I was separated from my mother. Here’s how I talk to my son about what’s happening today.

different ways for different people, but the science shows that the impact on a child’s brain and body is significant. I listened to an episode called “Children at the Border” on the podcast Circle of Willis where five developmental scientists were interviewed about the impact. I heard them talking about the 5-year-old me: the behavioral outbursts and the inability to focus in school because I was concerned about my immediate well-being. I’m a parent now, and I’m still healing. Yet, my experience is still no comparison to the horrifying human rights violations taking place in our country. I’ve been struggling with what to do, and I don’t know all the answers. But I think the power is in speaking honestly with our own children. I told my 4.5-year-old-son about the situation in story form. Every night we tell him a made-up story about a coyote and its different adventures — cleaning up Mother Nature, rescuing people with a rescue helicopter or putting out forest fires in a huge firetruck. To explain the separation of children from their parents, I told him that Coyote lived in the vast Sonoran desert with its two pups. I described its home and how they were running out of food and water and how the other animals were taking Coyote’s food because they, too, were running out of food. I described how Coyote decided it was time for them to travel to a different part of the desert where Coyote had heard there was plenty of food and water and safety. I described how they had to walk for many, many hours under the hot sun, and how they would sleep for just a few hours, and try to find whatever food and water they could. Then they arrived at a fence that separated the desert and was guarded by bobcats and rattlesnakes who were responsible for deciding who could come across the fence. I told him that the bobcats and rattlesnakes were angry at Coyote and decided to take his pups away. At this point, my son interjected with “and then coyote got in a rescue helicopter, grabbed his pups and flew away to a new place where they ate all the food they wanted and they put the bobcat and rattlesnakes in jail.” I didn’t have to continue the story after that, as it was clear that my son realized the injustice. I


Meeting of South Sudan’s warring leaders leaves many feeling dubious

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — The tweeted image shows the two longtime South Sudanese adversaries in a smiling group hug with Ethiopia’s young new prime minister, suggesting that peace could be coming to the world’s newest country after years of savage fighting. Yet even though it was the first meeting in two years between South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and his bitter rival, Riek Machar, many doubt that the hug or subsequent talks will end one of Africa’s most brutal conflicts. Immediately after the Wednesday meeting in the Ethiopian capital, Machar’s party issued a communique expressing its opposition to the proposals in the high-level talks and requested “more time,” even as African leaders and envoys gathered at a summit Thursday to say that time is running out. Tens of thousands of people have died in South Sudan since a civil war, initially between the forces of Machar and Kiir, broke out in 2013, just two years after the oil-rich region seceded from Sudan. An additional 4 million people have been displaced — producing one of Africa’s largest refugee crises — and the United Nations has said several regions of the country are on the brink of famine. As the standoff persists, the international community is showing increasing skepticism about the willingness of the warring parties to move toward a reconciliation. The summit Thursday of East African leaders and their Western partners, which took place in Kenya, was filled with grave warnings about the need for the warring parties to repair their many broken agreements and implement them before it is too late. “Today there are signs of hope again,” said Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who chaired the summit. “I am grateful we have Salva Kiir and Riek Machar with us. They are here because they realize what is at stake; they realize time is running out and they need to act now.” He added that all partners “must speak with one voice and move in unison and encourage the parties in South Sudan to ensure and implement those commitments.” In recent years, cease-fires have been broken practically before the ink on them has dried. And the East African leaders have been split over how to pressure the warring groups to end the violence. After helping to create South Sudan and spending billions of dollars on development aid, the United States is now very critical of the country’s leadership and is


It can cost more for a checking account if you’re black or Latino, study says

There is a cost to being black or brown when it comes to banking, according to a New America report released Thursday. It can be more expensive to obtain loans — as demonstrated by recent fines against megabanks Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase for discriminating against minorities. Now Thursday's report from the Washington think tank suggests it can also cost substantially more for services as basic as opening and maintaining a checking account. The culprit? Small community banks whose wholesome image and limited geographic scope have allowed them to largely escape scrutiny. “If we care about racially disparate patterns in costs and fees and want to eliminate those in the financial system, our oversight has to include small and community banks where these practices are prevalent,” said Terri Friedline, an associate professor of social work at the University of Michigan who was a co-author of the report with Jacob William Faber, a New York University sociologist. Community banks in predominantly black neighborhoods require an average minimum opening deposit of $81, compared with $69 in white neighborhoods, the researchers found. It also tends to be more expensive to maintain an account in a black neighborhood, where banks require an average minimum balance of $871 to avoid fees. The required minimum balance is $749 in Latino neighborhoods and drops to $626 in white neighborhoods. Checking accounts generally serve as an entry into the economy. The higher costs can have far-reaching consequences for black and Latino families, who typically earn less than their white counterparts. Higher charges and higher minimum balance requirements limit their economic power by tying up more of their earnings in checking accounts where they cannot be used, the report said. The average white consumer needs to keep 28 percent of a paycheck deposited to avoid a fee or account closure. For African Americans, it's 60 percent and for Latinos, 54 percent. The country’s pattern of residential racial segregation may also exacerbate discriminatory banking practices by creating “easily identifiable, geographically organized local markets” and warrants further investigation, the report said. "It’s another example of how segregation inflicts costs on people of color," Faber said. "We have this very limited understanding of what racism and discrimination is. We’re almost always thinking about a person burning a cross or discriminating against someone in a job interview. But arguably more damage is done in communities of color by the way society is set


A homeless man donned a stray race bib at the London Marathon — and was sent to jail for it

watching runners go by near the finish line of the London Marathon last month, when he saw a stray race bib on the ground. He picked it up, ran the remaining 1,000 feet of the course and strode across the line, victorious. Now, a month after being pictured kissing his finisher’s medal with the race number of a man named Jake Halliday, Skupian is being jailed for fraud. Skupian, whose story has unfolded in the British media this past month, was sentenced by the Uxbridge Magistrates' Court on Thursday to 13 weeks in jail for fraud and another three weeks for unrelated thefts, The charge against Skupian states that he intended to benefit himself by procuring “a finisher’s medal and other items associated with completing the London Marathon,” the Guardian reported. It is unclear what these “other items” are, but finishers of the marathon in years past have received gift bags filled with healthful snacks in addition to the medals. Magistrate Michael O’Gorman said Thursday that “the offences [committed by Skupian] are so serious as only a prison sentence will suffice,” but many Britons Some described the sentence as “counter-productive” and “ludicrous,” while others called on Britain's overstretched police force to focus on pursuing more serious crimes instead. Many are also criticizing the organizers of the marathon for what they see as a lack of compassion for Skupian's circumstances. Skupian has lived in Britain for 11 years. Last year, he suffered a neck injury in a serious car crash, forcing him to take sick leave from his job as a caterer, Jamroz said. During the same period, he separated from his wife and found himself without a home. Shortly before the day of the marathon, according to Jamroz, Skupian also suffered a mental breakdown. As the outrage continues to mount, some people are taking particular offense at the remarks of Nick Bitel, the chief executive of the London Marathon. According to the BBC, he said Skupian’s actions threatened the reputation of the race. “It is good to see that justice has been done,” Bitel said after Skupian's sentencing. “No, Mr Bitel,” one user responded on Twitter,” it's *you* who's damaged the integrity of the race.” Read more: ‘We’ll finish together’: London Marathon runner hailed for act of ‘ultimate sportsmanship’ British TV chef Matt Campbell dies after collapsing at warmest London Marathon An astronaut is running the London Marathon from space


The downside to all those scooters and dockless bikes appearing in our cities

hyperloop and underground boring projects appear to be the “trains” of tomorrow. None of these innovations are all good or all bad. They provide improved transit for some users and may reduce carbon emissions, while negatively affecting other urban dwellers and potentially eroding support for mass transit. The point, however, is that we have largely shifted the decision-making about how people should get around our cities from public authorities and public investments to private companies and private investors. The change reflects deliberate choices in public policy. During the Obama years, Republicans fought fiercely against any increase in public investment in mass transit and advanced rail systems. In 2016, decrying the crumbling state of our public infrastructure, President Trump promised that he would pass the largest infrastructure bill in U.S. history during his first 100 days in office. More than 500 days into his presidency, the bill still hasn’t even been drafted. In the meantime, Trump’s tax cuts put a further squeeze on state and local efforts to pay for improvements on their own by repealing the state and local tax deduction under federal law — hampering the ability of those governments to raise increased revenue from their citizens to pay for needed projects and services. Where does that leave us? In a “this is not the Onion” moment last week, Domino’s announced it was launching a new program whereby it would fill potholes and make repairs in cities where the state of the roads was slowing pizza deliveries. While this act of generosity should be applauded, what does it say about the state of civic resolve to maintain our public infrastructure when its condition turns not on public action but on the priorities of a pizza maker? Laboring under constrained budgets and without promised help from Washington, state and local governments can do little but watch their roads and sidewalks become laboratories for transportation innovation that will benefit some but not others. Upscale gentrified areas will soon be rich with autonomous cars, electric scooters and dockless bikes — while other populations will struggle with aging buses and creaking subways. Private investment and private innovation are great things. But private players are driven by profit motives, not public benefit. Regulation of these new modes of transport is one important means of ensuring that they serve the public interest; increased public investment in infrastructure and mass transit is also vital. The roads


