Is this the Ethiopian spring? An interview with Eskinder Nega.

Just a few months ago, Ethiopia — a vast country of 100 million people — was still mired in dictatorship and war. But dramatic shifts are taking hold and they appear to be moving the country in the right direction: toward freedom. This week, Ethiopia’s democratically elected prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, signed a peace treaty with Eritrea, its long-standing enemy. The news was one more sign that the change promised by the new government is real. Ethiopia still has a long way to go. But Eskinder Nega, a leading Ethiopian journalist and former political prisoner, recently told me that he sees democracy as the inevitable destiny of his homeland. Now, he said, it’s “Ethiopia’s turn.” He doesn’t make such claims lightly. Nega has spent a total of nine years in prison, most recently serving a 6½-year stint on a terrorism conviction for supposedly inciting violence against the government and having ties with the West. In reality, of course, the government targeted him because he was a vocal advocate for democracy, demanding an end to years of one-party rule. Amid growing protests, he and several other political prisoners were released in April in a bid to “foster national reconciliation,” authorities said at the time. In the months since, Ethiopia has been undergoing rapid reform, with Ahmed promising greater freedoms. For Nega, though, the only acceptable outcome is a representative democracy respecting the rights of all people. (The interview below has been edited and condensed.) Jason Rezaian: Do you think reforms being implemented by Ethiopia’s current government will lead to real change? Eskinder Nega: The kind of change that we want, as a people, is the de Klerk version. A multiparty democracy. It’s encouraging that the new leadership acknowledges the need for change, and they should be supported at least in this regard. But, if they’re envisioning the type of change that Gorbachev intended, it’s not enough. JR: EN: I don’t think the world can afford to see chaos in the Horn of Africa, because extremists will have the sort of safe haven they had in Afghanistan. JR: EN: We don’t know when each society will come out to demand it, but we know that at some point all of them will. The French and the Americans reached that point 200 years ago. Now is the time for Ethiopians. But Iranians will come out and do it, too, and there will come


Brexit turned out to be harder than they thought — so the Brexiteers are quitting

any payments into a European budget; avoids all membership in a European customs union and allows Britain to do trade deals with other countries; while, at the same time, keeps supply chains running smoothly; keeps the Irish border open; preserves tariff-free trade with Europe; and imposes no costs on anybody — and all of this by next October in order to leave the following March. It just cannot be done. The only deal they can genuinely offer — the only one that fits their definition of what Brexit means — is the no-deal deal. That means Britain crashes out of all of its trading and customs arrangements with Europe and, without the bureaucracy to cope, has, for some period of time, a great deal of trouble importing and exporting anything to Europe at all. Because this would cause major economic disruption, none of the Brexiteers wants to put his or her name on it. And so they leak to the newspapers, complain about the prime minister — and, now, resign. There is a separate set of questions to ask about the prime minister’s current plan, an arrangement that would theoretically keep Britain inside some of the E.U. trade agreements (at least those for goods that have to cross borders) and outside them for others. This is precisely the kind of thing Britain should have come up with 18 months ago: it’s the beginning of a negotiation. Some of it will work, and some of it won’t fly. Alas, there is very little time between now and the time Britain is due to leave for European institutions to work out the details. But what May actually proposed matters less than the fact that we may finally have reached the moment of truth: The Brexiteers don’t have an alternative plan, or at least not one that they want to talk about in public. Nearly a year ago, I wrote that the Brexiteers’ referendum lies were slowly being revealed. Their cowardice is being revealed as well. It will be interesting to see whether they pay a political price. Read more: Anne Applebaum: All the worst lies about Brexit are about to be revealed Sebastian Mallaby: Populist Brexit promises have proved empty Anne Applebaum: There might be one good thing about a hard Brexit after all Eugene Robinson: Brexit is a cautionary tale for Trump supporters Letters to the Editor: Brexit is economic suicide


As restaurants go cashless, a backlash is building. Will D.C. intervene?

Aaron Bateman pulled out a few bills to pay for a taco lunch in the nation’s capital. To his surprise, his money was no good in the city where money is printed. Surfside, a 24-hour Mexican eatery in Dupont Circle, doesn’t take cash. No cash means no register for robbers to empty out, no bills for workers to slip into their pockets and no change-counting holding up lines. The global cashless movement has reached Washington, where a growing number of fast-casual establishments and other spots are saying no to greenbacks in favor of plastic and mobile payments. Sweetgreen, the national salad chain founded by Georgetown University graduates, went cashless in most of its locations last year. Other cashless spots include a Menchie’s frozen-yogurt shop downtown, the posh Barcelona Wine Bar on 14th Street NW and the Bruery beer store at Union Market. Soon, they may be breaking the law. Critics of no-cash policies say they shut out the 1 in 10 District residents who don’t have bank accounts and undocumented immigrants who can’t easily sign up for cards. Some people also pay in cash so they can better track their spending or to avoid having their card information stolen. Heeding these concerns, several lawmakers in the District have introduced a bill to require retailers to accept cash. “By denying the ability to use cash as a payment, businesses are effectively telling lower-income and younger patrons that they are not welcome,” said D.C. Council member David Grosso (I-At Large). His bill is among the pockets of resistance forming against the cashless trend, which has taken hold in countries such as Sweden and India where mobile payments are gaining popularity. Similar legislation was unsuccessfully introduced in Chicago last year. Massachusetts has an obscure 1978 pro-cash law on the books, but the state retailers association says it doesn’t seem to be enforced and state officials haven’t offered guidance. Companies going card-only say it makes good business sense. Washington restaurateur Bo Blair, whose company Georgetown Events operates eight fast-casual and three sit-down restaurants in the District, decided to experiment going cashless when opening Surfside in Dupont Circle in 2015. Usually, cost-conscious small businesses operate cash-only to avoid card processing fees. But cash also has hidden costs, Blair said: Armored vehicles taking money to banks. An extra hour for workers to close out the register. Employees swiping money from the till. And some of his


nation’s capital in the long war against cash waged by the card brands.” “When card brands diminish human choice in the payments sector, they corrode a part of freedom itself in the wider economy,” said Mike Lee, the ATM group’s chief executive. Advocates for poor people and immigrants say keeping cash as an option is essential for people without bank accounts. Nationwide, 7 percent of households had no checking or savings accounts in 2015, according to the most recent federal survey. It was more than twice as high for black people and Latinos. The most common reason for not having a bank account is the fees imposed on customers who can’t meet a minimum balance or other requirements. Some don’t trust financial institutions, and others don’t have a choice. Leonard Edwards, a 58-year-old resident of Petworth in Northwest Washington, said he lost access to his bank account when arthritis prevented him from working and he fell behind on child-support payments. Instead, he pays high fees to cash checks and use temporary debit cards. He does not go out to eat much, but when he does he pays cash and was surprised some restaurants wouldn’t take his money. “It’s just a way to keep low-income and poor people out,” Edwards said. “We don’t have credit cards or money in the bank just sitting around. It’s just another hurdle for poor people to maneuver around in the system we live in.” About 11 percent of District residents did not have bank accounts in 2015 and an additional quarter were considered underbanked — meaning they use services such as payday loans, check cashing or pawnshops for money. Some advocates for the “unbanked” say the focus should be on giving them more payment options. A partnership between D.C. government and financial groups called Bank on DC has helped open 11,000 accounts since 2010, said Tanya Bryant, a spokeswoman for the city’s financial-regulation agency. The Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund works with Bank on DC and other groups to provide low-cost checkings accounts. “If someone is buying a salad or something, and it’s $6, and they need to swipe instead of using cash, the real underlying issue is they don’t have a bank account with debit-card functionality,” said David Rothstein a principal with the fund. “That’s where the real problem is. It’s less about the use of cash, and it’s more about financial inclusion.” fenit.nirappil@washpost.com


The intellectual dishonesty of the Brexit Taliban is now in full view

market and accordingly has to abide by all the rules that define this market, ranging from the minutiae to the massively important. But it’s the E.U. member states that decide the rules on the single market that Norway must follow. In fact, May seems to be seeking a semi-Norway solution for UK goods. But the E.U. is likely to want to go full-Norway. Many industries have made clear that these economic issues are fundamental issues for them — Airbus is only the latest company that has started to speak up. Car companies are in the UK to produce not only for the UK, but also for the entire E.U. market; others are dependent on tightly integrated value chains with thousands of suppliers spread across the E.U. If their integrated market or production bases are suddenly fractured with tariffs, rules-of-origin procedures and unforeseen costs, it simply doesn’t work anymore. The world is a very competitive place, and deteriorating competitiveness due to new barriers and costs has a high price. This is what has driven May toward her new approach. But not only does it clash with her “red-line” rhetoric, it also has infuriated the Brexit Taliban and is unlikely to fly with the remaining 27 E.U. countries. So where is all this heading? The London betting firms might be as good — or as bad — in predicting what will happen as the political pundits and observers. It’s a profound mess — but there the agreement ends. The worst possible outcome would be a UK that simply crashes out of the E.U. without an agreement. I still believe and hope that sanity will prevail and prevent this, but with the current turmoil, nothing can be excluded. The entire Brexit process has demonstrated how integrated the E.U. economies and societies have become during their decades together and how intrusive in many different areas the divorce process really is — from nuclear safety to the possibility to travel across Europe with your favorite pets. To disentangle — say California or Texas — from the United States might only be marginally more difficult. The United Kingdom has to choose between different bad options, and that is never a comfortable situation to be in. The UK’s government will be able to chart a course out of it only when it wakes up to the unpleasant realities of its predicament. But we are not there yet.


A chef who reveres the region brings his act to D.C.

