A kinder, gentler Conservative Party appeals to Brits facing tough economic times

It’s always about the government, not about the little people,” said a woman working in a dry-cleaning store who declined to give her name. In a nearby discount store selling shower heads, Indian spices and more, shopkeeper Ali Mohammed said the negative effects of Brexit are already being felt. “We import lots of things, and already the prices are going up. People are surprised — they ask us why, but there’s nothing we can do,” Mohammed said. “Life has become really bad around here.” Indeed, the Brexit decision has introduced a new period of economic uncertainty for Britain, with the Bank of England warning of tough times ahead. Carl Emmerson, deputy director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which analyzes public finances, said that Britain’s economic situation is not in the best shape for the country to be increasing public spending. “If we had voted to stay in the E.U., it wouldn’t have been the best of times, but with the decision to leave the E.U., it looks more likely that growth will be lower and inflation will be higher,” Emmerson said. Several of May’s initial proposals have surprised analysts, notably her suggestion that companies should have workers on the boards of directors — an idea so violently opposed by big business that even Labour prime ministers did not dare promote it. May’s remarks outside 10 Downing Street last week had echoes of the statement that Margaret Thatcher made in the same spot 37 years earlier, when she promised to heal the divisions in the country. But then, during the 1980s, Thatcher presided over a series of industrial changes that triggered a huge increase in income inequality. An early test of May’s commitment to helping the poor will come in September, when the government is set to decide whether to raise the minimum wage. Economists are looking to see whether the new government tries to slow down the proposed increases. The new prime minister also has inherited tax and benefit changes, due to kick in next April, that the Resolution Foundation estimates will mean a drop in incomes for the bottom quarter of society over the coming four years. “Brexit is going to push up inflation over the next few years, and that will hit benefit changes even harder,” Bell said, saying that this will also provide a test of May’s commitment. “Will she change course on the benefit cuts?”


Chief war crimes prosecutor offers to postpone retirement once again

Dawn arrives at the now-closed Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It was used as the first detention facility for al-Qaeda and Taliban militants who were captured after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. (Charles Dharapak/Associated Press) GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba — Army Brig. Gen. Mark Martins was set to retire in November 2014, and already received a three-year extension. “Nobody in this process is indispensable. But to the extent I can add some continuity I’m available to do it for as long as necessary,” Martins said. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter appointed him to the job in July 2011 when Carter was deputy defense secretary. In a nod to the fact that the next president could appoint new Pentagon leaders, Martins also said: “I serve at the will of the elected and appointed civilian leadership.” The judge has set no start date for the trial. Hearings for the five men who allegedly trained, advised and financed the 9/11 hijackers will resume Monday at Camp Justice. But the judge sent word Sunday evening that he would, unusually, start court without Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his four accused accomplices present. Army Col. James L. Pohl, the judge, usually requires all five defendants to attend on the first day. Instead, he elected to start two weeks of hearings in a day-long closed session with only the lawyers. Lawyers are expected to argue defense access questions — to evidence, experts, witnesses and whether they will be unable to unclassified information that the prosecution defines as “propaganda.” — Miami Herald


U.S. agency wants to quietly install explosion-detecting sensors in Arlington

The Pentagon 911 Memorial, shown in 2011. (Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images) A Defense Department agency wants to install explosion-detection equipment on public property somewhere in Arlington and is asking the County Board to keep details about the equipment and its location secret. The proposal, which will be voted by the Arlington County Board on Tuesday night, is being opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia. The system is designed to “characterize” explosions in urban environments, according to a letter to the county from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which is based at Fort Belvoir. It would collect information that could help law enforcement prosecute suspects and assess damage. “In the event of an intentional detonation such as a terrorist attack, information generated by the system is critical for the Federal government’s efforts to determine who was responsible for and how to respond to the event,” wrote Air Force Col. D. Brent Morris. “However, disclosure of the location of our equipment and information regarding its components and operation would jeopardize the ability for the system to provide valuable information in a timely fashion . . . by giving insight into the system's design and coverage and possibly how to defeat the system.” Arlington, just across the Potomac River from Washington, is home to the Pentagon, one of the sites attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. Reagan National Airport, Arlington National Cemetery, Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall and multiple other federal facilities are also located there. In response to questions Monday, the defense agency said the network of sensors it wants to install would monitor “seismic, sound, air pressure, radiation, light, and radio frequency signals to help determine the size, location, and other characteristics of an explosion. All of the sensors being installed are passive until triggered by an event, and do not at any time record video or voice data.” The agency’s statement said such sensors have already been installed in other U.S. cities, though it did not say which ones. According to an article in the March 11 issue of the journal Science, the government is working on linking the sensor systems from a number of cities into a network that would be operable as of 2018 and has been named “Discreet Oculus.” A portable version is also planned. Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz has recommended approval of the request to install the sensors and keep the details secret. The


For some expats, U.S. gun violence makes Japan feel like a haven

in a country of 127 million, there were just eight crimes committed in which guns were fired, according to the National Police Agency. Even the yakuza gangs are giving up their guns because of the harsh penalties for possessing them, let alone firing them. The result is a vanishingly small number of firearms in the country: Japan has 0.6 guns per 100 civilians, a rounding error compared with the United States’ 101 guns per 100 civilians, the most in the world. John Durkin, 56, president of the Tokyo American Club and a former naval officer and Coast Guard-qualified rifle and pistol marksman, said he doesn’t miss Americans’ easy access to guns. “I’ve never heard any of my friends or colleagues complain about there not being a Second Amendment here,” he said. The American model is so incomprehensible to many in Japan that after the mass shooting in Orlando, the Sankei newspaper said in an editorial that American society, “in which criminals can easily acquire firearms, is abnormal.” The government also issued travel warnings for the United States after the Orlando attack and after the shootings in Baton Rouge; Falcon Heights, Minn.; and Dallas, advising Japanese citizens to avoid protests and exercise caution at large venues and on public transportation. And Japanese companies operating in Texas, including Hitachi, Central Japan Railway, JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration and Sekisui Chemical, raised their internal alert levels “amid concerns over deteriorating safety in the United States,” according to the Japan News. Not all Americans are worried about returning. Timo Frazier, 34, a photographer, said that there always has been violence in the United States and that technology is just making it easier to see. And at least one American here sees the recent violence as a reason to return. Baye McNeil, a 50-year-old Brooklyn native who writes a column for the Japan Times about people of African descent in Japan, said it is hard to watch his country struggle from afar. “It’s heart-rending,” he said. “You really feel like you’re cut off from being part of the solution.” McNeil said his friends and family back home, some of whom participated in recent Black Lives Matter protests, aren’t pushing him to come back, though. “They’re saying, ‘Stay there, man.’ Nobody’s giving me pressure to come back,” he said. “They’re pressuring me not to come back. A lot of them want to join me here.”


Study says traffic has improved on some sections of the Capital Beltway, but don’t get excited

first year for which comparable data is available, travel times on Interstate 495 in Maryland have increased, according to Bob Pishue, a senior economist with the traffic-data firm Inrix. Between Exit 24 in Greenbelt and Interstate 295, travel times in 2015 and 2016 have generally been higher than in prior years. “In other words, traffic congestion does not seem to be abating,” Pishue said. From the automobile advocacy group’s perspective, the data suggests that perhaps the nearly five-year-old Intercounty Connector between Montgomery and Prince George’s counties is pulling traffic off the Beltway — or maybe more drivers are simply telecommuting to avoid the gridlock. “Motorists are experiencing some big bottlenecks in critical spots on the inner loop and outer loop of the Beltway in Maryland, and drivers are also finding unprecedented relief in other segments of the highway,” said John B. Townsend II, spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic. The Suburban Maryland Transportation Alliance hailed the findings as proof of the connector’s success. Other groups, including the Coalition for Smarter Growth, which advocates for more transit, say decreased traffic volume is simply following national trends, which show millenials shifting from driving and legions instead flocking to cities and living closer to work. Statistics show that the total number of vehicle miles traveled in Maryland has remained basically unchanged since 2005 — hovering about 56 billion to 57 billion per year. “I don’t think you can in any way, shape or form claim that the Intercounty Connector was what has created this reduction in small segments of traffic on the Beltway,” said Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, which opposed the connector. “You have the rise of the millennial generation with much lower rates of holding driver’s licenses and driving and car ownership, the big trend of moving to urban areas, and urban and walkable transit communities. The other piece of it is the collapse of office parks.” And just because the number of commuters is down in some areas, that doesn’t mean the ride into the District or Virginia is any smoother for the majority. Between 2009 and 2015, according to AAA, traffic decreased significantly for travelers on seven out of 10 key Beltway corridors or interchanges in Montgomery County. The same was true of 10 of 20 interchanges in Prince George’s County. But for most Beltway travelers, the shift in traffic patterns hasn’t made for shorter commutes,


Birds, chipmunks, snakes, insects: At some point, the gardener feels like an intruder

kohlrabi and a sauerkraut cabbage. I have recently come into possession of a battery-powered leaf blower. By reconfiguring it, I can make it suck up stuff, and have spent the past couple of weekends vacuuming whiteflies. It’s quite satisfying and most organic. The whiteflies are held in a bag, which I then place in the freezer, away from the ice cream. The vacuuming also will be a way to remove the ants’ nest that has grown inside my storage trunk. This is the time of year when some gardeners are badly afflicted by Japanese beetles, which are iridescent purple and green insects, airborne and highly gregarious. They lose their aesthetic charm upon the arrival of the 87th individual on your lone rose bush. They eat flowers, buds and leaves and like to feast on other members of the rose family, particularly ornamental plums and cherries. They will disfigure certain trees, especially lindens. You can buy traps that lure them by the hundreds using scent pheromones, but the consensus is that unless you have a large property and can position a trap far away, you will be drawing more beetles than you otherwise would. One way of dealing with this beetle is to go after its grub, which lives in the soil. Synthetic pesticides can be effective if used at the right time. A gentler approach is to use a product named milky spore, which is a bacterium that attacks the grubs. I haven’t used it, but retired horticultural professor Frank Gouin, who lives near Deale, Md., tells me that he applied it once when he came to his farm, 25 years ago, and has been grub-free since. He knows this because the mole tunnels, once a ubiquitous feature of the grass, have gone. Without grubs, the moles have moved on. As you have gathered, dealing with the animal kingdom can be stressful and tiring. I have to keep reminding myself that, first, this is the lot of the gardener and, second, don’t sit down on the straw bale. As vexing as gardening with pests might be, it beats watching the news. More from Home and Garden: ‘Elton John of the fountain world’ shows just how far water features have come Bee enthusiasts of all stripes flock to Washington amid pollinator concerns Leave it to a botanical garden to find beauty in a parking lot @adrian_higgins on Twitter Also at washingtonpost.com