Two years after Brexit vote, British leaders still tied in knots over how to leave Europe

tabloid published an editorial this month wondering aloud where all this is going. “There is a worrying sense of drift in Downing Street,” the paper wrote, suggesting that May is doing little more than managing to “cling on.” Bloomberg observed Priti Patel, a Tory member of Parliament who was pushed from her ministerial post for freelancing her own foreign policy in Israel, criticized May’s leadership, tweeting: “These political games have serious consequences. . . . The Government should have shown the leadership required to deliver for Britain, rather than being bogged down in factionalism.” This month, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s remarks at a dinner speech asserting that Trump would be better at Brexit than May were leaked — as he probably could have imagined they would be in a ballroom filled with mobile phones. “I am increasingly admiring of Donald Trump,” Johnson said. “Imagine Trump doing Brexit. He’d go in bloody hard. . . . There’d be all sorts of breakdowns, all sorts of chaos. Everyone would think he’d gone mad. But actually you might get somewhere. It’s a very, very good thought.” If the Conservative Party is divided — May voted to remain in the E.U. — so is the opposition Labour Party. Negotiations have been slow in Brussels, but there has been progress — most to the E.U.’s advantage. May agreed to a $50 billion “divorce bill” and pledged that during the transition period, Britain would abide by all E.U. laws on trade and free movement of European citizens. Europe’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, has warned that “the most difficult part is still to come.” “The UK will be automatically withdrawing from 750 international agreements, Euratom, Europol, the European Defense Agency and trade agreements” on Brexit day, he said, ready or not. The Europeans remain mostly united. Britain cannot get out of the union smoothly without settling the issue of the border between Ireland (a member of the E.U.) and Northern Ireland (part of the United Kingdom). Barnier told reporters that Britain can remain in both the E.U. Customs Union and the Single Market, if May wants, but this would block Britain from independently negotiating its own bilateral trade deals and controlling European immigration into Britain — two red lines drawn by May but topics that are likely to be debated again in Parliament and on the airwaves, regardless of whether Britons are sick of it. william.booth@washpost.com


No-knock raids like the one against Paul Manafort are more common than you think

But he adds that the most scrutinized warrants are in complex, white-collar cases. If Mueller does bring a case against Manafort, it will undoubtedly be complex. So again, in that context, comments such as those from Toobin and Blumenthal aren’t technically wrong, but they give the impression that all federal warrants for no-knock raids are carefully scrutinized and waged against only people for whom there is a significant amount of incriminating evidence. For most such warrants, that just isn’t true. Move from the FBI to the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the problem only grows. From the mid-1990s through about 2010, the DEA conducted hundreds of full-on SWAT raids of medical marijuana clinics in states that have legalized the drug for medicinal purposes. These businesses were technically breaking federal law. But they weren’t heavily armed drug dealers. They were businesses licensed by the states in which they were operating. Through the 2000s, the DEA also sent SWAT teams to raid the offices of doctors whom drug cops suspected of over-prescribing opioid painkillers. Whatever you make of the current opioid crisis, these weren’t well-armed kingpins. They were doctors operating in the open. But the more typical targets of a no-knock DEA raid aren’t doctors, medical marijuana clinics or kingpins. They’re people accused of low-level drug crimes. The evidence can be flimsy, or indiscriminate. The DEA will sometimes join state and local police to conduct multiple, even dozens of raids in a single city or neighborhood. Those raids might produce enough illicit drugs, cash or guns to make them seem worthwhile, but the sheer size of the operations can rope in innocent people, too. In one such case we covered here at The Watch, an elderly Detroit woman and her daughter were raided and roughed up by masked DEA agents during a massive sweep of the city’s Eight Mile neighborhood. The women never got their day in court because the DEA never revealed the identities of the masked agents. A quick list of other incidents that come to mind: Finally, most federal drug raids are also carried out not by a well-trained DEA or FBI SWAT team, but by multi-jurisdictional narcotics task forces, or local cops participating in the Justice Department’s adoption program. The training these task forces undergo is inconsistent at best, and they’ve been the subject of too many scandals and controversies to count. Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of reliable


The blemishes moving around on her face turned out to be a parasitic worm

First, it appeared as a tiny blemish under the eye. But over the next two weeks, the 32-year-old woman watched it move — snapping photos as it formed bumps above her eye before it made its way down into her lip, forcing her mouth to swell. It was a parasite — and it was living inside her face. The case — and shocking images — were published Thursday in a report titled “Migrating Dirofilaria repens” in the New England Journal of Medicine, detailing a case in which a woman from Russia became host to a parasite through a mosquito bite. The report states the woman, who was not named, started showing symptoms after traveling to a rural area not far from Moscow, where she “recalled being frequently bitten by mosquitoes.” She experienced only occasional itching and burning as the worm slithered under her skin. Dirofilaria repens Dirofilaria are usually found in dogs or other carnivores, according to the CDC, but have been known to infest humans, too, especially in Europe and with certain species — D. repens, D. tenuis and D. immitis (better known as heartworm in dogs). How? Thomas Nolan, director of the clinical parasitology laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, said mosquitoes ingest the microfilariae (the parasite's undeveloped embryos), which then travel to the insect's gut and mature into the first-, second- and third-stage larvae. The larvae then make their way into the mosquito's mouth parts and, Nolan said, when the mosquito bites an animal — or a human — they crawl quickly into the bite site. Once in their new host, he said, the larvae mature into adult worms. That is where things can get weird. According to guidelines from the European Society of Dirofilariosis and Angiostrongylosis (ESDA), Dirofilaria repens typically appear in humans near the eyes — “eyelids and under the conjunctiva (in such a case the worm can be easily observed, sometimes actively moving), subcutaneous tissues (nodules) in the chest wall, upper and lower limb, neck and in other body regions” such as the genitals. Occasionally, the parasites can migrate to certain organs, such as the lungs, though it is less common, according to the ESDA guidelines. The case report's lead author, Vladimir Kartashev, a professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases at Rostov State Medical University in Rostov-na-Donu, Russia, said in an email Thursday that such parasites are an “emerging


‘Enough is enough’: South Sudan rules out role for opposition leader, casting doubt on peace talks

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Saying that “enough is enough,” South Sudan on Friday ruled out a government role for opposition leader Riek Machar, dousing hopes of a breakthrough in peace talks to end the country’s civil war. The announcement came just a day and a half after Machar and South Sudanese President Salva Kiir met for the first time in two years and even staged an awkward three-way hug with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who had organized the meeting. The two are scheduled to meet again in a few days, however, as part of the internationally sponsored peace process. “For the people of South Sudan, enough is enough,” acting foreign minister Martin Elia said at a news conference following peace talks in Addis Ababa attended by several African leaders. “If he wants to be president, he should wait for elections.” He added that after talks, Machar “shall be relocated outside the region and not in any country near South Sudan.” While there would be a vice presidency in the transition government for a member of his opposition movement, Machar could not fill the seat, Elia added. At the same time, Sudan announced that the two men would meet in three days for new talks in the capital, Khartoum. South Sudanese Information Minister Michael Makuei confirmed the meeting even as he, too, blamed Machar for the country’s conflicts. “The Khartoum summit was a decision of the [African] heads of state,” Makuei said. “We will abide by it.” Machar’s opposition movement issued a statement condemning the remarks, particularly those from Makuei, who had echoed the “enough” comments. It said the remarks were damaging the process even as the talks were “at a high level of maturity.” “This bad politics is from a known peace spoiler, and it is only intended to derail the peace process,” the opposition said in the statement. It called on the public to “dismiss these statements as those from anti-peace agents in the regime.” The opposition reaffirmed its desire for peace while noting that “in light of the regime’s intransigence,” it reserves its “natural right for self-defense.” The meeting between the longtime rivals Wednesday night had raised hopes for some kind of breakthrough in the peace process as the situation in South Sudan grows increasingly desperate. The latest name-calling, however, suggested otherwise, even though the peace process, sponsored by a group of neighboring countries known as Intergovernmental


A shopping mall wanted to evict its pigeons. So it hired a hawk.

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. — With his auburn feathers, white tail and three-foot wingspan, Remmy, a Harris’s hawk, makes for an impressive — and incongruous — sight at an upscale outdoor shopping mall anchored by Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom. But he’s supposed to be there. He has a job to do. Remmy was hired two years ago by Broadway Plaza after an extensive renovation that added 20 new stores, restaurants, revamped walkways and a two-story parking garage. Unfortunately, the transformed mall attracted not only new customers but also dozens of pigeons, which nested in garage rafters, scavenged for food and splattered the walkways with corrosive and bacteria-infused droppings. “We had a major pigeon problem and were unsure of the best way to get it under control,” says Shelly Dress, senior manager of property management at the mall. That’s where Remmy came in. After rejecting other options, such as fabric netting that would prevent pigeon nesting in certain spots, Dress turned to the Hawk Pros, a company based in Southern California that uses falconry to eradicate pest birds. At any given time, the firm has five to 10 birds of prey on assignment at sites such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the U.S. Bank Tower, also in L.A. Remmy and his colleagues are part of a growing trend of using raptors to intimidate nuisance birds such as pigeons and seagulls, a practice that avoids the use of chemicals and — unlike in the ancient hunting sport of falconry — scares targets but lets them live. Some U.S. farmers deploy them to protect crops. Harris’s hawks patrol the grass courts at Wimbledon and Trafalgar Square in London. Falcons haze pigeons and crows at resorts in Dubai. Since Remmy and his owner and handler, Bridget Maguire-Colton, have been coming to Broadway Plaza on a regular basis, the pigeon population has dropped from a few dozen to just a few, most of them in pockets of the garage. Dress initially hired the Hawk Pros for 12 days a month, Dress said, but Remmy was so effective that he now needs to stop by the mall only eight days a month, for three hours at a time, to ensure that the pigeons stay away. With super-keen eyesight and the ability to rotate his head for 200-degree vision, Remmy surveys the shopping center for signs of pigeons. And when the pigeons at Broadway


