Dear President Trump: Please let Liu Xiaobo die as a free man

two days before the public release of Charter 08, and in December 2009, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison for “inciting subversion of state power.” On Oct. 8, 2010, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that Liu was the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Within two weeks, Liu Xia was placed under house arrest and has been held without charge or trial for almost seven years. Liu Xiaobo’s imprisonment coincided with China’s rise as a global power on the world stage. In recent years, China has raised its military budget past a record high of $145 billion annually and vigorously contested competing claims in the South China Sea. In its “One Belt, One Road Initiative,” China is investing hundreds of billions of dollars into infrastructure projects across Asia, Africa and Europe. And it has created the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, whose 57 members have contributed more than $100 billion, making it half the size of its rival World Bank. It has also positioned itself to be a key interlocutor with difficult states such as Iran and North Korea. At home, however, Xi has faced serious economic and environmental challenges, as best highlighted by an extraordinary rise in domestic dissent. In response, Xi has unabashedly increased repression of religious and ethnic minorities, human rights lawyers and civil society activists; China reportedly now spends more than $120 billion annually on domestic security. As China’s power and influence have increased, Western democracies have collectively engaged in self-censorship on human rights, choosing to prioritize what they have clearly believed to be their more important interests over their purported values. In the past five years, since Xi became president, discussions on human rights have been relegated to fruitless dialogues with the Chinese foreign ministry, which has never had any power over domestic concerns. President Barack Obama led the West in playing down concerns with China on human rights and was conspicuous by his unwillingness to help Liu, his fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He raised Liu Xiaobo’s case publicly only once after he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and whatever he might have said privately clearly had no impact. At the same time, he did not join 134 Nobel laureates on a letter to Xi, did not publicly condemn Liu Xia’s detention under house arrest and even threatened to veto a bill, passed by the Senate, to rename the street in front


Trump official celebrates a new Samsung factory that was planned before the election

the regional preferences of our fastest growing and most important consumer market,” Yoon said in a statement. Samsung first considered setting up shop in the United States about three years ago, the company said, and started talks with South Carolina last fall. The firm said it picked Newberry County for its workforce, transportation infrastructure — the plant is 150 miles from the Port of Charleston — and “commitment to public-private partnerships.” “It takes a top-notch workforce, strong local partners and a robust infrastructure network capable of sourcing, supplying and delivering new products to market,” Samsung Electronics America President Tim Baxter said in a statement. “We were delighted to find that South Carolina offered all three things in spades, and are eager to get to work hiring our new team.” The company isn’t building from the ground up. Samsung will move into and renovate a Caterpillar plant that is shutting down operations at the end of July as part of a “significant global restructuring initiative,” the machinery firm said. Samsung hopes to hire some of the 325 Caterpillar workers who will lose their jobs at the electric power generator set packaging center, a company spokesperson said. The South Korean firm is the latest in a string of foreign companies to trumpet a job-creating development in the United States. Japanese firm Softbank announced in December that it will And after the president slammed Toyota for opening a new plant in Mexico, the Japanese automaker — which already has plants Samsung has thus far fostered a friendly relationship with Trump. In February, after the politics site Axios reported that Samsung was considering a new U.S. facility, the president tweeted the link to the article and wrote, “Thank you, @Samsung! We would love to have you!” Thank you, @Samsung! We would love to have you! https://t.co/r5nxC9oOA4 Al Lanctot, executive director of the Center for International Business at the University of South Carolina, said the state “very actively” recruits foreign companies to relocate to the state and hire local workers. The South Carolina Commerce Department has offices in Shanghai and New Delhi, for example, for such purposes. “The state wants companies that can give a balanced employment opportunity for all kinds of skill sets, leaning more into blue-collar,” Lanctot said. “It’s too early to tell if this is directly because of Donald Trump’s rhetoric. Most of these deals have been in line for a while.”


The Health 202: There will be dead bodies whichever way the Senate swings on health care

how McConnell received his polio treatment as a child has been shared hundreds of thousands of times on the Internet by activists opposing the Obamacare overhaul he's shepherding through the Senate. “As a kid, Mitch McConnell had polio, and the government paid for ALL of his care and rehabilitation,” says a text below an apparent picture of a young McConnell, adding that McConnell wants to take away the government-funded care that once helped him. The meme was originally posted to Facebook by the group Occupy Democrats. The problem is, that story is false, Dr. Jonas Salk administers a trial polio vaccine to David Rosenbloom of Pittsburgh in this 1954 photo from the National Foundation March of Dimes. (AP Photo/National Foundation March of Dimes) The facts: "Shortly after the foundation was created in 1937, comedian Eddie Cantor spearheaded a fundraising campaign that he called March of Dimes," Kristine writes. "Its goal was simple: Use radio and the president's Birthday Ball to encourage people to donate at least one dime to the cause of fighting polio...The result was an 'avalanche of donations' in the form of 80,000 letters containing dimes and dollars that inundated the White House mail room, according to the March of Dimes website." "It's likely that the stories by Occupy Democrats and others relied on a misunderstanding of what public money is and falsely concluded that dollars donated by members of the public to a private organization are the same as taxpayer dollars that fund government programs," INDUSTRY RX FDA takes steps to boost generic competition, limit prices The Food and Drug Administration said it’s taking steps to boost the number of generic prescription drugs on the market in an effort to make medicines more affordable and to prevent price gouging. Associated Press D.C. reports sharp decline in new HIV infections Officials credit drugs and prevention programs, including condom giveaways and needle exchange, for 73 percent drop in new cases since 2007. Rachel Chason A mother’s response to the health-care debate: Her 3-year-old son’s $231,000 hospital bill A mother says her son is the poster child for Obamacare, and she's using his story as a message to Republicans attempting to change the health-care law. Cleve R. Wootson Jr. SECOND OPINION Why the Senate’s health-care plan wouldn’t work in the real world States do not have some magic way to cover millions of Americans with far less federal support. Drew


Uncovering addiction in America


NSO’s Noseda, after back surgery, is out for the summer and concerts are canceled

Gianandrea Noseda, music director designate of the National Symphony Orchestra (here conducting the Teatro Regio Torino Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in 2014), underwent emergency back surgery this week and had to cancel his performances in D.C. on July 28 and 29. (Steve J. Sherman) UPDATE: Following back surgery on Wednesday, Gianandrea Noseda, the incoming music director of the National Symphony Orchestra, announced today that he was canceling his inaugural concerts in Washington on July 28 and 29. Noseda suffered a herniated disk Monday while conducting a run of Verdi’s opera “Macbeth” at his home company in Torino, Italy. He had emergency surgery Wednesday and is recovering at home in Torino. His doctor, Michele Naddeo, said the prognosis was good for a full recovery. Noseda was scheduled to lead “Carmina Burana” at Wolf Trap on July 28 and a free concert on the Mall on July 29 celebrating his official accession as NSO music director. The Mall concert was to have been combined with events surrounding National Dance Day. National Dance Day will now be held at the Kennedy Center, starting at 2 p.m. July 29. A replacement conductor for the Wolf Trap performance, which involves members of eight choruses from across the city as a special gesture for Noseda’s arrival, is still to be announced. “I am saddened to have to cancel all of my performances until the middle of August,” Noseda said in a statement from his home. “However, [wife] Lucia and I have decided to follow very carefully the advice of Prof. Naddeo and that it would be best to take this time for me to make a full and complete recovery so I am physically prepared for the Teatrio Regio Torino’s historic residency at the Edinburgh International Festival in the second half of August and to start my new position as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra.” Noseda’s other engagements this summer included the Verbier Festival, the Mostly Mozart Festival, the Ravinia Festival and the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg, where he became the first foreign-born principal guest conductor of the Mariinsky Theater in 1997, launching his international career. Noseda’s first official concert with the NSO as the orchestra’s music director will now be the season-opening gala Sept. 24, which celebrates Leonard Bernstein’s centennial, with Yo-Yo Ma and Cynthia Erivo. Noseda also said today he would conduct a free concert in Washington at a later


‘Honor our contract’: Lawmakers press Trump not to deport foreign-born military recruits

1,000 of whom hold no legal immigration status, according to the memo. Since 2009, more than 10,400 troops, most of them with service in the Army, have served in uniform with medical skills and language specialties central to established or growing areas of concern — such as Russian, Mandarin Chinese and Pashto — which were identified by the Pentagon as vital to the success of military operations but in short supply among U.S.-born troops. An unknown number of recruits have received deferred action from immigration authorities due to their involvement in the program, which would be reversed if the recommendations made in the memo are approved, leaving the recruits vulnerable to deportation. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Johnny Michael, a spokesman for the Pentagon, declined to comment on the letter and the ongoing discussions about the fate of the program. Pressure from Capitol Hill might put Trump between two opposing forces related to his campaign rhetoric. Shedding nearly 2,000 skilled troops at a time when the Army seeks to beef up after recent years of personnel drawdowns could run contrary to his promise to rebuild the military to make it “so big and so strong and so great.” But Trump has also made tougher immigration policies central in his administration, with ongoing legal battles over sanctuary cities and the Supreme Court recently allowing some parts of his travel ban executive order to go into effect. Trump is reportedly aware of the ongoing issues facing foreign-born veterans who served in the U.S. military but were deported for various crimes before they filed for naturalization through the military. “We should do something about this,” Trump recently said to congressional Democrats before his staff intervened to explain the thorny issue, according to BuzzFeed. The Pentagon memo also recommended to Mattis that 4,100 troops already serving in the force — most of whom are naturalized citizens through the program — should face “enhanced screening” to quell concern that the program could be used by infiltrators. Officials conceded it would be difficult to navigate “significant legal constraints” of “continuous monitoring” of citizens without cause, according to the memo. In a not-so-subtle reference to Trump’s campaign slogan, Meng described the recruits in danger of deportation as “patriotic” examples in need of White House intervention. “They are exactly the type of individuals who will continue to make America great,” Meng said.