America wants to believe China can’t innovate. Tech tells a different story.

meeting in Beijing. Xu started the coffeehouse as a place for start-ups and entrepreneurs to huddle and incubate ideas. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post) “There’s this strange belief that you can’t build a mobile app if you don’t know the truth about what happened in Tiananmen Square,” said Kaiser Kuo, who recently stepped down as head of international communications for Baidu, one of China’s leading tech companies, and hosts Sinica, a popular podcast. “Trouble is, it’s not true.” The truth is that behind the Great Firewall — the system of censorship designed to block content that could challenge the Chinese Communist Party — China’s tech scene is flourishing in a parallel universe. Most of the country’s nearly 700 million users don’t have unfettered access to information — including information about the 1989 killings in Tiananmen Square — and are often stuck with painfully slow Web speeds. They are nonetheless powering a Web boom that last year saw four Chinese firms among the world’s top 10 by market capitalization, according to data website Statista. China is now the world leader in e-commerce. Morgan Stanley projects that by 2018 China will be conducting more online transactions than the rest of the world. Buoyed by that cash, China’s tech start-ups are experimenting with new models that have the potential to make real money — and influence people around the globe. “You go on Facebook and you can’t even buy anything, but on WeChat and Weibo you can buy anything you see,” said William Bao Bean, a Shanghai-based partner at SOS Ventures and the managing director of Chinaccelerator, a start-up accelerator. “Facebook’s road map looks like a WeChat clone.” Internet start-up employees work on their computers at 3W. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post) Disproving the myth Venture capitalist Terry Zhu understands how China earned a reputation for copying, but he can’t get his head around the fact that the “can’t innovate” myth persists. When Zhu entered Beijing’s tech scene in the late 1990s, China was a different country, a place with huge ambition but a tiny middle class. Of course that emerging cohort looked to California, he said. Where else was there to look? China’s initial tech offerings certainly felt familiar. Tencent copied ICQ, a 1990s-era chat service, creating the not-so-subtly named OICQ. Baidu looked a lot like Google. Alibaba resembled Amazon. Zhu, who is now a partner at the Beijing office of Blue


New running apps blur the line between virtual reality and real life

struggle with boredom and motivation to enhance their running experience. Although RunSocial’s main products are virtual running apps for indoors, Hardy said the company is focusing more on the sociability factor. Both the virtual running app and RunSocial GPS, an outdoor tracking system that the company just launched, feature ways for participants to race one another, complete with a countdown clock and a leader board. “Everybody, everywhere can run together, virtually,” Hardy said Both Outside Interactive and RunSocial offer what McNamee calls the “holy grail” — the ability to sync with smart treadmills to adjust the incline levels to match the flat and hilly sections of each of the recorded courses. Outside Interactive, a Boston-based company, offers Virtual Runner, a way for treadmill runners to experience scenic routes, like Central Park, and famed race courses. Runners can sync up the video route to match their pace on the treadmill, so the video will slow down or speed up as the runner changes speed. rEAL Collaborations Some real-life races are working with Outside Interactive and RunSocial to expand and enhance their own efforts. Earlier this year, RunSocial launched a digital version of the Prague Marathon and also offered a digital version of the Virgin Money London Marathon for a second year. The digital London Marathon featured astronaut Tim Peake, who ran the course on a treadmill aboard the International Space Station. Hardy said RunSocial is looking to make inroads in the U.S. market with future partnerships and more U.S.-based video routes. In 2015, Outside Interactive collaborated with the New Balance Falmouth Road Race, a seven-mile course on Cape Cod, Mass. Jennifer Edwards, Falmouth’s general manager, said the race organizers were hesitant at first when they heard McNamee’s pitch but saw the opportunity to give those who couldn’t run the live race — because of scheduling or geography — a chance to participate. Edwards said Falmouth’s goal was “not to add to the race day experience but add another opportunity to be a part of the experience.” In 2015, Outside Interactive collaborated with the New Balance Falmouth Road Race, a seven-mile course in Cape Cod. Forty finishers completed the virtual race, which was held at the same time as the actual Falmouth race. (Outside Interactive) Edwards said 40 finishers completed the virtual race, which was held at the same time as the actual race. Each was given a bib and a finisher’s


Local Digest, July 20, 2016

THE DISTRICT Fourth suspect is charged in slaying D.C. police on Monday arrested a fourth suspect in the fatal beating and stabbing of a 32-year-old Maryland man whose body was found last October in a common area of an apartment in Southeast Washington. Ameesha Gray, 22, of Southeast, was charged with first-degree murder while armed in the death of Cortez Lamont Clark, who lived in Temple Hills in Prince George’s County. His body was found about 1 p.m. Oct. 13 inside the apartment building in the 300 block of Parkland Place SE. Police said in an arrest affidavit filed in connection with suspects arrested earlier that Clark was lured to a vacant apartment with the promise of meeting a woman and was jumped and robbed by four men. Authorities said Clark was beaten and stabbed. In October, Tayvon Felton, 19, of Northeast, and Wade Rashod Wilson, 20, of Southeast, were each charged with first-degree murder in the case. In November, police charged John D. Allen, 26, of Southeast, with second-degree murder while armed. — Peter Hermann Guilty plea in scheme to defraud charity A D.C. man stole more than $142,000 from the religious charity that employed him in a scheme that continued for more than five years, according to his guilty plea Tuesday in federal court. Floyd L. Middleton, 47, of the District was an office manager for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington from which he embezzled funds for rent payments and through false claims for expenses, authorities said. Middleton faces sentencing Oct. 12 before U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper on a federal count of interstate transportation of stolen property. According to prosecutors, from about February 2009 to October 2014, Middleton stole $60,410 in rent payments by establishing his apartment building’s property manager as a vendor in his employer’s computer system, and he stole $82,074 in reimbursements for bogus expenses. — Spencer Hsu Second man charged in school burglaries D.C. police have arrested a second suspect in connection with the burglaries in April of two schools in Northeast and Northwest Washington, D.C. police said. Raymond Marshall, 20, of Northwest, was charged with two counts of burglary. Police earlier arrested Tyree Irving, 19, of Northwest, on the same charges. Irving was on probation for a gun conviction when he was arrested in June. D.C. police said burglars smashed a glass door at Barnard Elementary School April 2 and


Russia’s ugly treatment of Americans

Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Secretary of State John F. Kerry at the Kremlin in Moscow last week. (Vasily Maximov/Pool/Reuters) RECENT INTERACTIONS between the United States and Russia are a study in, well, incongruity. Last week, Secretary of State John F. Kerry hastened from Moscow’s airport to the Kremlin bearing the Obama administration’s latest proposal for U.S.-Russian military coordination against al-Qaeda-linked guerrillas battling the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria. In the days leading up to this meeting, Russia had exhibited its contempt for Washington by harassing U.S. diplomats and expelling Jeff Shell, chairman of the board of a U.S. agency that oversees Voice of America and Radio Free Europe. Mr. Shell, the Russians explained, was on a blacklist they had put together in retaliation for U.S. sanctions targeting Moscow figures culpable for Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea — an attempt at moral equivalence whose falsity is underscored by the fact that Mr. Shell was visiting Vladimir Putin’s realm not on government business but in his capacity as chairman of NBCUniversal’s movie-production division. Beyond these highly publicized events, Russia’s recent treatment of Americans has gotten arguably even uglier. Consider the story of Jim Mulcahy, 72, the Ukraine-based pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church, a 48-year-old U.S. institution founded as an alternative Christian organization for gay men and lesbians who feel excluded from traditional churches. The MCC boasts 43,000 followers in 22 countries and campaigns, nonviolently and openly, for gay rights around the world. This month, Mr. Mulcahy, the MCC’s program officer for Eastern Europe, visited Russia, as he has done annually since 2012. Traveling on a tourist visa, as per usual, he met with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender groups in several locations, apparently without incident. However, during a July 10 gathering with about a dozen people at a gay community center in Samara, the country’s sixth-largest city, Mr. Mulcahy was suddenly accosted by police, who arrived unannounced, accompanied by a TV crew. They arrested, interrogated and fingerprinted him and brought him before a judge — without any access to the lawyer his Russian friends hastily hired for him. At midnight, eight hours after his arrest, and without having had an opportunity to call witnesses, Mr. Mulcahy was convicted of violating his visa by conducting religious activity. He was sentenced to a 2,000-ruble fine (about $31) and ordered out of the country. Mr. Mulcahy tells us he later learned