Gjerde made his name in Baltimore with Woodberry Kitchen, a farm-forest-and-water-to-table restaurant so invested in the bounty of the Mid-Atlantic that it didn’t stock lemons. He was rewarded three years ago by the James Beard Foundation with the honor of best chef in the region. Washington food enthusiasts were understandably excited with the news that a more refined version of Woodberry Kitchen would be part of the Line’s dining amenities, along with two ground-floor restaurants from District chef Erik Bruner-Yang, Brothers and Sisters and Spoken English. At the helm of A Rake’s Progress day-to-day is Opie Crooks, 32, former chef de cuisine at Woodberry Kitchen. Curiously (annoyingly?), hosts take guests around the distant perimeters of the oval expanse to get to their tables, passing the exhibition kitchen, even if the diners’ ultimate destination is mere steps from the host stand. I’ve encountered race tracks shorter than this journey. On the bright side, passing other tables allows customers to get a sense of what they might like to order. A sampler of Virginia hams seems to be popular, based on all the folds of pink meat displayed on wooden boards I see. The aged hams range from mild and sweet (Edwards Virginia Smokehouse in Surry) to wonderfully complex (EcoFriendly Foods in Moneta) and are dropped off with warm cheese puffs, tender sweet potato biscuits and peach jam. Enjoy it with a group, if only to stop yourself from Hoovering the whole shebang. Gjerde says he likes bread and worships toast, a passion shared with diners in the form of a raft of sliced warm bread placed in the center of the table. “It’s a combination of whole wheat and white spelt,” announces a server, who might go on to note that the butter seeping into the crevices comes from an Amish farmer in Pennsylvania and the salt is procured from brine wells in West Virginia. The result, like the pedigree, is impressive. Toast is also offered as a marvelous first course, where the bread is topped with rich bites of lobster that have been tossed with housemade green goddess dressing and garnished with minced chives — a lobster roll gone to polishing school. Let the calendar be your guide on the menu. Spring introduced color to what had been more of a sepia picture at launch. I’m thinking now of dominoes of lush seared tuna, a scarlet fan set against a


World Digest: July 11, 2018

were dug at a graveyard that already holds 6,575 victims found previously. Srebrenica was a U.N.-protected, Muslim-populated town in eastern Bosnia besieged by Serb forces throughout the war. Serb troops led by Gen. Ratko Mladic overran the enclave, separated men from women and small children and executed about 8,000 men and boys within a few days. Undermanned and outgunned Dutch U.N. peacekeepers failed to intervene. Experts are still excavating more victims’ bodies from hidden mass graves throughout Bosnia. Although an international court has labeled the Srebrenica killings as genocide, Serbs have never admitted that their troops carried out the massacre. No official delegations of Bosnian Serbs or from Serbia were at Wednesday’s event. Mladic has been sentenced by a U.N. war crimes tribunal to life in prison for masterminding Serb atrocities throughout the war, which left 100,000 dead. He is appealing the verdict. — Associated Press GERMANY Iranian envoy charged in alleged bomb plot An Iranian diplomat suspected of involvement in a bomb plot against an Iranian opposition rally in France was charged in Germany on Wednesday with activity as a foreign agent and conspiracy to commit murder. Assadollah Assadi, a Vienna-based diplomat, is suspected of contracting a couple in Belgium to attack a meeting of an exiled Iranian opposition group in Villepinte, near Paris, German federal prosecutors said. He allegedly gave the Antwerp-based couple, who have Iranian roots, a device containing 500 grams of the explosive TATP during a meeting in Luxembourg in June, the prosecutors said in a statement. Assadi was detained this month near the German city of Aschaffenburg on a European warrant after the couple was stopped in Belgium and authorities reported finding powerful explosives in their car. German prosecutors allege that Assadi, who has been registered as a diplomat at the Iranian Embassy in Vienna since 2014, was a member of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security, whose tasks “primarily include the intensive observation and combating of opposition groups inside and outside of Iran.” Belgian authorities also accuse Assadi of being part of the alleged plot targeting the rally of the Mujahideen-e Khalq, or MEK, in neighboring France and want him extradited. German prosecutors said their investigation would not hinder Belgium’s extradition request. — Associated Press Death toll in Japan's flood reaches 176: Israel fires missile at drone that entered from Syria: Neo-Nazi found guilty in 10 killings in Germany: — From news services


The next state to legalize marijuana could be . . . North Dakota?

percent were undecided. North Dakota has one of the lowest rates of marijuana use in the nation. Fewer than 10 percent of state residents used the drug in 2016, according to the federal National Survey on Drug Use and Health, putting it at 47th among the 50 states plus the District of Columbia for marijuana use. But the relatively few North Dakotans who do use the drug have some of the nation’s greatest chances of getting arrested for it. In 2016, for instance, 61,000 North Dakotans used marijuana at least once, while 2,513 of them were arrested for simple marijuana possession, according to FBI crime data compiled by NORML, a pro-legalization group. That works out to a rate of 41 arrests per 1,000 users, the second-highest in the United States. By contrast, neighboring Minnesota arrests marijuana users at a rate of 7 per 1,000. In Vermont and Massachusetts, marijuana arrest rates were less than 1 per 1,000 even before those states legalized use of the drug. Data from the North Dakota attorney general’s office shows that marijuana arrests made up an ever larger share of total arrests in recent years. From 1990 to 2013, marijuana arrests increased from 1.7 percent of all arrests to 6.9 percent, meaning roughly 1 in every 15 arrests in North Dakota was for a marijuana offense. Data from more recent years isn’t directly comparable with those numbers, because of changes in reporting methods. North Dakotans also face particularly stiff penalties if they are caught using marijuana. Possession of less than an ounce is considered a misdemeanor punishable by 30 days of jail time and a $1,500 fine. Possession of anything over an ounce is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. The North Dakota secretary of state still needs to certify the signatures for the measure to qualify for the ballot. Either way, national marijuana policy groups say they’re keeping an eye on what happens in the state in the coming months. “Grass-roots efforts like the one in North Dakota are inspiring important public dialogue about the benefits of adopting an alternative policy that treats marijuana more like alcohol,” said Mason Tvert of the Marijuana Policy Project. “It remains to be seen whether it will qualify for the ballot, but there is no doubt it has advanced the conversation and the movement toward ending marijuana prohibition, both in North Dakota and nationwide.”


Zoo presents map of plan for reduced entrances, and an email address for public comment

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo, reacting to the outcry over its proposed security enhancements, presented illustrations of its new plan Wednesday and provided an email address for the public to submit comments. Extended fencing, part of the overall plan, is set for review Thursday before the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC). The zoo, citing safety concerns, wants to reduce its 13 pedestrian entrances to three and add 4,700 feet to its existing perimeter fence. Some of the new fencing would be strong enough to prevent vehicle “ramming,” the zoo has said. The commission, in a summary of the project on its website, said the fencing should not affect any archaeological sites, and an “engineering field study will be conducted” to make sure it can be installed with minimal impact to trees and vegetation. The zoo also wants to install permanent checkpoints that could be staffed during high visitation and threat periods, but that idea has not been submitted to the NCPC for review, the zoo said. Opponents fear the new measures would cut the zoo off from the city and the surrounding neighborhoods of Woodley Park, Cleveland Park, Mount Pleasant and Adams Morgan. Zoo officials are soliciting comments from the public via email to NZP-CommunityOutreach@si.edu michael.ruane@washpost.com


‘Armed and dangerous’: D.C. man sought in fatal shooting of woman

D.C. police have charged a 48-year-old man in the fatal shooting of a woman found dead in June inside a residence in Southeast Washington. Xavier Jerome Dunmore, of Southeast, has been charged in an arrest warrant with second-degree murder while armed. Police said they are searching for him and consider him “armed and dangerous.” Dunmore is charged with killing Wykeena Ferguson, 40, of Southeast. Police said she was found shot in the head about 6:45 p.m. on June 10 inside a home in the Potomac Gardens apartments in the 700 block of 12th Street SE. She was pronounced dead there. Police not disclosed a possible motive in the case, nor have they described whether the suspect and victim were related. peter.hermann@washpost.com


South Sudanese troops raped and killed hundreds in recent attacks, U.N. investigation finds

Seven years ago this week, South Sudan celebrated independence from its northern neighbor after a decades-long struggle that left at least 2 million dead. But there were no festivities organized by the government in the capital of Juba on the anniversary Monday. South Sudan has been embroiled in conflict for most of the time it has been free from Sudan, and a new report released Tuesday by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights further implicated government troops in horrific atrocities against civilians there. In its investigation, the United Nations found government forces and those aligned with them killed at least 232 civilians and raped 120 women and girls in a recent spate of attacks on opposition-held villages, in what may amount to war crimes. Dozens of those killed — including children, the disabled and the elderly — were burned alive. At least one of the gang-rape victims was as young as 6. Opposition troops were also responsible for killing a number of civilians, and the investigation identified three individuals who the report says bear the “greatest responsibility” for the violent incidents the United Nations documented. “Why do these forces not just kill each other if killing is what they want?” asked one 60-year-old woman quoted in the report. “Why do they have to kill innocent children and helpless civilians, including disabled-elders?” The atrocities the United Nations described in its Tuesday report are largely consistent with earlier U.N., African Union and media reports that have detailed crimes committed by both government and opposition troops since conflict broke out in South Sudan in 2013. But Payton Knopf, a former U.S. diplomat who works at the U.S. Institute of Peace, told The Washington Post that this latest investigation offers key indications that the conflict is continuing “unabated.” For years, Knopf said, there has been debate over whether violence in South Sudan is “command-and-control versus anarchic chaos.” “Time and again, credible and methodical investigations continue to find unequivocally there is command and control,” he said Tuesday. “This is not a situation of marauding youth going on. They're doing it at the direction of leadership on both sides, and mainly the government.” Peace agreements intended to end the civil war, which is rooted in a rivalry between President Salva Kiir, from the Dinka ethnic group, and then-Vice President Riek Machar, a Nuer, have largely failed, including one that briefly returned Machar


A man went crabbing — and came back with flesh-eating bacteria that now threatens his life

