over the longer term, they may change Sinn Fein from a party dominated by its lingering association with terrorism to one with a broader left-wing agenda.


Metros by the numbers: How D.C. stacks up against other capital cities

Nine things about the Tokyo subway that will drive Washington commuters crazy. In it, Tokyo bureau chief Anna Fifield lays out in devastating detail how efficient and overwhelmingly pleasant the Tokyo subway is to ride. Its efficiency, and superior Japanese engineering, allow a system that ranks in the bottom half of the group in terms of miles of track, stations, lines and train cars to carry more passengers than any of the eight others. Tokyo also boasts the world's busiest station — Shinjuku — through which almost 4 million people pass every day. Tokyo is the world's most populous city by a long shot. Delhi is second only to Tokyo in terms of population, according to some calculations. The city is growing at breakneck speed, and the relatively new system is in a hurry to keep pace. Its first line opened in 2002, and the metro system has been expanding slowly but surely ever since, with major new lines expected to open within the next year. The new lines will transform Delhi's hub-and-spoke system into one that looks more like a spider web, with new lines traversing Delhi's vast inner- and outer-ring roads. Delhi's trains and stations are clean and efficient — and heavily air conditioned. Each train's first car is reserved for women. In a country famous for crumbling infrastructure, Delhi's metro is a rare gem. It's cheap, too; the most expensive ride — dozens of miles in length and may take at least two hours — costs less than a dollar. At rush hour, however, expect to get up close and personal with fellow passengers. London's iconic "tube" was the world's first metro system, with parts of it dating to 1863. It is the only system out of the nine compared here that reaches farther from its center than Washington's. To D.C. riders' chagrin, the London Underground recently announced that it was starting 24-hour service this summer. On the other hand, riding the subway in London can be exorbitantly expensive, as can traveling in the city's cabs. If you're "paying as you go," a one-way fare traveling in just one "zone" of the system can cost about 5 pounds ($7.20). Perhaps equally iconic is the Paris Métro, with its Art Nouveau signage and retro train cars. Among European countries, Paris's system is second to Moscow's in the number of passengers it carries. But what makes Paris's system so


NSA PowerPoint art: Greatest hits, vol. 1

FOXACID revealed by Der Speigel -- one of a fox being dissolved in a vat of acid, and another involving a can of spam featuring the slogan "made with FOX packed in ACID." It's unclear who is behind these drawings, but it's nice that the artist or artists found a creative outlet within their day job. The men in black NSA presentation, via The Guardian This figure graced one of the more chaotic PRISM slides dealing with collaboration between the NSA's Threat Operations Center and the FBI. It depicts FBI agents cleaning an infected computer network at a defense contractor after being alerted by the NSA. The mystic NSA presentation via The Washington Post The Mystic is the newest addition to the NSA clipart pantheon. The wizard's staff has been photoshopped to include a cellphone being clutched by some sort of robotic hand. The Mystic program entails a rather impressive bit of technical wizardry that allows the NSA to record 100% of a foreign country's phone calls and replay them up to a month later. Monkey vs. robot NSA/GCHQ presentation via The Intercept In a presentation about the QUANTUM malware program published by The Intercept in recent weeks the final slide features and illustration of what appears to be a cyborg monkey or gorilla attacking a robot along side a call for questions. In fact, the is a variation of an illustration for an expansion of the collectible trading card game Shadowfist drawn by artist Roberto Campus -- called "Monkey VS Robot." Campus confirmed that the image it appears to have been taken from a tutorial featuring the illustration posted on his blog in 2007. While he was surprised to see it showing up on a classified memo, Campus told the Post over email that his art is routinely used without permission. "It comes with the territory I guess." His hypothesis is that "a good percentage of the techies working at NSA are huge geeks" like himself who are into role playing or trading card games and might have thought of using the illustration after seeing it elsewhere." "I must say in this context, the image kinda works to convey the idea of hacking into something with brute force -- as the quantum computer based decryption reference on the document seems to point to." Did we miss any of your favorites? Let us know in the comments.