Montgomery County crime report

Terr. and Log House Rd., Frederick Rd., Germantown Rd., Great Park Cir., Kildare Hills Terr., Mountain Lake Terr., WEAPON University Blvd. E., THEFTS/BREAK-INS Bethesda Church Rd., Birch Mead Rd., Century Blvd., Century Blvd., Century Blvd., Churchill Ridge Cir., Cinnamon Dr., Club Hill Dr., Club View Dr., Frederick Rd., Frederick Rd., Frederick Rd., Frederick Rd., Frederick Rd., Frederick Rd., Germantown Rd., Goshen School Rd., Kemptown Rd., Kitchen House Way, Knolltop View Ct., Laytonsville Rd., Middlebrook Rd., Middlebrook Rd., Mullinix Mill Rd., Northern Dancer Lane, Olney Laytonsville Rd., Peach Crest Dr., Scenery Dr., Tall Forest Cir., University Blvd. E., Western Ave., VEHICLE THEFTS Frederick Rd., Little Seneca Pkwy., District 6 Gaithersburg Station Telephone: 240-773-5700 ASSAULTS Aspenwood Lane, Bradbury Dr., Brassie Pl., Centerway Rd., Centerway Rd. and Montgomery Village Ave., Clopper Rd., Ellington Blvd., Frederick Ave. N., Frederick Ave. N., King James Way, Lost Knife Rd., Old MacDonald Rd., Quince Orchard Blvd., Quince Orchard Blvd., Quince Orchard Rd., Summit Hall Rd., Washingtonian Blvd., Washingtonian Blvd., Washingtonian Blvd. and Waterfront Pl., Welbeck Way, ROBBERIES Goshen Rd., Sandy Lake Dr., WEAPONS Inaugural Way, Mills Choice Rd., University Blvd. E., Walker House Rd., Walkers Choice Rd., Walkers Choice Rd., Windjammer Way, Windjammer Way, THEFTS/BREAK-INS Beacon Square Ct., Boysenberry Way, Brassie Pl., Broadwater Way, Chickadee Lane, Clopper Rd., Coltfield Ct., Contour Rd., Contour Rd., Contour Rd., Contour Rd., Crabbs Branch Way, Crabbs Branch Way, Crabbs Branch Way, Diamond Ave. E., Flower Hill Way, Frederick Ave. S., Frederick Ave. N., Frederick Ave. N., Gaither Rd., Grand Corner Ave., Grand Corner Ave., Grand Corner Ave., Grand Corner Ave., Grand Corner Ave., Harmony Hall Rd., Hidden Marsh St., Kent Square Rd., Kentlands Blvd., Lake Landing Rd., Lost Knife Cir., Mahogany Dr., Market St., Meadow Vista Way, Montgomery Village Ave., Montgomery Village Ave., Montgomery Village Ave., Olde Towne Ave., Quince Orchard Blvd., Quince Orchard Rd., Quince Orchard Rd., Quince Orchard Rd., Rock Lodge Rd., Rosemont Dr., Rothbury Dr., Russell Ave., Russell Ave., Russell Ave., Russell Ave., Sandy Lake Cir., Shady Spring Dr., Stedwick Dr., Stewartown Rd., Sunnybrook Terr., Trams Way, University Blvd. E., Washingtonian Blvd., Washingtonian Blvd., Washingtonian Blvd., Watkins Mill Rd., Western Ave., Woodfield Rd., Woodfield Rd., Second Ave., BREAK-INS Overhill Rd., Shelburne Terr., Walnut Hill Rd., VEHICLE THEFTS Barn Swallow Terr., Corporate Blvd., Muddy Branch Rd., Walkers Choice Rd., VANDALISM Kent Square Rd., Takoma Park and other areas ASSAULT Merrimac Dr., WEAPON University Blvd. E., THEFTS/BREAK-INS Maple Ave., Maple


Montgomery Animal Watch

These cases were received by the Montgomery County Animal Services Division. For information, call 240-773-5900. This number provides recorded information on topics such as the new animal services and adoption center’s hours and location in Derwood, adoption and licensing procedures, and lost-and-found and field services. Outdoor trouble: Under the weather: Reduced fees for cat adoption: Germantown Adoptable cats at no-kill shelter: Gaithersburg Adopt dogs and cats at MCHS no-kill rescue: Rockville — Compiled by Lisa M. Bolton


Prince George’s County Animal Watch

PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY These were among cases received recently by the Prince George’s County Animal Management Division. Call 301-780-7200 for directions to the county animal shelter, hours of operation, and adoption and licensing procedures. The department’s website is princegeorgespets4us.com. Stray dog jumps on children: Stray hops into car: Injured turtle: Dog lost its way: Bat in apartment building: Pet adoptions The Prince George’s County SPCA/Humane Society is sponsoring cat and dog adoptions from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday at Petco, 2319-D Forest Dr., Annapolis. The pets’ foster owners will answer questions and accept adoption applications. Adoption fees are $75 for cats and $180 for dogs. For information, call 301-262-5625 or visit pgspca.org. — Compiled by Gerri Marmer


This D.C. strip mall was built to keep shoppers safe. Now it’s getting demolished.

as the Eighth and H Crew fatally beat, robbed and sodomized a mother of six with a pole in 1984. After the high-profile murder, the city looked to redevelop the property. Rappaport co-developed it into the single-story, 37,000-square-foot H Street Connection with businessman J. Gerald Lustine, who died in 2001. When the center opened, Former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry was on site to welcome it to the neighborhood. The setup of the H Street Connection, while having a suburban feel, is credited with spurring more development in the neighborhood. When it opened, the complex was anchored by a drugstore on one end and a bank on the other. It also housed a small grocery store and dry cleaner. Spectators watch as an excavator machine demolishes the strip mall. (Christian K. Lee/The Washington Post) Rappaport said the complex had lights on 24 hours a day for safety. He hired someone in the neighborhood to frequently check on the property, cleaning the grounds of trash and the walls of graffiti. “We all grow upon what’s occurring,” Rappaport said. The next phase for the property is responding to the latest changes of the neighborhood, now dotted with newly opened bars, restaurants and entertainment venues. The city opened its long-awaited streetcar through the H Street NE corridor earlier this year, encouraging people to explore and traverse the neighborhood. Rappaport is working with D.C.-based development company WC Smith to transform the space into a mixed-use building. There will be 419 apartment units — 40 of which will rent below the market rate — a rooftop dog park, pool and community garden. The ground floor will feature more than 44,000 square feet of retail. Instead of parking spots in front of the stores, there will be wide sidewalks, outdoor cafe seating and three floors of underground parking for residents and customers. Construction that begins this fall is scheduled to be complete by fall 2019. “We’ve gone through good and bad times here over 30 years and we’re excited to give more of our time and investments to create jobs and give more choice for people to have housing in Washington D.C.,” Rappaport said. Read more: If you forget to say ‘please’ while ordering coffee, this cafe will charge you extra D.C. ranked 3rd in best U.S. city parks, report says Musicians want to make D.C. a jazz mecca again. But can the city’s jazz be saved?


Business roundup: Dow Jones has ninth straight gain on positive earnings

and Morgan Stanley were among the latest U.S. companies to report earnings that surpassed forecasts. — Bloomberg News BEVERAGE Justice Dept. blesses merger of beer giants The Justice Department on Wednesday cleared the $100 billion merger of the world’s largest beer makers, Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller, in a deal that would create a global giant controlling much of the world’s brew. U.S. antitrust officials spent more than a year studying the deal, concerned the new company would have too much market power and drive up prices. But the companies agreed to take several steps to address those concerns, including SABMiller divesting its entire U.S. business and give up worldwide Miller beer brand rights. As a result, the competitive landscape in the United States will remain the same, according to the Justice Department. Still, the merger puts some of the country’s most popular beers under one roof: Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Budweiser and Corona and SABMiller’s Peroni. Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Bud Light alone accounts for one in every five beers sold in the United States. Anheuser-Busch InBev, which is based in Belgium and SABMiller, which is based in London, have held the No. 1 and No. 2 spots in the beer market for at least a decade, according to Euromonitor. The companies control 70 percent of the U.S. beer market and 30 percent of the global market, according to the research group. The merger could give the combined company the leverage to enter markets, including in Africa and Latin America. The combination will also allow the companies to save money on ingredients, packaging, distribution and the many other expenses that come with running a worldwide enterprise. — Renae Merle Also in Business ● The Justice Department filed suit against DynCorp International Tuesday, alleging the contractor “knowingly inflated claims in connection with a State Department contract to train Iraqi police forces.” In the suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the government alleges that the McLean, Va.-based company allowed one of its subcontractors on the contract, awarded in 2004, “to charge excessive and unsubstantiated rates for hotel lodging, translator, security guard and driving services and overhead expenses.” In a statement, the company said it is “disappointed” with the Justice Department’s decision and that it denies the allegations. DynCorp said it stopped doing business with the subcontractor, which it said was recommended by the U.S. government, “many years ago,” and that “none


To help stop climate change, volunteers risk their lives atop giant trees

carbon dioxide. (John Flesher/AP) Milarch said that in the past two decades, his Michigan-based nonprofit group has cloned 170 types of trees and planted more than 300,000 of them in seven countries. “It’s really a race against time,” Milarch said. “If we start right now, we can go after climate change and reverse it before it’s too late.” Sequoias growing in the Sierra are among the biggest and oldest trees on Earth, some nearly 300 feet tall and up to 3,000 years old. Milarch, 66, believes their size and robustness make them ideal for absorbing greenhouse gases that drive climate change on the planet. Todd Dawson, a professor of integrated biology at the University of California at Berkeley, isn’t sure. He admires Archangel’s creative efforts but says it’s unclear whether the towering trees have superior genes or whether they were simply lucky not to meet the fate of a logger’s saw. Chances are slim, he said, that cloning and planting a limited number of trees will cool the warming planet. He favors more sweeping approaches such as curbing the use of fossil fuels and protecting vast rainforests. “You’re going to have to plant a lot of trees to combat global warming,” Dawson said. About a dozen expert tree climbers volunteered for Archangel’s expedition in May. After gathering samples from sequoias and redwoods — a taller, thinner cousin of the giant sequoia — the team wrapped the clippings in damp newspaper, placed them inside ice-filled duffel bags and sent them on their way to Archangel’s lab in Copemish, a village in northwestern Michigan. There, Clark and another tree specialist planted about 3,000 tiny clippings indoors in small jars and containers. The samples grow beneath purplish lights under humidity and temperatures designed to encourage root growth. Cloning ancient trees is tricky business, lab workers say, and many samples don’t survive. Later this year, Archangel’s team will head west to plant up to 1,000 sequoia and redwood saplings in a cool, damp region of Oregon where the trees will have the best chance to grow. Bill Werner, a plant consultant based in Monterey, California, who has worked with Archangel, says that in the face of global warming, it’s easy to dismiss the efforts of a “renegade” group that relies heavily on donations and volunteers. “That’s not fair,” Werner said. “It may be a drop in the bucket, but at least somebody’s doing something.”