In spending bill, new muscular ways that the Pentagon could deter Russian military action

The decisions come after assessments by senior U.S. intelligence officials that the Russian government sought to sway the 2016 president election in favor of President Trump. The committee cited that effort as one of the reasons for its tougher stance toward Moscow. “The committee believes that the United States must do more to deter Russian aggression, whether across its borders or in cyberspace,” the summary said. “Russia continues to occupy Crimea, destabilize Ukraine, threaten our [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] allies, violate the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty and bolster the Assad regime in Syria. In an unparalleled attack on our core interests and values, Russia engaged in an active, purposeful campaign to undermine the integrity of American democracy and affect the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.” A committee spokeswoman, Rachel Hoff, declined to comment on the summary Wednesday night. The committee is expected to release additional details about its decisions Thursday. The establishment of the missile program could prove particularly sensitive. The INF Treaty, approved by officials in Washington and Moscow in 1987, called for the elimination of missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. The Obama administration determined in 2014 that Russia had violated that treaty, but the United States is believed to have continued adhering to it. The establishment of a new medium-range ground missile program may not violate the treaty itself, but it would open the door to the United States withdrawing from the treaty and building new medium-range missiles of its own. The treaty prohibits testing any short or “intermediate-range” missiles or building any stages or launchers for them. The Obama administration also resisted providing Ukrainian forces with lethal aid to counter Russian-backed separatists, a decision that lawmakers including Sen. John McCain (R.-Ariz.), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, have taken issue with repeatedly. The effort to prohibit software from a specific Russian company — Kaspersky Lab — follows concerns raised by U.S. officials that its ties to the Russian government could create a cybersecurity risk in the United States. But it’s largely symbolic: U.S. officials have said that is used in few, if any, places in the federal government. The call for the Pentagon to supply information about hybrid warfare — in which conventional military actions are combined with secretive operations such as arming separatists from another country — comes after years of Russia using it, according to U.S. officials.


These experts say we have three years to get climate change under control. And they’re the optimists.

and her co-authors, including scientists Hans Joachim Schellnhuber and Stefan Rahmstorf of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, in a commentary in the journal Nature. The commentary has six authors and was endorsed by dozens of co-signers from the climate science and policy world as well as from industry. The paper by Figueres, who now leads an initiative called Mission 2020, was directly aimed at influencing the upcoming G-20 meetings in Germany. It also notes President Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris accord. “The whole purpose of this comment … is to wake up the intentionality and the ingenuity that we must bring to this effort, because of the urgency,” Figueres said during a call with reporters. Fortunately, global emissions have been flattening lately. Not going down — but not rising, either. The past three years have instead shown a leveling-off thanks to a decline of coal burning by the United States and China. Yet to achieve their objectives, extremely rapid carbon cuts would be required on a tremendous scale. By 2020, among other objectives, all of the world’s coal plants would have to be on the path to retirement (and no new ones can be built), and electric vehicles would have to explode in popularity, moving from 1 percent of global sales to 15 percent in just three years, an extraordinarily rapid rate of growth. Deforestation would have to decline sharply and then end entirely. By 2030, global forests would actually have to start pulling carbon dioxide out of the air. That is an enormous lift, given the entrenched nature of deforestation and the economic pressures in the developing world to convert forested land to agriculture and ranching. But if emissions are not on a significant downward path by 2020, the logic is inevitable — it gets increasingly difficult to control global warming. The reason is simple. The later emissions reach their peak, the more rapidly they would have to decline following that peak. At some point it becomes impossible to cut emissions as fast as would be necessary to avoid busting the limited carbon “budget.” These kinds of considerations are why a number of researchers have expressed skepticism about global temperatures increasing less than two degrees Celsius. Keeping the temperature change below 1.5 Celsius is even harder and, increasingly, being considered unachievable by scientists. (It has already increased about one degree Celsius.) “I


How to get kids ready for, and excited about, the Great American Eclipse

(iStock) You’re standing in the yard with your children. The temperature has just dropped 20 degrees, and it’s pitch dark. Not normal nighttime dark — your kids have seen that before — but completely black, as though all the light is gone from the world. Because it has. The Great American Eclipse is coming Aug. 21. For the first time in American history, a total solar eclipse will be seen only in the United States. It is also the first total solar eclipse since 1918 to move from coast to coast. At 10:15 a.m. Pacific time, totality begins outside Depoe Bay, Ore.; at 2:49 p.m. Eastern time, it ends near McClellanville, S.C. In the time between, the eclipse will darken 12 states: Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia and South Carolina. Eighty percent of the U.S. population lives within 600 miles of the eclipse path. In short, if you don’t live in what scientists call “the totality band,” you need to get there. The rest of North America will see a partial solar eclipse, but astronomer Jay M. Pasachoff says settling for a partial eclipse when you could see a total one is like “standing outside an opera house and saying that you have seen the opera; in both cases, you have missed the main event.” Stepping one millimeter outside totality changes everything. On “a scale of 1-10, a partial eclipse is maybe a 6 and a total eclipse is a million,” said Fred Espenak, an astrophysicist with NASA. During a total solar eclipse, the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, casting its shadow on the ground. Normally, the moon reflects sunbeams off its surface. That’s why darkness during a total solar eclipse is like nothing you’ve experienced before: The reflected light is gone and all other light is blocked out. This is what causes the temperature to drop so suddenly — and it’s also what keeps birds from singing, makes larger animals lie down and sends squirrels into a frenzy: As the moon slides over the sun, animals think it’s nightfall. And when the sun is completely covered, they become afraid. But your children won’t be frightened because you’re going to prepare them. Start by making sure your kids know the difference between a total solar eclipse and an annular one. The last annular solar eclipse in the United States was


The Energy 202: Rick Perry touts carbon-cutting technology while simultaneously trying to cut its funding

progress being made on the technology. “We've already seen the fruits of innovative, clean technology, like CCUS -- carbon capture, utilization and sequestration,” Perry said Tuesday. “The Petra Nova plant, just on the outskirts of Houston, Texas, uses a process to remove 90 percent of the carbon dioxide after coal is burned to generate energy in a clean way.” At first glance, the comments may be a bit baffling, if you’ve followed Perry up to this point. Perry said “no” when asked on CNBC last week if the compound captured in CCS -- carbon dioxide -- was “the primary control knob for the temperature of the Earth and for climate.” The comment set off a new firestorm of criticism as it appears Perry is increasingly bending into the mold of White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt in their adamancy with which they have dismissed climate-change science. So it raises the question: Why should the Energy Department highlight the technology when its secretary isn’t convinced carbon dioxide is that primary control knob in warming the atmosphere? (Indeed, one of NASA’s top climate scientists described it as just that in a 2010 paper.) Understand the basics of carbon capture tech with this helpful infographic ➟ https://t.co/0pU1zResS1 #CCS… https://t.co/tnm2kjzEud One reason is that captured carbon dioxide has an industrial use. It can be pumped back underground in order to not just store it but to boost the recovery of oil from otherwise difficult-to-reach pockets. With most of the easy-to-get oil, lifted to the surface by its own internal pressure or by water pumped underground, already been recovered, oil companies will have to increasingly rely on so-called enhanced oil recovery in order to keep their reserves stable. But Perry faces an even bigger incongruity between his rhetoric and actions on carbon capture and storage. The Energy Department budget the Trump administration proposed and Perry defended in Congress would cut funding from the Office of Fossil Energy, the office spearheading CCS research, from $631 million in 2017 to $280 million in 2018 -- a 56 percent cut. Why praise handiwork of researchers and businesses trying to make carbon capture and storage happen while simultaneously threatening to chop off the head of the office pushing that technology? You are reading The Energy 202, our must-read tipsheet on energy and the environment. Not a regular subscriber? SIGN UP NOW


Blindness does not stop this beekeeper, this baker and this kayaker from expanding their vision

of the community, the rest of society, and particularly employers, to use better.” Melville-Brown was thrilled to learn she had won (“My thinking is it’s a cross between the Paralympics and ‘The Apprentice,’ with a whiff of the Nobel!” she wrote to the organizers in an email). But she also said the honor comes with a great responsibility “because I am sort of representing lots of blind people, and especially those who were candidates for the prize. I’m sort of doing it on their behalf.” A third winner, Ahmet Ustunel, a San Francisco teacher and avid kayaker, plans to develop a guidance system to kayak solo 500 miles in locations around the world, including crossing the Bosporus from Europe to Asia in his native Turkey. Ahmet Ustunel, a San Francisco teacher and avid kayaker, will develop a guidance system to solo kayak 500 miles in different locations around the world. Ahmet Ustunel will paddle his kayak through the Bosporus, the strait between Asia and Europe. (Zilara Yarbrough) “We were staggered by the amount of interest and the quality and diversity of the proposals,” Bashin said. “One of the biggest obstacles is our own perceptions of our capabilities, and part of the Lighthouse’s mission is to change perceptions of the abilities of the blind in all fields.” Winners will be flown to San Francisco and work with a project manager to refine their ideas. A year later, they will return to report on their efforts. In the Gulu district of northern Uganda, Simon’s organization has already taught 38 people how to become beekeepers by using local materials to make beehives and learning about bees’ behavior. Ugandans prize the insects for their honey, wax (used in soap and cosmetics), propolis (a resin used to close holes in their hives) and even their venom, which can be used to boost immunity. But much of the harvesting is done in the wild, which presents a challenge for the visually impaired. Hive Uganda teaches people to use frames and assess the honey harvest by feeling how heavy they are. Winning the Holman will allow Simon to expand the number of people he can help. “I feel that now I’m going to be addressing the larger society … to empower East Africa in general,” he told The Washington Post. “My dream is becoming reality, and that change that I wanted, I started feeling at my fingertips.”