Small banks discriminate against people of color. A new law makes it worse.

study found that new customers in cities and towns with white majorities needed an average of only $68 to open a checking account, while those in cities and towns with black and other majorities needed from $7 to $22 more. Racial disparities hold even after controlling for factors such as education level, poverty and competition from alternative financial services. When we add up minimum opening deposits, maintenance fees, minimum balances and overdraft fees, the average checking account costs are $190.09 higher for blacks, $25.53 higher for Asians, and $262.09 higher for Latinos than they are for whites. Taken together with existing income inequalities , these requirements mean consumers of color must keep a higher percentage of their money in their checking accounts where it cannot be used. White customers need to keep about 28 percent of their paychecks in their accounts to maintain their balance and avoid maintenance fees, compared with 60 percent for blacks, 54 percent for Latinos and 22 percent for Asians. The discriminatory patterns that emerge in our study conflict with the wholesome, friendly public image of community banks — in contrast to large, national banks, where reports of racial discrimination have become familiar. But the big national banks only emerged in the 1990s, when deregulation policies allowed them to expand across state lines; for many decades before that, smaller banks, like many commercial institutions in a historically segregated America, underserved nonwhite consumers. Meanwhile, those earlier banks that did serve black and brown communities were often undermined — or, as in the case of the 1921 race riot that destroyed the "black Wall Street" in Tulsa, burned to the ground. Bank deregulation fails to take this history into account. Under the new banking law, ominously, 85 percent of the banks that make home mortgage loans are no longer required to report borrowers' race and ethnicity, making it impossible to continue tracking patterns of racial discrimination in the lending market . Meanwhile, impulsive deregulation desires eclipse memories of the housing market's rise and collapse that initiated the Great Recession only a decade ago. Steady rollbacks of consumer protections are underway at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau , which was established in 2010 to enhance bank regulation in response to the Great Recession. For example, the CFPB's rule that would have eliminated mandatory arbitration clauses in the terms of banks' checking accounts and would have allowed consumers to hold


Commentary: Keep pot billboards away from kids

The legalization of recreational marijuana use in California has set off an advertising boom on billboards across the state. The gigantic ads try to persuade us — and our offspring — that we can easily get “chill vibes,” say “goodbye stress” or “get rid of pesky hangovers.” The proposed cure-all, of course, is marijuana. Since recreational marijuana became legal this year, advertising for the drug has gotten out ahead of regulations that could restrict where and how teens are exposed to such promotional displays. But a new Los Angeles City ordinance scheduled to go into effect next month is aimed at protecting minors from exposure to marijuana ads. The ordinance focuses on outdoor advertising, and it mirrors established tobacco-advertising guidelines. It will prohibit a billboard promoting marijuana within 700 feet — more than twice the length of a football field — of obvious places children might be. This includes day care and youth centers, schools, public parks, libraries and playgrounds. It will also restrict smaller outdoor signage, limiting a cannabis retail business to one on-site sign — no portable signs or sandwich boards. Solid data about the effects of marijuana advertising back up these restrictions. A seven-year research project my colleagues and I recently completed for the nonprofit Rand Corporation confirmed what common sense suggests: The more exposure young people have to marijuana advertising, the more likely they are to use the drug and to have positive views about it. We began our research in 2010, looking for predictors of alcohol and drug use among California teenagers, inspired in part by the movement to legalize recreational marijuana in the state. We recruited more than 6,500 adolescents from 16 middle schools in three school districts in Southern California who went on to attend more than 200 high schools in the region. Among other things, we asked these teens about their exposure to medical marijuana advertising. The proportion of teens who reported viewing medical marijuana ads increased sharply over the course of the study, possibly because more ads appeared during the push to legalize marijuana in the state. In 2010, 25 percent of teens said they had seen at least one medical marijuana ad during the previous three months. By 2017, the exposure rate had nearly tripled to 70 percent. And that was before recreational-use legalization created this year’s explosion of marijuana billboards on city streets. In our study, teens who reported


Here’s a different take on Boko Haram and extremism in Africa

This week, Nigerian military sources reported that Boko Haram fighters killed nine soldiers and wounded two others in northeast Nigeria. This comes just a week after two suicide bombers killed 43 people, also in northeast Nigeria. A video released this week by Vox raises the alarm that Islamist militant groups such as Boko Haram are gaining strength in Africa. Most reporting on Boko Haram and other extremist groups in Africa warn that extremism on the continent is on the rise. Alexis Okeowo’s award-winning book — “A Moonless, Starless Sky: Ordinary Women and Men Fighting Extremism in Africa” — offers a different perspective on Boko Haram and other extremist groups in Africa. Okeowo is not an academic but a staff writer at the New Yorker. We like to include one book in the African Politics Summer Reading Spectacular that is written by a journalist whose work goes deeper than the average journalistic piece and tells compelling stories about people and places that are underreported (or for which there is a lot of bad reporting). For example, the book by a journalist featured in last year’s series was Andrew Harding’s “The Mayor of Mogadishu,” and the previous year we included Howard French’s “China’s Second Continent.” Compelling and clearly written, “A Moonless, Starless Sky” tells four stories of fighting extremism in Africa (more specifically, in Uganda, Mauritania, Somalia and Nigeria). Okeowo’s book draws on her experience living and reporting on the continent, beginning a dozen years ago as a reporter for the leading Ugandan daily newspaper, New Vision. In “A Moonless, Starless Sky,” Okeowo shares the experiences and perspectives of a young Ugandan couple kidnapped by Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army, a Mauritanian anti-slavery activist, a group of teenage girls who play basketball in Somalia and a Nigerian girl who escapes Boko Haram, as well as a local official who has rallied others to fight back against the terrorist group. Perhaps because I read an excerpt before the book came out, I was particularly drawn to the two chapters on girls who play basketball in Somalia. These chapters closely follow the experience of Aisha, a 17-year-old girl who plays on a team that travels nationwide to compete against other Somali women’s teams. In addition to learning more concretely how women navigate the insecurity of present-day Somalia, I also learned some historical context of women’s sport from Okeowo’s book. While present-day women athletes such


The Cybersecurity 202: GOP lawmakers want U.S. businesses to get out of business with Chinese telecom companies

also means that everyone with Internet access can help thwart cyberattacks, according to Nielsen. “Truly it’s that hygiene, that basic patching, basic changing your passwords,” she said. “Don’t download things. Don’t open attachments from those senders that you don’t know. Those really, truly make a big difference. That’s about 80 percent of the attacks we see still come in that way.” PATCHED: Tesla called a former employee a saboteur. The man said he is a whistleblower instead. The former employee said he acted as a whistleblower over safety concerns about Tesla's car batteries. “Tesla's lawsuit, filed Wednesday in a Nevada federal court, accuses Tripp of hacking the company's computer systems PWNED: The biggest voting machine vendor in the country for years has cajoled state and local election officials to be part of an “advisory board” that meets twice a year at conferences Virginia Canter, chief ethics counsel at the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told McClatchy that the relationship between the vendor and the public officials raises ethical questions. “This is a massive promotional opportunity for ES&S,” Canter said. “It’s highly inappropriate for any election official to be accepting anything of value from a primary contractor. It shocks the conscience … I think it compromises their integrity.” Gordon, Leiker, Self and Dunlap report that Kathy Rogers, senior vice president for governmental affairs at ES&S, defended the advisory board as “immensely valuable in providing customer feedback.” — More cybersecurity news from The Post and around the Web: — Former National Security Agency contractor Reality Winner has reached a deal with prosecutors and plans to plead guilty, — The Trump administration says it wants to address a shortage of cybersecurity professionals in the federal government. — More cybersecurity news from the public sector: — A group of engineers at Google refused to work on a security feature to help the company secure military contracts Additionally, Google has faced discontent from its staff recently over its involvement in a program with the Pentagon to use artificial intelligence to analyze drone video. Facing concerns from employees, the company decided to end its participation in Project Maven when its contract expires in March next year. After this episode, Pichai, Google's chief executive, said the company will not use artificial intelligence to develop weapons or for other projects that would aim “to cause or directly facilitate injury to people.” But Pichai also said Google


These wines are tailor-made for your next cookout

District and Maryland, Select in Virginia: Widely available. GREAT VALUE Domaine Vetriccie 2016 Île de Beauté, France, $11 This half-and-half blend of vermentino and chardonnay hails from Corsica, and it suggests Mediterranean flavors and foods with lovely herbal aromas of sage and thyme, on top of ripe tree fruit flavors. Enjoy this by itself, with appetizers or lighter seafood dishes. ABV: 12 percent. Distributed by Siema: Available in the District at Ace Beverage, Cleveland Park Wine and Spirits, Cork & Fork, Wagshal’s Deli. Available in Maryland at Dunkirk Wine & Spirits in Dunkirk, Fenwick Beer & Wine in Silver Spring, Gemelli’s Italian Market, Pinky & Pepe’s Grape Escape and the Wine Harvest in Gaithersburg, Old Farm Liquors in Frederick, Old Line Fine Wine, Spirits & Bistro in Beltsville, Old Town Market in Kensington, State Line Liquors in Elkton, Wells Discount Liquors, Wine Market and Wine Works in Baltimore, the Winery in Chester. Available in Virginia at Bon Vivant Market in Smithfield, Cork & Fork in Gainesville, Ellwood Thompson’s Natural Market in Richmond, Locke Store in Millwood, Market Street Wine and Wine Warehouse in Charlottesville, Murphy Beverage in Winchester. Paris Valley Road Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 California, $15 Not to sound too wine nerdy, but it’s tough to find a California cabernet at $15 or less that really tastes like a cabernet and not some cocktail concoction meant to resemble a cabernet. Paris Valley Road does a good job of capturing the black fruit flavors typical of cab, and the balance is nice. It may not win the Judgment of Paris, but it’s a good burger wine. It also sports a retro label evocative of the Old West, with the alcohol content in the tiniest print known to mankind. ABV: 14.2 percent. Distributed by DMV: Available in the District at Magruder’s, Paul’s of Chevy Chase, Rodman’s, Yes! Organic Market (Georgia Avenue). Available in Maryland at ABD Liquor in Prince Frederick, Country Boy Market in Wheaton, Crescent Beer & Wine in Bowie, Don Tonio’s in Chestertown, Downtown Crown Wine and Beer and Finewine.com in Gaithersburg, Dunkirk Wine & Spirits in Dunkirk, Eastport Liquors and the Italian Market in Annapolis, Franklins Restaurant, Brewery and General Store in Hyattsville, Maple Lawn Wine & Spirits in Fulton, Old Farm Liquors in Frederick, Plaza Liquors in Pasadena, Rosewick Wine & Spirits in La Plata, Town & Country Wine Liquor Etc. in Easton, Town Center Market in Riverdale.