2013. At Kennedy Center, Hall of States. Through March 17. 20 Game Play Space. As a part of the Nordic Cool 2013 festival, mobile video games created by programmers from the Nordic region will be celebrated. Visitors will be able to play some of these games on iPads set up in the Kennedy Center’s South Gallery. At Kennedy Center. Through March 17. 20 Lego exhibit and play space. This interactive exhibit allows guests to create sculptures using the popular children’s toys. Part of Nordic Cool 2013. At Kennedy Center. Through March 17. 20 Marilee Shapiro: “A Collection, 100 Years in the Making.” The 89-year-old sculptor turned graphic designer created the works in this exhibition using skills learned in a computer graphics course she took at the Corcoran. At Gallery plan b. Through March 31. 20 “New Nordic: Architecture and Identity.” This exhibition from the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark explores the connection between architecture and culture. In “Five Nordic Houses/Pavilions,” five Nordic architects constructed homes in the styles of their own countries, and “What Is Nordic?” is a collection of dioramas focusing on modern, Nordic identity. Part of Nordic Cool 2013. At Kennedy Center. Through March 17. 20 “Nobel Prize.” Named for Alfred Nobel, the wealthy Swedish scientist who invented dynamite, the Nobel Prize has been awarded for achievements in chemistry, literature, economic sciences, physiology, physics and peace since 1901. This exhibition takes a look at Nobel Prize laureates from each category. Part of Nordic Cool 2013. At Kennedy Center, Grand Foyer. Through March 17. 20 “Nordic Design Illustrated.” This exhibition celebrates Nordic contemporary design and craftsmanship by displaying the work of almost 30 Nordic designers. Part of Nordic Cool 2013. At Kennedy Center. Through March 17. 20 “Our World, Our Future: Youth Making a Difference Through Creativity, Technology and Art.” Videos of children from Nordic countries explaining how they are helping their schools, homes and communities push toward a sustainable future. Part of Nordic Cool 2013. At Kennedy Center. Through March 17. 20 Student/faculty show. This annual exhibition features paintings, stained-glass ceramics, sculpture and more. At Torpedo Factory Art Center, Art League Gallery. Through March 3. 20 “Northern Lights.” Danish lighting designer Jesper Kongshaug re-creates the effects of the aurora borealis on the Kennedy Center’s facade. The “Northern Lights” will be visible each evening of the Nordic Cool festival from 5:30 to 11:30 p.m. At Kennedy Center.


Nobel Prize in medicine awarded to Japan’s Yoshinori Ohsumi for work on ‘cell recycling’

fails, it can speed up cell aging and causes diseases associated with aging. On the flip side, “too much” autophagy can promote growth of tumor cells in cancer and resistance to treatments. Ohsumi, who is 71 and now serves as a professor emeritus at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, called the prize the “greatest source of joy and pride” for a scientist. “Looking into bodily processes, I found that we have an ongoing renewal process without which living organisms can’t survive,” Ohsumi told NHK, the Japanese public broadcaster, shortly after the announcement. “This recycling process did not receive as much attention as it deserved, but I discovered that we should be paying more attention to this autophagy process,” he said, adding that he was “lucky” to make the discovery early on in his career. The Nobel committee noted that “autophagy has been known for over 50 years.” However, its fundamental importance in physiology and medicine “was only recognized after Yoshinori Ohsumi’s paradigm-shifting research.” This amazing graph, which was displayed on a screen when the award was announced, shows just how much other work has been built on the discovery: Ohsumi generated an enormous interest in autophagy and is now one of the most intensely studied areas of biomedical… https://t.co/6WW7kFC07h Last year’s Nobel Prize in medicine went to a trio of scientists for their work in parasitic diseases. William Campbell of the United States and Satoshi Omura of Japan helped develop a treatment that led to sharp decline in river blindness, and China’s Youyou Tu discovered the malaria drug artemisinin. In 2014, the award went to scientists John O’Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edward I. Moser for deciphering the mechanism in the brain that allows us to find our way around. O’Keefe holds both U.S. and British citizenship, and the Mosers, a husband-and-wife team, are from Norway. The award, established 115 years ago by industrialist Alfred Nobel, comes with a prize worth 8 million Swedish krona, or about $937,000. Replay the announcement: Announcement of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2016 Fifield reported from Tokyo. This post has been updated. Read more: Nobel Prize in medicine awarded for discovery of brain’s ‘GPS’ American among trio of Nobel winners for work on parasitic diseases Three Americans win Nobel Prize in medicine for work on traffic-control system of cells Nobel Prize in chemistry shared by American, Swedish and Turkish scientists for DNA repair