Yes, it’s summer. But you still can’t wear those shorts in these restaurants.

blazers hanging in wait for the next wardrobe faux pas. But each year, there are fewer of them. As fine dining grows more casual, restaurants with jackets-required policies are going the way of the dodo — a fact that’s never more obvious than in the summer. “I would say that we encounter this more into the warm season,” says Karim Guedouar, service director at Daniel in New York. “It’s a weekly basis occurrence.” Daniel, the Michelin two-star restaurant from chef Daniel Boulud, requires “proper pants, no jeans, no flip-flops, no shorts,” says Guedouar. “The shorts and the flip-flops are quite rare. When it occurs, I cannot let the guest be like that. We do let them know — either to go back to the hotel, if it’s the case of being a tourist, and change. Or we just simply cannot honor the reservation if they don’t want to dress up. That is the most extreme situation.” Eating vs. dining This never would have been a problem for our grandparents. Fine-dining restaurants didn’t need to post notice about “proper attire,” because people in improper attire probably weren’t eating in fine-dining restaurants. But today, athleisure is the predominant style, and rule-breaking chefs have done away with the previous generation’s idea of what fine dining is supposed to be. In new-wave fine-dining restaurants, the music may be louder and the tablecloths may be optional. (But the price is definitely high). “We decided not to require jackets, because it took us just a hair into the formal and stiff category,” says Pineapple and Pearls chef-owner Aaron Silverman. “A lot of people wear jackets here — it’s great. But to make it required is a hair different.” Relaxing the rules has “opened doors for people who might not ordinarily go to a fine-dining restaurant, especially when you’re on vacation,” says Jacqueline Whitmore, etiquette expert and founder of the Protocol School of Palm Beach. “Most people don’t pack a jacket.” But as restaurants grow more casual, we lose something intangible. “You lose part of that elegance, and that charm,” says Whitmore. “Studies have shown that people tend to act better when they’re dressed up, and they feel better.” That’s why, even as restaurants like New York’s longtime 21 Club have loosened their dress codes (it used to require neckties), other historic restaurants are holding firm. In this Jan. 16, 1985, photo, well-dressed customers stand outside the


Ban on Russian track athletes upheld, leaving IOC to decide on other sports

await the CAS ruling before making a decision on a Russia ban. Russian Olympic officials have said they expect an IOC ruling by Sunday. In a statement “CAS decision violates the rights of all clean athletes who from today will also bear a collective responsibility for the guilt of others,” the Russian Olympic Committee said. “ROC hopes that the IOC and international sports federations on Olympic sports will take a fair and objective decision on the admission of pure Russian athletes to participate in the Games . . . in Rio de Janeiro.” The IAAF praised the ruling, which it said “created a level playing field for athletes.” IAAF President Sebastian Coe, however, released a measured statement, saying “this is not a day for triumphant statements. . . . “I didn’t come into this sport to stop athletes from competing,” Coe said. “It is our federation’s instinctive desire to include, not exclude.” Thursday’s ruling maintained a small loophole that allows Russian track and field athletes who have been training and passing drug tests in other countries to compete in Rio. The IAAF has said it expects only a handful of Russians training abroad will qualify. For years, according to Monday’s WADA report, Russian sports ministry officials, anti-doping agents and intelligence agents have colluded to cover up positive tests and sabotage drug testing at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. The investigation, by Canadian lawyer and sports ethics expert Richard McLaren, largely followed the account of Grigory Rodchenkov, a former director of a Moscow anti-doping laboratory. Forensic testing of urine samples from Russian athletes from previous Olympics and analysis of data from computer hard drives — including emails between anti-doping agents and Russian sports ministry officials — corroborated Rodchenkov’s claims, according to WADA. In the aftermath of the WADA report, anti-doping agencies from around the globe have called for a wholesale ban of Russia from Rio. A nation’s athletes have never been banned from an Olympics games for competitive violations; previous bans have been primarily for geopolitical reasons, such as bans on Japan and Germany in 1948 after World War II. Thursday’s court ruling could ratchet up public pressure on the IOC to ban Russia or could give the IOC political cover to rely on its earlier position — announced in June after the IAAF ban — that individual sports federations should decide whether to permit Russians in Rio. The CAS


From onions to internal organs, a Philly chocolate company finds humor in the business

Mueller Chocolate Co. owner Glenn Mueller Jr. holds up a chocolate hand at the store in Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market. (Sarah Maiellano /For The Washington Post) “I have a question,” a sporty teenage girl asks. “Are chocolate-covered onions a thing?” “They’re a thing here,” a Mueller Chocolate Co. employee answers. “Oh. Really?” She pauses and looks at her friends. “Ew. . . . I’d like chocolate-covered strawberries, please.” It’s a Saturday afternoon at Philadelphia’s popular Reading Terminal Market. A girls volleyball tournament is in town. Teenagers, parents and market regulars create human traffic jams in the lanes between the famous food hall’s 80 stalls. On a busy day like this, Mueller Chocolate might serve 800 customers. Most come for the best-selling chocolate-covered pretzels, turtles and clusters — or, if they’re tourists, the chocolate cheesesteaks with a streak of whitechocolate “Cheez Whiz.” Fiends come for the 5-inch-tall Chocolate Tower. The macabre and irreverent come for the treats shaped like human body parts. The brave come for the onion. The Mueller family has been in the chocolate business since Glenn Mueller Sr. worked in the candy department at the long-gone Lit Brothers department store just a few blocks from Reading Terminal. Glenn Sr. took what he learned there and, starting in 1981, opened five of his own stores with his wife, Theresa, selling hand-crafted treats. “Dad learned what we still do today, the old-fashioned way, and I think that’s why we’re successful,” Mueller said. “Other companies push a button and make two tons of truffles.” Chocolate-covered pretzels — along with turtles and clusters — are Mueller’s best-sellers. (Sarah Maiellano/For The Washington Post) Today, Glenn Jr. — who sometimes calls himself Dr. Chockenstein — runs the show at Mueller Chocolate’s 1,500-square-foot stall, which serves 100,000 customers a year. Mueller isn’t a bean-to-bar chocolate maker, a trend he calls “millennial-speak for re-creating the wheel.” Mueller gets its chocolate from Peter’s Chocolate in nearby Lancaster County — a company founded by Daniel Peter, who along with Henri Nestlé was among the first to make milk chocolate in Switzerland about 150 years ago. “There’s a very distinctive chocolate flavor in Philadelphia,” Glenn Jr. said. “If you grew up eating chocolate here, it’s Peter’s. It’s creamy, with no astringent aftertaste.” The sweet stuff takes hundreds of forms at the Mueller stall, none more infamous than the chocolate-covered raw onion. It was created in 1983, when the creator


Beltway traffic near the Intercounty Connector has eased. Coincidence?

Traffic on the Intercounty Connector from the Needwood Road overpass in Rockville in 2011. (Mark Gail/The Washington Post) TRAFFIC ON the Beltway is getting better, and traffic on the Beltway is getting worse. That information, shared in a AAA study this week, is not much of a revelation. The real news: Where congestion has decreased, commuters may owe their thanks to Maryland’s Intercounty Connector. The toll road connecting Montgomery and Prince George’s counties was a local transportation hot topic for almost a half-century. In 2011, the artery finally opened. The roadway, as we said many times over the course of the decades-long debate, always had the potential to benefit countless commuters who live and work between the two counties. Now, there’s data to back that up. Though many of the Beltway’s busiest segments have only gotten busier, AAA’s study shows, on others the flow of cars has thinned — and not where the agency expected. When AAA consulted traffic engineers about its findings, they said the Intercounty Connector might have something to do with the change. A closer look from the Suburban Maryland Transportation Alliance bore that out: Major interstate segments served by the connector have seen traffic decrease by as much as 13 percent since the connector opened, 5 percent on net. Segments unaffected by the artery saw an increase of 2 percent. Die-hard critics of the connector offer alternate explanations, or excuses: Without knowing the origin or destination of the trips AAA has tracked, it is impossible to say for sure what caused the shift. The millennial generation’s distaste for driving could have played a part, and fewer Americans overall drive to work these days. Some of the changes AAA noticed also may be attributable to job losses in some areas and development in others, such as National Harbor. Still, the numbers are hard to ignore: Parts of the Beltway are getting more crowded. The portions getting less so run parallel to the connector. None of this should come as a shock. Though the Intercounty Connector did not meet expectations for usage in its early years, in fiscal 2015 trips on the roadway jumped by 18 percent, and for the first time toll revenue topped projections. The connector may have gotten off to a slow start, but it seems things are speeding up. For decades, the Intercounty Connector’s detractors said the road would cost too much and contribute


Nothing can prepare an Olympian like advice from someone who has been there

Staff explained. From archery to wrestling, the world has no shortage of expert coaches to prepare medal-contending athletes. But coaches who have competed at the Olympics can offer additional insight that, ideally, should spare first-time Olympians some of the anxieties, frustrations and bewilderment that can throw off the most prepared athlete. Clark Montgomery, Lauren Kieffer, Phillip Dutton and Boyd Martin, left to right, are joined by U.S. eventing coach David O’Connor at Riverdale Stables in the Bronx. (Diane Bondareff/AP Images for U.S. Olympic Equestrian teams) Staff’s chief takeaway as a two-time Olympian: Worry about only things you can control, which he did far more successfully in Beijing. He did the opposite in Athens, growing annoyed at the cramped confines of the athletes’ quarters — unfinished shells of apartments into which 12 Brits, athletes and staff, men and women alike, were crammed two to a room, including one highly emotional female cyclist who was prone to high-decibel crying fits at random times of day and night. And with the kitchen converted to a double bedroom, there was no place to make a cup of tea or fix a simple snack. And the line for the lone public phone in front of the apartment building was 20-deep around the clock, filled with athletes and coaches who either didn’t have cellphones or didn’t want to run up their bill. “Everything changes at the Olympics,” Staff said. “Your whole environment is literally turned upside down. For me, it affected me. It set me off on the wrong foot, and I got disqualified in one of the events. I learned a lot.” David O’Connor, coach of the 2016 U.S. Olympic eventing team, won silver in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and claimed gold and bronze in 2000 in Sydney. He speaks of his experience as enabling him to “pre-load” potential scenarios for the country’s Rio-bound riders. “You can say, ‘These are things to watch out for,’” O’Connor said during an interview at the recent Great Meadow Invitational. “Most of these guys, they play such an individual sport. They have their own businesses and their own crews, and suddenly now you’re a basketball team. Suddenly you’re traveling as a group. That’s a different atmosphere for a lot of the riders.” Whether riders, runners, swimmers or weightlifters, some Olympic athletes are accustomed to training and preparing for competitions alone and in silence. Others prefer training with a group.