How prepared is the world for the next epidemic? This tool shows most countries are not.

Public health officials and business leaders like Bill Gates have long warned that the world is not ready for the next pandemic. Now an initiative led by Tom Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has developed a tool that spotlights gaps in preparedness, and actions that countries and organizations can take to close them. The new website, PreventEpidemics.org, gives an individual score to each country and uses color codes to rank the world by five levels of preparedness. “What this does, it tells you where the gaps are and what needs to be done,” said Frieden, chief executive of Resolve to Save Lives, part of Vital Strategies, a New York-based public health nonprofit organization. Infectious diseases can spread from one village to any country in the world in about 36 hours. On average, there are 100 outbreaks a day around the world. But the website shows that most countries have not yet taken the steps needed to prepare for this risk. Gaps include a lack of monitoring systems that can spot unusual health reports from local clinics, or insufficient trained disease detectives who can rapidly deploy when a new health threat is reported. The score, from 0 to 100, is based on existing data from evaluations of epidemic preparedness developed by the World Health Organization after the 2014 Ebola epidemic. Those evaluations have been going on since 2016, but the data contained in them, while public, is difficult to find. Independent and regular monitoring and tracking for epidemic and pandemic risk is key to keeping biological threats on the agenda of global political leaders, experts say. Tom Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said the tool “shines a more clear light” on the results of those evaluations in a way that can “help sustain the attention of political leaders and donors.” The identified gaps will be easy for donors to understand and to address, he said. Global health officials say it’s more important than ever for disease outbreaks to be stopped at their source before they become full-blown epidemics. In the United States, many experts are worried about the Trump administration’s commitment to maintaining strong levels of funding for CDC’s efforts to fight infectious disease threats as part of its global health security initiative. Only 430 million people, or 6 percent of the world’s population, live in the countries that are


Thirteen bald eagles were found dead in a field. This is what killed them.

The 13 bald eagles were found lifeless on a Maryland farm more than two years ago, many with wings splayed, bodies intact, and talons clenched. Several were too young to have their species’ distinctive white heads. And at least six, according to a federal lab report, had ingested a highly toxic pesticide that essentially has been banned from the U.S. market, in part because it is lethal to birds. The 2016 report, obtained by the Annapolis radio station WNAV and shared with The Washington Post, answers one big question in a mysterious wildlife crime that angered conservation organizations and stumped U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigators, who were involved because the bald eagle is a federally protected species. Tests showed that the birds were poisoned, as officials suspected. What remains unsolved is who did it. “There was no smoking gun,” said John LaCorte, a special agent for the Fish and Wildlife Service who spent six months interviewing more than a dozen landowners and property managers in the Eastern Shore area where the eagles died. “It’s very frustrating.” The chemical that killed the birds, carbofuran, came under scrutiny three decades ago for killing what the Environmental Protection Agency estimated were as many as 2 million birds a year, threatening the bald eagle’s then-fragile road to recovery. The granular form, which a Fish and Wildlife official in 1987 told The Post was the primary cause of death for bald eagles in the Chesapeake Bay region, was banned in the mid-1990s. The EPA disallowed the use of liquid carbofuran on food crops in 2009, saying the residue posed an unacceptable safety risk. Environmental groups hailed the decision as a victory for human health and for wildlife. Today, the pesticide is off the market and the bald eagle is no longer endangered, though it is protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. But carbofuran still occasionally kills birds and other wildlife in the United States. Sometimes those deaths are intentional, and sometimes they are collateral damage after an animal scavenges a poisoned carcass. In November, a Montana farmer was fined $1,000 for the killing of a bald eagle that fed on a calf carcass he had injected with carbofuran in a bid to kill coyotes; it also killed three coyotes and a hawk. Last June, a Pennsylvania man was fined $3,500 after sending Furadan, the brand


Community deaths

in Potomac, Md. His wife, Susan Nalley, said he had complications from Guillain-Barré syndrome, an autoimmune disorder. Mr. Nalley was born in Washington and lived in the area all his life. He opened an architecture practice in the 1960s, specializing in housing, and continued working until shortly before his death. He was active in antique car clubs and was a member of St. Raphael Catholic Church in Rockville. Timothy Emerson, teacher, school administrator Timothy Emerson, 66, a former English teacher and director of the upper school at Maret School in Washington, died May 9 at a hospital in Pittsfield, Mass. The cause was liver and kidney failure, said a former wife, Jan Sidebotham. Mr. Emerson was born in Boston. He taught English at Maret for 35 years and was the director of the upper school for 23 years before retiring in 2015. He moved from Washington to Williamstown, Mass., in 2017. Warren Eisenberg, B'nai B'rith leader Warren Eisenberg, 85, the director of the International Council of B’nai B’rith International from 1978 to 1996, died May 13 at a retirement community in Silver Spring, Md. He had dementia and kidney failure, said a son, Adam Eisenberg. Mr. Eisenberg was born in Newark and lived in the Washington area for 52 years, most recently in Chevy Chase, Md. Before joining B’nai B’rith, a Jewish human rights organization, Mr. Eisenberg served in staff positions with the House and was director of public affairs for the Presidential Council on Environmental Quality. Richard Starnes, journalist Richard Starnes, 95, a former reporter for the Washington Daily News, managing editor of the New York World-Telegram and Sun and a writer for Scripps Howard News Service, died May 18 at his home in Bradenton, Fla. The cause was pancreatic cancer, said a son, John Starnes. Mr. Starnes was born in Washington and was a copy boy and then reporter for the Washington Daily News, beginning in 1938. In 1952, he began working for Scripps Howard, including eight years as managing editor of the New York World-Telegram and Sun from 1954 to 1962. He returned to Washington and Scripps Howard in 1962 and remained with the news service until 1977. He later served as editor of the Fairfax Journal for 10 years. He was a former resident of McLean, Va., and was married to former Washington Post columnist Judy Mann before her death in 2005. — From staff reports


‘The decision of a lifetime’: Protesters in London call for another Brexit vote

decision of a lifetime,” said Peter Davies, 45, an office manager from London, while standing at Parliament Square. Others wanted a redo referendum. When asked whether British voters didn’t already settle the matter two years ago in their historic decision to leave the European Union, Davies answered, “I don’t know if people really knew what we were voting on.” Others in the crowd said they supported Brexit, but a soft, gentle, friendly Brexit in which London would have more say over budgets or migration, but might stay in Europe’s customs union or single market — allegedly two red lines for May. Victoria Lewis, 55, a math teacher from Brighton who wore a blue T-shirt that read “Citizen of Europe,” came out to rally “because I have three children and they need to be part of Europe. Humanity is about us cooperating, not putting up false barriers.” “It’s no accident there hasn’t been a war in Europe for 70 years.” she said. “It’s because we have been talking to each other and cooperating.” There are growing fears that Britain will “crash out” of the European Union, with no agreement on future relations and trade — bringing about chaos. This week, the executives of the aircraft manufacturer Airbus, which directly employs 14,000 people in the United Kingdom and supports another 100,000 in its supply chain, warned May about leaving the European bloc without a good deal. “Put simply, a no-deal scenario directly threatens Airbus’s future in the U.K.,” said Tom Williams, the company’s chief operating officer, on BBC. “We are seriously considering whether we should continue that development or we should find alternate solutions,” Williams said about plans to manufacture airplane wings in Britain. BMW’s top executive, Ian Robertson, told reporters that U.K. car manufacturing was hurtling toward a cliff and that his company needs to know by the end of the summer what’s what — and not in October, as May plans. BMW employs about 8,000 people in Britain. John Neill, chief executive of Unipart, a car-parts supplier that employs 6,000 people in Britain, told the Financial Times that carmakers would “find it very difficult to survive in the long term” if May chose a hard Brexit. May and her cabinet are divided over the best way forward on Brexit — and the prime minister has delayed, yet again, a clear declaration on what future relations with Europe should be. In