The PC is dead, and this year’s CES proves it

limited, special-purpose devices: Want laptop value? Know what to look for. (EXTENDED VERSION) Microsoft is right: if you want to do serious spreadsheet wrangling, photo editing, or software development, a Chromebook probably won't cut it. But most people have no interest in doing those things outside the office. If, like millions of people, you mostly want to check Facebook, read your email, and watch YouTube videos, then a ChromeBook works just fine. And ChromeBooks aren't only cheaper, they also avoid many of the hassles and pitfalls—software updates, malware, baffling error messages—of Windows PCs. Most users don't actually need all the features of a standard PC, and for them the extra complexity just means more headaches. Tablet computers have emerged as another major threat to the conventional PC, and it too is expanding aggressively into turf once dominated by Windows. Samsung announced a new 12-inch tablet at this year's CES. It has a split-screen multitasking feature that helps take advantage of all that screen space. Hard-core gamers have long been a key market for PCs. Gaming consoles aren't new, of course, but the most sophisticated and powerful games have always relied on the superior horsepower of a full-scale PC. That may be about to change. This week one of the most prominent figures in the PC gaming world, Valve, unveiled a line of special-purpose gaming devices designed to entice PC gamers into the living room. These Steam Machines are manufactured by more than a dozen different manufacturers. Prices start at $499—comparable to the recently-launched XBox One, and will almost certainly fall over time. Other Steam Machines cost thousands dollars; they should have enough computing power to satisfy even the most demanding gamers. Every Steam machine sold will be one less reason for a consumer to own a general-purpose PC. Smaller, cheaper, and more flexible Meanwhile, Intel is hard at work on chips that will enable the next wave of post-PC innovation. In a Monday speech, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich unveiled Edison, a new line of tiny, cheap, low-power computer chips. The chip company also showed off a new generation of wearable computing devices: "a smart watch, smart earbuds, a smart earphone headset called Jarvis and a charging 'bowl' to put all the gadgets in when they need powering back up." Samsung is working on display technologies that could make the next generation of post-PC gadgets more versatile than ever. Not only


Shorthand

* In North Carolina abortion restrictions could be vetoed. * In Texas they came closer to passing. * Bush weighed in on immigration reform. * Americans expressed mixed feelings on Snowden. * And Hillary got some Obama campaign help.


P.M. Update: Cool and damp tonight. Moderate to heavy rain for the morning commute.

Venus, the moon and the Lincoln Memorial. WolfpackWX via Flickr It feels like Mother Nature might be suffering from a hangover of her own. A pretty nasty day will turn into a nasty night, with periods of drizzle and areas of patchy fog spread across the region. The mass return to work, school and life tomorrow morning won’t be made any easier with a large swath of heavy rain moving in just in time for the morning commute. Through tonight: View the current weather conditions at The Washington Post. Tomorrow (Tuesday): See Jason Samenow’s forecast through the week. And if you haven’t already, join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. For related traffic news, check out Dr. Gridlock. Climate numbers for 2016: Overall, 2016 will go down as a (very) warm and mainly dry year for much of the area. #DCwx #MDwx #VAwx #WVwx… https://t.co/xsfmthvgw8 Want our 5 a.m. forecast delivered to your email inbox? Subscribe here.


Native Foods Cafe is closing its Washington locations

Native Foods Cafe's 1150 Connecticut Ave. NW location opened in September of last year. (Lavanya Ramanathan/The Washington Post) About a year after debuting in Washington, the vegan, fast-casual Native Foods Cafe has announced it will close its two remaining D.C. locations. A posted sign visible over the weekend at the 1150 Connecticut Ave. NW branch listed its last day as Dec. 8, and a call to the Penn Quarter location confirmed the same closing date. The Golden Triangle branch was the Chicago company's first location on the East Coast. The 116-seat space served an array of pub classics -- chili cheese fries, nachos, club sandwiches and build-your-own burgers -- made with plant-based ingredients like tempeh, seitan and tofu, as well as globally inspired dishes, like a Bangkok curry bowl. But according to Native Foods Cafe chairman Michael Nack, sales didn't materialize as predicted. "These are two sites that really failed to perform up to expectations," he says. "They consistently lost money. We don't see any way of really turning them around." Founded in Palm Springs, Calif., in 1994, Native Foods Cafe originally planned to open eight locations in D.C. and Northern Virginia within its first year in the area. Instead, it opened three outposts: Penn Quarter, Golden Triangle and an ill-fated Falls Church location that shuttered in October. Nack says the company is reevaluating its concept and seeking to make it "more relevant for today's world." He also noted that additional closures are expected outside of Washington.


