Theresa May delays parliamentary vote on Brexit deal

Brexit deal that leaves open the possibility of a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. That means reopening the 585-page withdrawal agreement is probably off the table — even though that is the major source of the British objections. There is more flexibility to offer nonbinding assurances that the E.U. does not want to force Britain into Europe’s customs union after Brexit, a key Brexiteer worry. But since those declarations would have no legal value, they might not be enough. In Parliament on Monday, May struggled to make the case that preserving peace between north and south in Ireland was a promise that Britain must keep. Protestants and Catholics fought a 30-year sectarian civil war in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles. Here are the “inescapable facts,” said May. “The fact that Northern Ireland shares a land border with another sovereign state. The fact that the hard-won peace that has been built in Northern Ireland over the last two decades has been built around a seamless border. And the fact that Brexit will create a wholly new situation: On 30 March the Northern Ireland-Ireland border will for the first time become the external frontier of the European Union’s single market and customs union.” The inflexibility on the European side is in part a result of a highly successful campaign by Dublin to paint any border with Northern Ireland as a red line. Irish leaders are unwilling to countenance such a change — and the other E.U. leaders are unwilling to side with a departing member of the bloc over Ireland. Diplomats involved in the negotiations acknowledge that both sides’ inflexibility may lead to a chaotic no-deal Brexit, with pain on either side of the English Channel — but they say giving in to British demands would also damage Europe’s economy. May’s Brexit deal has been roundly criticized for tying Britain to E.U. rules and regulations for years to come. Hardcore Brexiteers say it would turn Britain into a “vassal state” and “a rule taker versus a rulemaker,” forever tied to Brussels but with little say. May has stressed that her deal would allow Britain to control its immigration levels, which was a driving force in the Brexit vote in June 2016. But the compromise approach taken by May could limit Britain’s ability to make ambitious free-trade deals outside the continental bloc, as President Trump recently asserted. william.booth@washpost.com michael.birnbaum@washpost.com karla.adam@washpost.com


Climate change was behind 15 weather disasters in 2017

would discover a climate link when they began work on the report. Only one of the studies — a look at wildfires in Australia — did not find a role for climate change. Martin Hoerling, a NOAA scientist and co-editor of the report, said “the human fingerprint is more evident” than when the Bulletin began quantifying climate change influence on extreme weather seven years ago. The warmer Earth’s average temperature gets, the more scientists are seeing how sensitive weather is to the change. “The climate of Earth keeps moving further and further from the world which many of us, and certainly our parents, were initially accustomed to,” Hoerling said. Scientists have traditionally been wary of blaming any individual event on climate change. The global climate is a complex system, and the consequences of humans pumping atmospheric greenhouse gas levels to nearly twice their preindustrial average can be difficult to disentangle. Most conversations about climate’s impact did not get more specific than global averages and seasonal shifts. But thanks to improved data collection and increasingly sophisticated climate models, researchers can see the influence of climate change on specific disasters, such as six days of rain over northeast Bangladesh. “It is now possible, with confidence, to determine how much an extreme weather event has been affected by human activities,” Hoerling said. “It is a key step toward better understanding the economic consequence of climate change, since extreme events are often associated with the most dire losses in property and life.” The growing field of “attribution science” is as much about the future as it is about the past, Herring said. If scientists can determine how much climate change contributed to a particular extreme event, they can also predict the likelihood of the event repeating in years to come. “If we don’t have good science about how extremes are changing,” Herring said, “then we can’t be engaged in the conversation about how to manage the risk.” “If something was a 500-year flood but research shows it’s now going to be a 200-year flood, that changes a lot of things,” Herring said. “It affects infrastructure; it changes how communities and societies make investment choices.” The Explaining Extremes report also includes perspectives from public officials and legal experts on the consequences of these shifting risks. Julie Vano, a researcher at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, noted how extreme weather exposes weaknesses in infrastructure and


There’s no good way out of the Brexit disaster

BRITAIN TOOK a step deeper into political turmoil Monday when Prime Minister Theresa May, facing certain defeat, postponed a parliamentary vote on the plan for Britain’s departure from the European Union that she had painstakingly negotiated with E.U. leaders. Ms. May said she would seek “further assurances” from Brussels on the most problematic piece of the agreement, a “backstop” to avoid a hard border between British Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Critics said it was unlikely she could obtain concessions that would satisfy dissenters in her own governing coalition, much less opponents seeking its ouster from power. Yet no other formula for ending the country’s self-destructive battle over Brexit seemed able, for now, of commanding a parliamentary majority. The likely result is weeks more of uncertainty and bitter debate. At the heart of the chaos engulfing the United States’ closest ally is the contradiction between the vision sold to voters who supported leaving the European Union in a June 2016 referendum and the reality of the deal Ms. May came home with. Britons were told they could regain sovereignty from E.U. governance without suffering any economic consequences. In fact, any Brexit will leave the country poorer. That is true of the deal being offered by Ms. May. It is even more true of the “no-deal Brexit” that could occur next March 29 if Parliament does not act, causing massive disruption, including shortages of basic goods. Yet even that is not the most dire prospect. Any deal that leaves Britain out of Europe’s single market could create a border between the two Irelands and threaten the peace accord that ended decades of violence in the North. Ms. May’s plan provides that if Britain and the European Union are unable to agree during a transition period on a relationship that avoids a hard border, Britain would remain in the E.U. customs union indefinitely. That would force London to continue observing E.U. regulations and prevent it from striking its own trade deals with other nations. Ms. May told Parliament Monday that she would seek pledges from European leaders on limits to this Irish backstop. Yet there is no escaping the underlying reality that a full separation from Europe probably cannot happen without either redividing the two Irelands or drawing a line between Northern Ireland and the rest of Britain. Rather than accept these facts, Ms. May’s opponents are opportunistically trying to