Pro swimmers stay sharp and stay young by training with college teams

late March, forgoing her final two years of eligibility at Stanford. Still, she will train at Stanford in preparation for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Staying at Stanford will help her “continue to keep my focus on what it’s always been, which is on my studies and my swimming,” Ledecky said during a recent appearance at the National Press Club. Similarly, Missy Franklin, who made her Olympic debut as a 17-year-old in London in 2012, recently relocated to the University of Georgia to train with the Bulldogs and finish college. Swimmers are not the only Olympic athletes who continue to train at a college even after they graduate. Track and field athletes, for example, usually train wherever their coaches are. For some, that’s on a college campus. But the trend seems more prominent in swimming: Every swimmer on the 2016 U.S. Olympic roster trained at a college at some point. “There are really no other places to train in the U.S. other than post-grad teams [affiliated with] college teams,” said Franklin, who swam for Cal before turning pro in 2015. Many swimmers find a college team environment is better than training individually. “Being able to get competitive with some guys every day is really key,” said three-time Olympic gold medalist Ryan Murphy, who also trains at Cal, his alma mater. “I don’t think I’d be able to go as fast as I do without that.” The NCAA allows swimmers who no longer are eligible to compete for a college team to train alongside one “on an occasional basis,” said Steve Flippen, Georgia’s director of compliance. “The NCAA likes to throw in ‘occasional,’ but they don’t define it,” Flippen said. “It’s one of those things that’s on a case-by-case basis.” The transition from juggling classes and training to solely focusing on swimming can be a challenge. “I think it’s probably not talked about enough how hard the transition is, going from a collegiate athlete to a professional athlete,” Franklin said. “After college, you really do miss that sense of team and camaraderie.” The swimmers at Georgia recognize the importance of staying close. On Wednesday nights, they play pool at a downtown bar. “It’s nice because it keeps us normal,” said Olivia Smoliga, a 2016 Olympic relay gold medalist. “We’re professional athletes, which is really cool, but at the end of the day . . . I still feel like a college


First marijuana-derived drug is on the verge of approval

At 3 months old, Marissa Parsons began having frequent seizures, some lasting a half-hour. For almost two decades, her desperate parents tried drug after drug to treat her rare type of childhood epilepsy, but the medications mostly produced side effects — pancreatitis, hives and extreme drowsiness — and she was frequently hospitalized. Family outings became almost impossible. Eventually, her mother said, Marissa stopped smiling. Three years ago, Marissa was enrolled in a clinical trial at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, testing a liquid anti-seizure drug made from a component of marijuana. Marissa, who cannot speak and uses a wheelchair, quickly went from eight seizures a day to half that number; these days, the 21-year-old has some weeks in which she doesn't have any seizures. She routinely goes to her sisters' baseball games and band concerts. In 2016, she and her family visited Mount Rushmore and the Grand Canyon. Plus, she's smiling again. “We can function like a typical family,” said her mother, Ronda Parsons. “That, and her smile, mean the world to me.” The drug that helped Marissa, called Epidiolex, is on the verge of becoming the first drug approved by the FDA that is derived from marijuana. In April, an advisory committee unanimously recommended approval of the drug for two of the most severe types of childhood epilepsy, and the agency is expected to render its decision by the end of June. The medication is an oral solution containing highly purified cannabidiol, or CBD, which is one of scores of chemicals in the cannabis plant. It contains only trace amounts of the psychoactive element THC, and does not induce euphoria. For those who have long argued that cannabis offers medical benefits, an FDA approval would be a milestone, “a recognition that the plant is a rich source of compounds which have potential therapeutic activity,” said Justin Gover, chief executive of GW Pharmaceuticals, the London-based company that developed the drug. “We are just scratching the surface of what could be a range of cannabis-based medications.” The FDA previously has cleared medications containing synthetic versions of THC for nausea for patients getting chemotherapy and for other uses, but it has not approved any drug derived from the plant itself. Marijuana and its components, including CBD, are Schedule 1 controlled substances — meaning they are banned because they are thought to have a high abuse potential, no medical value and serious


Next month will tell if panda will deliver cub, National Zoo says

The climactic stages appear to be approaching in what has long been one of Washington’s major civic dramas, the possible pregnancy of its female giant panda. As shown by body chemistry, the National Zoo said on Thursday, Mei Xiang “will either give birth or experience the final stages of a pseudopregnancy within the next month.” Artificial insemination on March 1 touched off the time of tense waiting that has traditionally been part of the delicate process of panda breeding. Efforts to determine just what is up with Mei Xiang depend, the zoo said, on ultrasound imaging. Twice weekly tests have seen nothing yet, the zoo said. Nevertheless, the tests familiarize her with the process, the zoo said, boosting chances that she will go along when it counts most. But she is not being forced, the zoo said, and abstain by walking away from the test site. Martin.Weil@washpost.com


World Digest: June 24, 2018

SYRIA SDF fighters impose 3-day curfew in Raqqa U.S.-backed forces in control of the Syrian city of Raqqa imposed a three-day curfew on Sunday and declared a state of emergency, saying Islamic State militants had infiltrated the city and planned a bombing campaign. Witnesses said internal security forces affiliated with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who had announced the surprise curfew in the former Islamic State stronghold until Tuesday, had set up checkpoints across the devastated city. Raqqa was once the capital of the Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate. A statement said the state of emergency in the city was a protective measure. The curfew prevents anyone from leaving or entering the city, which was retaken by U.S.-backed militias in October, after a four-month battle that left thousands of civilians dead and most of Raqqa’s neighborhoods flattened. Growing tensions between Raqqa’s majority-Arab residents and SDF forces, dominated by Kurdish personnel, spilled into sporadic protests last month. The protests called for the SDF’s eviction from the city. — Associated Press ETHIOPIA 2nd person dies after explosion at rally Ethiopian health minister Amir Aman said a second person has died after an explosion at a massive weekend rally in the capital for the new prime minister. More than 150 people were injured in the blast, several of them critically. State broadcaster ETV reported that more than 30 people have been arrested, including the deputy head of Addis Ababa’s police commission. Witnesses said a man in the crowd tried to throw a grenade at Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed but was restrained by people around him. Tens of thousands had gathered to cheer a wave of reforms under the young leader, who took office in April. The ruling party has blamed “desperate anti-peace elements” for the attack. — Associated Press INDONESIA Rescue team may have found sunken ferry An Indonesian search-and-rescue team thinks it has located a ferry in Sumatra’s Lake Toba that sank in bad weather nearly a week ago with almost 200 people aboard, an official said Sunday. A hydrographic survey “identified” the ferry about 1,500 feet deep in the water, not far from where it sank, said Nanang Henky Suharto, an executive director at PT Mahakarya Geo Survey, a firm involved in the search. “We have found the suspected position,” he said after the survey located a structure underwater similar to the build of the boat. Further investigation involving underwater drones will


At least 1 dead, over 150 hurt in Ethiopia after grenade attack at massive rally for new reformist leader

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — A grenade was thrown Saturday at a massive rally in support of Ethiopia’s young new reformist leader, killing one and wounding dozens, but leaving the prime minister unharmed. Abiy Ahmed, 42, had just finished speaking to a rapturous audience of tens of thousands of supporters in the capital’s iconic Meskel square in the heart of the city when there was a sound of a bang. Footage shows the prime minister, who was wearing a yellow T-shirt with Nelson Mandela and the African continent on it, standing up and looking in the direction of the sound before being ushered away by security guards. Shortly after the attack, Abiy appeared grim-faced on television to say that “a few people” were killed and that the “well-orchestrated attack” was “cheap and unacceptable.” Health Minister Amir Aman later tweeted that one person had died of his wounds among the 155 reported wounded. “Love will win. Forgiveness will win. Killing is a sign of defeat. They failed yesterday. They failed today. They will fail tomorrow,” Abiy said. Rally organizer Seyoum Teshome told The Washington Post that he saw the attack unfold, and that the prime minister was saved by one of the demonstration’s participants. “Someone was trying to throw the grenade and then another person touched his hand so he missed the target and the grenade fell without reaching the stage,” he said. The blast came just as the master of ceremonies was welcoming viewers from abroad and said in English that “this is the day that Ethiopia has become proud.” The sound of the live broadcast on state television cut after the blast, and people in the crowd could be seen craning their heads in the direction of the sound. Photos on social media after the attack showed scattered clothes on the ground, a few motionless bodies and people crying. Local media have quoted police in saying the incident is being treated as an assassination attempt. In a tweet following the attack, Abiy’s chief of staff Fitsum Arega promised that the perpetrators would be brought to justice. “We will overcome hate with love. Some whose heart is filled with hate attempted a grenade attack,” he said. “All the casualties are martyrs of love & peace.” In the aftermath of the attack, police scuffled with angry protesters and then cleared the square with tear gas, according to Agence France-Presse. The Associated Press


The amazing 7,500-mile annual migration of painted lady butterflies

Move over, monarchs. The painted lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui) now boasts the farthest known butterfly migration. Though found across the world, the orange-and-brown beauties that live in Southern Europe migrate into Africa each fall, crossing the Sahara on their journey . But what happened after was a mystery, because the butterflies disappeared. Researchers hypothesized that the insects either remained in Africa or made a roundtrip, but there was no evidence either way. A new chemical analysis of butterfly wings suggests that the butterflies head back to Europe in the spring. The roundtrip, which usually plays out over several generations, is an annual journey of about 7,500 miles, about 1,200 more than successive generations of monarchs are known to travel in a year . Researchers were surprised when they detected chemical markers from Africa on some European butterflies’ wings. Those markers told where an individual had eaten when it was still a caterpillar. The study, reported in the June 13 Biology Letters, provides evidence that the creatures return from Africa each year. Some tenacious individuals even make the return trip in a single lifetime. — Science News


Inside the U.S.’s ‘National Radio Quiet Zone’ where there’s no WiFi or cellphone service