China orders Muslim shopkeepers to sell alcohol, cigarettes, to ‘weaken’ Islam

posted on Twitter, ordered all restaurants and supermarkets in Aktash to sell five different brands of alcohol and cigarettes and display them prominently. “Anybody who neglects this notice and fails to act will see their shops sealed off, their businesses suspended, and legal action pursued against them,” the notice said. Radio Free Asia, which provides some of the only coverage of events in Xinjiang to escape strict Chinese government controls, said Hotan prefecture, where Aktash is located, had become “a hotbed of violent stabbing and shooting incidents between ethnic Uighurs and Chinese security forces.” This photo taken on April 16, 2015, shows a paramilitary policeman standing guard in front of an armored vehicle beside at the central square in Hotan, in China's western Xinjiang region. (Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images) China says Uighur militant groups based abroad are using the Internet to inspire local Muslims to take up violent jihad against the state. Critics say China’s long repression of Uighur rights and nationalist sentiment has pushed people toward Islam as the only permitted assertion of their community’s identity, and pushed a minority toward a violent form of Islam. Clumsy attempts to promote alcohol or forbid beards and veils may prove counterproductive, they warn. James Leibold, an expert on China's ethnic policies at Melbourne's La Trobe University, said Chinese officials were "often flailing around in the dark" when tackling extremism. An acute lack of understanding leads them to focus on visible, but imprecise, perceptions of radicalism such as long beards, veils and sobriety, he said. The result is often "crude forms of ethno-cultural profiling," Leibold said. "These sorts of mechanistic and reactive policies only serve to inflame ethno-national tension without addressing the root causes of religious extremism, while further alienating the mainstream Uighur community, making them feel increasingly unwelcome within a hostile, Han-dominated society," he wrote in an e-mail. Sulayman said around 60 shops and restaurants in the area had complied with the government order, and there were no reports of protests. But in an unrelated incident in neighboring Qinghai province on Friday, an angry crowd of Muslims smashed windows of a supposedly halal store in Xining city, after pork sausages and ham were found in a delivery van, according to the local government and photographs on social media. Read: China's war on terror becomes all-out attack on Islam in Xinjiang China sees jihadist inspiration coming from abroad by way of the Web


Charles Taylor verdict expected in international court’s war-crimes trial

and marshalling evidence is difficult and expensive. “So far, I do not think that states have quite decided to trust international justice unequivocally and endow it with the resources and capability necessary to make it most effective,” Mettraux said. The best-known case was that of former president Slobodan Milosevic, who directed Serbian forces from Belgrade during Yugoslavia’s violent breakup in the 1990s. Milosevic stood trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia here. But he died in prison in 2006 before a verdict was handed down. In addition, Radovan Karadzic, a psychiatrist who was president of the Bosnian Serbs during the war in Bosnia, was arrested in 2008 after a decade as a fugitive and is being tried by the Yugoslavia tribunal. His military chief, Gen. Ratko Mladic, was taken into custody in May, after 15 years on the run. Although apparently in ill health, he also was brought to The Hague to stand trial. Elsewhere, former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo was jailed by the ICC last year on charges of crimes against humanity and is in a Dutch jail awaiting trial. The ICC also issued an arrest warrant in 2009 against Sudan’s Bashir, the only sitting head of state to be indicted. But he has ignored the summons and continues to run Sudan as it heads toward war with the breakaway state of South Sudan. The court in action A number of lesser figures, including militia leaders and lower-ranking military officers, have been convicted and are serving time in U.N. prison facilities here. Others have been charged but are still at large. Among the most notorious of those at large, charged with war crimes in 2005 by the ICC, is Joseph Kony, head of the Lord’s Resistance Army, who proclaims himself a divine envoy and has terrorized people in areas that have fallen under his control in Uganda, the Central African Republic and Congo. The Special Tribunal for Lebanon, meanwhile, has issued warrants against four Lebanese accused of participating in the 2005 car-bomb assassination of former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri. But the Lebanese government refused to hand the suspects over because of resistance from the powerful Hezbollah movement. The court decided in February to try them in absentia. More world news coverage: - Murdoch denies government favors - Bo Xilai’s son defends lifestyle, says he’s concerned about scandal - Read more headlines from around the world


How high-cost housing conquered D.C. in a single decade

has more rental housing today than a decade ago. But those gains have been to the benefit of people able to pay more than $1,000 a month for housing -- and at the expense of residents who can only afford substantially less than that: Aggregate all rental housing, without taking into account number of bedrooms. Interactive version here. (Urban Institute) "We want to provide people with some context and some more hopefully objective information about the changes happening in the city, because everyone knows the city is changing — it’s very visible," says Peter Tatian, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute who worked on the project. "But people experience and perceive that change in different ways depending on their point of view." What feels to a young professional in the city like a glut of housing options, as Lydia DePillis wrote in August, may feel to a low-income family like a dearth of them. And change that's welcome to some residents — bringing better housing, newer restaurants, more entertainment — may feel to others like the end of affordability. In the homeowner market, the trajectory of a city that's grown more expensive is equally visible. This chart shows the median sales price* of homes in each ward of the District. Aggregate single-family home prices, without taking account number of bedrooms. (Urban Institute) That picture captures the gulf between highly desirable Ward 2 and Ward 3 -- Northwest Washington -- and much of the rest of the city. It also shows how gentrification began to set in at different times in the remaining parts of the city, accelerating at different speeds. Over the decade, the city has experienced a housing boom in both rental apartments and new in-fill single-family homes. But despite the common perception that most of that new construction has taken place in a few parts of the city, data from NeighborhoodInfo DC, drawing on city property-tax records, show that nearly every corner of the city has increased its housing supply. In some cases, like east of the Anacostia River, this map captures once-vacant single-family homes that were redeveloped and reoccupied (returning to property tax rolls), rather than new wholesale construction: Over the last decade, the physical face of the city has changed dramatically, as its demographics have, too. Recent new arrivals to the District have been more likely to be young, upper-income and childless than existing