Angel Perez arrived at the river before sunrise, beating the other crabbers on the hunt at Matt's Landing in New Jersey, a popular spot to find crustaceans near where the Maurice River meets the Delaware Bay. It was still morning on July 2 when he returned home with a haul of freshly snagged crabs and, unknown to him at the time, something much worse. By July 3, his right leg was swollen. Then it turned red and broke out in blisters. “He had issues with Parkinson's disease already, so we hear complaints like that already. We're used to them,” his daughter, Dilena Perez-Dilan, told The Washington Post. “But he was like, 'This is different.' ” Doctors at an urgent-care facility first thought it was a minor bacterial infection. On a second trip to a hospital's emergency room, doctors diagnosed cellulitis. It wasn't until the third trip — with the redness and blistering migrating to Perez's other leg — that they began to suspect the potentially fatal ailment at the root of his symptoms: a flesh-eating bacteria known as Vibrio. The brackish places where rivers meet seas are also a prime habitat for Vibrio. Some of the bacteria had apparently found an open sore or a cut on Perez's ankle. Just three days later, the bacteria had spread, threatening his limbs and his life. Since then he's been at a hospital with a 24-hour, on-call anesthesiologist, ready in case he needed emergency surgery. Dozens of family members have stopped in to his room in the intensive-care unit. About 80,000 people get some form of vibriosis every year, usually from eating raw or undercooked shellfish, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For most, the worst symptoms are diarrhea and vomiting. But a few unlucky people get a life-threatening strand that can enter an open sore and make its way into the bloodstream, wreaking havoc. “The bacterium can invade the bloodstream, causing a severe and life-threatening illness with symptoms like fever, chills, decreased blood pressure (septic shock) and blistering skin lesions,” according to the Florida Department of Health’s vibriosis page. “Aggressive attention should be given to the wound site; for patients with wound infections, amputation of the infected limb is sometimes necessary.” Peak infection time is when the water is warmest, from May to October. Those months are also peak crabbing season at Matt's Landing, where Perez had spent a


Local Digest: Killer of 3 in D.C. is sentenced to life in prison

THE DISTRICT Man sentenced in 1991 triple murder The man who authorities say was responsible for the execution-style murders of two men and a woman in April 1991 by lining them up in a D.C. park and shooting them multiple times has been sentenced to life in prison. In D.C. Superior Court on Monday, Judge Judith Bartnoff sentenced Benito Valdez, 47, of Alexandria to 94 years to life in prison. A jury in February convicted Valdez of multiple charges, including first-degree murder, in the deaths of Curtis Pixley, 29, and Samantha Gillard, 23, both of the District, and Keith Simmons, 26, of Fort Washington, Md. Bartnoff had earlier delayed the formal sentencing after Valdez’s attorneys argued that there was inaccurate information in some of the pre-sentencing reports. For almost 30 years, the slaying of the three victims remained unsolved. Four witnesses emerged in 2016 and cooperated with authorities by identifying Valdez as the killer. Prosecutors said Valdez was a onetime drug dealer who controlled Langdon Park in Northeast Washington during the crack epidemic of the late 1980s and 1990s. Prosecutors said in court Monday that Valdez will not be eligible for consideration of parole until he has served a minimum of 20 years. — Keith L. Alexander Police identify man killed in SE shooting One of three people shot July 5 on Newcomb Street SE has died, D.C. police confirmed Monday. Derek Jeffrey Taylor, 26, died at a hospital shortly after he, a woman and another man were shot about 3:30 a.m. in the 500 block of Newcomb Street. The other two victims were grazed, police said. — Martin Weil SE man sought in woman's slaying D.C. police have charged a 48-year-old man in the fatal shooting of a woman found dead in June inside a residence in Southeast Washington. Xavier Jerome Dunmore, of Southeast Washington, has been charged in an arrest warrant with second-degree murder while armed. Police said they are searching for him and consider him “armed and dangerous.” Dunmore is charged in the slaying of Wykeena Ferguson, 40, of Southeast Washington. Police said she was found shot in the head about 6:45 p.m. on June 10 inside a home in the Potomac Gardens apartments in the 700 block of 12th Street SE. She was pronounced dead there. — Peter Hermann MARYLAND Canoeist recovering from snake bite A man was bitten by a venomous copperhead snake in Montgomery


Ethiopian rebel group declares cease-fire in wake of reforms

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — An Ethiopian rebel group declared a unilateral cease-fire on Thursday after Parliament removed it from a list of banned terrorist groups as part of a reform drive led by the new prime minister. The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) has fought for autonomy for the Oromia region — Ethiopia’s largest — since 1993. It was designated a terrorist group by the government in 2008. “The temporary declaration of cease-fire will take us to the final declaration of bilateral cessation of hostilities once and for all and conclusion of the conflict,” the group said in a statement published by state-affiliated media. The move comes a week after Parliament ruled that the group, along with the secessionist Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) and the Ginbot 7 opposition movement, were no longer terrorist organizations. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who took office in April, is spearheading a bold push to shake the African nation of 100 million people from decades of security-obsessed rule. Abiy has acknowledged and condemned widespread abuses by security forces, likening them to state terrorism, and, in the most stunning development yet, forged peace with sworn enemy Eritrea, ending a lengthy military standoff that followed a 1998-2000 border war in which 80,000 people are thought to have died. In Eritrea’s capital, Asmara, this week, the 41-year-old Abiy said the neighboring nations would resolve outstanding issues by “building bridges of love.” He has also rescinded a state of emergency and announced plans to partially open up the economy, including attracting foreign capital into the state-run telecom company and national airline. Also Thursday, the president of Ethiopia’s Somali region said his provincial government had released thousands of inmates who were jailed for their links to the ONLF. “Today, there is no single inmate jailed for involvement with the ONLF. We have released all prisoners under this reform drive,” said Abdi Mohamoud Omar, adding that the prisons were in the process of being turned into schools, hospitals and mosques. The shake-up by Abiy, a polyglot former soldier and a member of the Oromo ethnic group, has won plaudits from Asmara to Washington and drawn comparisons to the 1980s reforms of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. However, it has also attracted opposition from hard-liners in the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the ethnic Tigrayan party that has dominated the government and the economy since taking power in 1991.


U.S. urges U.N. to halt all oil transfers to North Korea

barrels allowed under U.N. sanctions. In a letter accompanying the report, the United States asks the sanctions committee to notify every country in the United Nations that North Korea has breached the annual quota. It also asks the committee to call for “enhanced vigilance” against attempts to circumvent sanctions through ship-to-ship transfers of oil. The report includes a lengthy list of North Korean tanker deliveries this year, running two and a half pages. It suggests that North Korea has found ways to continue importing oil, even if the transactions keep getting captured on U.S. and Japanese intelligence photographs. U.S. officials have insisted that Washington’s policy of imposing sanctions on North Korea remains as tough as ever. But last month, Trump said he did not want to use the phrase “maximum pressure” any longer to describe the sanctions campaign, because the two sides were “getting along.” He also said the administration would hold off imposing more sanctions for the time being. North Korea already is under some of the strictest sanctions ever imposed on a country. In April, the Security Council blacklisted dozens of ships and shipping companies over coal and oil smuggling to North Korea. Five were based in China. And in February the Trump administration cited more than 50 ships and shipping companies that it said had been evading sanctions, including ships flying flags of China, Singapore, Taiwan, Panama, Tanzania, the Marshall Islands and the Comoros. The U.S. report notes that Russia and China have reported to the sanctions committee that they have sold petroleum to North Korea, as is permitted under the 500,000 barrel cap. The letter said that those sales must stop immediately. It lists dozens of cases involving North Korean-flagged ships delivering oil to ports in their home country. But it includes only one specific instance of a Russian-flagged tanker, the Patriot, conducting a ship-to-ship transfer, on April 10, with the North Korean tanker Wan Heng 11. The North Korean tanker then proceeded to the port of Nampo in North Korea, docking five days later. The naming of Russia comes four days before Trump is due to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. It also comes on a day when North Korean officials did not show up for an expected meeting with U.S. officials in the demilitarized zone to discuss the repatriation of the remains of U.S. soldiers dating from the Korean War. carol.morello@washpost.com


What’s the best meal you can get for $25 or less at Nationals Park?

Shack in favor of the C-Line, where I got a refreshing frozen custard concrete with toffee. It was plenty of food — easily enough for two. Water from outside the stadium ($2); See. You. Tater. Buffalo chicken tots ($12); Kosher Grill potato knish ($5); Shake Shack concrete with toffee ($6). Total: $25. — Becky Krystal Despite all the fancy food distractions, a good hot dog and a good beer is what I usually crave at the ballpark. It’s laughable that a boring Nathan’s hot dog is the same price as Haute Dog’s standard, with its great snap from the grilltop and a buttery, grilled bun. The line moves swiftly (unlike at Ben’s Chili Bowl), and a pair was enough to fill me up for nine innings, with the help of the park-wide free toppings bar (featuring Old Bay and barbecue sauce if you’re feeling funky). On the beer front, I would have come in under budget by going with Bud Light, but I couldn’t stomach it. There are too many quality local craft beers on tap to settle for America’s most popular suds when you’re having only one — even if it forced me to ditch my outside peanuts ($1) and go over budget by a buck. Port City’s crisp, tropical Integral IPA hit the spot on a hot afternoon. Bring on the “beer snob” heckles! 2 Haute Dog hot dogs ($14); 16-ounce Port City Integral IPA from District Drafts ($12). Total: $26. — Matt Brooks My plan heading into the ballpark was to find something healthful and vegetable-based — I didn’t want the usual hot mess of nachos or cheesy dogs — but once I got within smelling distance of the fried foods, all bets were off. The warm weather called for a cold beer, and the budget required it to be cheap: Did you know you can get 25 ounces of beer for $12? For that price, I was completely satisfied to sip on a Bud as I sauntered a few steps away to pick up a large box of fries (fancy dipping sauce included), the aforementioned thoughts of finding something green forever banished. My meal may have seemed meager, but it was surprisingly satisfying. The quick-moving lines were the grease-stained icing on the cake. Box Frites large fries ($9); 25-ounce beer from the Budweiser Terrace ($12); peanuts from outside the stadium ($2). Total: $23. — Kara Elder