In 2015, after seeing a photo of the giant Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, photographers Andrew Phelps and Paul Kranzler became intrigued and traveled to the area to see it for themselves. They would eventually spend weeks photographing the area and getting to know the residents and scientists. The result is a new book, “The Drake Equation.” In the book, the Drake Equation is defined as the following: In the 1950s, the U.S. government created a “National Radio Quiet Zone” to protect radio telescopes from interference by electromagnetic radio waves. The telescopes, located in West Virginia, are used for both scientific and military purposes. The zone encompasses an area of about 13,000 square miles. But the restrictions are strongest in Green Bank, W.Va., where the world’s largest steerable radio telescope resides at the Green Bank Observatory. Scientists from around the globe use the telescope to explore the universe, searching for signs of extraterrestrial life. The restrictions mean the area does not have widespread WiFi or cellphone access. People use landlines to communicate. While this would be a problem for many of us at a time when everything seems to be connected by electronics, there are people who welcome it. Those who believe they suffer from “electromagnetic hypersensitivity,” (some even claiming to be allergic to WiFi, for example) have relocated to the zone, and it has become a haven for them. The zone is a fascinating place, and the work of Phelps and Kranzler introduces us to it. Journalist Alard von Kittlitz, who worked alongside the photographers, says in the book, “I think that while the work you are holding in your hands is about many things, about time and science and technology and nature, at least to me it is essentially a work about America.” Here are some of the photos from the book. In Sight is The Washington Post’s photography blog for visual narrative. This platform showcases compelling and diverse imagery from staff and freelance photographers, news agencies and archives. If you are interested in submitting a story to In Sight, please complete this form. More on In Sight: What life is like in the coal-mining boomtowns of Appalachia Deeply poetic photos focus on the nexus of ‘chronicle and fiction’ ‘That world where veils, blood and smoke go hand in hand with cosmic philosophy.’ Photographs from the black metal scene in Iceland.


What if a pandemic hit the U.S. — are we ready?

Piles of dead bodies. Decontamination zones and overstretched hospitals. It’s the stuff of nightmares: the physical indicators of a pandemic associated with outbreaks of diseases such as Ebola in countries such as the Congo. But what if one of those pandemics — yellow fever, perhaps, or an emerging pathogen scientists don’t even know about yet — landed in the United States? It’s not a matter of if, writes Ed Yong in a long-form feature for the Atlantic, online and on newsstands, it’s when. In “The Next Plague Is Coming. Is America Ready?”, Yong takes a clear-eyed view of the worst-case scenario: a public-health system caught off guard by a pandemic that spirals out of control. Too often, he writes, a large-scale epidemic takes over public attention, then fades into obscurity when the danger subsides, taking public funding and the wherewithal to build better safeguards with them. That’s true in the United States, where outbreaks of illnesses such as anthrax and SARS took over the national consciousness, then disappeared as if in a puff of smoke, along with funding for research and planning on what to do if they return. Yong builds a convincing case for a national lack of preparedness that, unless remedied on many fronts, could spell disaster when a new pandemic comes knocking. He worries about President Trump’s ability to take on an outbreak, especially given that he has left key positions unfilled. “At some point,” he writes, “a new virus will emerge to test Trump’s mettle. What happens then? He has no background in science or health, and has surrounded himself with little such expertise.” What does happen then? Read Yong’s meticulously researched story for a sense of the stakes. It’s a warning we all need, even if it’s hard to accept, and Yong’s storytelling turns a necessary lesson into gripping reading.


Methane leaks offset much of the climate change benefits of natural gas, study says

of using coal even with high methane emissions.” Moreover, he added, “if methane emissions were reduced, which they can be easily, it could deliver significant short term climate benefits as well.” The study, which relied largely on companies willing to cooperate, cautioned that its estimates could be too low. It said that the worst actors were most likely to opt out of taking part in the study. In addition, the study has not updated measurements of local distribution systems, which could be emitting substantial volumes as well. The Science study said one possible explanation for the gap between its estimates and the EPA’s is that the federal agency did not adequately count emissions in abnormal conditions. The Science study used an extensive aerial infrared camera survey of about 8,000 production sites in seven U.S. oil and natural gas basins and found that about 4 percent of surveyed sites had one or more observable plumes, with two to seven times the methane emissions from average sites. The study said the industry could take steps to lower the level of methane emissions. It recommended that companies install less failure-prone systems, carry out on-site leak surveys, re-engineer individual components and processes, and deploy sensors at individual facilities and on towers, aircraft or satellites. “Scientists have uncovered a huge problem, but also an enormous opportunity,” Defense Fund chief scientist Steven Hamburg, a co-author of the study, said in a statement. “Reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector is the fastest, most cost-effective way we have to slow the rate of warming today, even as the larger transition to lower-carbon energy continues.” The study takes an important step in measuring methane leaks, especially from natural operations. In October, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said “methane is a potent greenhouse gas and the uncertainty over the level of methane emitted to the atmosphere raises questions about the extent of the climate benefits that gas can bring.” It said, “One critical question is the extent to which methane emissions along the gas value chain negate the climate advantages of gas.” But the IEA also estimated that 40 to 50 percent of current methane emissions could be avoided at no net cost. “The environmental case for gas does not depend on beating the emissions performance of the most carbon-intensive fuel,” the IEA said, “but in ensuring that its emission intensity is as low as practicable.” steven.mufson@washpost.com


A Yemeni toddler fought for his life in a hospital while adults battled each other

bring their cases when in the final or late stages,” doctor Abdul Hafith Rajeh said. Abdu first took his son to Mokha’s civilian hospital, but it had no specialists to handle respiratory or chronic diseases. The medical staff had thinned out, because the government had not paid their salaries in a year, according to hospital administrators and staffers. Nor were there any oxygen tanks. By the time he reached Mokha’s military hospital, Younous was not breathing, Rajeh said. The hospital staff managed to resuscitate him. Even at this hospital, there was no ventilator to help him breathe, a staple of any functioning intensive care unit. Nor was there a nebulizer, a device to administer medication into the lungs as a mist. “Unfortunately, we don’t have the facilities,” the doctor said. “This case needed an ICU, and we have no ICU specialist.” In hospitals across the country, medical equipment is antiquated, inoperative or nonexistent. A blockade imposed for two years by the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi rebels disrupted vital medical imports and was eased only in December after international pressure. But bureaucratic delays and armed clashes continue to cause shortages of equipment, medicines and vaccines, the United Nations says. Initially, the medical staff was stumped by the boy’s ailment. They suspected it could be malaria. Blood tests would later lead Rajeh to conclude that Younous was suffering from a viral infection, which, across much of the world, is nearly always treatable in children. By late morning, Younous’s breathing had grown faint again. His chest barely moved. Flies hovered around his face. Abdu felt his son’s head and then his heartbeat. The boy’s eyes were turning glassy and rolling upward. Rajeh again checked his pulse. Four minutes later, the doctor adjusted the valve on the oxygen mask in an effort to resuscitate the boy again. Younous’s chest heaved slightly and then was still. His father reached under his son’s blue and gray striped shirt and felt for his heartbeat. Abruptly, Abdu began to cry, breaking the silence in the room. His son was dead. Abdu closed his son’s blank, half-opened eyes and removed the IV from his arm. He wrapped the body in the same blanket he had used to bring the boy to the hospital. He kissed his son on the head and wept. The doctor and nurses watched, showing no emotion. This was not a new sight for them.


The Cybersecurity 202: Privacy advocates want Congress to fix gaps in Carpenter ruling

easy, cheap, and efficient compared to traditional investigative tools' that it should require a warrant.” It's also unclear how the court's refusal to address the issue will affect third-party companies that market real-time location data to law enforcement, Companies such as the prison phone company Securus have come under intense scrutiny recently for selling customer location data from mobile providers to police forces across the country. Their services allow police to potentially track the movement of millions of phones in real time, as my colleague Brian Fung reported. With the Carpenter ruling, there’s now a strong argument that law enforcement would need a warrant to access that type of data, wrote Krebs. Still, he noted, nothing in the law prevents mobile companies from sharing real-time data with other commercial entities.“For that reality to change, Congress would need to act,” he wrote. Greg Nojeim, director of the Center for Democracy and Technology’s Freedom, Security & Technology Project, agreed that the ruling could offer an ideal opportunity for lawmakers to step in. “Congress should also close the data-laundering loophole that has opened up to permit lawless location tracking,” The majority in Carpenter also left open the possibility that law enforcement might not need a warrant to look at a person's location data over a relatively short time. What does that mean for a shorter period? Not clear, said Albert Gidari, consulting director of privacy at the Stanford Law Center for Internet and Society. “So can the government just ask for 6 days with a subpoena or court order,” This is another area where Congress could clear the air, Nojeim said. “It’s crucial for lawmakers to apply a warrant requirement for shorter periods or when the government wants to locate a person at one particular moment." PINGED: “We’re getting so many mixed signals, depending on what the agency is,” PATCHED: Illinois will probably have to wait to upgrade its aging voting machines. Some local officials in Illinois say upgrading voting machines is urgent PWNED: Employees of Amazon.com don't want their company's facial-recognition technology to be used for policing. “We don’t have to wait to find out how these technologies will be used,” the employees told Bezos in their letter. “We already know that in the midst of historic militarization of police, renewed targeting of Black activists, and the growth of a federal deportation force currently engaged in human rights abuses — this will


A judge ripped this federal agency’s justification for killing thousands of wild animals