The McDonaldization of American pet food

over the past half decade, Euromonitor International industry researchers said, as well as a series of big buyouts and megamergers under a shrinking number of conglomerate owners. With "an increased consumer awareness of healthy diets and intensified pet humanisation," analysts said, Big Food has sought to scoop up household names in hopes of securing a strong market share across all prices, brands and blends. The pet market offers a lucrative new chance for Big Food to wiggle its way into shopping carts. Consumer surveys by market researcher Mintel found that 79 percent of U.S. pet owners said the quality of their pets’ food is as important as their own. For corporate owners, gathering up big kibble brands also offers a few extra treats. The food giants can use them to diversify into new markets, grabbing buyers beyond the traditional staples. They can even save money, by sharing ingredients later packaged into different foods for people and pets. Big Pet Food now has nearly unshakeable control of pets' mealtime, Euromonitor data show. About 93 percent of the mid-priced dog and cat food sold in North America goes to only three companies: Big Heart, Mars and Nestle, the giant behind Purina, Dreyer's ice cream and Hot Pockets. The corporate clumping is not just restrained to pet food, either. In December, a group of investors landed the biggest private-equity buyout of the year when it paid more than $8 billion to acquire PetSmart, the strip-mall pet-supply chain. Its stock has since hit all-time highs. Smucker will buy Big Heart, the purveyor of GravyBones, Snausages and Kitten Li'l Nibbles formerly known as Del Monte Foods, from a team of private-equity firms, agreeing to hand over nearly 18 million Smucker shares and $1.3 billion in cash while taking on the firm's $2.6 billion of debt. But the deal remains a huge get for Smucker: Big Heart is America's biggest seller of pet snacks, with about $2.3 billion in net sales over the past year, the company said. Smucker expects pet food will contribute more to its bottom line than Jif, Pillsbury, Crisco and its namesake jams and jellies, combined. "We recognize that pets are cherished members of the family," chief executive Richard Smucker said in a statement. "With approximately two-thirds of U.S. households having at least one family pet, we will now be able to serve the mealtime and snacking needs of the whole family."


Local beer is easy to find: The definitive guide to D.C.’s best breweries

next door, adding 7,000 square feet to its footprint. The new facility will include tanks for beers made with Brettanomyces and large wooden barrels known as foeders. — FH 23600 Overland Dr., Dulles. 703-665-2146. ocelotbrewing.com. Best Brewery You Probably Haven't Heard Of: Aslin You need to check Facebook regularly if you want to try one of Aslin Brewing Company's sought-after IPAs. Some of the more popular beers, such as the Mind the Hop and Master of Karate double IPAs, stay on tap only for 24 to 72 hours. Aslin specializes in New England-style IPAs, the juicy, cloudy, fruit-forward style that's all the rage in the beer world now but has few practitioners in this region. Aslin's versions, honed after trips to Tree House, Firefly Hollow and Hill Farmstead, can look and taste closer to fruit juice than beer, a hazy, orange-yellow liquid loaded with tropical mango and pineapple flavors, a soft, creamy mouthfeel and usually little hint of alcohol. "People come in here and have no idea they like IPAs, because they've only tried the West Coast IPAs and think it's too bitter," says co-owner Kai Leszkowicz, one of three partners in the brewery, which opened in a Herndon business park in September 2015. The only problem is one of size: Aslin's limited production means it can brew two barrels of beer per batch. The brewery recently bought two more fermentation tanks, so they can now put on a new IPA every few days, "and that just increased the number of IPAs that have sold out," says co-founder Andrew Kelley, Leszkowicz's brother-in-law. Although Aslin's IPAs receive most of the attention, it's unfair to overlook its other beers. Look for How Now Brown Cow, a smooth, roasty coffee milk stout made with Herndon's Weird Brothers coffee roasters, and Animal [Farm] House is a saison given a full fruity flavor after aging in sauvignon blanc barrels. "If we had the space and time, we'd have a whole line of stouts and doing more sours, other than the Berliner Weiss," says brewer Richard Thompson, Aslin's third partner. If most people haven't heard of Aslin, that's because it rarely distributes outside the brewery: A Savor Week event at Meridian Pint on Tuesday will be the first time its beers have gone on tap in Washington. (Aslin will release a collaboration beer made with the bar later this summer.) "But people are complaining that they