The Health 202: ‘ACA’ removed from swaths of Medicaid.gov website, watchdog reports

of marijuana use, but one of the highest arrest rates for use of the drug. Fewer than 10 percent of North Dakota residents used the drug in 2016, per the federal National Survey on Drug Use and Health, but in the same year, 2,513 of the 61,000 residents who used marijuana were arrested for simple marijuana possession, according to FBI data compiled by pro-legalization group NORML. That rate of 41 arrests per 1,000 users is the second highest in the nation. OOF: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is threatening to close LiveOnNy, one of the nation’s largest “organ procurement organizations” (OPOs) after warning that it had failed to meet minimum standards of success in organ collection, our Post colleagues Lenny Bernstein and Kimberly Kindy report. The letter from CMS last month warned the agency would not renew LiveOnNy’s contract set to expire on Jan. 31. But a spokesman for the agency noted there are plans to make sure organ procurement and transplantation would not be disrupted, Lenny and Kimberly report. The organization has begun an appeal that could take up to seven months. It has been one of the poorest-performing procurement organizations in the country, our colleagues report, and last ranked as the second-worst OPO nationally. The letter from CMS also comes at a “time of upheaval in the transplant industry, which faces a perennial shortage of donor organs,” Lenny and Kimberly write. OUCH: When marijuana becomes legal to buy and smoke in Canada come October, don’t expect Americans to be able to hurry across the border and return with the drugs. “Though marijuana will be legal for medical or recreational use in many places on either side of the roughly 6,000-mile border — including Alaska, Maine and Vermont — the U.S. government routinely bars Canadians who admit to having used the drug from entering the country,” they write. “And U.S. citizens who try to cross back into the United States carrying marijuana bought legally in Canada to states where it is legal to have it could be arrested at the border crossings for possession — or drug smuggling — and face stiff fines or years in jail.” Even though marijuana is legal for recreational use in nine states and the District, and allowed for medical use in 31 states, it’s still illegal under federal law. “Federal law is applicable at the U.S.-Canada border, meaning the possession, distribution,


testing update

testing update This is a developing story. It will be updated.


New research shows why terrorists quit terrorism

movements before joining and where extremism can run in families. Islamist extremism in Indonesia has long been notable for the presence of intergenerational kinship ties. One prime example is the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a Jihadi-Salafi network whose members were responsible for some of Indonesia’s most notorious terrorist attacks, including the 2000 Christmas Eve bombings and the 2002 Bali bombing. In JI circles, some families can trace their involvement in the extended extremist community back to the Darul Islam rebellions of 1948 to 1962. Family can be an ideal recruiting ground. Kinship ties provide unmatched loyalty and unconditional support, reinforcing group connections and ensuring commitment. Children and youth are socialized through everyday activities — conversations, stories, lessons, activities — and gradually begin to internalize their parent’s (or elder brother or uncle’s) values and priorities. All of it seems normal. There may be not even be a conscious decision to join per se. Instead, they are slowly groomed by parents or other older relatives, culminating in eventual acceptance into the movement by virtue of their familial legacy. Kinship also provides cover for conducting illegal activities. One is less likely to inform on their relatives. Loyalty to and love for family members can outweigh serious personal misgivings, leading someone to participate in a terrorist attack who might not otherwise be inclined to do so. For example, Dita Oepriarto’s 16-year-old son, Firman Halim, was reported to have been crying inconsolably at dawn prayers at their local mosque. Yet he then boarded a motorcycle carrying explosives with his 18-year-old brother and exploded at the Santa Maria Catholic church. Likewise, Ali Imron, one of the participants in the 2002 Bali bombing, has repeatedly asserted that he objected to the plot. However, he went along because his older brother Ali Gufron (alias Mukhlas) was one of its masterminds. He explains, “I was a junior member and a younger brother.” After repeatedly failing to convince Mukhlas that the attack was ill-advised, he did his part. While many other groups have avoided or condemned the practice, the Islamic State has been normalizing and even celebrating the use of women and children in attacks. Given JAD’s affiliation with the Islamic State, it is perhaps less surprising to find its members plotting attacks that involve the participation of entire families. Such an attack would be intentionally shocking, generating a great deal of media attention, and the family probably believed they would


Plastic straw bans are the latest policy to forget the disability community

not temperature safe, often dissolve in water and can become a choking hazard. As for lids designed to be used without a straw, they require the cup to be lifted by the user, which many people cannot do. The conversation then shifts to what people with disabilities themselves should be doing to solve the problem. The inevitable questions — “Why don’t you bring your own straws?” “Why don’t you use a metal straw?” — miss the larger point. This isn’t about straws. It’s about access. Almost 30 years after the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), ramps and curb cuts have become ubiquitous. Now, disabled people like me can get into most buildings, but access doesn’t only mean getting into the building. It means being able to fully take part in what is going on inside the building. Access is about the quality of life, and being able to have the same experiences and opportunities as a nondisabled person, with some adaptations. Plastic straw bans are only the latest example of policies, rules, regulations and laws that, however well intended, negatively impact people with disabilities. These issues include everything from seemingly innocuous bans of laptop computers in a college class to the opioid crackdown to subminimum wage laws. If you don’t need a straw to take a sip of water, pain medication to deal with the effects of a chronic illness, or a laptop to take notes in your college class, it can be easy to overlook how policies such as these impact someone else’s everyday life. Imagine what it would feel like not to be able to marry the love of your life for fear of losing the benefits you need to survive. (Because most benefits are based on income, disabled people often lose them if they get married — the amount you’re allowed to have in your bank account does not double when you get married, and both people’s bank accounts are counted. This is known as the SSDI “marriage penalty.”) Imagine working all day only to be paid less than a dollar an hour thanks to laws that allow disabled people to be “time-tested” and paid less than minimum wage in places known as sheltered workshop. Imagine being in severe chronic pain and not being able to get your pain medication because your state has imposed overly restrictive limits on pills. These are common realities


Some prefer hot spots. But this is my Washington.

sailboats on a river that has been transformed, parks with sculptures, fountains with children playing, more than a dozen restaurants, and neighborhoods where light-industrial parking lots for hundreds of cement trucks once were a blight. If you insist,Osteria Morini and the Salt Line are fine eateries near the water. Go for lunch or on a non-game night. Walk along the river at dusk. It’s a magic, little-known D.C. spot. My favorite D.C. neighborhood, and I have lived or worked in several and seen them all, is funky, diverse and yet almost-never-changing Adams Morgan. Don’t drive. Parking is a misery. Cab or Uber. Then just wander around. In one of the world’s most international cities, this is where you’ll see the greatest variety. If you see 15 restaurants, they may feature 15 cuisines. Bet the bagels at So’s Your Mom are still outstanding. For years, my wife and I loved the rooftop at Perry’s, a sushi restaurant that, in its high ceilinged main dining room, had a huge movie screen where “Godzilla” ran continuously, but never with sound. Silent destruction. Godzilla is gone. The Drag Sunday Brunch, according to experts in the genre, one of the best anywhere, remains. No reservations for the rooftop. Doesn’t matter. Get up there at sundown or don’t. From Adams Morgan it’s just a manageable walk to the world-class National Zoo. Like about 49 percent of everything that’s best in D.C., it was created and is run by the Smithsonian. From the back windows of some Adams Morgan apartments, you could hear the big cats roaring at night in summer. Everybody adores the pandas. So I always went everywhere else. The walk through the aviary is spirit-lifting, but I preferred the Great Ape House. I loved to visit “Gorilla Gorilla” best. For that to be your official zoological name on your zoo room, you’ve got to be one tough dignified character. I’d take my young son there in his perambulator so we could all look at one another awhile. Come on, how can that be a bad influence? The next spot is almost a personal secret: the National Arboretum . I grew up in Northeast Washington, very familiar with alleys. The National Arboretum is 446 acres of amazing natural beauty that sometimes — except when its zillion azaleas are all out at once in April — seems almost empty and unknown. Gardens, every kind of flower


The meal-kit industry is at a crossroads. Will it ever figure out what we really want?

much packaging, [and] it’s going to take even an experienced cook every bit of 45 minutes” to prepare, said Mitchell Roth. His company. Roth Premium Foods, partnered with the stars of “Extreme Weight Loss” to launch Fresh by Transform, a diet-oriented microwaveable meal subscription service with meals that stay fresh for 30 days in the refrigerator. “We really try to overemphasize the fact that we’re not a meal-kit delivery business. We’re sending you fully chef-designed ready meals.” The real future of Kroger There are big advantages to supermarket meal kits, Lempert said: “It’s not overpackaged, you can buy it on impulse, and it’s less expensive.” Josh Hix, co-founder of Plated, doesn’t think that putting his kits in Albertsons stores will affect his subscription business. Rather, he sees them as supplementing each other, and appealing to different types of consumers. “We’ve always wanted, up from the beginning, the option to pick [kits] up at the store,” Hix said. “But like most people our age, we buy stuff online, too.” It’s likely that the coming months will see other meal-kit companies purchased by grocery chains, wrote the Street. Some kits also have attracted investments from consumer packaged-goods companies such as Nestlé and Unilever. U.S. grocery stores generated $80.6 million in sales of meal kits, up 6.7 percent over year-ago sales, for the 12 months through March 4, Supermarket News reported. But grab-and-go meal kits haven’t been a home run everywhere. Giant Eagle, a Pennsylvania-based grocery chain, experimented but ultimately decided they weren’t worth it. “We heard pretty consistent customer feedback in terms of sales,” said Dan Donovan, the chain’s spokesman. Because of a robust prepared-foods section, “folks visiting our stores just didn’t have a need for it.” Furthermore, with the rise of “grocerants,” or restaurants in grocery stores, some consumers may go to the store without intending to cook at all. Lempert said that companies that specialize in niche audiences — like those who want diabetic meals or the ketogenic diet — will continue to grow. “It’s less about impulse,” he said. But if convenience and time aren’t their driving factor, the odds may be against some up-and-coming meal-kit companies. According to the Harvard Business Review, only 10 percent of consumers in a recent study said they love to cook. Forty-five percent said they hated it. “What I think these companies don’t understand is it’s not about the food,” Lempert said. “If