Service, Bureau of Land Management and Idaho Department of Fish and Game — said the rationale given “was not an objective analysis of the environmental impacts.” “The criticisms … make this a unique case,” Winmill said. “It is rare for the court to encounter such unanimity of critical comments from other agencies.” Under federal law, “an agency may use a convincing and objective analysis to reject criticisms and refuse to prepare a full environmental impact statement,” he said. “But that was not done here.” As a result, Winmill found “Wildlife Services acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner.” Instead of issuing a final judgment, he ordered the division to work with the plaintiffs to establish a method for determining the impact of its animal control. The court will oversee that future negotiation. “Wildlife Services will now have to fairly evaluate how killing thousands of coyotes in southern Idaho each year affects the environment,” Talasi Brooks, a staff attorney for Advocates for the West, which represented the groups, said in a statement Monday. “The opinion is a win for wildlife and a win for management based on modern science.” Bethany Cotton, wildlife program director for WildEarth Guardians, said in the statement: “Indiscriminately killing native carnivores does not achieve any of Wildlife Services’ stated goals. The next logical step is for Wildlife Services to pull its proverbial head out of the sand, accept the best available science and adopt a nonlethal coexistence mandate.” Since the Hoover administration in the 1930s, Wildlife Services has entered into agreements with ranchers, farmers, private industry and states, which pay the majority of the agency’s costs of removing animals viewed as a threat. The agency has responded to past criticism by saying it works to strategically resolve human and wildlife conflicts and its activities have increased because those conflicts have. In 2016, the agency pointed to a USDA inspector-general audit to defend its methods. Investigators said an audit “did not reveal problems with wildlife damage management activities, or with WS’ system for tracking controlled materials. WS’ actions in these areas complied with all applicable Federal and State laws and regulations.” But at least two members of Congress have complained about the agency’s failure to provide information about its justifications and methods for killing animals. Some conservation groups readily acknowledge that Wildlife Services has a role in wildlife management. Yet when asked for data, the amount of poison


If you find this furry crab in Maryland waters, don’t throw it back

Wildlife experts are warning those out in Maryland waters this summer to be on the lookout for mitten crabs, a fuzzy-looking creature that is not native to the area. The Chinese mitten crab is most notably recognized by its furry claws, experts said. The crabs have “furry white-tipped claws,” according to experts. Their bodies are generally three to four inches wide, and they have olive-green or light-brown coloring. The crabs can be found in salt and fresh water. In a Facebook post, the Department of Public Works for Anne Arundel County posted details about the animals, warning that the Chinese mitten crab is an invasive species. Authorities with the public works department said people who find mitten crabs should freeze them or put them in rubbing alcohol and turn them in to local authorities, and they advised that people should keep track of where the mitten crabs were collected.


First marijuana-derived drug approved, will target severe epilepsy

was “not an approval of marijuana or all of its components” but rather of one specific CBD medication for a particular use. The agency, he added, remains concerned about “the proliferation and illegal marketing of unapproved CBD-containing products with unproven medical claims.” In April, an advisory committee unanimously recommended approval of the drug for the two types of epilepsy. The FDA previously cleared medications containing synthetic versions of THC for nausea for patients getting chemotherapy and for other uses, but it had not approved any drug derived from the plant itself. Marijuana and its components, including CBD, are Schedule 1 controlled substances — meaning they are banned because they are thought to have a high abuse potential, no medical value and serious safety implications. Now that Epidiolex is approved by the FDA, cannabidiol is expected to be reclassified by the Drug Enforcement Administration within 90 days. However, it isn’t clear whether such a reclassification would involve CBD products in general, the CBD formulation used specifically in Epidiolex or something else. For those who have long argued that cannabis offers medical benefits, the FDA approval represents a milestone, “a recognition that the plant is a rich source of compounds which have potential therapeutic activity,” Justin Gover, chief executive of GW Pharmaceuticals, the London-based company that developed the drug, said in an interview last week. “We are just scratching the surface of what could be a range of cannabis-based medications.” The medication, which will continue to be manufactured in Britain, will be marketed by Greenwich Biosciences, the U.S. subsidiary of GW Pharmaceuticals. The drugmaker is testing other CBD treatments for glioblastoma and schizophrenia. Shlomo Shinnar, president of the American Epilepsy Society and a neurologist at Montefiore Medical Center in New York, has said the drug will be “a very valuable addition” to the limited options for treating severe childhood-onset epilepsy. Shinnar said he will welcome approval of a medicine that had undergone stringent FDA review for safety and effectiveness. Many parents already are giving children unregulated CBD formulations that are available in medical marijuana dispensaries in the many states where such operations are legal. Some have said that they have no intention of switching to the new prescription CBD drug because the products they're using are helping their children. Others said they are anxious to try an FDA-approved product. Read more: 'This is not the end': Using immunotherapy and a genetic glitch


‘I’ve never seen anything like this’: Astronomers dazzled by brilliant supernova

short period of time,” said Robert Rutledge, editor in chief of the Astronomer's Telegram and an astrophysicist at McGill University in Canada. “It has produced a lot of interest.” Smartt initially suspected the flash must have come from something in our own galaxy, because it was so bright. But when other scientists conducted spectroscopic analyses of the object, separating the light out into its component wavelengths, it turned out that AT2018cow had features associated with CGCG 137-068, a galaxy in the constellation Hercules. Its light bore the signature of having been stretched out over the course of its 200-million-light-year journey from that galaxy to Earth. That's not far, by astronomical standards, which means the explosion may have produced detectable gravitational waves. But the twin LIGO detectors in Washington and Louisiana are undergoing upgrades, leaving it an open question whether anyone might have seen those signals. Subsequent observations have only added to the object's mystery. It was extraordinarily bright in all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum — from X-rays to radio waves. Whereas most supernovas carry spectral signatures called absorption lines, caused by certain elements within them that absorb wavelengths of light, AT2018cow is “surprisingly smooth,” Smartt said. Although there are some strange features in the signal, “no one has successfully matched them yet to the known features we normally see in supernova,” he said. Meanwhile, AT2018cow is already beginning to decline in brightness, even as astronomers continue to puzzle over its cause. It may be a Type 1c supernova, caused by the core collapse of a massive star that has already lost its outer veil of hydrogen and helium. The strong X-ray and radio signals also suggest that the explosion produced a jet of particles moving close to the speed of light. “This does look like it is quite a rare object,” Smartt said. “ These are just the early stages of the scientific process, he noted. The Astronomer's Telegram isn't a peer-reviewed journal, and the observations of AT2018cow still require months of additional research and analysis before they can be formally published. But this is a fun chance to watch astronomers get excited about something strange and potentially new in real time. “People are just putting out their data, and everyone does realize the data look quite strange,” Smartt said. Read more: A self-taught astronomer spotted something no scientist had ever seen Scientists just found the oldest known black


Giant panda habitat closes as signs increase of possible birth of cub

Anticipation appears to be growing at the National Zoo, where officials closed the giant panda habitat on Sunday to keep a quiet area around possibly pregnant giant panda Mei Xiang. Mei Xiang was inseminated artificially March 1, inaugurating a suspenseful waiting period. On Sunday, the zoo made this announcement, suggesting that matters were progressing toward a conclusion sooner rather than later: “The David M. Rubenstein Family Giant Panda Habitat will be closed to keep a quiet area around female giant panda Mei Xiang’s den who is exhibiting signs of pregnancy or pseudopregnancy.” Pseudopregnancy is a false pregnancy. The zoo said its other giant pandas, Tian Tian and Bei Bei, could be viewed in their outdoor yards each day until 2 p.m. Only ultrasound testing can confirm that a giant panda is pregnant. As of last week, the zoo said, no confirmation had been provided. But, the zoo said, Mei Xiang has apparently had the hormone increase that is consistent with both pregnancy and false pregnancy. This increase, which is a secondary rise for the panda, indicates that Mei Xiang “will either give birth or experience the final stages of a pseudopregnancy within the next month,” the zoo said Thursday. In addition, the zoo said in its latest announcement, she is showing the behavior pattern expected after the hormone increase. “She is building a nest in her den, has a decreased appetite, is sleeping more and is reacting to loud noises,” it said. So, the zoo indicated, it will hope for the best. And do what it can. Including the hanging on the den door of a figurative sign saying, “Do not disturb.” martin.weil@washpost.com


University of Maryland hires Damon Evans as athletic director

hospitalized following an organized team workout on May 29 and died on June 13. He was 19. Evans briefed reporters on the situation in a June 14 news conference, but many questions were left unanswered including the cause of McNair’s death. Loh held a call with Maryland’s Board of Regents on Monday and offered the same set of details regarding McNair, according to a person who was on the call. “I think there was a good amount of skepticism with Damon and the leadership in place after what happened with Jordan McNair,” said one high-level donor who spoke under the condition of anonymity. “But it also does make some sense to hire someone who already has knowledge of the situation and the reviews that are already underway, internally and externally.” Evans will also face steep tasks in fundraising, which is believed to be one of his biggest strengths. The price tag for Cole Field House, Maryland’s new football practice facility, was raised last summer by 25 percent to $196 million. That left the school on the hook for an additional $19 million, which must be paid by 2022. Maryland’s membership in the Big Ten, which officially started in 2014, brought in $37 million in revenue last year, and that figure will increase as the university gains a full member’s share within the next three years. But the athletic program just about broke even in the fiscal year 2017. Maryland had an operating budget of $94.8 million and generated just more than $80 million in revenue, plus an additional $14.5 million from student fees and direct institutional subsidies, according to documents obtained by The Post. And then there are questions surrounding Maryland’s two biggest programs, football and men’s basketball, heading into the 2018-19 academic year. The football team, led by Coach D.J. Durkin, is 10-15 in the last two years. The men’s basketball team failed to qualify for the postseason last spring and will soon enter the most critical season of Coach Mark Turgeon’s tenure. In February, Evans and Loh launched an internal review of the program after it was pulled into the FBI’s investigation of college basketball. That review has centered on former player Diamond Stone and allegations that he received more than $14,000 from an agent. It is still unclear when the internal review might conclude. At the start of Maryland’s search for its next athletic director, it was