Companies flood Earth’s orbit with satellites, but no one’s directing traffic

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launches with a communications satellite on May 6 in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (NASA/via Getty Images) Companies around the globe are launching an increasing number of satellites, crowding Earth’s orbit in an effort to satisfy the ravenous on-demand desire for more broadband, satellite television and communications. In the past five years, the number of operational satellites has jumped 40 percent, and nearly 1,400 now orbit the planet. And industry officials say the number could more than double in five years as a revolution in technology makes satellites smaller and more affordable. Entrepreneurs eye the ethereal real estate a couple of hundred miles up as a potentially lucrative new market. Companies such as OneWeb, Boeing and SpaceX plan to put up constellations of small satellites that could number in the hundreds, if not thousands, and beam the Internet to the billions of people not yet connected. Last month, Boeing filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission that would allow it to send up nearly 3,000 satellites for broadband services. But U.S. officials are concerned about all the traffic in space and the lack of oversight. Although the Pentagon tracks objects orbiting the globe and warns of close approaches, it does not have the power to order an operator to move a satellite out of the way to avoid a collision. Some members of Congress say a civilian agency, such as the Federal Aviation Administration, should be made responsible for managing satellite traffic. Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.) has led that effort, saying the Pentagon should focus instead on how to “fight and win wars in space.” He has introduced legislation that would give the FAA authority to monitor objects in space and play the role of traffic cop, warning operators when satellites are dangerously close to one another. The FAA would have the power to order operators to move satellites when necessary, Bridenstine said, and to require that satellites have propulsion systems to maneuver and transponders for better tracking. It would be up to the FAA, not Congress, to come up with the exact regulations, he said. “As space becomes more congested and contested and competitive, there needs to be an agency with unambiguous authority that can compel somebody to maneuver,” Bridenstine said. There is no guarantee the bill will pass anytime soon. And if it does, giving the FAA jurisdiction in space will require additional resources at


secretary of defense for space policy. Establishing rules of the road would not only help military satellites avoid collisions, he said, but also head off conflicts over nations’ satellites coming too close to other pieces of sensitive equipment. The discussion comes as companies pursue plans to launch constellations of satellites that have become smaller and cheaper, much the way computers have gone from massive mainframes to smartphones. Satellites once were as big as garbage trucks, costing hundreds of millions of dollars. Now there are versions as small as dishwashers, or shoe boxes — or even smaller. The imagery of Earth that such devices provide could help weather forecasters, farmers and scientists studying climate change, aid rescue workers and guide soldiers on the ground. “There have been a lot of technological developments as well as a recognition that broadband access is the equivalent today to what electricity was 100 years ago,” Stroup said. “There’s a feeling there’s a market opportunity and a cost-effective means for providing that service that didn’t exist 20 years ago.” OneWeb, in a joint venture with Airbus that is also backed by business magnate Richard Branson, plans to put up nearly 700 satellites, beginning in 2018. The company is opening an $85 million manufacturing facility near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida that it says will be able to build more than 15 satellites a week. “OneWeb’s mission is to bring the entire world online to improve quality of life and spur economic and national development where it’s needed most,” Greg Wyler, the founder of OneWeb, has said. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is best known for launching rockets that deliver commercial satellites to space and carry cargo to the International Space Station. But Musk has discussed plans to launch as many as 4,000 satellites that would provide broadband service to all parts of the globe. He said the effort “would be like rebuilding the Internet in space.” Last year, SpaceX asked the federal government for permission to begin a test project and said that if all goes as planned, the service could be running within five years. Raytheon, meanwhile, is building 50-pound “disposable satellites” for the Pentagon that could stay aloft for 60 to 90 days and provide soldiers with real-time imagery of the battlefield. In its application to the FCC, Boeing said that it was aware of OneWeb’s plans and that it would work with the company


Pokémon Go finally available in its birthplace, Japan

TECHNOLOGY Pokémon Go craze comes home to Japan After captivating users in the United States, Australia and parts of Europe, Pokémon Go is officially available for Apple and Android devices in the country that gave birth to the Pokémon franchise two decades ago: Japan. The release of the smartphone app comes two weeks after the game made its chart-topping debut overseas, triggering a phenomenon that added as much as $20 billion to the market value of Nintendo. Shares rose as much as 6.9 percent in Tokyo. Even though the country is the second-most-lucrative market for smartphone apps, Japanese gamers had to sit and watch as 35 other countries, including Malta and Luxembourg, became playgrounds for Pokémon trainers hunting virtual monsters on streets and in parks. Within two hours of the release, dozens of people could be seen playing it in Tokyo railway stations. On Thursday, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, warned players to use the game in a safe manner. — Bloomberg News COURTS Lagarde to stand trial in arbitration case France’s top court has ruled that International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde must stand trial over a 2008 arbitration ruling that handed 400 million euros to a politically connected business magnate. Lagarde, who was French finance minister at the time of the deal in favor of tycoon Bernard Tapie, is accused of negligence in the case. She has denied wrongdoing. A special court ruled in December that Lagarde should stand trial, but she appealed. France’s Court of Cassation on Friday rejected the appeal. Lagarde attorney Patrick Maisonneuve said he expects the trial to show that the IMF chief did nothing wrong. The generous 2008 arbitration deal, paid from public funds, prompted years of legal disputes that remain unresolved. The probe began in 2011. IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said in a statement Friday that the fund’s executive board “continues to express its confidence in the Managing Director’s ability to effectively carry out her duties.” A waiter holds up a glass to the light as he sets up a conference room ahead of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting to be held over the weekend in Chengdu, China. (Pool photo by Ng Han Guan via Reuters/Pool photo by Ng Han Guan via Reuters) A trial date has not been set. — Associated Press Also in Business ● A rough day on Wall Street for Warren Buffett means


Shelter from the swelter: Residents and tourists alike try to stay cool

early to stake out a shady spot near an entrance tunnel. “I just love tennis,” she said. “That’s what keeps me out here.” Tournament organizers and the National Park Service brought in extra mist machines, water stations and shade tents to keep people cool. The measures seemed to work — by 2 p.m., a park official said, no one had suffered any heat-related illnesses. At the Mall, herds of sweating families could not hide their discomfort. A sign outside the Hirshhorn Museum — “Come inside. It’s cool in here.” — served as a sort of desert mirage for passersby seeking refuge. The Hirshhorn was among several museums closed Saturday because of a power outage that was fixed about 10 a.m. Visitors to the Mall also could not access the Washington Monument, which the National Park Service said would be closed until at least Tuesday because of a malfunctioning elevator. Frustrated by the museum closures, Robin Ballenger, 52, waved off others who had also been lured by the hope of cool air. “I wanted to see as many of the museums as I could, and the first couple I’ve tried have been closed,” said Ballenger, who was visiting from Colorado. “That’s unfortunate.” The heat, officials said, caused none of the closures. The soaring temperatures had, however, created problems at the District’s Central Detention Facility, which has struggled to keep certain areas comfortable for inmates. By Saturday, officials said, about 200 people had been transferred from the jail to cooler units or to another facility to ensure their safety. At the National Zoo, the staff prepares for extreme weather throughout the year, said spokeswoman Pamela Baker-Masson. What they do with their animals depends on the species. “Some love the cold,” she said, “and some love the heat.” In most cases, she said, the animals decide whether they prefer to be outside or in. Many of the precautions (such as extra water) are obvious, but the zoo’s department of nutrition science also offers its residents a variety of icy treats — fruit and juice for the herbivores, blood and bones for the carnivores. Alice, a Stanley crane, recently pecked through a cricket popsicle, and on Mei Xiang the panda’s 18th birthday, she gorged on a frozen cake topped with biscuits of ground-up bugs. Perhaps nowhere were people more eager to bear the heat than across town at the Washington Humane Society, which was


Animal Watch: Jumpy playmate

HYATTSVILLE Among cases received by the Prince George’s County Animal Management Division.


Mei Xiang turns 18; offspring joins in celebrating

Mei Xiang, the adult female panda at the National Zoo, turned 18 on Friday. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post) One of Washington’s most prominent residents, one whose most private activities have long attracted vast public interest, turned 18 on Friday, and despite her renown, the celebration seemed quiet. In addition, although it is well known that this is an important election year, she made no move to register to vote. But Mei Xiang, the National Zoo’s adult female giant panda did get what the zoo called a “special ice cake.” Although they might seem particularly suited to a Washington summer, ice cakes appear to be a part of birthday celebrations for pandas and for other animals as well at many zoos. Often they are embellished or flavored with fruits and vegetables. In her 18 years Mei Xiang has been a productive member of her endangered species and the zoo population, giving birth to three surviving cubs. She was born in China and brought here in 2000. She enjoyed the cake, the zoo said, as did her youngest cub, Bei Bei, born last year. In a demonstration of parent-child bonding, posted video showed both getting in their licks.