UPDATE here is ben’s test

UPDATE test test test


Climate change in the U.S. could help the rich and hurt the poor

become more resilient. Industries evolve and relocate. Delavane Diaz, a senior technical leader at the Electric Power Research Institute, agreed that the study has limitations. For one, it fails to account for how humans will probably plan for and respond to the changing climate. Still, she said, the conclusions provide an important glimpse of the economic risks the United States could face as global warming worsens. “Monetizing the economic damages of climate change is important for risk management and decision-making,” Diaz said. “It tells us how the benefits of reducing greenhouse gas emissions stack up against the costs, as well as the value of spending on climate mitigation relative to other social investments.” Thursday’s study joins a growing body of research that suggests a lack of global action on climate change will prove disruptive, costly and deadly to coming generations. A 300-page White House report last year described the health problems associated with climate change as one of the gravest threats to the nation. It detailed the potential of increased deaths from extreme heat, longer allergy seasons and more polluted air and water. Likewise, diseases transmitted by ticks and mosquitoes could spread farther and faster, and more people would face the prospect of near-constant floods. And in late 2015, a far-reaching study published in Nature found a strong relationship between a region’s average temperature and its economic productivity. Researchers compared economic and temperature data for more than 100 wealthy and poorer countries over half a century. They found that the optimum temperature for human productivity appears to be about 55 degrees Fahrenheit on average. Beyond that, economic productivity “strongly” began to decline. Collectively, such data suggest the potential for growing inequality not just within the United States but also around the globe. That’s because already hot, poor countries are likely to experience the most severe temperature increases. And unlike with economic downturns, Hsiang said, the effects of climate change won’t quickly recede with time. “When you impose these costs on the economy, they just don’t go away,” he said. “It’s like an ongoing recession we just never climb out of.” Read more: As Trump halts federal action on climate change, cities and states push on Sweeping study claims that rising temperatures will sharply cut economic productivity Fact-checking President Trump’s claims on the Paris climate change deal EPA’s Scott Pruitt wants to set up opposing teams to debate climate change science


The Trump administration calls China’s bluff on North Korea

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on June 29 announced sanctions against a Chinese bank in relation to the North Korean regime. This post has been updated, 7:05 p.m. The Trump administration on Thursday announced sanctions against Chinese entities accused of aiding North Korea’s illicit nuclear and missile programs. The action is a sharp turn in President Trump’s approach to China and the beginning of a new and unpredictable effort to use sticks instead of carrots with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The new sanctions against one Chinese bank, one Chinese business and two Chinese individuals are not a total surprise. Last week, Trump tweeted that he appreciated Xi’s efforts on North Korea but “it has not worked out.” Trump officials presented the new sanctions as focused on North Korea and not Beijing. “We are in no way targeting China with these efforts,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said at a news conference Thursday. “We appreciate their work and hope they will continue to work with us.” He said administration officials would be meeting with Chinese officials on the sideline of the Group of 20 meeting to discuss further ways to stop North Korea’s illicit activities. But behind the scenes, officials said that the decision to unveil the new sanctions came after a good faith effort to identify Chinese firms the United States believes are undermining international sanctions against the Kim Jong Un regime and press Xi’s government to take action. The United States submitted a list of such firms to China and gave Beijing 30 days to respond, officials said. Beijing did respond, with a report on actions it claimed to be taking, but the Trump administration found the response to be insufficient. Today, the Treasury Department was set to announce it was moving forward without Beijing’s cooperation. “Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced a finding that Bank of Dandong, a Chinese bank that acts as a conduit for illicit North Korean financial activity, is a foreign bank of primary money laundering concern, and FinCEN has proposed to sever the bank from the U.S. financial system,” the Treasury Department said in a notification. In addition, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated two Chinese individuals and one Chinese company “in response to North Korea’s ongoing WMD development and continued violations of UN Security Council resolutions,” the notification stated. Lawmakers and experts praised the move as a sign that Trump’s previously announced


Scientists find a surprising result on global wildfires: They’re actually burning less land

outweighed by the areas where agriculture was associated with a reduction in burned area, mainly in grassland and savanna landscapes, where there’s less biomass available to burn and where fire may be less necessary as a land-clearing or management tool. The researchers found that fire reductions were particularly pronounced in places with greater socioeconomic development and higher investment in their pastures and croplands. Wealthier areas may be less inclined to risk their crops, livestock, homes and infrastructure by using fire as a management tool, the researchers suggest, and the people living in these places also may be less likely to accept the poor air quality caused by smoke from wildfires. In fact, they may begin to employ fire suppression tactics to prevent natural wildfires from occurring. These global fire reductions may come with pros and cons, the researchers note. For one thing, fire is a natural element of many ecosystems’ life cycles, helping to recycle nutrients, regulate competition among types of plants and make space for new growth. So suppressing wildfires can actually have a negative impact on a landscape’s vegetation and biodiversity. On the other hand, the researchers note that a reduction in fire also comes with a decline in the carbon emissions it produces, which could be helpful in the fight against climate change. That said, there’s the potential that the carbon released by the land conversion and agricultural expansion driving these declines may actually offset the reduction in fire emissions. A great deal more research will be necessary before scientists can say for sure how all of these changes are affecting the global carbon cycle, Andela said. And Bowman, the University of Tasmania scientist, also pointed out that this study “should not be construed as suggesting the global wildfire crisis is being resolved.” Even while burned area is declining on a global scale, human management techniques — such as starting fires where they don’t belong and suppressing them where they might otherwise naturally occur — may actually be priming many landscapes for more-extreme wildfires in the future. Fire suppression, in particular, can sometimes lead to an overabundance of dry fuel in certain areas, and these unburned spaces “may eventually burn ferociously under hotter and drier conditions expected by climate change,” Bowman suggested. Andela also added that “overall I wouldn’t describe our findings as being a positive thing for the Earth system or global ecosystems.” The spread of


U.S. Treasury Department announces new sanctions to increase pressure on North Korea

A submarine-launched ballistic missile is displayed during a military parade in Pyongyang, North Korea, on April 15. (Wong Maye-E/AP) The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced a new set of actions Thursday aimed at increasing pressure on North Korea, including cutting off a Chinese bank that is accused of laundering money and providing financing to North Korea in violation of international sanctions. “This bank has served as a gateway to North Korean access to the U.S. and international financial systems that has facilitated millions of dollars in transactions for North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs,” Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said at the daily White House briefing Thursday. “The United States will not stand for such actions.” The United States will also impose sanctions on two Chinese people and a Chinese shipping company that are believed to have assisted North Korea with its nuclear and missile programs. Mnuchin made clear that the United States is “in no way targeting China with these actions” and that U.S. officials “look forward to continuing to work closely with the government of China to stop the illicit financing in North Korea.” Mnuchin added that this “very significant action” sends the message to those around the world that the United States will follow the money trail leading to North Korea and continue to crack down on those assisting the country. The announcement comes ahead of a scheduled visit from South Korean President Moon Jae-in. In a statement, the Treasury Department accused the China-based Bank of Dandong of “facilitating millions of dollars of transactions for companies involved in North Korea’s [weapons of mass destruction] and ballistic missile programs.” The Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has proposed prohibiting U.S. financial institutions from directly or indirectly maintaining correspondent accounts for the Bank of Dandong, cutting the bank off from the U.S. financial system. The Treasury also announced that U.S. citizens will be generally prohibited from doing business with two Chinese citizens — Sun Wei and Ri Song Hyok, who are accused of establishing and running front companies on behalf of North Korea — and Dalian Global Unity Shipping Co., which is accused of transporting 700,000 tons of freight annually, including coal and steel products, between China and North Korea. The Trump administration is also expected to announce on Thursday a significant new $1.4 billion arms package for Taiwan that includes advanced rocket and anti–ship missile systems, said


Controversial pesticides may threaten queen bees. Alternatives could be worse.

honey bees since neonics replaced more harmful insecticides,” said beekeeper and science blogger Randy Oliver. Since the E.U. moratorium went into effect in 2014, farmers in England have struggled with increased pest pressure, Carreck said. Many have turned to pyrethroid pesticides, which have unknown consequences on bees and other beneficial insects. Pywell emphasized that if the E.U. continues the moratorium, we need to investigate what alternative pesticides are doing to bees. A pollinator refuge along the edge of an Iowa farm. (Courtesy of Dave Walton) I asked Dave Walton, a family farmer in Iowa, what he would do if neonicotinoids were banned. “We would have to use other products. … Lorsban comes to mind.” Lorsban is a brand name for an equally controversial organophosphate insecticide, part of a class that is far more toxic to humans than neonicotinoids. They are also not more bee-friendly. Amro Zayed, who was involved with the Canadian study, recommends restricting the use of insecticides until after a pest problem occurs, instead of preemptively applying them to every seed we plant. Oliver agreed. “Neonics are still vastly overused as risk management, rather than as needed treatments for actual pest control,” he said. When I asked Walton whether this was a workable compromise, he seemed less optimistic. “We use it to combat insects that feed on the seed and seedlings,” he explained. “By the time we find the insects, the damage is already done.” The buzzword in farming these days is what’s known as “integrative pest management.” In IPM systems, conventional pesticides are used responsibly, and pest control relies heavily on natural predators. One potential strategy Pywell discussed is limiting exposure by supplying other flowers near fields that could also serve as a refuge for pest predators. Walton explained that they employ a similar strategy on his farm, planting wildflowers and other native plants in ditches and field margins. However, given the evidence that neonicotinoids are more mobile and persistent than previously imagined, it may be important to monitor whether flowers in refuges are picking up neonicotinoids. Wildflower refuges could also address an even greater threat to bees — habitat loss. Endless rows of wind-pollinated corn leave bees of all types scrambling for food. Likewise, urban sprawl and grassy lawns make for homeless, hungry pollinators. Many bee experts emphasize the importance of considering how changes to all landscapes could help or harm the pollinators we depend on.