Brief cease-fire with Taliban could be watershed moment in Afghan war

of rural attacks last week that left some 40 security forces dead, both U.S. and Afghan observers said the wider significance of the truce remains promising. They said it showed how eager the populace is for peace, including many Taliban fighters, and they noted that it was strictly observed by Taliban leaders, who had said they might attack foreign troops but refrained from doing so. “After 17 years, this has raised a whole new list of questions, challenges and opportunities for everyone. We are not sure what it all means yet, but it indicates that change is afoot,” said one U.S. military official here Friday, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter freely. “For the first time, we are seeing the will of the Afghan people. If the Taliban want to talk, the momentum is there.” Some Afghan experts said Taliban leaders still feel they have the upper hand on the battlefield and therefore are in no rush to talk; others said they, too, were surprised by the emotional public embrace that met their fighters after years of combat — even in the war-battered capital, which has endured numerous bloody suicide bombings and other attacks in recent months. The insurgents have said nothing publicly since declaring they would not continue the truce, but there are widespread reports of private feelers being extended on both sides, while peace activist groups have embarked on long marches toward Kabul, drawing attention and support. One group walked several hundred miles from southern Helmand province during the truce; another left the Pakistani city of Peshawar on foot this week and is now heading here. Another positive development, officials and analysts said, was the public and private support of Pakistan for the truce, which followed a flurry of meetings between Afghan and Pakistani officials as well as the killing of a top Pakistani Taliban leader, known as Mullah Fazlullah, in a U.S. drone strike inside Afghanistan. Fazlullah was widely reviled in Pakistan as the alleged mastermind of a terrorist attack on an army school in 2014 that killed 141 students and teachers. In the past, Pakistan has given lip service to Afghan peace talks, but Afghan officials have long accused its security establishment of privately supporting the Afghan Taliban, holding their leaders and families hostage across the border, and finding ways to block meaningful dialogue. This time, although Afghan leaders denied making a


Marijuana addiction is real but many users don’t realize that

are partaking multiple times a day. “There should be no controversy about the existence of marijuana addiction,” said David Smith, a physician who has been treating addiction since he opened a free clinic in San Francisco’s drug-drenched Haight-Ashbury neighborhood in the 1960s. “We see it every day. The controversy should be why it appears to be affecting more people.” Although estimates of the number of people who use marijuana vary, the federal government and the marijuana industry tend to agree that total marijuana use has remained relatively constant over the past decade. Increased use in the past three years has been slight, despite increased commercial availability in states that have legalized it. The percentage of people who become addicted to marijuana — estimated at about 9 percent of all users, and about 17 percent of those who start in adolescence — also has been stable. Some studies report that even higher proportions of marijuana users develop a dependence, which means they experience withdrawal symptoms when they stop using the drug. Yet here in Northern California, some addiction treatment practitioners say they’re seeing a surge in demand for help, particularly among adolescents. Marijuana’s estimated rate of addiction is lower than that of cocaine and alcohol (15 percent) and heroin (24 percent). Unlike with opioids and stimulants, marijuana dependence tends to develop slowly: Months or years may pass before symptoms begin to affect a dependent user’s life. There are no known reports of anyone dying of a marijuana overdose or of the drug’s common withdrawal symptoms: chills, sweats, cravings, insomnia, loss of appetite, nausea, anxiety and irritability. According to Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, an estimated 2.7 million Americans meet the diagnostic criteria for marijuana dependence, second only to alcohol dependence. Smith, a visiting physician at Muir Wood Adolescent and Family Services, a treatment center for boys where Pohl eventually got help, speculates that the potency of today’s pot is causing a higher prevalence of problematic marijuana use. “Back in the day when kids were sitting around smoking a joint, the THC levels found in marijuana averaged from 2 to 4 percent,” Smith said. “That’s what most parents think is going on today. And that’s why society thinks marijuana is harmless.” But selective breeding has resulted in an average potency of 20 percent THC, the primary psychoactive compound in marijuana. Some strains exceed 30 percent. Marijuana concentrates


The Daily 202: Trump lost a battle on family separations, but his immigration war continues

place. Republicans have long expressed an interest in eliminating the Education Department since it was created by President Jimmy Carter in 1980. Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos have shown similar leanings. … Many changes the Trump White House will propose Thursday — the Labor and Education merger and other plans to consolidate offices with similar missions, for example — would need to be approved by Congress, making their success a long shot in a politically divided period leading up to the midterm elections.” -- Last night in Minnesota, Trump also aired a string of grievances about how he has not received sufficient credit for his accomplishments. “You ever notice they always call the other side ‘the elite’?” Trump asked. “The elite! Why are they elite? I have a much better apartment than they do. I’m smarter than they are. I’m richer than they are. I became president and they didn’t.” GET SMART FAST: WATCH WHAT THEY DO, NOT WHAT THEY SAY: -- Trump overturned an executive order that was signed by Barack Obama in 2010 to protect the oceans in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. -- The Senate rejected a plan to cut billions of dollars from the omnibus spending bill Trump signed earlier this year. -- Republican senators criticized Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for the Trump tariffs. THERE'S A BEAR IN THE WOODS: -- Rudy Giuliani said Trump’s decision on whether to sit for an interview with Robert Mueller could be delayed until July. -- Michael Cohen resigned from his post as the Republican National Committee's deputy finance chairman, a role that the RNC has allowed the president's longtime fixer to keep for months despite cascading federal investigations into his business dealings. Cohen cited family separations at the border as a reason for stepping down. -- Federal investigators probing whether Cohen attempted to suppress damaging information about Trump during the 2016 campaign have subpoenaed the publisher of the National Enquirer. -- A longtime U.S. lobbyist for Oleg Deripaska, the Russian oligarch who was offered private campaign briefings by then-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort in 2016, visited Julian Assange nine times at the Ecuadoran Embassy last year -- Oops: ABC News apologized after it aired a graphic that incorrectly said Manafort had pleaded guilty to five charges of manslaughter. -- Testifying before Congress, former Obama administration officials acknowledged mistakes they made in responding to Russian interference


Here is a a test headline.

This is the one sentence summary of the alert. This is a developing story. It will be updated.


With or without a ‘Space Force,’ space will be part of future warfare

Peter Wismer’s positions as noted in his June 19 op-ed, “Space is not the place for war,” are inconsistent with those of military space professionals (who do know a lot about war and space). A de facto “Space Force” has existed for decades within the Air Force and, to a lesser extent, the other military branches. Everything a new branch would do already occurs and would continue regardless. Creation of a new military service would be about improved strategic focus and budgetary control and would not affect the question of space warfare. Space as a warfighting domain is neither new nor a presidential creation. As early as the Gulf War, our adversaries recognized our military’s reliance on space and began developing and fielding substantial counterspace capabilities. Our military space leaders’ pragmatic acknowledgment of this has been in response to Russian, Chinese and others’ counterspace advances. Finally, many with “sci-fi-deep” space knowledge focus only on destruction and debris, while most counterspace action involves jamming, blinding and other nondestructive means. This is important when examining the efficacy of new treaties. U.S. opposition to the United Nations’ proposed Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space treaty is based upon the principles of equity, verifiability and enhanced security for all, while known Russian and Chinese counterspace advances make their treaty support suspect. Space Force or not, space is contested and will be part of any future warfare. Robert Drozd The writer is a retired Air Force space and missile operations officer with arms-control experience.


FIFA officials say doping is not a problem. Should we believe them?

the Interior Ministry. In 2004, the doctor of the celebrated Italian club Juventus was found guilty of running a doping program during the 1990s, when the team won the UEFA Champions League. Yet, unbelievably, the court also found that no one else at the club knew about it (in 2006, the club was stripped of a championship after being found guilty of bribing referees). Researchers Paul Dimeo and John Taylor have pointed out the systematic differences that exist between the authorities’ claims and the evidence on the ground. In 1961, a survey of Italian soccer players found that 17 percent admitted to taking ephedrine-related substances. A study of African soccer players published in 2003 found that 8 percent admitted to doping. A survey of English players published in 2005 found that 6 percent knew of another player who had used banned substances. FIFA might like to pretend that doping is a problem just for cyclists and weightlifters, but that doesn’t seem very likely. Performance-enhancing drugs can give players an edge in many ways: building certain muscles, enhancing stamina and controlling pain. FIFA has become a synonym for corruption. This has mostly been about bribery — whether to win the right to host the World Cup, or raking off money from the sale of broadcast rights or diverting the profits of the World Cup into pockets of administrators. But whatever one thinks about the organization, the game itself has largely remained immune. While the International Olympic Committee is increasingly worried that audiences for the Olympics are losing interest (NBC ratings in the United States for Rio 2016 were about 15 percent lower than for London 2012 despite a more favorable time zone), the global dominance of soccer seems untouched. Could this change? Ask Italians about the 2002 World Cup. In that tournament, the Azzurri were defeated 2-1 by hosts South Korea in the Round of 16: There was a bizarre red card, a disallowed goal and much else besides that suggested a fix. The referee of that game, Byron Moreno, was run out of the sport for fixing another game and was later imprisoned for smuggling heroin into the United States. Yet the Italians, despite being heartbroken for missing this World Cup, have not lost credibility for competition. Sadly, the cynics at FIFA probably know that they can continue to get away with the pretense that doping is somebody else’s problem.