his subscription business. Rather, he sees them as supplementing each other, and appealing to different types of consumers. “We’ve always wanted, up from the beginning, the option to pick [kits] up at the store,” Hix said. “But like most people our age, we buy stuff online, too.” It’s likely that the coming months will see other meal-kit companies purchased by grocery chains, wrote the Street. Some kits also have attracted investments from consumer packaged-goods companies such as Nestlé and Unilever. U.S. grocery stores generated $80.6 million in sales of meal kits, up 6.7 percent over year-ago sales, for the 12 months through March 4, Supermarket News reported. But grab-and-go meal kits haven’t been a home run everywhere. Giant Eagle, a Pennsylvania-based grocery chain, experimented but ultimately decided they weren’t worth it. “We heard pretty consistent customer feedback in terms of sales,” said Dan Donovan, the chain’s spokesman. Because of a robust prepared-foods section, “folks visiting our stores just didn’t have a need for it.” Furthermore, with the rise of “grocerants,” or restaurants in grocery stores, some consumers may go to the store without intending to cook at all. Lempert said that companies that specialize in niche audiences — like those who want diabetic meals or the ketogenic diet — will continue to grow. “It’s less about impulse,” he said. But if convenience and time aren’t their driving factor, the odds may be against some up-and-coming meal-kit companies. According to the Harvard Business Review, only 10 percent of consumers in a recent study said they love to cook. Forty-five percent said they hated it. “What I think these companies don’t understand is it’s not about the food,” Lempert said. “If companies see it as ‘I can make better food,’ they’re going to lose.” The elimination of cooking altogether, some speculate, will be the final outcome of this conflation of factors affecting meal kits: busier lives, a demand for more convenience, the availability of high-quality, cheaper prepared food. Even Oprah Winfrey is getting into the game with O, That’s Good!, her line of prepared foods launching this fall. “You have the customers who really enjoy cooking and preparing foods,” Lempert said. “And then you’ve got people who are just looking for convenience, and they’ve tried Blue Apron and they’re saying . . . ‘It’s not really convenient.’ They’re going to wake up and say, ‘Hey, I can buy Lean Cuisine.’ ” maura.judkis@washpost.com


Trump should ask Putin to release Russian political prisoners

human rights would remain “unshakable,” adding that “on the fundamental dignity of the human person, there can be no relenting, for now we must work for more, always more.” Presidential use of U.S.-Soviet summits to secure the release of political prisoners was bipartisan. In the lead-up to his 1979 meeting with Brezhnev that would result in the signing of the SALT II agreement, President Jimmy Carter helped negotiate an exchange that gave freedom to five prominent Soviet political prisoners, including the samizdat publisher Alexander Ginzburg. On April 27, 1979, an Aeroflot flight brought them to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, where they were exchanged for two former Soviet employees of the United Nations convicted of espionage. Carter’s commitment to human rights was stated early on: One of his first acts in the White House was a meeting with Vladimir Bukovsky, a prominent Russian dissident who was released in December 1976 after spending a total of 12 years in Soviet prisons, penal camps and psychiatric hospitals. Bukovsky’s release had been mediated by President Gerald Ford’s administration. According to Memorial, Russia’s leading human rights organization, there are 155 political and religious prisoners in the country. They include Oleg Sentsov, a Crimean filmmaker who protested the annexation (and who is now nearing two months on a hunger strike); Alexei Pichugin, the remaining hostage of the “Yukos Affair” and, after 15 years, Russia’s longest-serving political prisoner; Yuri Dmitriev, a historian who has documented the Stalin-era repressions and uncovered mass burial grounds in his native Karelia; Stanislav Zimovets, a participant in the March 2017 opposition rally in Moscow; Alexander Shpakov, a carpenter who went to the same rally to protect his daughter; Oyub Titiev, the head of Memorial’s office in Chechnya; and many, many others. For now, there is little to suggest that Trump will raise any of their cases at his meeting with Putin. The current U.S. president is not known for his stalwart commitment to human rights in his foreign policy. But, then again, neither was Nixon. Read more: The Post’s View: While everyone watches the World Cup, a political prisoner starves in Russia Vladimir Kara-Murza: Only Western pressure can save Oleg Sentsov The Post’s View: A political prisoner in Russia is starving. The world should take notice. Vladimir Kara-Murza: For Russia’s longest-serving political prisoner, it’s 15 years and counting The Post’s View: Trump is kowtowing to the Kremlin again. Why?


Poet Liu Xia escaped China, but will Beijing ever set her free?

BEIJING— Liu Xia left China, but she may never really leave it behind. The bespectacled Chinese poet, who spent the better part of eight years under house arrest while her husband, Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, died in jail, flew to exile on Tuesday. She was photographed just after her Finnair flight touched down on foreign soil. She was beaming. She looked free. Her husband, Liu Xiaobo, was a writer and activist who spent his life in and out of Chinese prisons for criticizing the Chinese Communist Party. In 2009, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison for his role in publishing a call for political reform in China. The next year, he became the first Chinese winner of the Nobel Peace Prize — and a year ago Friday, he became the first Nobel laureate to die in confinement since the Nazi era. For Liu Xia, who spent the last year in the claustrophobic confines of her Beijing apartment, gawked at and guarded, exile is a welcome outcome. Human-rights groups and foreign governments celebrated her departure. In Beijing, a small group of not-currently-in-jail thinkers and dissidents offered a toast: “May the blessings of her native land follow her to a free nation, forever!” But her exile will not be uncomplicated. She wanted to leave China in the company of her brother, Liu Hui, so that Chinese authorities could not use threats against him to reach her. It seems Chinese officials did not agree to that plan. She arrived in Germany without him. This week in China news provided two reminders that for those fleeing China, leaving the country is not enough. The Chinese Communist Party continues to hold the families of political exiles and immigrants hostage, securing their silence with the implied — or direct — promise of harm. In an investigation for BuzzFeed published Monday, reporter Megha Rajagopalan documented Chinese efforts to coerce ethnic Uighurs who have left China into spying on their peers — or else. The story, which was based on interviews with Uighurs living outside China, outlined how Chinese state security personnel approach and pressure exiles. “Every person interviewed for this article said state security operatives told them their families could be sent to, or would remain in, internment camps for 'reeducation' if they did not comply with their demands," the story read. Though targeting family is not a new tactic, the technique has


After 20 years, Eritrea and Ethiopia are making peace. We should all celebrate.

WHEN ETHIOPIAN Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed stepped off his plane in Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, last Sunday for long-awaited peace talks, he surprised the world by warmly embracing Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The two countries had been at loggerheads for more than 20 years, but the show of camaraderie between their leaders augured a rapprochement. Hours later, they signed a declaration that proclaimed the end of hostilities between them and announced a new era of normalized relations. As part of the declaration, Ethiopia and Eritrea agreed to restore the diplomatic, trade and transportation links that were severed during the border war they fought between 1998 and 2000. To the delight of families that have been kept apart by the dispute, they will reopen embassies, flight routes and direct telephone lines. Eritrea also agreed to give Ethiopia access to its ports on the Red Sea, while Ethiopia signaled that it would respect a 2002 boundary ruling that awarded territory to Eritrea. These commitments, along with more general pledges to improve political, economic and cultural cooperation and regional peace, will do much to strengthen trade, security and development in the Horn of Africa. The agreement is a diplomatic coup for Mr. Abiy, whose first 100 days in office have brought an encouraging turnaround in Ethiopia after years of authoritarian rule. He made the first overtures to Eritrea last month, when he announced that Ethiopia would withdraw troops from disputed territory on the border. His willingness to enter into peace talks is a refreshing change from previous Ethiopian governments and a promising sign that he is committed to reform. But the deal could have more significant implications for Eritrea, a country that is sometimes referred to as “Africa’s North Korea.” The Eritrean government is a totalitarian regime that has been accused of participating in human rights abuses, including arbitrary detention, torture and religious and ethnic persecution. Many of these injustices are related to its policy of mandatory conscription, which requires all citizens to sign up for national service that often lasts far beyond the mandated 18 months. These conditions have pushed more than 459,000 Eritreans — an estimated 10 percent of the country’s population — to seek asylum around the world. With the end of the “no peace, no war” stalemate with Ethiopia, Eritrea has the opportunity to demilitarize and abolish forced conscription, a move that could open the door to social


This small beer garden near Nats Park sells some of the area’s coolest — and hardest to find — craft beer

the stadium, and selling 16-ounce cans of its IPAs, sours and Pilsener on Nationals game days. This was supposed to run only from April through June, before construction began to turn that corner into yet another shiny new building. The flavorful beers and convenient location quickly made the beer garden popular, even with people who were unfamiliar with the brewery. “We get a ton of people who've never heard of us before, who just see us walking by and ask who the brewery is and what we're about,” says business operations manager Devon Barnekov, who serves beer at the pop-up. At the same time, she adds, craft beer lovers have sought them out: “We've had so many people tell us that they live in D.C. and can't get to the brewery.” And while the beer garden is currently only open when the Nats are home, it attracts a steady stream of customers who just show up to hang out and drink, with no intention of heading to the ballpark. Last month, Aslin quietly announced a change of plans: The pop-up bar is staying put through the rest of the season and will begin to be open more often. Barnekov says Aslin will be applying for a more permanent tavern-class liquor license, which would allow the beer garden to open on nongame days, such as when there are concerts at Nationals Park, or potentially host special events. Because of the differences in licensing between their Virginia brewery and the D.C. bar, Aslin can also host tap-takeovers at the pop-up that wouldn't be allowed in Herndon. “We can continue to bring our friends in,” Barnekov says, “especially the ones you can't get in Virginia,” such as Nashville's Southern Grist, which Aslin collaborated with in May. Before a recent Nationals game, the Aslin Beer Garden was serving their collaboration IPA, Pushing Buttons, as well as Southern Grist's Inefficient Loop, which isn't normally available in D.C. With the new schedule, Barnekov says, they will switch the beer lineup every week or two. One thing won't change, however: Even with the tavern license, Aslin can't sell cans to go. “We get [asked] For All-Star Weekend, Aslin will be open Friday from 3 to 9 p.m., Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 9 p.m., and Monday and Tuesday from 3 to 10 p.m. Check the Aslin Beer Garden Instagram account for information on the beer list.