year, along with individual medals for Optimal Wit, Monumental IPA and Port City Porter. "We weren't brewing these rare styles that are one-offs or hard to find," he says. "The beers that won the awards are the beers that we brew every day that are widely available across the region." — RG 3950 Wheeler Ave., Alexandria. 703-797-2739. portcitybrewing.com. Best Brewery to Hit on the Way to the Beach: Burley Oak The taproom at Burley Oak in Berlin, MD, doubles as a cool local bar with live music and games. (Photo by Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post) Bryan Brushmiller and his team are making some of the most exciting beers in the Mid-Atlantic region. Secret Sauce, a hoppy yet flavorful and balanced double IPA; Sorry Chicky, a dry-hopped Berliner weisse; and Pants are Cumbersome, a beach plum sour made in collaboration with Dogfish Head. Swing by the taproom on a Friday night to have a pint, grab a growler and listen to local rock bands, or drop in on a Saturday for a free tour at 3 p.m. There are regular canned beer release events, too: Memorial Day weekend welcomes the debut of a new gose and the latest in their series of IPAs with experimental hops. — FH 10016 Old Ocean City Blvd., Berlin, Md. 443-513-4647. burleyoak.com. Best Brewery Region: Loudoun County People in Washington like to think they're at the epicenter of the area beer scene. Outstanding beer bars that can stand up to any on the East Coast. Distribution laws that make it possible to drink ales from just about anywhere. Festivals that attract big-name breweries and rare beers. But if I won a chauffeured trip to the breweries of my choice this weekend, I'd tell the driver to point the car toward Loudoun County. It's not just the sheer number of breweries in Loudoun — 18, at last count — but the diversity of what they produce that makes them so interesting. There are world-class IPAs and terrific barrel-aged stouts at Ocelot in Dulles; stellar lagers and pilsners and funky brett beers at Lost Rhino in Ashburn; award-winning saisons and sours at tiny Crooked Run in Leesburg; experimental imperial IPAs and double stouts at Adroit Theory; and intriguing ales at Vanish, a farm brewery that grows and harvests its own hops. And that's just a third of the brewery options. The problem with touring Loudoun breweries is


At least 19 people dead following ‘terrorist incident’ at Ariana Grande concert in Manchester

An explosion at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, on May 22 left at least 22 people dead and around 59 others injured, according to police. LONDON — Initial evidence at the scene suggested the attack may have been a suicide bombing, according to two U.S. security officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. British authorities, who were meeting in emergency sessions in Manchester and London, did not immediately confirm those reports. The bombing appeared intended to inflict the maximum possible damage on young concertgoers — many of them in their early teens — who were making their way out of the Manchester Arena. Police said the blast occurred about 10:30 p.m., minutes after pop star Ariana Grande had finished her set. The explosion set off a panicked reaction as fans struggled to flee and parents and teens searched for each other amid the carnage. Well into Tuesday morning, fathers and mothers who had lost contact with their children posted desperate pleas for information on social media. British Prime Minister Theresa May issued a statement in the early hours of Tuesday saying that authorities were “working to establish the full details of what is being treated by the police as an appalling terrorist attack.” Greater Manchester Police said the blast was being “treated as a terrorist incident until police know otherwise.” There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, and police did not speculate about possible motives. If confirmed as a terrorist attack, it would be the worst strike on British soil since 2005, when Islamist extremists bombed the London subway and a bus, killing 54 people . The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said late Monday that there was “no information to indicate a specific credible threat involving music venues in the United States,” but added that Americans may see “increased security in and around public places and events as officials take additional precautions.” Britain has been on high alert for a major attack for several years, with authorities saying that a mass-casualty attack was likely. Manchester police said they were working closely with national authorities to determine the cause of the explosion. Among the priorities for investigators will be to figure out whether it was part of a broader plot. Many fatalities and injuries were reported after the incident at an Ariana Grande concert. Grande, who is wildly popular