The big consequence of the Amazon-Whole Foods deal no one’s talking about

early to determine what Amazon has in store for Whole Foods. The retailer controls 1.21 percent of the U.S. grocery market, according to GlobalData Retail. Amazon has even less, at .19 percent. But that hasn’t calmed the jitters of some Whole Foods suppliers, who saw the store — as food entrepreneur Zach DeAngelo, who launched several brands through Whole Foods, put it -- as the “Holy Grail in distribution.” Unlike most other national chains, Whole Foods has placed a strong emphasis on sourcing products from local players, including sustainable farmers and small-scale food start-ups. The chain has a reputation for partnering with small farms that other large stores would ignore, Marlow said. It currently sources local produce from 1,400 farms across the United States. Over 10 years, Whole Foods also disbursed $21 million in low-interest loans to help local farmers and producers scale up their operations. And it has launched aggressive branding and labeling programs to persuade consumers that it is worth paying more for food from specialty and organic operations, many of which boast impressive environmental and sustainability goals. But this model has been costly for Whole Foods, as the company admitted in recent earnings calls and shareholder reports. Whole Foods announced last year that, to cut costs, it would begin buying more of its nonperishable goods through a central office in Austin, as opposed to regional hubs. It made a similar switch with produce long ago. At the same time, some observers have accused the store of diluting environmental standards for some of its products. Phil Howard, a professor at Michigan State University who studies consolidation in the food system, notes that price pressure has already forced Whole Foods to begin offering a range of foods that aren’t organic but “natural.” Unlike organics, which are regulated by the Agriculture Department, the term “natural” comes with no requirements. Still, Whole Foods has remained highly committed to a class of midsize producers that don't have many other markets, Marlow said. He and others fear that under Amazon — a company that has built its empire by exploiting economies of scale — that sort of commitment could disappear. There is worry that the company may move to further centralize Whole Foods’ buying operations, which would be cheaper and more efficient for the company — but which would disqualify producers too small to supply a large number of Whole Foods’ stores. According


How our appetite for cheap food drove rural America to Trump

supermarkets. Small farms were already languishing when the Reagan administration altered the allotment system, which sent them careening into a debt crisis that shuttered tens of thousands of independent farms. Large corporations eventually gobbled up those farms because they could afford to take out high interest loans to buy up devalued farmland. Immigration, particularly from Latin America, also greatly affected rural labor markets. Although many Americans imagine immigrants working in the countryside as stereotypical migrant laborers, many actually tackle the grueling hours and the brutal pace required to butcher chickens for fast food joints or to load cereal onto trucks — the front line of the food economy. Since 1980, the Latino population doubled in 22 states, with Southern and Midwestern farm states experiencing the fastest rates of growth. Immigrants flocked to previously all-white communities and company towns, leading longtime residents to feel dislocated and threatened. For example, Garden City, Kan., the site of a massive beef processing plant, went from 1 percent to 51 percent Latino in only 20 years. As rural and urban Americans drifted further apart, with the former getting poorer and unlikely to benefit from an emerging service and tech-based economy, rural resentments simmered. The 1990s militia movements engendered skepticism thanks to its white supremacy and anti-Semitism. Yet its ideas gained significant traction in rural America by charging that the “tyrannical” federal government crushed individual opportunity and freedom to benefit distant cities and economic elites. Very few rural Americans embraced militant racism, but the nihilistic, anti-urbanist, anti-government language resonated widely, particularly among whites who had lost farms because of failed policy and found themselves working in chicken processing plants for minimum wage, personally embodying a system that had failed America’s farmers. Policies that helped provide cheap bread, beef and poultry to help middle-class families afford new cars and college tuitions had a high cost for rural Americans. It convinced them that they and their children had no future in modern America. By the time Barack Obama entered the White House in 2008 with a proudly urbanist outlook, the economic fault lines had long since been joined by cultural and political divides. Urban politicians — increasingly Democrats — were avatars for the well-heeled suburbanites and city-bound hipsters who ate well and cheaply off the hard work of floundering farmers and an older, white workforce struggling to fend off immigrant labor (for brutal and low-paying jobs, no less).


The 11 books JPMorgan says you should read this summer

writes. “She never had a restaurant. She never had a television show. But over nearly four decades … her work had a quiet but incalculable influence on our grocery shelves and on our approach to cooking.” Wolfert, who has published more than 1,000 recipes, is credited with helping introduce Mediterranean foods like duck confit, couscous and preserved lemons to American households. When Wolfert learned of her diagnosis, she vowed to fight it. “I refuse to feel sorry for myself,” Thelin recalls her saying. “This illness takes forever, and I’m determined to make it take as long as I can.” “Unforgettable,” she says, is one way of doing that. The book explores the connections between food and memory, and includes more than 50 of Wolfert’s recipes. 10. “Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World” by Rachel Ignotofsky This tribute to trailblazing women reaches back to 400 A.D., when Hypatia of Alexandria was recognized as the world’s first female mathematician. In the centuries since, pioneers like physicist Marie Curie, primatologist Jane Goodall and ophthalmologist Patricia Bath have helped transform science, math, technology and engineering. This book — awash in whimsical illustrations by Ignotofsky, a former designer at Hallmark Greetings — celebrates those women and many others. 11. “A World in Disarray: American Foreign Policy and the Crisis of the Old Order” by Richard Haass These are chaotic and confusing times, and it’s time to find a new way to function globally, writes Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations and former Middle East advisor to President George H.W. Bush. In practice, he says that means there should be less focus on the borders between countries, and more emphasis on collaborative policies that span the globe. The United States — which is undergoing its own period of political turmoil — must find a way to work with the rest of the world, he says, while also addressing its own problems: Mounting debt, an increasingly divided public and uncertainty about U.S. foreign policy. “It is of course impossible to know what sort of foreign policy will emerge from the United States and how other countries and entities will react,” he writes. “Still, it is difficult not to take seriously the possibility that one historical era is ending and another beginning.” Read more: Claire’s is ‘a complete train wreck’ What is Lidl? 5 things the German grocer is bringing to America


‘Souping,’ birch water and gochujang: 9 trends from the 2017 Fancy Foods Show

Last year’s Summer Fancy Food Show attracted 47,000 specialty food professionals. (PRNewsFoto/Specialty Food Association) The Fancy Foods Show might sound precious. But it’s actually pretty intense: Every summer, makers of specialty foods from across the globe convene in New York for a massive trade show of their wares, all vying for the attention of buyers from grocery stores and markets. A purchase from Whole Foods, for example, can make or break a brand. Representatives from major grocery stores stalk the aisles of the Javits Center, sampling salmon jerky and switchel and “goji berry superfood ice treat,” looking for the next big thing. And when you see that many stalls shilling speculoos, for example, it’s easy to see what’s going to be trending in grocery stores next year. If you don’t see these products in your local grocery store, you can always buy them online. Gochujang and all things Korean Korean sauces at the Fancy Foods Show. (Maura Judkis/The Washington Post) Maybe it’s because we’ve grown weary of Sriracha. But gochujang, a spicy Korean sauce, is going to become a household name, if the Fancy Foods Show is any indication. There were several companies selling it — some from Korean entrepreneurs devoted only to Korean sauces, and others from established companies bandwagoning off of the trend. There was more gochujang in the halls of the Javits Center than could be counted, from brands such as We Rub You, Food Trk, One Culture Foods, Seriously Korean, Divine, and K-Mama Sauce (they just call it Korean hot sauce — and it’s also available gluten-free). Serious Foodie has a gochujang-infused “Korean Lemon Garlic Grill Sauce and Marinade,” which is gluten-free and non-GMO. Hak’s brand of tear-and-pour cooking sauces offers a Korean barbecue packet, and Spice Hunter has a Korean barbecue rub. Mother in Law’s, a kimchi brand that launched its gochujang in 2014, now offers “liquid kimchi” (it’s the liquid from the kimchi fermentation process), a “fermented and probiotic spicy elixir” that they recommend for use in salad dressings. Korean food is also gaining ground in the frozen aisle, where Saffron Road has a “Korean-style sweet chili chicken” bowl, and Korean fusion is on shelves too, in the form of Urban Accents’ Korean barbecue taco sauce. Chickpeas are the new nuts Biena chickpeas at the Fancy Foods Show. (Maura Judkis/The Washington Post) Last year’s chocolate hummus trend has manifested itself in a more palatable


D.C.’s best barbecue joint is popping up at the National Building Museum just in time for ‘Hive’

to get a lot more crowded in the coming days. The smokehouse just earned the No. 1 spot on the $20 Diner's annual barbecue rankings. Which is why the return of Hill Country's Backyard Barbecue couldn't be better timed. The event has been AWOL for the past two summers, but starting July 6, the outdoor pop-up will run Thursdays through Sundays on the West Lawn at the National Building Museum. Hill Country will also serve its menu inside the museum on Wednesday nights as part of Studio Gang's interactive 'Hive' installation. [The 10 best barbecue joints in the D.C. area] The Texas Cheesesteak, a new item for the return of Hill Country's Backyard Barbecue. (Hill Country) Be prepared: The menu is limited compared to what you can order at the Hill Country in Penn Quarter. The meatier options include sliced brisket (served by the half pound), a pulled pork sandwich (with pickles and onions on a potato roll), a hot link sandwich (with sauerkraut, Shiner-infused mustard on a long roll) and a new item, a Texas cheesesteak. The latter, a riff on the Philly classic, will feature smoked and chopped brisket in a hoagie roll topped with sauteed peppers and onions and a semi-spicy house-made queso. “Not too spicy,” says Hill Country's chef de cuisine Dan Farber. "On a scale of 1 to 10, I would say it's a 3 or 4." Farber expects the Backyard Barbecue will also have smoked turkey “on a regular basis,” perhaps even ribs glazed with a sauce prepared with fresh peaches and Shiner Peach Wheat. But whatever meats are available, there will be a limited supply of them. Unlike previous years, Hill Country won't restock the pop-up's warming units from the mother ship restaurant on Seventh Street NW. “When we run out, we run out,” Farber says. “Our goal is to make it through the entire evening, but you never know what's going to happen out there.” The event will also feature live music Friday through Sunday, yard games, beer and some frozen drinks, including a Jim Beam Southern Slush with black tea, orange juice and lemonade. The Backyard Barbecue begins July 6 on the West Lawn at the National Building Museum, 401 F St. NW. Open from Read more The Hotlist: The best things to see, eat, drink and do in July These barbecue destinations are a great excuse for a road trip