‘Like a dream’: Families separated for decades by Ethiopia-Eritrea conflict celebrate peace deal

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — When Daniel Gayem’s father in Ethiopia wanted to talk to his brother in neighboring Eritrea, they would set up a conference call through Daniel — who lived in Las Vegas. The two brothers were born in Eritrea when it was a province of Ethiopia and had long ago moved to the capital Addis Ababa, but when the two countries fell out in 1998, the brother and the rest of their family were deported, along with 70,000 others of Eritrean origin. Daniel’s father, who was married to an Ethiopian, was allowed to stay in Addis Ababa. All communication and transportation links were cut between the two countries, and families were cleaved in half. Contact was limited to occasional rushed third-party phone calls or arduous trips through neighboring countries. Daniel’s father has yet to visit the grave of his mother, Daniel’s grandmother, who died five years ago in Eritrea. With a startling suddenness, however, this long separation has come to end after the signing of a peace agreement on Monday between Ethiopia’s reformist prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, and Eritrea’s longtime president, Isaias Afwerki. The five-point declaration ended the state of war and promised to restore trade, transport and telecommunication links and reopen embassies. Soon afterward, Ethiopian Airlines announced that flights to Eritrea’s capital, Asmara, would resume on July 18. Ethiopians and Eritreans could obtain visas on arrival, in stark contrast with what before had been a very difficult process. On Saturday, Isaias will arrive in Ethiopia for an unprecedented three-day visit. Some Ethiopians were so excited to reach out to their long-estranged neighbors that they just started dialing numbers. “Oh Gosh, I am so excited over this EthioEritrea thingy, I just called on a random number in Asmara and had a nice chat with a lady named Frtuna,” said one of the many users of social media taking advantage of the new service. The stunning turnabout — a rare bit of conflict-free good news for the African continent — came about through long-standing efforts by regional countries and the exit of Isaias’s longtime rivals in Ethiopia. Eritrea’s information minister, Yemane Gebremeskel, described the changes as “driving on the fast lane for peace and cooperation” as he tweeted a picture of a butterfly in the colors of the nations’ flags. But as Kjetil Tronvoll, an expert on the conflict from Oslo’s Bjorknes University College, warns, much of what has


Trump releases ‘nice note’ from Kim Jong Un praising progress despite setbacks in denuclearization talks

to accomplish it,” Pompeo said. “And now the task is to get it implemented.” Trump called his summit with Kim an “amazing meeting,” and he reiterated that North Korea has not conducted any nuclear or ballistic missile tests since committing to the talks in February. He also cited reports that North Korea has halted the broadcasting of propaganda through loudspeakers at the border with South Korea as a sign of progress. South Korea also has halted its own broadcasts into the North. “I really think that we established a very good relationship,” Trump said. “We’ll see where it all ends.” Yet behind the scenes, the Trump administration has shown that it recognizes that the president’s diplomatic gambit has hit a roadblock and that additional pressure on Pyongyang will be necessary. On Thursday, the United States said North Korea has already exceeded the annual cap allowed for oil imports and asked the United Nations to order an immediate halt to all transfers of oil to the country. The request underscored the United States’ determination to keep squeezing North Korea through existing economic sanctions, even though Trump declared ahead of the summit that he no longer would use the phrase “maximum pressure” to describe his administration’s strategy. In Thursday’s report submitted to the U.N. committee responsible for monitoring North Korean sanctions, the United States said North Korean tankers filled up with oil using ship-to-ship transfers at least 89 times in the first five months of this year. According to a copy of the report seen by The Washington Post, U.S. officials calculated that even if the tankers carried only one-third of their full load, North Korea would have already exceeded the annual quota of 500,000 barrels allowed under U.N. sanctions. In a letter accompanying the report, the United States asks the sanctions committee to notify every country in the United Nations that North Korea has breached the annual quota. It also asks the committee to call for “enhanced vigilance” against attempts to circumvent sanctions through ship-to-ship transfers of oil. But analysts have warned that the Trump administration’s sanctions strategy has already begun to falter in the aftermath of the summit, as China and other countries begin to relax punitive measures. And Trump, having already declared success, has put his aides in a more difficult position. “How do you negotiate over things your boss has already taken credit for?” Cha said. david.nakamura@washpost.com carol.morello@washpost.com


Northrop Grumman CEO will step down

The move comes just days after reports surfaced that the company employed a member of a white supremacist organization who participated in a violent rally in Charlottesville last summer. The employee, identified as Michael Miselis by ProPublica and “Frontline,” no longer is employed by the company. But Northrop was slow to respond to the allegations, and the news organizations also reported that he had remained employed even after his superiors had been informed of his actions. In an email to company employees at the time, Bush said that Northrop “would take the appropriate actions to make sure that our foundation remains strong well into the future.” Asked whether the Miselis’ alleged affiliation with a white supremacist group played a role in Bush’s decision to resign, Northrop’s Paynter said “absolutely not.” “The timing of Wes’s retirement is the result of a very focused and disciplined succession planning process,” Paynter said. “This transition to Kathy is not a surprise, she was appointed to be the president and COO nearly a year ago.” The company faced another public embarrassment last month when NASA announced that it will again have to delay the launch of its James Webb Space telescope until March 2021, as the cost soared an additional $800 million to $9.66 billion. The delay was the recommendation of an independent review board that found widespread systematic problems, human errors and unrealistic expectations about the cost and schedule for such an ambitious project. Earlier this year, the company made a bold move, acquiring Orbital ATK, a rocket manufacturing company, for $7.8 billion, which would give it a strong foothold in lucrative government launch contracts. The company is also developing the Pentagon’s next-generation bomber fleet, the B−21 Raider, a classified program that could be worth tens of billions of dollars. It beat out a team of Lockheed Martin and Boeing in the highly sought after procurement, one of the Pentagon’s biggest in years. One of the world’s largest defense countractors, the company has a wide-ranging portfolio, from cybersecurity systems to drones, missile defense and space. It is a key contractor on the F−35 Joint Strike Fighter. Loren Thompson, a defense consultant, said that when Warden was elevated to the COO position last year, "it was a signal that succession had begun.” Warden’s ascension to chief executive means that yet another of the large defense contractors will be run by a woman. Marillyn Hewson is


Plans for new Zoo fence and entrance put on hold

staff and animals,” he said. The project was reviewed and approved by the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts on June 21, with some suggestions about fence types and styles. But protests erupted after word of the proposal began circulating publicly last week. Critics argued that it would cut off the zoo from the city and the surrounding Woodley Park and Cleveland Park neighborhoods. “The Zoo grounds currently convey a sense of open parkland,” one protester emailed the commission last week. “The property is seamlessly embedded within Rock Creek Park . . . [and] these security fences send precisely the wrong message, that a visit to the Zoo is about danger, security, and exclusion.” Another wrote the commission: “Please do not wall off our national zoo from the community.” David Alpert, founder of the website Greater Greater Washington, said at the meeting that the fence and other developments “set the zoo on a trend to withdrawal.” The commission said three types of fence were proposed — eight-foot black metal ornamental pedestrian fencing, eight-foot black metal ornamental vehicle-rated fencing, and twelve-foot black vinyl-coated chain-link fencing. The commission said the fencing should not affect archaeological sites, and an “engineering field study will be conducted” to make sure it can be installed with minimal impact to trees and vegetation. The fencing would cost $1.5 million, said Al Horvath, chief operating officer at the Smithsonian. The zoo also wants to install permanent checkpoints that could be staffed during high visitation and threat periods, but that idea has not yet been submitted to the NCPC for review, the zoo said. Commission Vice Chairman Thomas M. Gallas said the commission has received “hundreds” of public comments on the issue. David Epstein, who testified at the meeting, said that zoogoers were a benign melting pot and that violence was rare. Saying there seemed little need for the extra fence, he said that “great evidence is required for great intervention.” Commission member Peter May thought the project had become so complicated that it might need a pause for more deliberation. “This kind of calls for it,” he said. Commission member Mina Wright also suggested “that we defer,” because of the public “discomfort” and lack of full detail. The commission asked that the Smithsonian provide a briefing on the threats that prompted the plan, and to conduct outreach to the public. It will take up the request in September. michael.ruane@washpost.com


Four of the world’s largest food companies have a new plan for fixing food and farm policy

A year after America’s powerful food lobby began to implode, four of the world’s largest food companies are launching an association of their own. The Sustainable Food Policy Alliance, unveiled Thursday by the U.S. divisions of Danone, Mars, Nestle and Unilever, says it will fight for progressive food policies — from conservation programs to prominent nutrition labels — that have long been eschewed by major food-makers. In doing so, the new alliance is likely to tangle with the mighty and well-moneyed Grocery Manufacturers Association, which Mars, Nestle, Unilever and seven other major firms abandoned amid high-profile philosophical disagreements in 2017. But with combined annual revenue of more than $200 billion, the four companies in the new alliance — responsible for such well-known brands as Dannon yogurt, Snickers candy bars and Hellman’s mayonnaise — could prompt other food-makers to foreground nutrition and sustainability. Analysts say it’s the latest evidence of the impact of changing consumer tastes on the global food business. “We truly believe consumers want this, and they vote with every purchase,” said Mariano Lozano, the chief executive of Danone North America. “We are reaching a moment when what makes business sense and what is the right thing to do come together,” he added. The alliance will lobby in five policy areas that it says are of interest to modern consumers: product transparency, nutrition, the environment, food safety and a positive workplace for food and agriculture workers. The four companies say they have coordinated on these issues in the past, and view the formalized alliance as a means to more aggressively petition lawmakers and regulators. The group is urging the Food and Drug Administration to advance the rollout of new Nutrition Facts panels, first proposed under the Obama administration, which more prominently highlight added sugar and calorie information. It will also back a federal plan, long fought by industry groups, for a phased reduction of sodium in packaged food products. The companies also weighed in on the forthcoming labels for genetically modified ingredients, asking regulators to apply the rules to a wider range of oils and sweeteners. The group has lobbied farm bill lawmakers to streamline the application process for a popular farm conservation program, and says it will also fight for water quality and soil health projects, renewable energy initiatives and emission-reduction efforts, including the Clean Power Plan and Paris Climate Agreement. The four companies have already petitioned the


Costco is taking Polish hot dogs off its food court menu. Fans are grieving — and angry.