D.C. Weather Night is tonight, and we will (try to) broadcast it on Facebook

Lincoln Memorial lightning, July 19, 2016. (Kevin Ambrose) (This post, originally published on April 11, was updated on May 4.) Update, May 4: Visit facebook.com/capitalweather starting at 7:30 p.m. (or a few minutes after) to view the program – fingers crossed we don’t encounter technical difficulties. Original post from April The American Meteorological Society, Capital Weather Gang, and the D.C. Chapter of the American Meteorological Society are proud to announce D.C. Weather Night, to be held in the District on May 4. This free event is open to the public, and will feature top experts discussing — of course — the weather. The event will include three parts: - A storm spotter class taught by experts from the National Weather Service - A social hour with light refreshments and mingling - A panel of experts who will discuss advances in weather forecasting since the 1970s D.C. Weather Night will be held at the American Association for the Advancement of Science at 1200 New York Ave NW in Washington, is close to both the Metro Center and McPherson Square Metro stations. Below see the agenda for the event… Storm spotting class: 4:00-6:30 p.m. Become an official storm spotter for the National Weather Service! The class, called Basics I, is an overview of what it means to be a spotter as well as the basics of the different weather phenomena that affect the Mid-Atlantic. Upon completion of the course, you will be officially registered in this National Weather Service program and will receive a spotter code within six weeks. Topics covered include: - The basic organization of the National Weather Service - The role and importance of storm spotting - How to report hazardous weather - Weather service products and its watches, warnings and advisories - Identifying thunderstorm, flooding, tropical and winter weather threats (Note: You must be at least 14 years old to become a storm spotter.) Social hour, 6:30-7:30 p.m. Schmooze with fellow weather enthusiasts, leaders from the weather community, and the Capital Weather Gang. Light refreshments will be served, courtesy of the American Meteorological Society. Weather forecasting panel, 7:30-9:00 p.m. Learn about advances in weather forecasting and technology from top leaders in meteorology and atmospheric sciences. The panelists will highlight advances in weather forecasting, communication and technology since the 1970s and will take questions from the audience. Scheduled speakers are: - David Novak, director of the Weather Service’s Weather


Evan Birnholz’s guide to the Sept. 4 Post Magazine crossword, “Unique Characters”

What a time be a crossword fan, eh? In case you missed them, there are a few puzzle-related articles floating around the ether that you may enjoy. First, this man and the New York Times crossword had a steamy online breakup. Second, FiveThirtyEight’s Oliver Roeder wrote this report about indie crosswords, as well as another in Slate about this past Thursday’s New York Times puzzle (which, fair warning, contains spoilers). I think there’s a lot to respond to in Roeder’s essays — I have some qualms about the data he presents in the FiveThirtyEight report and think the Slate headline is a bit overblown — but it would take a longer blog post to respond to them more fully. Still, they are interesting and worth reading. For today’s Magazine crossword, it’s time for another metapuzzle! Let’s see if you could crack the mystery of “Unique Characters.” Solution to Sept. 4, 2016 crossword, “Unique Characters” The instructions ask: “Which British prime minister, living or dead, could be a theme entry in this puzzle?” Let’s start by looking at the 10 starred clues: - 23A: [*Songwriter who won the inaugural best female video award at the 1984 VMAs] is CYNDI LAUPER. - 25A: [*Legendary University of North Carolina men’s basketball coach] is DEAN SMITH. - 43A: [*Supreme Court justice posthumously awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2003] is BYRON WHITE. - 51A: [*First woman to win an Oscar for best director] is KATHRYN BIGELOW. - 66A: [*South Korean leader who received a Nobel Peace Prize in 2000] is KIM DAE-JUNG. - 70A: [*Funk legend who “brought a feeling to music without really using words," per David Lee Roth] is JAMES BROWN. - 87A: [*1988 co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics] is MELVIN SCHWARTZ. - 94A: [*San Francisco city supervisor who was one of the first openly gay men elected to public office in the U.S.] is HARVEY MILK. - 116A: [*"Magnolia" Oscar nominee for best supporting actor] is TOM CRUISE. - 120A: [*Actor who started a foundation to research Parkinson’s disease] is MICHAEL J. FOX. These are 10 famous figures with some pretty notable accomplishments and awards to their names. But why did I pick them? There’s one thing that’s especially unique about these celebrities: None of the letters in their names repeat. They’re unique characters with entirely unique characters, so to speak. If you look at this Wiki list,


Dog nurses rare tiger cubs

Two Siberian tiger cubs abandoned in Russia by their mother have found an unusual substitute mom — a wrinkled, sand-colored Shar-Pei dog named Cleopatra, a zoo worker said. The cubs were born in late May in a zoo near the Black Sea. Zoo assistant director Viktoria Kudlayeva said the dog immediately gave the cubs all her attention. “She accepted them right away,” Kudlayeva said in a telephone interview. “She’s cleaning them and feeding them as if they were her own. And they also sleep together.” The cubs — named Clyopa, after their adopted mother, and Plyusha — are also being fed goat’s milk. Kudlayeva said that the cubs pose no danger to the dog even though they are already showing their claws and hissing. “They aren’t aggressive and they depend on her for feeding,” she said. Fewer than 400 Siberian tigers — also known as Ussuri, Amur or Manchurian tigers — have survived in the wild, most of them in Russia’s Far East. — Associated Press