The wrong way to fight disease

A tray ofmosquitos collected in July at the Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District. (Rick Bowmer/Associated Press) BY INACTION, Congress has left federal, state and local public health agencies scrambling to find resources to cope with the Zika virus carried by mosquitoes, for which there is no vaccine or effective cure. The virus is a serious threat to pregnant women, because it can lead to birth defects. It was irresponsible of Congress to leave town for the summer with President Obama’s $1.9 billion request up in the air. It also underscores a larger problem: The system for financing public health emergencies is flawed. When it comes to other high-consequence threats, politicians open the funding spigot. Might there someday be a ballistic missile fired at the continental United States? Billions are lavished on missile defense systems. Might there be a massive hurricane or storm? A federal disaster relief fund stands ready. After the anthrax letters, billions were spent to stockpile biomedical countermeasures. But when a virus such as Ebola or Zika comes along, public health officials are reduced to rattling a tin cup. The huge advantage of rapid response — being able to warn people and change behavior, to create diagnostics and surveillance, to launch vaccine and drug therapy research, among other things — is lost to political uncertainty and bickering. This is not only a problem in the United States, but afflicts other nations and the World Health Organization, as the Ebola postmortems showed. Matt Watson, writing for the Center for Health Security at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, notes that severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), H1N1 influenza, Ebola and Zika “all caught us flat footed.” Haven’t we learned anything? As Congress dithered this spring over whether to provide emergency funding for Zika, the administration responded by reprogramming about $589 million in existing funds to deal with the threat. This wasn’t a freebie. It robbed resources set aside to help other nations improve their disease surveillance and response systems, an important lacuna exposed by Ebola’s spread in West Africa. Also, some of the money had been set aside to help state and local health departments in this country prepare for emergencies — training, exercises, laboratory testing, communications, surveillance and epidemiological investigation. In effect, by inaction, Congress forced the administration to rob the future to pay for today. State and local public health departments, often


Politicians could learn lessons from the honeyguide bird

A male greater honeyguide in the Niassa National Reserve, Mozambique, in 2013. (Claire Spottiswoode/Associated Press) How nice to find relief from the dark halls of the GOP shindig with the July 22 news article “Bird understands when African tribe calls for help,” about the greater honeyguide’s mutual cooperation with humans in leading them to beehives in return for the wax and larvae. Politicians could learn a bit of give-and-take from this remarkable arrangement. When I used to visit the miombo woodlands around Tabora in Tanzania in the 1970s, I used to meet honey collectors. They, too, had a call like the Yao tribe in Mozambique to summon the honeyguide, although they rarely needed it because the honeyguides usually joined them quickly. A wise old man once told me that, when honey collectors break open the beehive and take the honey, they must leave plenty of the wax broken open and accessible. If they didn’t play by the rules — for example, by taking away the wax (which has monetary value) — then the next time, the bird would lead them to a dangerous animal, such as a leopard. He assured me there were such penalties for breaking the compact! For the early colonial big-game hunters, honeyguides were a problem. A bird would come to a hunter hoping to guide the hunter to a hive. But the hunted elephants would hear the bird’s distinctive call, know humans were approaching and move off. One hunter short on patience carried a small, quiet, bird rifle to shoot persistent honeyguides that messed up his hunting stalks. Ridley Nelson, Great Falls


‘Nordic to go’ could be a gradually acquired taste

of Noma, who now brings the New Nordic philosophy to the United States. In April, Meyer opened a formal 100-seat restaurant, Agern, in Grand Central Terminal, with Icelander Gunnar Gislason as executive chef. Even more ambitious, on June 25 he officially opened the 5,000-square-foot Great Northern Food Hall right next door, under the grand gold-plated chandeliers in the refurbished Vanderbilt Hall. Coffee sold at the food hall comes from Meyer’s Brownsville Roasters. (Signe Birck/Great Northern Food Hall) With a focus on fast-casual, food-court-style eating for a bustling commuter clientele, the hall is a decidedly different proposition from Meyer’s other higher-end ventures. It’s spread over five pavilions, each with its own focus: coffee and pastries; salads and smoothies, “Nordic flatbreads” and hot sandwiches; beer and porridge; and the smorrebrod, as well as a bar and an adjacent shop and counter selling Danish-style hot dogs (think crispy shallots and pickled turnips as garnish). It’s also a big bet by Meyer, who consolidated and sold off a number of his business interests in Denmark to sign a 10-year, multimillion-dollar lease. Couple that with opening a coffee roaster and bakery, launching a nonprofit culinary school and publishing a new cookbook, “The Nordic Kitchen,” in English, and it’s pretty clear Meyer is all in on his quest to spread the New Nordic to an American audience. “I want to become part of the fabric of the city,” Meyer said. “I don’t want people to come in and say, ‘What is this strange Scandinavian place?’ I want it to be accessible. We don’t want to run around with Danish flags or Viking helmets.” I met with Meyer at the bar at Agern few weeks before the food hall opened and posed the obvious question: Why? “I thought, ‘How would the New Nordic cuisine translate to another country? How would it look in New York?’ ” he told me. “Besides, I’ve been working for 30 years to improve the Danish food culture. I created the best restaurant. What else could I do in Denmark?” Meyer remembers well his home country’s “very unhealthy food scene” that existed before its embrace of the New Nordic. “Denmark was a food desert, well into the 1990s. But we had a vision that we would take a food desert and make it one of the great cuisines of the world,” he said. “Our vision was that maybe one day the Nordic cuisines


braising, dehydrating, powdering, aging, pickling and more. “People had done so much research into how to cook a burger or a steak or a lobster. But no one had really researched how to cook a cabbage,” Meyer said. The centrality of vegetables is on full display at the Great Northern Food Hall: rye flatbreads topped with cauliflower, aged Havgus cheese and dandelion pesto, or layered with three types of onions, goat cheese and chives; smorrebrod with green potatoes, pickled onions and dill; smoothies with beet, horseradish and apple. Frankly, for me, most of the food was pretty outstanding, though that might be because I enjoy the familiar, subtle flavors and remember my own Scandinavian travels. Many of the people passing through Grand Central probably know little or nothing about Nordic cooking or culture. (I heard, in fact, at least three customers refer to the place as “Dutch.”) In the end, the great challenge for the Great Northern Food Hall might be that the food will have to stand on its own as fast-casual fare, largely unhinged from high-minded manifestos and the gastronomic intellectualism of Noma and the New Nordic philosophy. It’s a chance to see whether the hallowed New Nordic principles work outside the realm of expensive restaurants. Can Meyer’s food hall compete with, say, the always-thronged Shake Shake on Grand Central’s lower concourse? It’s all Danish to them I watch a young hipster couple wander around the pavilions for a few minutes, before stopping at the Open Rye counter. As they stare at the smorrebrod, the woman asks her companion, “Sooo, what are these supposed to be?” He pauses for a moment and says slowly, “It’s not entirely clear. . . .” “Maybe we should just get something at the bakery,” she suggests, and they order a pastry. In Denmark, these are called “Wienerbrod” or “Vienna bread.” But this couple, like most Americans, know them as something familiar: Danish. The Great Northern Food Hall in New York’s Grand Central Terminal is open Mondays through Fridays 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. greatnorthernfood.com. Wilson is author of the new Kindle Single “Spaghetti on the Wall.” He will join Wednesday’s Free Range chat at noon: live.washingtonpost.com. More from Food: In Italy, I learned how to make true pesto. In America, I buck tradition. Have questions about cooking? Join our live chat Wednesdays at 12.


In looking for ‘zebra,’ doctors are stumped by toddler’s painful legs, rash and bleeding gums

he didn’t seem sick. Although he was a picky eater — hardly unusual at his age — he was growing normally. The pediatrician ordered an X-ray of the leg, which showed a possible fracture of the right fibula, the bone that runs between the knee and ankle. Because it wasn’t clear that the bone was broken, an orthopedic surgeon recommended that the X-ray be repeated after the boy had rested his leg for a week. The second X-ray turned out to be similarly equivocal and soon afterward, the toddler began showing signs of pain in his left leg. Instead of walking, he reverted to crawling. The boy’s mother noticed another new symptom. His gums were swollen, and he had developed a black spot between his two front teeth. When she wiped it away, his gums began to bleed. Alarmed, the boy’s parents took him to an emergency room. In the ER, the toddler, who seemed agitated, did not move his legs. He had no fever, but his pulse seemed rapid. There were no bruises on his body, but because of uncertainty about whether he had a broken leg and whether it might be the result of abuse, child protective authorities were notified. Doctors admitted the boy and ordered a CT scan of his head and legs. Scans showed neither a broken leg nor a head injury. But his blood tests did hold a possible clue. He had mild anemia, which in toddlers is often the result of excessive milk consumption or an iron-poor diet. Such a finding can also indicate lead poisoning. His leg weakness, combined with anemia, also might mean that a cancerous tumor was compressing his spinal cord. After MRI scans of his brain and spine revealed nothing, other diagnoses were considered. One was polio, which seemed highly unlikely because he had gotten all his immunizations. The other was Guillain-Barré, which can develop after a virus, but is very unusual in a child so young. A spinal tap was performed and revealed no sign of Guillain-Barré. But soon afterward, the little boy developed a petechial rash — pinpoint round spots that signal bleeding under the skin — which quickly blanketed his torso. Worried that he might have ascending paralysis, doctors decided to transfer him to the large children’s hospital. A simple question Hafez remembers that the little boy cried when a doctor touched his legs. “It wasn’t clear


Rio’s massive Olympic village not quite ready as athletes arrive

particularly affecting teams from Australia, New Zealand and Brazil. “There are some electrical issues and some leaks,” he said, noting that a team of about 500 workers is currently addressing the problems. “It’s one of those things with new buildings, but it should not have happened.” New Zealand Chef de Mission Rob Waddell said, however, he was happy with the accommodations, even if the advance team had needed to work with organizers to get it up to standard. Waddell and his 10-strong advance party arrived in Rio last week and also found plumbing and electrical issues, but managed to fix them in time. “We were disappointed the village wasn’t as ready as it might have been when we arrived and it hasn’t been easy,” the Sydney Olympics rowing champion said. “Our team has had to get stuck in to get the job done. Other teams moved into the village without comment on the conditions. They hung banners or flags off the sides of buildings. Slovenia had the best banner. In green and white it says: “I Feel sLOVEenia.” The LOVE portion was set off in white type, making sure the message got across. Another read: “All for Denmark.” Banners or flags from Canada, Britain, Portugal, Finland and Sweden were among those spotted. A tiny red and yellow Chinese flag was pinned near the top of one of the compounds. Everything about the village is massive though fairly standard for recent Summer Olympics. Organizers say the compound has 10,160 rooms, 18,000 beds, seven laundries, an enormous clinic and a massive gym. Then there’s the dining-kitchen area, a sprawling tent where officials expect to serve about 60,000 meals daily to Olympians and staff — and perhaps 10,000 more daily to workers. Food is available 24 hours a day. “The hardest part is knowing how much to prepare,” said Flavia Albuquerque, who oversees Rio’s food and beverage service. “We want them to eat anything they want to.” That will be easy. The choices are nearly infinite. Diners will choose from buffets — Brazilian, Asian, international, pasta and pizza, and food fitting Jewish and Muslim dietary laws. Then there’s a casual dining area that will feature barbecue. “The casual area might be the most popular,” Albuquerque said. There will be several million dirty plates, but none to wash. Instead, the plates — made from corn and sugarcane — will provide a feast for microorganisms.