At Costco, where the American Dream is sold in bulk, you can buy a bathrobe, a new set of tires, a 7½-pound jar of steak seasoning and a 36-roll box of toilet paper. And while you’re prowling the aisles for giant containers of food, you can eat: The brand’s food court has a cult following for its steep deals on snacks and fast food. But there’s trouble in bulk-discount paradise: The brand is removing a fan favorite, the Polish hot dog, from the menu. The store is replacing it with such healthier fare as acai bowls, which proves that people who run the Costco food court have no idea why people come to the Costco food court. It certainly isn’t to get a refreshing acai bowl after buying a 100-pack of frozen chicken nuggets or a drum-sized container of chocolate-covered pretzels. A Polish hot dog is kind of like a regular hot dog, but in the language of the Internet, it is thicc. It is technically a kielbasa. Business Insider reports that a backlash to the Costco menu changes has begun: Fans have been expressing their displeasure on social media, and a Change.org petition was gathering signatures to bring the dogs back. The changes have been rolling out across stores nationwide, and some ditched the Polish hot dog weeks ago. The Costco membership population is rapidly progressing through the five stages of grief right now. Denial (“How could you do such a thing? #boycottcostco”), anger (“Vegans out here ruining Costco”), bargaining (“I just wanna talk to whoever made the executive decision to get rid of the Polish hot dog”), depression (“Costco removing the polish hot dog sounds like a nightmare but it’s reality. I’m speechless.”). They haven’t yet reached Stage 5: acceptance. Anyway, don’t panic: The regular — skinnier — all-beef hot dog will remain on the menu for $1.50. The Polish hot dogs will still be sold in bulk, the Seattle Times reported. Representatives from Costco have not yet responded to a query from The Washington Post about whether the outcry on social media could persuade the company to reconsider. But even the company’s top leaders don’t seem very convinced that the new health-focused menu will be popular. “This new plant-based protein salad, I know that excites you,” said chief executive Craig Jelinek at a shareholder meeting, according to the Seattle Times. “But it is healthy. And, uh, actually,


Nathaniel P. Reed, leader in efforts to protect endangered wildlife and wetlands, dies at 84

have been without him.” As one of the few Republicans prominent in the environmental movement, Mr. Reed served as an assistant Interior secretary from 1971 to 1977 under presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford. In that role, he helped preserve millions of acres of wilderness in Alaska, banned dangerous pesticides and endured death threats from Western ranchers after he sent federal agents to stop the widespread killing of federally protected eagles. (In 1971 alone, hundreds of golden and bald eagles were found poisoned or shot to death in Wyoming and Colorado.) In 1972, Mr. Reed accompanied the president’s daughter Julie Nixon Eisenhower on a tour of the Everglades. Two years later, Florida’s Big Cypress National Preserve was established as one of the country’s first two national preserves. Mr. Reed also had roles in the banning of DDT and other chemical agents dangerous to wildlife and humans. He took steps to preserve California redwood forests, blocked construction of a jet airport near Jackson Hole, Wyo., and called for a treaty protecting polar bears from hunting. He also sought to ban what he called “the whole shady business of trafficking in captured wild animals in the guise of providing ‘pets.’ ” He had a hand in writing two of the country’s most far-reaching environmental laws, the Clean Water Act of 1972 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973. “I suggest to you that the American dream, based as it is on the concept of unlimited space and resources, has run aground on the natural limits of the earth,” he wrote in a 1974 essay. “It has foundered on the shoals of the steadily emerging environmental crisis, a crisis broadly defined to include not only physical and biographical factors, but the social consequences that flow from them.” When opponents scoffed at Mr. Reed’s desire to save little-known but endangered animals and habitats, he said: “The president appointed me to defend the critters that couldn’t come to Capitol Hill to defend themselves.” After leaving Washington in 1977, Mr. Reed returned to Florida, where he launched an advocacy organization, 1000 Friends of Florida , and was appointed to numerous commissions by Republican and Democratic governors to help guide the state’s environmental future. “People move to Florida for the ‘quality of life,’ ” he told the St. Petersburg Times (now Tampa Bay Times) in 2004, “then destroy the ‘quality of life’ by overbuilding and


Amid the opioid crisis, some seriously ill people risk losing drugs they depend on

same dose. It helped her lead a robust life in the assisted living center, she said. She organized a knitting group, learned Hebrew and studied for her bat mitzvah, which she celebrated at age 75. A reluctance to prescribe For decades, the medical community viewed opioids with caution when treating chronic pain, which affects 25 million Americans and is defined as non-cancer daily pain that lasts longer than three to six months. The country’s first opioid crisis more than a century ago — when doctors freely prescribed morphine, laudanum and heroin for pain — had left 1 in 200 Americans addicted, according to the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis. That eventually led to a backlash and a reluctance to prescribe opioids — a reluctance that persisted until about 30 years ago, the commission reported last year. Then several factors, including a mischaracterization of the addictive nature of opioids for pain patients, pharmaceutical industry influence, pressure on physicians to address pain more aggressively, and a lack of medical and patient education pushed the pendulum back to medication, the commission said. By the late 1990s, opioid prescriptions to treat chronic pain had escalated, driving a decade and a half increase in addiction and 200,000 deaths related to prescription opioids between 1999 and 2016. Harder to find care With the nation now fighting to reverse a drug epidemic fed by prescription opioids, policies to curtail their use and supply come from multiple sources. New prescribing guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state legislation, medical board sanctions and policy changes by managed-care and prescription plans have been enacted to curb opioid abuse. But patients such as Feinstein say they feel the changes have ignored the treatment of their pain and have made it harder for many to find care. The first sign that Feinstein’s treatment was in jeopardy came three years ago, when her primary-care doctor told her she could no longer prescribe opioids for chronic pain because of a change in clinic policy. She would need to find a pain specialist. It took six months “of hell” — pain, worry and several rejections — Feinstein said, before she found a specialist 20 miles outside Portland who would take her as patient and maintain her prescription. Now, she says, she is sitting on a time bomb. “I could be given a 30-day notice of the closing


Explosion of false dark mussels stirs hopes for clear waters, canine concerns

in the mussel population in 2004, there were reports of dogs growing sick and dying after eating the shellfish. In November 2004, three dogs were sickened after eating mussels from Spa Creek. Two of them died. A decade later, in November 2014, mussels in Dividing Creek in Severna Park resulted in the death of two dogs. A third dog nearly died the next month when its liver enzymes, normally between 10 and 100, jumped to almost 7,600. He eventually recovered. Researchers with the state Department of the Environment tested samples of mussels and found no toxins. One possible, though unproven, explanation was that dogs ate rotting mussels that were contaminated with a deadly bacteria. Another possibility is that mussels trigger a “chocolate syndrome,” meaning that a food that is usually harmless proves toxic only to dogs. Biologists had no reports last year of dead ducks, otters, raccoons or other animals that eat mussels. Researchers also have considered whether the sharp mussel shells cut dogs’ mouths and throats, opening lanes for pathogens. The mystery continues today. “There has been no cause and effect established between the false dark mussels and the dog illness,” said Jay Apperson, spokesman for the Maryland Department of the Environment. The mussels bring hopes for clear waters in the Magothy this summer. Spadaro said his team of researchers have already noticed the waters clearing in the creeks. They have found clumps of the tiny mussels covering bulkheads, lines and crab pots. The mussels were so thick on an oyster cage submerged off the pier of his neighbor, Lise Crafton, that she could hardly extract the oysters. “One or two mussels won’t do anything,” Spadaro said, “but millions and billions of them working together do the trick.” Clearer waters allow sunlight to reach the depths, helping grow the aquatic grasses that have all but vanished from the creek. The grasses, in turn, shelter crabs and fish. These plants feed on nutrients that pollute and cloud the waters. Spadaro said the dark false mussels thrive in fresher waters. The rainy spring flushed the creeks and rivers, and salinity levels are unusually low. In 2004, during the last big spawn, the mussels filtered Cattail Creek every 48 hours, Spadaro said. Neighbors could see maybe six inches underwater before the mussels, but 10 feet down after. “You could drop the Capital newspaper and read it underwater,” he said. — Baltimore Sun


Australia and New Zealand, under media pressure, look into war crimes allegations in Afghanistan