Scott Tucker to succeed Norman Scribner at Choral Arts Society

Libby Larsen — and world music. He spent part of a sabbatical year in South Africa, learning traditional music by rote from an expert who requested that he not write anything down, saying, according to Tucker, that “those staff lines are like prison bars to the music.” “The freedom with which you sing that kind of music,” Tucker said, “can be directly applied to [Bach’s] B minor mass or [Beethoven’s] Missa Solemnis. Maybe not the vowels, but the spirit.” The Choral Arts Society, founded in 1965, has long been a flagship chorus in a choral-oriented city. It has worked with generations of National Symphony Orchestra conductors and other leading artists, including Mstislav Rostropovich, Christoph Eschenbach and Valery Gergiev (with whom the chorus recorded Mahler’s 8th Symphony in London in 2008). In August and September, it will be touring Europe with Leonard Slatkin in performances and a recording of Berlioz’s Requiem. All four of Washington’s big symphonic choruses have experienced sea changes in recent years as their music directors approached retirement age. The Master Chorale of Washington shut down in 2009; two years earlier, the Washington Chorus ushered out its longtime director, Robert Shafer, and eventually hired the 40-something Julian Wachner. (Shafer promptly founded the City Choir of Washington, now in its fifth season.) The Cathedral Choral Society is seeing major staff changes this season, although J. Reilly Lewis remains at the musical helm. In this climate of transition, Scribner wanted his succession to proceed smoothly. He presided over the search without actually involving himself in the decision-making process. “It’s been wonderful, reassuring to everyone,” Kraft said, “to know that the process had his blessing but not his interference.” “It’s almost like a parent watching a child and hoping they’ll pick the right mate to marry,” she said. “You can’t do an arranged marriage, but you hope they’ll pick the right one.” In a statement, Scribner said, “It is a joy for me to welcome Scott Tucker as the new artistic director of Choral Arts.” His successor’s talents, he added, embrace “an intense natural musicality, a consummate technique, a fabulous ear, and a vast reservoir of knowledge and experience in virtually all periods and styles, together with a clear vision for the future of music in our own time. . . . Scott’s appointment heralds a brilliant new era in the Choral Arts Society’s pursuit of excellence in the choral arts.”


No three-star restaurants in Washington’s first Michelin guide. But these earned two.

“Hopefully we get a little bit busier, and we can do more for our staff, and cooler, better things for the city. That’s the whole reason we’re here.” Besides Rose’s Luxury, eight other restaurants — The Dabney, Blue Duck Tavern, Kinship, Plume, Tail Up Goat, Masseria, Fiola and Sushi Taro — earned one star, which Michelin classifies as “a very good restaurant in its category.” If you don’t already have a reservation at these restaurants, you might consider making one now: It may be significantly harder to get a table in the coming months. Waiting in line for a great meal has become common in D.C. where diners can wait hours before being seated at Bad Saint, Rose's Luxury or Little Serow. Washington's dining scene has gained national attention because of these restaurants and places like Pineapple & Pearls. The absence of a single three-star rating may come as a surprise to cheerleaders for our dining scene. But it is not unprecedented. Michelin “ But even a two-star rating is difficult to achieve. Only 13 restaurants in America have three stars, and, excluding Washington, 20 other restaurants have two. Washington has the same number of two-star restaurants as Chicago. “It’s very difficult,” said Ellis. Rasika did not earn a Michelin star. (Photo by Melina Mara/The Washington Post) Others will see some notable omissions: No stars were awarded to Komi, Little Serow, Marcel’s or Rasika, restaurants that regularly rate highly among critics here. With Komi, “We found that there was not a lot of harmony between the different courses. We did not find the level of consistency throughout the menu,” said Ellis. Anne Marler, co-owner of Komi, declined to comment. As for Rasika, “ Restaurateur Ashok Bajaj, who owns Rasika, Bombay Club, the Oval Room and other fine-dining restaurants, said he was “shocked, honestly,” by Michelin’s exclusion of his restaurants from the star list. “It’s a disservice to the community, a disservice to their own readership,” he said. At the same time, he expressed his happiness for the winners, and for Washington. “I’m happy they’re in town. It’s good for the city,” he said, adding that he just planned to keep his head up. “We’ll continue to strive every day to do the best we can do.” Bad Saint, another critical darling, made Michelin’s Chef Jose Andres can now boast two Michelin stars. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File) Few will be surprised