These craft beer festivals, events and tap takeovers will quench your thirst in July

special dishes created by Estadio chef Rufino Bautista, or a five-course tasting menu drawing on the skills of both kitchens. 4 to 10 p.m. Free admission, beer and food priced individually. July 13: Union Old Pro Hole-In-One Invitational at Canteen Ocean City's six Old Pro mini-golf courses are summer staples. They also inspired the name for Union Craft Brewing's outstanding Old Pro Gose, a tart, dry and refreshing beer. Union is taking over seven taps at the Canteen beer garden in Shaw, and they're bringing an Old Pro-worth challenge: Sink a hole-in-one on a miniature golf hole, and receive a free Union beer. (You only get one chance, so make it count.) After doing your best Jack Nicklaus impression, sample one of the rarities coming down from Baltimore, including Cosmic Giggle Imperial IPA and an Old Pro variation finished with peach tea. 5 to 8 p.m. Free admission. July 15: Mad Fox Brewing seventh anniversary party Falls Church's award-winning Mad Fox brewpub celebrates its seventh anniversary by releasing seven new and vintage beers — one per hour from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., including an oak-aged version of Wee Heavy Scotch Ale (3 p.m.) and a special cask version of its super-hopped Orange Whip IPA (1 p.m.). Pair your beer with free birthday cake, live music and special anniversary mugs. 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Free, beers priced individually. July 15: Carnivale: Denizens' third anniversary party Silver Spring's Denizens Brewing celebrates its third anniversary with an indoor/outdoor carnival for adults. Beyond special beers, you'll find acrobats, stilt walkers, grown-up carnival games, a fortune teller, a dunk tank (benefiting the Humane Society) and DJs. Admission includes one beer and a carnival-appropriate bag of popcorn. 2 to 10 p.m. $20. July 20: Brew at the Zoo at the National Zoo The National Zoo's annual fundraiser welcomes at least 70 breweries for an after-hours party. Sip unlimited samples of beers from the D.C. area — choose from Caboose, Bluejacket and Waredaca, or try out-of-towners, including Troegs, Boulevard and SweetWater. There are also animal demonstrations, live music and games, while food trucks sell snacks. Proceeds support the Zoo's plans to save endangered species. 6 to 9 p.m. $65; $50 Friends of the National Zoo members. Early 5 p.m. admission $20 extra. July 21: Belgian National Day As Belgium marks 186 years of independence, bars around the area will celebrate with specials on Belgian (and


Here’s what happened to people who tried to watch a solar eclipse without special glasses

United States are going to walk outside Aug. 21, look up, and see something truly spectacular. That’s something I look forward to. But because I’m curious (and quite a few people have asked), I thought it would be interesting to talk about what would happen if you tried to look at the sun during the eclipse. And don’t tell me it doesn’t happen and people know better. That’s not true. According to an expert answer on the University of California at Santa Barbara ScienceLine, ” … doctors collect information after events like the 1999 solar eclipse, when people who stared directly at the sun for several minutes went to see their doctor. In one study, about half had permanent damage.” An assessment after the same eclipse in Britain found fewer cases than they had feared, but 14 people still managed to damage their eyes by staring at the eclipse. There’s even a tale that Isaac Newton stared at the sun with one eye (for the sake of science, of course), and afterward he could only see reds and blues. I have no idea if that is fiction or fact, but it sure makes a good story. Want to watch the eclipse safely? Here’s how it will go … … if you’re in the path of totality: It will start as a partial eclipse as the moon begins to cover the sun. Keep your glasses on at this point. When the sun is totally blocked by the moon, you can take your glasses off! Enjoy. It’s beautiful. Once sunlight starts to appear again, as the moon departs, put your glasses back on and enjoy the partial eclipse. … if you’re not in the path of totality: You’ll only be seeing a partial eclipse. There will be harmful sun rays for the duration of the event. Keep your eclipse glasses on through the whole thing. Yes, you will go blind if you manage to endure the pain and stare at the sun for long enough. The pain from the visible part of the light spectrum could be extreme, but ultraviolet light — which we can’t see — can also damage the eye. It literally gives your eye a sunburn. The light spectrum. (NASA) The reason a few people always end up going blind during an eclipse is that in the partial phase, the visible light is reduced enough that it’s no longer


On eve of deadline, Pentagon delays plan to allow transgender recruits by 6 months

later than July 1, 2017,” the Pentagon would update its medical standards to account for people who have a history of gender dysphoria, the medical term for wanting to transition gender. It added that the condition was not necessarily disqualifying if a doctor certified that a prospective recruit was “stable without clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational or other important areas of function for 18 months.” The policy also required transgender recruits to complete all medical treatment associated with their gender transition, be stable in their new gender for 18 months. Those guidelines were crafted with assistance from advocates for transgender people, including the Palm Center. Two defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, said that the Joint Chiefs of Staff requested the six-month delay in order to continue studying opening up military service to transgender recruits, as opposed to allowing service members who already were serving to begin identifying as transgender. That request was first reported last month by The Associated Press, which also said that the Air Force and Army originally wanted a two-year delay. Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said June 19 in an appearance at the National Press Club that there is no issue with transgender service members who are already serving, and no ongoing review could affect their ability to serve. But he acknowledged that there were “some issues identified” by some of the service chiefs with allowing in transgender recruits, and that they wanted them resolved “before we move forward.” Carter repealed the ban on transgender military service after a long, internal review that fell behind schedule as military officials struggled to reach a consensus. It followed Congress repealing the decades-old policy banning gay people from serving openly in 2011, and Carter lifting in 2015 a ban on women serving in the infantry and other ground-combat assignments. Before Carter’s decision, the Pentagon considered transgender people to be sexual deviants who had to be ousted from service. In 2015, it moved the authority to discharge to higher-ranking commanders, making it tougher to force out service members who came out as transgender. There are about 2,500 transgender service members among the 1.3 million active-duty members of the military and an additional 1,500 among reserve units, according to a Rand Corp. study commissioned by the Pentagon and published last year.


That time a city scared itself silly over a total solar eclipse

a local newspaper that parents ought to lock children inside to avoid the temptation of staring into the eclipse. Another cited 170 cases of “eclipse blindness” from a partial Australian eclipse two decades earlier. “It’s fine to err on the side of caution,” Schneider said. “But this went way too far.” It is true that people have damaged their eyes during solar eclipses. Dangers of looking into the sun are real. In a 2002 report in the journal Eye, British doctors examined 15 people who burned their eyes during a solar eclipse in Sussex in 1999. One was a 17-year-old woman who said she was high on “speed” and stared at the sun for 30 minutes. A year later, she said she had blurry patches in both eyes and experts discovered a "pseudohole" in her right one. But it’s easy to observe eclipses unscathed, if you subtract recreational amphetamines and add a small amount of preparation. Even if you don’t have any specialized equipment, it’s possible to watch the moon travel across the sun through pinhole projection. (This does not mean pointing your eyes at the sun through a tiny hole, but rather funneling sunlight through a hole and looking at the projection on the ground.) Or you can watch the event directly, thanks to protective solar eclipse glasses. These are not your normal shades. The trick with the solar filters, per guidelines established by University of Waterloo ophthalmologist and eclipse chaser B. Ralph Chou, is that they block all but 0.003 percent of visible light. Filters that will not work, noted the American Astronomical Society, include exposed strips of film or “potato-chip bags, DVDs and any other materials you may have heard about for solar viewing.” For the Great American Eclipse, libraries across the United States are handing out more than 2 million pairs of solar filters. If you can’t get your hands on those, the American Astronomical Society recommends four manufacturers of inexpensive but protective eclipse glasses: American Paper Optics, Rainbow Symphony, Thousand Oaks Optical and TSE 17. In 1976, the technology was different, Schneider said. But there were “many perfectly safe” options, such as Mylar coated with aluminum or No. 14 welder’s glasses, which block the right amount of sunlight. And yet the Australian press acted as though citizens had dodged photonic bullets by switching on the television. “Eclipse had top rating,” cheered one headline. “I remember


The Energy 202: What would be the point of Pruitt's "red team-blue team” climate exercise?

the last two years. THERMOMETER Physicist Stephen Hawking sits on stage during an announcement of the Breakthrough Starshot initiative. (REUTERS/Lucas Jackson) -- Physicist Stephen Hawking is warning that President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement could bring the Earth “close to the tipping point where global warming become irreversible.” In an interview with the BBC, Hawking urged that climate change is preventable “if we act now.” “By denying the evidence for climate change, and pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement, Donald Trump will cause avoidable environmental damage to our beautiful planet, endangering the natural world, for us and for our children.” Hawking suggested that otherwise, Earth could turn into Venus, “with a temperature of two hundred and fifty degrees, and raining sulphuric acid.” -- There's a new study that will not play well for the "red team" in any future climate debate. For years, the amount of global warming estimated from satellite-based measurements exhibited was substantially less than surface-based sensors. Climate change doubters leaned on the discrepancy to question the idea that the Earth was warming at all. Now this revision to the satellite data shows that estimates of global warming from both Earth and space are in fact consistent, The Post's Jason Samenow writes. LOCAL ENVIRONS Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R). (Photo by Aaron Davidson/Getty Images for Habitat for Humanity of Broward) --Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) signed a bill to allow state residents to challenge what students learn in public school, and some are worried about how the it will affect science instruction. The Post’s Sarah Kaplin reported From Kaplin: “One affidavit from a Collier County resident complained that evolution and global warming were taught as “reality.” Another criticized her child's sixth-grade science curriculum, writing that “the two main theories on the origin of man are the theory of evolution and creationism,” and that her daughter had only been taught about evolution.” Through the bill, schools will hire “unbiased hearing officers” to handle complaints and challenges about the curriculum, and can require the schools to remove materials in question. DAYBOOK President Trump. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) Coming Up - The US-China Green Energy Council will hold a Clean Energy and Smart Grid Forum in Palo Alto, Calif. on Thursday - The Inter-American Dialogue will hold an event on Clean Power in Latin America on Thursday. - The Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency


13 things to do in the D.C. area the week of July 3-7

Rare Essence will be joined by fellow go-go legends Trouble Funk and Sugar Bear and E.U. at the Howard Theatre on Monday. (Kyle Gustafson for The Washington Post) Monday, July 3 Pre-4th of July Old School Jam at the Howard Theatre: Day Party at the Park at 14th Tuesday, July 4 National Independence Day Parade United States Navy Band at the Sylvan Theater Independence Day Fireworks 'Hive' at the National Building Museum Wednesday, July 5 Proof's 10th Anniversary Party: The trailblazing Penn Quarter wine bar Proof is celebrating its 10th anniversary with an elaborate 10-course, $150-per-person dinner. (The price climbs to $270 with wine pairings, which doesn't include tax and tip.) The more affordable way to go is the after-party, which offers unlimited sparkling wine, a selection of wine and beers, a punch crafted by mixologist Adam Bernbach and passed hors d'oeuvres for a mere $35. Call the restaurant to book tickets. 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Summer of Sours at the Sovereign: Thursday, July 6 Fort Reno Summer Concert Series begins Sarah Hughes at Jazz on Jackson Place Friday, July 7 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' at Wolf Trap Animezing: 'Robot Carnival' at the Japan Information and Culture Center Smithsonian After 8: A Night at the Circus Read more: These craft beer festivals, events and tap takeovers will quench your thirst in July The month of June in restaurant openings and closings


The government’s annual mannequin murders, ranked

could intervene pretty quickly here, were this my child. I do however appreciate that the child setting the other one on fire is wearing cool shades. This gets at an important lesson: It’s the cool kids who do dangerous things with fireworks. (Note: It is actually not at all “cool” to set other people on fire.) 6. The quick-match fuse The CPSC’s warning: Our analysis: (This is what sodium does in water, in case you never had to do this experiment in high school.) Sodium and water (Pond) (It’s a science joke. It’s very smart.) 5. The M-80 The CPSC’s warning: Our analysis: 4. The aerial device The CPSC’s warning: Let’s see that from another angle, shall we? Our analysis: But this demonstration is saved by the sheer grisly violence of it. In the second shot, you can see pieces of the mannequin’s skull flipping back down to the ground, just after his American flag hat blows off. And yet! This American hero isn’t even knocked off his feet by the force of the blast. Startled, sure. Headless, yes. But, like our nation, still standing. 3. The home device The CPSC’s warning: Another innovation in the 2016 demonstration is the GoPro camera. In the animation above, you can see it in the upper left corner of the “room.” (You can also see a bird fly past just before the explosion, which was probably startling to the bird.) Here’s the view from the GoPro. Our analysis: 2. The aerial device launched from a dude’s head. The CPSC’s warning: Our analysis: But I just cannot fathom why you would somehow acquire a professional-grade firework and think, “I will launch this from the top of my head.” I realize that there are some idiots out there in the world. I recognize that. But this is a whole other level. Also why is he firing it from a bong? 1. The bottle rocket The CPSC’s warning: Our analysis: - My man doesn’t even flinch. Just a bottle rocket to the eye. Doesn’t even knock his hat off. - Please notice that this is the second bottle rocket that struck this young man, the first hitting his right shoulder. Dude does not care. The real lesson of this whole video is not that fireworks are dangerous. It is that Americans are tough enough to suffer catastrophic injuries without blinking. Thanks for the reminder, U.S. government.


Lots of ‘craft’ beer is brewed by Anheuser-Busch. Here’s how to spot the real stuff.

A bartender pours a beer at The Sovereign in Washington. (Dixie D. Vereen For The Washington Post) As Big Beer has snapped up craft breweries, it’s grown harder to tell who the true indies are. But a new industry effort hopes to clear up the confusion by declaring their ownership right on the bottle. More than 800 breweries — including Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada and New Belgium — will soon begin printing seals on their beers that identify them as “Certified Independent Craft.” The initiative, which was spearheaded by the trade group for independent craft brewers, is intended to differentiate “true” craft beers from those made by the likes of MillerCoors, Anheuser-Busch and Heineken. To qualify to use the seal, breweries cannot be more than 25 percent owned or controlled by any alcohol company that's not itself a craft brewer. Its annual production also can't exceed six million barrels. The growth of the craft beer segment, once in the double digits, has slowed dramatically since those multinationals entered the fray: from 18 percent in 2013 to eight percent three years later. Some believe they could stem some of that decline if consumers realized some “crafty”-looking beers weren’t actually made by independent brewers. “We’ve been hearing from our members for almost two years that there is a lot of confusion in the marketplace, fueled by the Big Beer acquisitions,” said Bob Pease, the chief executive of the Brewers Association, which represents the independents. “This is a way to give beer drinkers more transparency and more information.” Small breweries have grown increasingly anxious about Big Beer’s incursion on their limited turf. Five international conglomerates — Anheuser-Busch InBev, MillerCoors, Constellation/Crown Imports, Heineken and Pabst — already control more than 80 percent of the U.S. beer market, according to the National Beer Wholesalers Association. That market dominance has given the big corporate brewers significant advantages over their independent competition. On the brewing side, large companies can leverage their volume, and their capital, to score more and better hops. Thanks to the fact that these companies brew at multiple facilities in different markets, they can also react more quickly to local demand and, theoretically, supply a fresher product. The larger issue, however, lies in distribution. Because the five Big Beer firms represent the majority of business for the middlemen who move beer from breweries to taplines and retail stores, they exercise enormous influence over how


I’m a climate scientist. And I’m not letting trickle-down ignorance win.

your ability. In my case, that one thing is to study the nature and causes of climate change. You put in a long apprenticeship. You spend years learning about the climate system, computer models of climate and climate observations. You start filling a tool kit with the statistical and mathematical methods you’ll need for analyzing complex data sets. You are taught how electrical engineers detect signals embedded in noisy data. You apply those engineering insights to the detection of a human-caused warming signal buried in the natural “noise” of Earth’s climate. Eventually, you learn that human activities are warming Earth’s surface, and you publish this finding in peer-reviewed literature. You participate in rigorous national and international assessments of climate science. You try to put aside all personal filters, to be objective, to accommodate a diversity of scientific opinions held by your peers, by industry stakeholders and by governments. These assessments are like nothing you’ve ever done before: They are peer review on steroids, eating up years of your life. The bottom-line finding of the assessments is cautious at first. In 1995, the conclusion is this: “The balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate.” These 12 words are part of a chapter on which you are first author. The 12 words change your life. You spend years defending the “discernible human influence” conclusion. You encounter valid scientific criticism. You also encounter nonscientific criticism from powerful forces of unreason, who harbor no personal animus toward you but don’t like what you’ve learned and published — it’s bad for their business. You go back to the drawing board. You address the criticism that if there really is a human-caused signal, we should see it in many attributes of the climate system — not just in surface thermometer records. You look at temperature from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the oceans. You examine water vapor and the height of the lowest layer of the atmosphere. Your colleagues search for human fingerprints in rainfall, clouds, sea level, river runoff, snow and ice extent, atmospheric circulation patterns, and the behavior of extreme events. They find human-caused climate fingerprints everywhere they look. Your peers are your fiercest critics. They are constantly kicking the tires. Show us that your “discernible human influence” results aren’t due to changes in the sun, or volcanic activity, or internal cycles in the climate system.


The hidden inequality of mosquito bites

lay their eggs. Similarly, there was more accumulated trash in poor neighborhoods than in rich ones. Discarded garbage tends to collect water, again making for an ideal environment for mosquito egg-laying. On the other hand, neighborhood vegetation did not follow a strict rich-to-poor gradient. Both poor and rich neighborhoods had more leafy cover than middle-income ones, but for different reasons. Rich neighborhoods turn green due to gardening and landscaping. Poor neighborhoods, on the other hand, become vegetated when plants put down roots on abandoned lots and in the crevices of poorly-maintained sidewalks and buildings. In each neighborhood, the researchers surveyed available sources of standing water, from discarded cups to empty garbage cans to backyard fountains. Here's what they found when they counted the mosquito larva and pupa populations therein: Source: Socio-Ecological Mechanisms Supporting High Densities of Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) in Baltimore, MD In these charts, each dot represents a count done in a given neighborhood block at some point over the course of the three-year study. Counts are displayed as a “standardized container index,” which corrects for differences in the number of water-collecting containers in the different neighborhoods. In layman's terms, bigger numbers equal more mosquitoes. As the charts show, low-income areas tend to be home to more mosquito larvae and pupae. This means more bloodsucking pests when those larvae and pupae mature into adults. “Areas of endemic poverty and urban decay embedded within northeastern U.S. cities may provide footholds for pestiferous Ae. albopictus populations,” as the study's authors conclude. They warn that climate change, which will lead to hotter, wetter cities in the coming decades, will only amplify the problem. To the extent that there's good news for low-income areas in the report, it's this: the same strategies to reduce general urban blight in these areas — trash pickup, cleaning up vacant buildings and lots — are likely to reduce mosquito populations as well. And rich or poor, some advice from one of the study's co-authors: “This summer, if you want to reduce mosquito numbers, one the best things you can do is reduce water-holding containers in your community,” said Shannon LaDeau of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in a statement. “After a rainfall, do a quick survey of your yard or neighborhood and address sites where water pools. Planters, clogged gutters, neglected pet dishes and bird baths, and trash all provide great tiger mosquito breeding grounds.”