Business roundup: 45% of Web shopping on mobile, study says

RETAIL 45% of Web shopping on mobile, study says For retailers at least, the most important screens are now the small ones. Smartphones accounted for 45.1 percent of shopping traffic on the Web in the first quarter of this year, edging out computers at 45 percent, according to a study from Demandware, an e-commerce software provider. The firm, which was acquired by Salesforce.com this month, projects that number will continue to increase, with phones accounting for 60 percent of e-commerce visits by the end of next year. While smartphone shopping allows retailers to reach customers any time and any place, merchants face obstacles in getting the most out of mobile platforms. Lengthy checkout times and payment procedures can deter consumers from completing orders. Demandware found that mobile-checkout completion is 11 percent lower than the combined rate from all other devices. “If they can get it right on mobile today and tomorrow, that’s where they’re going to see a lot of value going forward,” said Rick Kenney, author of the study and head of consumer insights for Demandware. Sales from mobile more than doubled from 2013 to 2015, according to research firm ComScore. Demandware projects that by the end of next year, shoppers will place more orders on their phone than on any other device. Technologies such as Apple Pay, Android Pay and PayPal are offering retailers solutions to their struggles. Kenney said larger screens and better mobile Web browsing will improve the shopping experience. — Bloomberg News CURRENCY Europe gets first bitcoin exchange Europe’s first regulated bitcoin product — an asset-backed exchange-traded instrument that will invest exclusively in the digital currency — begins trading this week on the Gibraltar Stock Exchange and Germany’s Deutsche Boerse. The Web-based currency can be used to send money instantly around the world, free of charge and with no need for third-party checks. It is accepted by several major online retailers and is used in more than 200,000 daily transactions. Its value has been volatile, peaking at more than$1,200 in late 2013 before crashing after the collapse of the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange. It has since stabilized somewhat, trading at about $655 on Monday, up more than 50 percent this year. BitcoinETI will be available through regulated brokerages across Europe, and settlement will be handled through Clearstream and Euroclear, the Gibraltar Stock Exchange said, rather than via bitcoin’s shared ledger system, the blockchain. — Reuters


Solar plane completes round-the-world flight to champion clean technology

the airplane for the 16 other flights in the single-seater, which has the wingspan of a 747 jumbo jet but weighs only as much as a car. Solar Impulse 2 pilots André Borschberg, left, and Bertrand Piccard celebrate Piccard's successful landed in Abu Dhabi. Piccard and Borschberg took turns flying the single-seat plane. (Christophe Chammartin/REZO/Impulse) The trip began in March 2015 with early stops in India, China and Japan. While heading from Japan to Hawaii, Borschberg was at the controls for four days, 21 hours, 52 minutes — a world record for the longest flight with only one pilot onboard. That flight was Borshberg’s most challenging, he said by phone from Abu Dhabi. “It was the first time we could and had to fly many days and many nights over the ocean. It was what I call the moment of truth,” Borschberg said. “The tension was incredibly high. . . . When I left Japan, I had technical difficulties. The engineers wanted me to go back.” Borschberg said he was convinced that he could succeed despite the equipment problems. Pilot and plane arrived safely in Hawaii last July, but the batteries overheated and needed replacing. The problem caused a nine-month delay in the trip. Piccard takes a photo while flying over the Red Sea in Solar Impulse 2, which is powered by 17,000 solar cells. (Bertrand Piccard) New batteries allowed the journey to resume in April. Stops in the United States included San Francisco, California; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Dayton, Ohio, the childhood home town of aviation pioneers Wilbur and Orville Wright. At several of the layovers, the public was invited to see the plane. Borschberg said he enjoyed the kids’ reaction. “So many classes of kids, when they see the airplane you see the eyes get bright,” he said. Borschberg said he hopes Solar Impulse 2 will inspire children around the globe. “They can develop better solutions, clean solutions,” he said. “We have showed the way that we can go, but there is so much potential.” That potential includes aircraft powered by electricity — something Borschberg said should be developed in the near future. But as he and Piccard continue to spread the message of using clean technology (or using renewable resources) in the air and on the ground, Borschberg is hoping the sun will play a significant role. “There’s something that is truly special about solar power,” he said.


The Olympics are being held in a country with a pre-9/11 notion of security

minister last week announced the operation against a dozen Brazilian men who had allegedly talked about training in martial arts and buying firearms for a possible attack on the Games. The minister, Alexandre de Moraes, described the men as “amateurs” who expressed support for Islamic State but had never trained with the group in Iraq or Syria. In response to the terror threat, authorities have conducted security exercises and rolled out some new security procedures. On a recent Saturday, an underground metro station in Rio — the stop fans will use to attend basketball and cycling events — closed so police in riot gear could storm the cars in a training exercise. A few days later, Brazilian travelers arrived at Rio’s airports to find massive lines and confusion as authorities introduced heightened security screenings — including pat-downs and luggage checks — that were previously only required for international flights. Last week, the government launched a campaign equivalent to the “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign in the United States. Its mantra is “Fica Ligado,” which in Rio de Janeiro slang means, “Pay Attention,” and the accompanying posters show a woman tugging on the sleeve of a police officer as she points to a lone backpack. Some experts are concerned these measures come too late. “You don’t want to be completely altering some security fundamentals at the last minute,” said Patrick Skinner, director of special projects for the Soufan Group and a former CIA case officer specializing in counterterrorism. “You want to roll that out in stages and see how it goes and work it out, because even in the greatest bureaucracy, there are going to be a lot of glitches.” He added that fixing security problems two weeks before the Olympics is “a recipe for disaster.” Is Rio ready? Other cities that have hosted the Olympics have had ample experience with terrorism. Far-left militants set off bombs in Athens just a few months before the Games there in 2004, and London had experienced an attack on its subway system by Islamist extremists seven years before the 2012 Olympics. Russia was also recovering from domestic bomb attacks in the run-up to the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014. As with most Summer Olympics, the geography of the 2016 Rio Games is “sprawling” and “there will be no shortage of targets,” because “what terrorists are looking for is crowds, from bars to


On Russia, the IOC betrays the Olympic ideal

Runner Yulia Stepanova, who blew the whistle on Russia’s sports-doping program, has been barred from competing in the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. (Michael Kooren/Reuters) ACCORDING TO a recently released report from the World Anti-Doping Agency, Russia’s government ran a “systematic scheme” to infuse the Russian team with performance-enhancing drugs and to cover up that cheating, before, during and after the 2014 Winter Olympics, which Russia hosted. This follows a previous report by the same agency documenting rampant doping among Russia’s track and field athletes. And now, with less than two weeks to go before the 2016 Summer Olympics get underway in Rio de Janeiro, the International Olympic Committee has announced Russia’s punishment: an ever-so-gentle slap on the wrist. Instead of an outright ban on Russian participation, as the World Anti-Doping Agency had urged, the IOC will impose a convoluted case-by-case review of Russian athletes, carried out by the 28 international federations that govern each Olympic sport. Athletes will have to overcome a presumption of guilt, but given the limited time left before the Games, and the influence Moscow can bring to bear, overtly and otherwise, on the various federations, this is a dragnet through which many Russians will slip. Here’s all you need to know about what a cop-out the IOC has committed: Moscow’s minister of sport reacted positively to the ruling, proclaiming that most Russian athletes will indeed qualify to participate — and march into Rio under the Russian flag. To be sure, officials have barred the vast majority of applicants from Russia’s tainted track and field team. Yet the banned athletes include Yulia Stepanova, who blew the whistle on her country’s cheating. Ms. Stepanova had asked to compete not on Russia’s behalf, but as a neutral, stateless athlete; officials said no because she had a past drug violation. No matter that this resulted from a system that put pressure on her to dope, and that she had the courage to speak out against it later, at tremendous risk to her career — and, in Vladimir Putin’s police state, her life. This ethically warped performance by the panjandrums of the international Olympic “movement” casts a dark shadow indeed over the Rio proceedings. We say that not so much out of concern for the results of the Games themselves, which are bound to provide the usual portion of thrills, chills — and accusations of various transgressions by participants


agency documenting rampant doping among Russia’s track and field athletes. And now, with less than two weeks to go before the 2016 Summer Olympics get underway in Rio de Janeiro, the International Olympic Committee has announced Russia’s punishment: an ever-so-gentle slap on the wrist. Instead of an outright ban on Russian participation, as the World Anti-Doping Agency had urged, the IOC will impose a convoluted case-by-case review of Russian athletes, carried out by the 28 international federations that govern each Olympic sport. Athletes will have to overcome a presumption of guilt, but given the limited time left before the Games, and the influence Moscow can bring to bear, overtly and otherwise, on the various federations, this is a dragnet through which many Russians will slip. Here’s all you need to know about what a cop-out the IOC has committed: Moscow’s minister of sport reacted positively to the ruling, proclaiming that most Russian athletes will indeed qualify to participate — and march into Rio under the Russian flag. To be sure, officials have barred the vast majority of applicants from Russia’s tainted track and field team. Yet the banned athletes include Yulia Stepanova, who blew the whistle on her country’s cheating. Ms. Stepanova had asked to compete not on Russia’s behalf, but as a neutral, stateless athlete; officials said no because she had a past drug violation. No matter that this resulted from a system that put pressure on her to dope, and that she had the courage to speak out against it later, at tremendous risk to her career — and, in Vladimir Putin’s police state, her life. This ethically warped performance by the panjandrums of the international Olympic “movement” casts a dark shadow indeed over the Rio proceedings. We say that not so much out of concern for the results of the Games themselves, which are bound to provide the usual portion of thrills, chills — and accusations of various transgressions by participants and officials. Rather, Moscow’s evasion of meaningful accountability makes a mockery of the high ideals for which the Olympics purportedly stand and can only reinforce the sense of impunity with which the Putin regime approaches international norms in areas far more consequential than sports. Read more on this topic: The Post’s View: Bar Russia from the Rio Olympics The Post’s View: Russia’s reported doping is a subversion of the Olympic ideal Charles Lane: Stop the Olympics