Afghanistan and the Meaning of Honour.” No enemy fighters were found, they wrote, contradicting the official account. The U.S. military has been accused of numerous crimes against civilians in modern times, dating to the 1968 My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War. Such allegations have been rare for Australia and New Zealand, which were drawn into the Afghan war through their military alliance with the United States. Although Australia withdrew combat forces from Afghanistan in 2013, at one point it was the largest contributor outside NATO to the U.S.-led mission. New Zealand’s force was much smaller, although it sent its most prestigious military unit, the SAS. In Australia, a judge and a former head of the domestic intelligence service are conducting separate but related investigations into Australian soldiers’ behavior in Afghanistan and the changes made to improve the culture of the army’s special forces. The New Zealand government and military have taken similar steps, under the pressure of media coverage. This year, a former top judge and prime minister were asked to investigate the 2010 incident. The defense forces are also conducting a legal review of a battle six years earlier involving New Zealand’s most decorated soldier. In one of the incidents under investigation in Australia, an SAS soldier is alleged to have been coerced by his fellow soldiers into executing an elderly Afghan prisoner as part of an initiation ritual, the Sun-Herald and the Sunday Age newspapers have reported. Members of the unit also allegedly used another dead Afghan’s prosthetic leg as a beer tankard. Australian military officials have said they are responding to complaints from their own soldiers. “They are serious allegations and, as Australians would expect, they must be thoroughly examined independently from the chain of command,” the then-chief of the country’s defense force, Mark Binskin, said in a written statement last month. A separate official inquiry two years ago reported that some members of Australia’s special forces had described a “complete lack of accountability” in their units as well as “unsanctioned and illegal application of violence on operations.” Some of the Australian soldiers have told journalists that repeated combat tours undermined respect for the rules of armed conflict and consideration for Afghan civilians. “There is a view among many former operators that we were there too long and they deployed too often,” said Chris Masters, the author of “No Front Line: Australia’s Special Forces at War


Eritrean president returns favor, visits Ethiopia as hostilities between the countries ease

Badme. Two weeks later, Isaias responded favorably, and relations took off. However, according to Kjetil Tronvoll, an expert on the conflict from Oslo’s Bjorknes University College, it may have been more about Abiy himself, rather than his offer. The conflict between the two countries was in some ways a personal one between Isaias and Meles Zenawi, a former prime minister of Ethiopia who died in 2012. Abiy’s rise in power has been accompanied by the marginalization of Meles’s once-dominant faction of the ruling party, called the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front, which made the Ethiopian government more palatable to Isaias, Tronvoll explained. “Basically, in the mind-set of Isaias and EPLF, he won the war, he got Badme, and TPLF has ‘lost power’ in Ethiopia,” he said. “Isaias is the ‘last man standing’ — and he proved them all that his strategy was the correct one.” In his speech accepting Abiy’s overture, Isaias exulted over what he saw as the Ethiopian people’s rejection of the TPLF. “But although it will require time and efforts to remove the TPLF’s toxic and malignant legacy and to bring about a congenial climate, the positive direction that has been set in motion is crystal clear,” he said. “The TPLF clique and other vultures are dumbfounded by the ongoing changes.” The TPLF initially responded with apparent annoyance at Abiy’s overtures, insisting that it had to be involved in any peace agreement with Eritrea, but it subsequently issued a statement supporting the agreement signed in Asmara. A normalization between the two countries will be a major boon for both, especially in cross-border trade. It also solves Ethiopia’s perennial problem of access to the Red Sea, from which it was cut off after Eritrea’s independence. Currently, 95 percent of Ethiopia’s foreign trade goes through the port in neighboring Djibouti, with all sorts of bottlenecks in port capacity as well as transportation links. Since coming to power, Abiy has signed a number of agreements with neighboring Somalia, Somaliland, Kenya and Sudan to diversify port access for the export-based industrial economy Ethiopia hopes to one day become. Eritrea’s ports of Massawa and Assab are well placed to be the gateway for Ethiopia’s future exports. Ethiopia has also asked that the U.N. sanctions it helped put in place against Eritrea for its alleged support of the Somali Islamist movement be lifted. During the beginning of his term, Isaias was seen as an


D.C. police identify suspect in fatal July 2 shooting near Judiciary Square

D.C. police on Friday identified a suspect who was being sought in the July 2 shooting death of a man near Judiciary Square in Northwest Washington. Reginald Johnson, 37, is charged in a warrant with first-degree murder while armed. He is described as black, about 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing about 210 pounds. He has green eyes and was last seen with a mohawk-style haircut. Johnson is charged with shooting William Mayo, 34, of Southeast Washington. The attack occurred about 5:35 p.m. in the 400 block of Second Street NW, about two blocks from D.C. police headquarters and several courthouses. Police have not disclosed a possible motive. peter.hermann@washpost.com


New York health officials recommend marijuana legalization in report to governor

notes evidence supporting medical uses for marijuana, particularly its potential to help curb the opioid crisis. It suggests that the greatest risks associated with marijuana use are due to the legal status of the drug, which has led to “more than 800,000 arrests for marijuana possession” in New York in 20 years. The report also makes an economic case that legalization will lead to a reduction in law enforcement costs, and bring jobs and tax revenue to the state. The study represents something of an about-face on marijuana policy for New York, which has lagged behind a number of its neighbors, including Vermont, Massachusetts and Canada on marijuana policy. The state didn’t have a medical marijuana policy until 2014, nearly two decades after California voters approved the nation’s first medical marijuana law in 1996. As recently as last year, Cuomo maintained that he was opposed to marijuana legalization because he believed that the plant was a “gateway drug” — a claim refuted by the new Department of Health report, which says that “the research community generally does not recognize the premise that marijuana leads to the use of other substances as a legitimate or plausible assertion.” Cuomo is facing a primary challenge this year from former “Sex and the City” actress Cynthia Nixon, who has put the issue of legalization front and center in her campaign. “In 2018, in a blue state like New York, marijuana shouldn’t be an issue,” Nixon said in an April campaign video. “If there was more political courage coming out of Albany, we would have done this already.” A May Quinnipiac poll of New York voters found that 63 percent supported “allowing adults to legally possess small amounts of marijuana for personal use.” Support was 71 percent among Democrats, 66 percent among independents, and 40 percent among Republicans. About 15 percent of New Yorkers over the age of 12 already use marijuana in any given year, according to federal survey data. FBI crime statistics show that there are nearly 16 marijuana possession arrests each year for every 1,000 marijuana users in the state, putting New York in the middle of the pack on users' likelihood of getting arrested. The report suggests that officials believe that marijuana legalization in New York is just a matter of time. “It has become less a question of whether to legalize but how to do so responsibly,” the authors write.


Brexit is a mess — and Trump’s visit sure didn’t help

for goods, allowing British manufacturing and agricultural companies to continue trading freely with Europe. What’s more, this approach would help the British government avoid reimposing controls on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland — helping preserve the peace treaty that formally ended the conflict there in 1998. Britain would also have to accept future E.U. regulations. Services, meanwhile, such as finance and law, which make up some 80 percent of the British economy, would receive less access to the E.U. market. The European Court of Justice would probably play a role in settling disputes. Johnson and other “hard Brexiteers” want a sharper break with the E.U. They view May’s approach as an unacceptable betrayal of British sovereignty — because after Brexit, Britain would remain subject to E.U. laws with no say in their creation. In his resignation letter, Johnson wrote that the Brexit “dream is dying, suffocated by needless self-doubt,” and that Britain was “truly headed for the status of a colony.” Jacob Rees-Mogg, a leading pro-Brexit Conservative MP, colorfully described May’s plan as the “greatest vassalage since King John paid homage to Philip II at Le Goulet in 1200.” Obeying E.U. laws, they pointed out — much as Trump did — will also make it harder for Britain to strike external trade deals. If Britain has to abide by European rules on agricultural goods, for example, it will struggle to reach a comprehensive deal with the United States — the United States will probably want Britain to accept some U.S. products, such as certain genetically modified crops, that violate E.U. regulations. These objections may be moot, as European leaders are unlikely to accept May’s proposal. She wants access to the single market for goods while insisting that unrestricted immigration must end. But the E.U. regards the “four freedoms” of the single market — the free movement of goods, services, capital and, crucially, people — as “indivisible,” meaning that Britain cannot choose one without accepting the rest. According to one senior E.U. official, “it is not a question of whether we say ‘No’ to these proposals, but when and how we do it.” What happens next? Trump’s visit has heightened tensions within the Conservative Party. In a recently leaked recording, Johnson imagined Trump negotiating Brexit. “He’d go in bloody hard,” Johnson said. “There’d be all sorts of chaos. . . . But actually you might get


Heatstroke caused death of Maryland offensive lineman Jordan McNair, his family announces

“Our plans did not include his death. Our plans included something more. Our plans included him,” Martin McNair wrote after detailing his son’s path to becoming a highly sought-after Division I football recruit out of Randallstown, Md., and eventually an offensive lineman for the Terrapins. “But God had other plans. Jordan gave us 19 great years, and we will miss him. He was a great son, grandson, cousin, nephew, brother, friend, student, roommate and teammate.” “While Jordan is not with us to build his legacy, as a family we are doing it for him. This is his legacy,” Martin McNair continued in the essay. “We ask but one thing, that you join us in keeping Jordan’s name and legacy alive by supporting The Jordan McNair Foundation (T.J.M.F.).” McNair was hospitalized following a team workout May 29 at the program’s outdoor practice facility. The workout was designed and supervised by the Maryland strength and conditioning staff, and certified athletic trainers were present throughout, according to an account provided by the university. Maryland Coach DJ Durkin was also at the workout, which began around 4:15 p.m. McNair, who was listed as 6-foot-4 and 325 pounds, had trouble recovering after completing a series of 110-yard sprints, a standard conditioning test, and received medical attention. McNair soon was transported to the team’s practice facility and later airlifted to R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore at approximately 6 p.m., according to the university’s timeline of that day. He received a liver transplant, according to a GoFundMe page created June 6 to support his family. He died 15 days after he was initially hospitalized. The foundation’s website lists three programs: “Breaking Chains/the Jordan McNair Training Facility,” “The Jordan McNair Scholarship Fund,” and “My Body, My Safety: Player Safety 101.” The third program is looking to educate athletes, parents and coaches on heat-related illnesses in a handful of ways. One way is to “Educate students on heat-related illnesses and the stages of heatstroke.” Another is to “Partner with medical professionals to educate student athletes about their bodies and how to know when enough is enough.” Read more Maryland coverage: Many questions remain unanswered in death of Maryland player Jordan McNair Maryland basketball subpoenaed in college basketball corruption probe Damon Evans takes over as Maryland athletic director after two-month search led back to him Maryland Athletic Director Damon Evans will make $720,000 a year, before bonuses