Scientists are about to change what a kilogram is. That’s massive.

around the world. Scientists don't know whether the BIPM prototype is losing mass, perhaps because of loss of impurities in the metals, or if the witnesses are gaining mass by accumulating contaminants. Either way, the whole thing is a “huge inconvenience,” Pratt said. Several years ago, NIST had to reissue certificates for its kilograms because they were 45 micrograms off the French prototype — about the weight of an eyelash. This meant that companies that produce weights based on the NIST standards had to reissue their own weights, and they were not happy about it. Lawmakers were called. NIST was accused of being incompetent. In the end, it turned out that the problem stemmed from le grand K, not NIST. If that seems like a lot of uproar over an infinitesimal change in the mass of an object, consider this: The effectiveness of filters on diesel engines is determined by measuring the mass of the soot they capture — in micrograms. “There’s a lot that rides on these sorts of things that people take for granted,” Pratt said. “Like breathing.” Scientists agree it's long past time to retire le grand K. Using this 19th-century technology for 21st-century physics is like trying to get to Mars on a rocket powered by a steam engine. It just isn't going to work. So in 2014, at the quadrennial General Conference on Weights and Measures (yep, that's a thing), the scientific community resolved to redefine the kilogram based on Planck's constant, a value from quantum mechanics that describes the packets energy comes in. If physicists could get a good enough measure of Planck's constant, the committee would calculate a kilogram from that value. “But it's a very difficult constant to measure,” Pratt said. He would know: He and his colleagues at NIST have spent much of the past few years trying to come up with a number accurate and precise enough to please the finicky physics community. They're using a tool called a Kibble balance. Instead of balancing the scale with weights, Pratt and his colleagues use electromagnetism. An electrical current is sent through a coiled wire, generating a magnetic field that creates the upward force needed to balance the scale. Scientists can figure out the strength of that field by pulling on the coil. If you know the voltage, the current and the velocity at which the coil was pulled, you can calculate


Smugglers are abandoning migrants in the middle of a desert the size of Texas

The 22-year-old Nigerian woman knew that traveling to Europe along the Sahara desert's smuggling routes would be the most arduous experience of her life. If she had known how close it would bring her to death, she would never have left home at all. That is what a woman nicknamed Adoara told aid workers when she was rescued last week, according to local media reports. She and about 50 others spent 10 days wandering the Tenere section of the vast desert after being abandoned by their smugglers in an utterly barren expanse of land the size of Texas. There is sand and only sand for hundreds of miles in the Tenere. As it shifts in the wind, it covers the rutted tracks of vehicles, and any sense of direction is lost. Slowly dying of thirst, Adoara resorted to drinking her own urine. She and the others buried the dead under the shifting sands until they were too exhausted to perform those last rites. Six survived, including Adoara. Hundreds of thousands of mostly West African migrants fleeing war, poverty and persecution have crossed this stretch of the Sahara over the past few years. They scrounge together life savings and bet them all on a treacherous journey — first across the Tenere; then farther into the Sahara, into Libya; then the choppy seas of the Mediterranean — in hopes of a better life in Europe. The world has looked on in horror at the thousands who have died when their overloaded boats capsized at sea. And while more do perish on that final leg, so close to European shores, the sandy graveyard of the Tenere has claimed hundreds, if not thousands, of lives. “I think we’ve overtalked the sea and undertalked the deserts,” said Tuesday Reitano, deputy director at the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime. The Tenere is located in Niger, which, per the United Nations' development rankings, has long held the grim position of the world's poorest country. Smugglers in Agadez, a city on the edge of the desert that functions as a migrant transit hub, stuff the back of pickup trucks with people and then speed through the roadless expanse for days until they reach the Libyan border, where their human cargo is dealt away to new handlers. The collapse of the Libyan state in 2011, after Moammar Gaddafi was deposed, turned that country into the preferred point for


The Daily 202: Missile test underscores the failure of Trump’s naive approach to North Korea

a gentleman approached Rothkopf and asked why he made the conversation so ad hominem by questioning Trump’s fitness. “I explained that when we have a system in which the chief executive is endowed with so much power, we regularly find that our fate in crises turns on the character of the president,” he writes. Welcome to the Daily 202, PowerPost's morning newsletter.Sign up to receive the newsletter. GET SMART FAST: - Missouri Rep. Ann Wagner (R) announced that she will not challenge Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) in 2018, opting to stay in the House. She's the latest high-profile recruit to pass on running against a Democratic incumbent in a red state after concluding that the political environment will be bad for Republicans next year. (Washington Examiner) - U.S.-backed fighters breached the wall of Raqqa’s Old City in Syria, marking new progress in a weeks-long battle to wrest Islamic State militants from their most important strongholds. (Liz Sly) - The United States has lifted the in-cabin ban on laptops and other large electronic devices on U.S.-bound flights from Dubai and Istanbul, Emirates and Turkish Airlines said this morning. The announcements come three days after restrictions were lifted on Etihad Airways' hub Abu Dhabi International Airport. (Reuters) - Popular cyclist Peter Sagan was disqualified from the Tour de France after he appeared to elbow fellow racer Mark Cavendish off his bike during the final sprint. It’s unclear whether Cavendish, who suffered serious injuries in the crash, will be able to continue. (Marissa Payne) - Chicago is implementing a new graduation requirement for its high school students. Before receiving their diplomas, each student must show that they’ve secured a job or acceptance into college, a gap-year program, or the military. (Emma Brown) - SpaceX aborted a second launch of its Falcon 9 rocket, shuttering another attempt just 10 seconds before liftoff. Elon Musk said his company will conduct a full review of rocket and launchpad systems before trying again. (CNBC) - The Canadian government will apologize and pay nearly $8 million in compensation to a former Guantanamo Bay inmate, who pleaded guilty to killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan when he was 15. The former prisoner, Omar Khadr, spent 10 years behind bars. His case gained international attention after some dubbed him a child soldier who was questioned under “oppressive circumstances.” (The Guardian) - Prosecutors asked a Brooklyn judge to silence Martin Shkreli,


At G-20 summit, it looks more and more like Trump against the world

FILE PHOTO: From L-R, European Council President Donald Tusk, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe walk after a family photo during the G-7 Summit in Taormina, Sicily, Italy, May 26, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo President Trump and key global leaders are on a collision course ahead of the Group of 20 summit in Germany this week, with Trump's unapologetic “America First” mantra on trade and climate change running into emboldened, and increasingly united, opposition overseas. Trump reiterated his threats on Wednesday to pull the United States back from existing trade deals, arguing they were against the national interest. As Trump threatens to retreat from global trade, other world powers are exploring new economic ties. The European Union and Japan are expected on Thursday to announce plans for a major new free trade agreement. The E.U.-Japanese deal, which has only been negotiated in broad terms thus far, would lower barriers to exports of cars flowing in both directions, as well as reduce Japanese barriers to imports of trains and agricultural products, including cheese and chocolate, according to media reports. It would create a free trade area similar in size to North America, which is linked by the 1994 NAFTA agreement. If completed, the E.U.-Japan trade deal would be a sign of other top economies adjusting to a new world order in which they attempt to work around the United States instead of looking to it for direction on building global trade. Trump, with support from Congress, already ended an effort for the United States to reach a trade agreement with Japan and other Asian countries, and he has threatened to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement and from a separate trade agreement with South Korea. Amid strengthening overseas opposition, Trump faces one of the most consequential economic decisions of his tenure so far, as he considers imposing new restrictions on steel imports to protect U.S. producers — a move vociferously opposed by Germany and other U.S. allies. The Commerce Department was close to recommending new restrictions, but other top Trump advisers warned it could lead to major economic fallout. Now the decision is hanging over both the administration and the summit of global leaders. Trump's advisers plan to push other countries at the G-20 to agree to concrete steps that would crack down on the way China


Want to get more people to eat their veggies? Make them sound like they’re bad for you.

kale and sweet potato salad, or “Decadent Avo-Sweet-Po Bowlsplosion?” (anakopa/Getty Images/iStock) Are we all petulant toddlers who need to be tricked into eating our vegetables? One recent Stanford study says: Yes, yes we are. Stanford psychology researchers found that people were more likely to eat vegetables when they had “the flavorful, exciting, and indulgent descriptors typically reserved for less healthy foods.” Here’s how they studied it. Each day in a Stanford dining hall, one vegetable dish was labeled randomly in one of four ways: Basic (“Green beans”), healthy restrictive (“Light ‘n’ low-carb green beans and shallots”), healthy positive (“Healthy energy-boosting green beans and shallots”), or indulgent (“Sweet sizzlin’ green beans and crispy shallots”). The dish was prepared exactly the same each time, regardless of how it was labeled. Research assistants counted the number of people who selected that vegetable every day. It will not surprise you to learn that the more unhealthy the vegetables sounded, the more likely people were to eat them. Researchers found that 25 percent more people chose the indulgently named vegetable compared to the basic one. The differences were even more stark with the health-based language: 41 percent more chose the indulgent vegetable compared to the healthy restrictive one, and 35 percent more chose indulgent vs. healthy positive. Also: “Labeling vegetables indulgently resulted in a 23 percent increase in mass of vegetables consumed compared with the basic condition, and a 33 percent increase in mass of vegetables consumed compared with the healthy restrictive condition.” But let’s get back to the names of these dishes that encouraged college students to eat vegetables. They include: “dynamite chili and tangy lime-seasoned beets,” “twisted garlic-ginger butternut squash wedges,” “rich buttery roasted sweet corn” and “slow-roasted caramelized zucchini bites.” Basically, if we want people to eat their vegetables, this study says we need to name every vegetarian dish as if we’re Guy Fieri. Roasted cauliflower? No, it’s “All-Star Fire-Roasted Cool Cauliflower Bombs.” Asparagus? Nope, try some “Flamin’ Ace Asparagus with Donkey Sauce Drizzle.” Just call celery sticks “Rock ‘n’ Roll Crispy Fingers.” You’ll know you named it well if you can read it in the voice of a Carl’s Jr. commercial and feel ashamed. More from Food: Healthy ice creams promise indulgence without guilt. Do they deliver? Drone-delivered kale and 5 more things we might see at an Amazon-owned Whole Foods Can smart kitchen devices actually make you a better cook?