Montgomery County Animal Watch

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


Suspected militant killed by police in Bangladesh is a U.S. citizen

that carried out an assault on a cafe earlier this month that killed more than 20 people, police said. Rouf was born in Bangladesh but spent time in Illinois and California as a youth, his father said in an interview. After Rouf had gone missing Feb. 3, his father had sought the help of police. His name was eventually listed among the 200 or so names of missing Bangladeshi citizens released this month by the country’s Rapid Action Battalion force. After the July 1 cafe attack, authorities launched a wide-ranging effort to locate Bangladesh citizens who had gone missing and whose families feared that they could be entangled in militancy. Five attackers in the cafe hostage-taking had gone missing in the preceding weeks and months. Rouf’s father said his son had not shown any signs that he had been radicalized in the weeks before he disappeared. “That is the worst part. Maybe it was my inability to understand, but we never got any indication,” Tauheed Rouf said. The young man had been praying with some regularity, he said, but that was all. The U.S. State Department referred all questions about Shazad Rouf to “local authorities” and declined further comment. The Muslim-majority South Asian nation has been grappling with a rise in extremist violence since 2013. There have been brutal hacking deaths of secular bloggers, largely claimed by a local affiliate of al-Qaeda, and the killings of foreigners, Hindu and Christian priests, and other minorities that were claimed by the Islamic State militant group. Rouf’s father said his son was born in Bangladesh and immigrated with the family to the Chicago suburb of Elmhurst in 1999. Later, the whole family — except the father, who is an arms and military supply trader — became U.S. citizens and relocated to the San Francisco area. The family moved back to Bangladesh in 2009 so Rouf’s mother could be treated for cancer; she has since died. Rouf graduated from the American International School in Dhaka in 2010 and from North South University last year before embarking on his master’s program. The elder Rouf said he had gone to identify the body earlier Wednesday and was not entirely sure it was his son, but police said they had made a positive identification through fingerprints in the national identity-card database. Azad Majumder and Saad Hammadi in Dhaka and Carol Morello in Washington contributed to this report.


After the IOC’s decision, I will not watch the Olympics

The International Olympic Committee logo. (Fabrice Coffrini/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images) Regarding the July 25 front-page article “IOC to let Russia compete in Games”: I will not watch the Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee had a chance to clean up athletics and overcome the corruption its officials displayed in the selection of a venue unprepared to host the Games. The IOC muffed it by letting Russian athletes compete and make a mockery of drug testing and enforcement. Al Riutort, Newport News, Va.


Corpse flowers are invading the East Coast: Here’s how to see (and smell) one

that gets fatter and more ruffled by the hour before opening. Botanically, the titan arum is the largest unbranched flower structure in the plant kingdom. Its flowering has become a hugely popular if not common phenomenon in botanical gardens around the world, not least because this plant draws thousands of ticket-paying visitors. Uniquely, admission to the U.S. Botanic Garden is free, and its grower, Elliott Norman, and plant curator, Bill McLaughlin, are simply thrilled to get visitors during the oppressive heat and humidity of high summer in Washington. Visitors are itching to take a selfie for their social media sites, they say. “It’s a bucket list for people to experience,” McLaughlin said. “A large, smelly bucket,” added Norman. He has been growing this week’s titan arum since 2010, when it was a pea-size offset of its mother bulb, or corm. Its bulb is now about 50 pounds, small for a blooming titan, but nothing about this plant has been predictable. Norman usually can figure out three months in advance whether new growth will turn into a flower, rather than the more common and persistent leafy stalk. But Charlotte only gave him a couple of weeks’ notice. Its mother plant has yet to bloom. The twin titans at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, Audrey and Seymour. When Audrey, left, opens, the horticultural team will use Seymour’s pollen for a pollination attempt. Seymour has since collapsed. (Marie Selby Botanical Gardens) The plant is also growing at a rate and size beyond expectations, given the smallish girth of its bulb. As of Friday, it was 6 feet 9 inches inches high; Audrey was 5 feet 8 inches, and the New York specimen topped out at 6 feet 4. “It took us by surprise, and its performance has been amazing; it’s far larger than expected,” McLaughlin said. When George bloomed in 2013, the horticulturists set up a stepladder after-hours to get pictures and to experience the most potent period of odor. Norman, being an incurable romantic, took his wife along. “After the third wave we decided to leave. We thought the next one would cause us to fall off the ladder,” he said. More from Lifestyle: Rekindling a gardener’s passion for daylilies When cucumbers are copious, your options for eating them are, too Humans love fireflies, but we haven’t made life easy for them Bee enthusiasts of all stripes flock to Washington amid pollinator concerns


The roots of the hostility between Putin and Clinton

“these claims are an absurd and colorful example of the use of Russophobia in the interest of an election campaign in the United States. It is absurdity bordering on stupidity.” Peskov had earlier dismissed the allegations by arguing that American politicians always like to keep a “Russia card” on their desks and will play it whenever it can help them. The Kremlin’s critics have long pointed out that Putin likes to play the “America card” at times of stress. In December 2011, large protests unexpectedly broke out in Moscow following parliamentary elections that featured brazen cheating. Clinton, as secretary of state, called the election “neither free nor fair,” and Putin jumped on that as an attack on Russia and, by extension, him. “She set the tone for some of our public figures inside the country, sent a signal to them,” Putin said. “They heard this signal and launched active work with the U.S. State Department’s support.” The rest of that winter saw ever sharpening attacks on the United States as Putin was in the midst of his own presidential election campaign. In the year that followed, some of the strongest anti-American steps that Russia took were only tangentially related to Clinton — expelling the USAID, forcing Radio Liberty off the AM dial, harassing then-U.S. Ambassador Michael A. McFaul. And when Congress pushed through the 2012 Magnitsky Act, placing travel and banking sanctions on certain Russian officials deemed to be corrupt or human rights violators, Moscow’s furious response was a law banning adoptions of Russian children by Americans. Clinton had said little about the act, and the White House had at first tried to deflect it. Yet Clinton was the face of American diplomacy. Together, her public support for anti-Putin protesters, and the American sanctions on Russian officials over the persecution and death of Sergei Magnitsky, a whistleblower, struck directly at Putin’s greatest vulnerability — his legitimacy, as Viktor Kremenyuk, deputy director of the Institute for the USA and Canada Studies in Moscow, said at the time. Clinton had also pushed hard for the Libya intervention in the spring and summer of 2011, which Putin was appalled by, seeing it as unwarranted interference in another nation’s sovereignty. After she stepped down as secretary of state, she made a well-publicized visit to Yalta — in 2013, when it was still part of Ukraine — to support Ukraine’s signing of an agreement with


For Olympians, seeing (in their minds) is believing (it can happen)

as simple as imagining an intended action. Many sports psychologists encourage the athlete to immerse themselves mentally in the desired outcome, imagining the action but also the surrounding sounds, tastes and smells. Karen Cogan, a senior sports psychologist for the USOC, says the acrobatic sports, such as diving and gymnastics, especially lean on visualization techniques to master particular movements and routines. “A lot of people in acrobat sports feel like they have to see it and feel it before they can do it,” she said. “Sometimes we get super nervous,” gymnast Donnell Whittenburg explained. “You tend to forget some of the stuff in your routine. So if you go over it and get more calm, then you just raise your hand and go do it.” Fencer Mariel Zagunis, a two-time gold medalist who’s preparing for her fourth Olympics, said she’ll especially take advantage of downtime spent on airplanes, where “you’re alone,” she said, “you’re confined and you have time to kill.” She already knows the pool of likely Olympic opponents and has studied enough film to know their strengths, weaknesses and tendencies. So Zagunis will close her eyes and try to think through every possible scenario on the strip. In saber fencing, she explains, “points happen literally in split seconds, and tides can change and turn very, very quickly. So part of visualization is preparing yourself for every situation, so when it shows itself, you’re ready for it.” Harrison, a 26-year-old judoka, is even more detailed in her visualization exercises. Months and years before the Rio Games have even arrived, Harrison made sure to dedicate 10 minutes before falling asleep each night to mentally walking through entire days of Olympic competition. “Waking up, weighing in, packing my bag, getting on the bus, listening to certain music,” she said. She’ll visualize each match, all the way to the finals. “I picture myself bombing the girl in the final and standing on top of the podium and watching the flag go up and feeling the gold medal go around my neck and hugging my coach,” she said. “I visualize all of that every night.” For Harrison, it’s a tested blueprint. She followed the same pattern at the London Games four years ago and became the first American to ever win Olympic gold in judo. “When I woke up that day in London, my body knew: ‘It’s time. This is it.’ Like I’ve