Death of U.S. soldier in Afghanistan highlights the evolving role of conventional combat troops there

who daily lived by his unit’s motto: “Deeds Not Words.” He had been in the unit about a year, Bithorn said. “At a time when we remember the patriots who founded our nation in freedom, we are saddened by the loss of one of our comrades who was here protecting our freedom at home,” said Army Gen. John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan. “We will keep his family in our thoughts and prayers as we reflect on the sacrifice he and others have made to secure our freedoms and help make Afghanistan a better place.” The death comes as Defense Secretary Jim Mattis prepares a strategy in Afghanistan that is expected to call for the U.S. military to return to a war footing with the Taliban and lift Obama-era restrictions that limited the mobility of U.S. military advisers on the battlefield. The Pentagon could add 3,000 to 5,000 U.S. troops to the 8,400 currently deployed and allow them to be closer to combat operations. In Helmand province, considered the birthplace of the Taliban and the center of Afghanistan’s opium trade, nearly all U.S. forces were withdrawn in fall 2014 after years of fierce fighting led by U.S. Marines. The rapid deterioration of security in Helmand prompted U.S. commanders in February 2015 to rush a small, “expeditionary advising package” including U.S. troops to stop the downward spiral, and it has since expanded to include hundreds of conventional U.S. soldiers and Marines. The previous U.S. military fatalities in Afghanistan this year included three conventional U.S. soldiers — Sgt. Eric M. Houck, 25; Sgt. William M. Bays, 29; and Cpl. Dillon C. Baldridge, 22 — who were members of the 101st Airborne Division. They were ambushed June 10 by an Afghan soldier that they were advising in eastern Afghanistan’s Nangahar district. Two soldiers with the elite 75th Ranger Regiment, a Special Operations unit, were killed in a raid April 26. They were Sgt. Joshua Rodgers, 22, and Sgt. Cameron Thomas, 23. The other U.S. service member killed in Afghanistan this year was Army Staff Sgt. Mark R. De Alencar, 37, a member of the 7th Special Forces Group. He died April 8 after his unit engaged in a firefight during an operation to counter the Islamic State’s faction based in Nangahar, U.S. military officials have said. Related stories: U.S. military launches investigation into death of Army Rangers, citing potential friendly fire


Scientists are starting to clear up one of the biggest controversies in climate science

the models with the historical record. It suggests global warming occurs in different phases or “modes” throughout the planet, some of which happen more quickly than others. Certain slow-developing climate processes could amplify warming to a greater extent in the future, putting the models in the right after all. But these processes take time, even up to several hundred years, to really take effect — and because not enough time has passed since the Industrial Revolution for their signal to really develop, the historical record is what’s actually misleading at the moment. This conclusion is supported by a growing body of research, which suggests that warming estimates made from the historical record alone are “potentially biased low, for reasons we are now just beginning to understand,” said Timothy Andrews, a climate scientist with the Met Office, the United Kingdom’s national weather service, in an email to The Washington Post. While Andrews was not involved with the new study, he’s one of multiple scientists whose recent research has tackled the same issue. The new study uses a statistical method to separate “fast” and “slow” climate modes in the models. According to Proistosescu, when greenhouse gases are emitted into the atmosphere, a “fast” warming effect begins to take place almost immediately in certain parts of the planet, mainly over the land masses in the Northern Hemisphere. Indeed, these are the parts of Earth where the most rapid warming has been observed since the Industrial Revolution. On the other hand, he said, other parts of the planet — namely, the Southern Ocean and the eastern Pacific — respond much more slowly, in part because they’re just so deep and cold to begin with. But as they absorb more heat and finally start to warm up, they may produce a variety of climate feedback effects that enhance the global warming that’s already occurring. For instance, changes in ocean temperatures can alter atmospheric patterns around the world. The models suggest that these warming ocean regions may lead to a decrease in reflective cloud cover in the future, allowing more solar radiation to make it through the atmosphere to Earth’s surface. While the impact of these processes may be profound, they can also take long periods of time to unfold, Proistosescu said — potentially up to 300 years or so. Through their statistical parsing, the researchers found that the models suggest the effects of this slow


D.C.-area forecast: Heavy downpours threaten today; dry weekend ahead

Flash Flood Watch in effect until 7 pm EDT today TODAY’S DAILY DIGIT 4/10: EXPRESS FORECAST Today: View the current weather conditions at The Washington Post headquarters. FORECAST IN DETAIL Very heavy downpours may well drench parts of the region today (in what folks from The Plains refer to as a “toad strangler”), while others may successfully dodge the rain. Gusty winds are possible with the strongest storms, but isolated flash flooding is a more likely threat. Dry air comes to the rescue for the weekend, so get ready to get out and enjoy some darn nice summer weather. Today (Thursday): Tonight: Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest updates. For related traffic news, check out Dr. Gridlock. Keep reading for the forecast through the weekend… Tomorrow (Friday): Tomorrow night: Guests at a picnic for military families attempt to keep dry as it rains on the South Lawn of the White House on July 4, 2017. (Calla Kessler/The Washington Post) A LOOK AHEAD Saturday The real winner is expected to arrive Sunday with relatively low humidity, lots of sun and light breezes. Highs hold in the mid-80s, and lows again reach the upper 50s in cooler spots but low-to-mid 60s for most. Confidence: Medium Monday


Japan and Europe counter Trump with colossal trade deal

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on July 6 that a new trade deal with the European Union shows "a strong political will" that "will hoist the flag of free trade high amidst this protectionist trend." Thirty years ago, as Donald Trump gave what is widely considered to be the first campaign speech of his career, he criticized one country above all for cheating the United States in trade: Japan. On Thursday, Japan took on the mantle of the global rules-based trading system, as it sidestepped a failing trade agreement with the United States to forge a historic new pact with the European Union. Leaders from Japan and the European Union on Thursday announced their agreement on the broad strokes of a trade deal that will cover nearly 30 percent of the global economy, 10 percent of the world's population and 40 percent of global trade. If the nations agree to the terms, the deal will create a trading bloc roughly the same size as that established by the North American Free Trade Agreement, a 1994 deal between the United States, Mexico and Canada. Coming on the eve of the Group of 20 meeting of global leaders in Hamburg, the announcement appeared to be a calculated rebuke of both the United States, which has spurned global trade agreements in favor of more protectionist policies under President Trump, and Britain, which voted to leave the European Union last year. Shinzo Abe, the prime minister of Japan, greeted the announcement as “the birth of the world’s largest free advanced industrialized economic zone.” “Japan and the European Union will hoist the flag of free trade high amidst protectionist trends,” Abe said in a news conference Thursday. Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, said the agreement “shows that closing ourselves off from the world is not good for business, nor for the global economy, nor for workers. As far as we are concerned, there is no protection in protectionism.” Japan and the European Union announced a broad trade deal that will cover nearly 30 percent of the global economy on July 6, sending a signal against President Trump's protectionist trade policies. The deal would lower trade barriers for a sweeping array of products, including pork, wine, cheese and automobiles. The pact would also protect so-called “geographical indications” — products that derive their identity by being produced only in a specific region, like


Buckle your seat belts: ‘The Journey’ imagines a road trip to peace

Colm Meaney (left) and Timothy Spall can’t even agree which drive-thru to stop at. (IFC Films) It’s a tough time in politics. Rhetoric is raging; there are outbursts of violence. Both sides see the world in terms of black and white, right and wrong, us vs. them. Even when the two parties come to the table, they won’t reach across it to shake hands. So how can the country possibly move forward? Take a road trip. It worked for Northern Ireland, according to “The Journey.” The film, opening locally Friday, imagines what might have transpired when real-life rival political leaders Martin McGuinness (Colm Meaney) and Ian Paisley (Timothy Spall) found themselves sharing a back seat in 2006. The men had previously led their respective parties during the Troubles, the deadly 30-year conflict that pitted those who wanted Northern Ireland to be part of the Republic of Ireland — mostly Catholics — against a largely Protestant group that wanted Northern Ireland to remain in the United Kingdom.” McGuinness, a Catholic, was a leader in the Irish Republican Army during a time when the IRA carried out multiple assassinations; later, he was the lead negotiator for Sinn Fein, a political party linked with the IRA. Paisley, a Protestant minister known for his virulently anti-Catholic rhetoric, established and led the Democratic Unionist Party. “You’re kind of making ‘The Odd Couple’ in the back of a car,” British director Nick Hamm says of “The Journey.” “But you’re not only seeing that friendship develop; you’re also watching something succeed. These two guys did stop people killing each other. The reality was they actually did come to forge a relationship, and they did change history,” as their work led to the 2006 St. Andrews Agreement, which allowed the two parties to share power, with Paisley as first minister and McGuinness as deputy first minister of Northern Ireland. In the movie, McGuinness and Paisley end up in the chauffeured car while Paisley is trying to catch a plane from peace negotiations to his 50th wedding anniversary party. In real life, the two men did share this plane trip. But the ride to the airport is pretty much the product of the imagination of screenwriter Colin Bateman. “A plane is inherently un-cinematic,” Hamm says. “You can’t do anything with it. And then we messed around with the travel time. We were fictionalizing that for the conceit of the