Pelosi in advanced negotiations with critics about term-limits deal

a few steps back,” one person said in describing the talks. Pelosi declined to comment. Politico first reported on the talks Monday. The negotiations surround the prospect of term limits for both committee chairmen — something Pelosi and other Democrats have debated — as well as term limits for party leaders themselves, the Democrats said. Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.), a leader of the critics’ group, has been shuttling proposals between Pelosi and the larger group. Perlmutter declined to comment Monday after lingering more than an hour on the House floor speaking to colleagues after evening votes. Another leading Pelosi critic, Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), also declined to comment but said that “negotiations are ongoing.” Those familiar with the talks said a deal would be unlikely to win support of all the approximately two dozen Democrats who have stated opposition to Pelosi. But the expectation, they said, is that enough could be persuaded to allow Pelosi to be elected speaker in a Jan. 3 floor vote while allowing more than a dozen freshmen who spoke out against Pelosi during their campaigns to vote against her. House Democrats have generally operated under a seniority system when choosing their committee chairmen, and they have not placed term limits on them or on the top party leaders. Republicans cap their committee chairmen at three terms; the Democratic talks are focused on a similar limit, the people familiar with the proposal said. One complication is that Pelosi cannot dictate a term-limits policy; instead, it must be voted on by the entire Democratic caucus, which is expected to count 235 lawmakers next year. Pelosi abandoned an attempt to explore term limits for committee chairmen in 2015 after it became clear that pushing the policy through would badly split Democrats along racial and generational lines. Veteran members of the Congressional Black Caucus were especially opposed, crediting the traditional seniority system with allowing minority lawmakers to amass power that they otherwise might never be granted. “I think it would be foolish to take this up now, when we are in the majority and we have so much work to do,” said Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), who previously led a review of the issue at Pelosi’s behest and will chair the Congressional Black Caucus next year. “We don’t need to take up an issue that’s going to cause us to have conflict between each other.” But, according to two


Will Ethiopia’s reforms include its women?

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — The outfits hanging along the wall are simple: a long dress, a purple shawl, a checkered T-shirt. Most are also quite small because the girls who were raped while wearing them were all in their teens at the time, some as young as 12. The exhibition “What She Wore” at the Addis Ababa Museum in Ethiopia’s capital is an attempt to tackle the taboo topic of rape and sexual harassment in this deeply traditional society and counter the widely held notion that a woman’s clothing invites assault. The girls’ stories hang next to their empty clothes. Meklit, 16, a domestic worker, was raped while she was asleep. Rahel, 12, was raped while running an errand and then told by her uncle it was her fault. Bethlehem, 16, was raped at work by her boss’s brother and accused by her colleagues of seducing a family man. Part of a 16-day campaign opposing violence against women in Ethiopia, the exhibit funded by U.N. Women and the Swedish Embassy comes as the country undergoes profound democratic reforms after decades of authoritarian rule — reforms that could have implications for gender equality. The country’s new leader, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, has made half of his cabinet female, brought in a female president and put a woman at the head of the Supreme Court for the first time. But many worry those changes will not sufficiently address the deep-seated bias against women — and subsequent harassment and violence — in the country, which is near the bottom of the U.N. rankings on gender equality in sub-Saharan Africa. “We have very progressive laws for gender equality enshrined in the constitution,” said Ellen Alem, a gender and development specialist at UNICEF Ethiopia. “The problem isn’t there — these laws are workable, and they promote gender equality. The problem is in translating those to reality.” The minister of state for women’s affairs acknowledged at the opening of the exhibit that problems persist. “Violence against women and girls is preventing them from realizing their potential and contributing to the aspirations of the country,” said Simegn Wube, promising that the state would open more women’s shelters. That potential is thwarted not only by violence but also by other insidious obstacles: cultural conceptions of gender, workplace discrimination, impediments to education and rampant harassment. Sexism is embedded in the language here. In proverbs in Amharic, Ethiopia’s dominant language,


Marine Corps aviation disaster that killed 16 renews questions about U.S. military aircraft safety

period, the number of hours of training aviators received while airborne dropped because of the effects of congressionally mandated budget cuts and a need to keep available aircraft focused on operations, including the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. Senior Pentagon officials have said the trend does not constitute a crisis, but Defense Secretary Jim Mattis warned lawmakers last spring that the reduction in ready aircraft and time in the cockpit for pilots will take time to fix and require money. More recently, defense officials have suggested that they are starting to improve the availability of aircraft. The plane involved in the Mississippi crash was 24 years old — younger than some U.S. military aircraft, but among the last “T” models of the KC-130 in the Marine Corps. The plane is due to be replaced by the newer KC-130J. The WH-130H that crashed in Georgia was more than 50 years old and making its last scheduled flight. Among the dead in the Mississippi crash were seven members of an elite Marine Raider team from Camp Lejeune, N.C.: Staff Sgt. Robert Cox, 28; Staff Sgt. William J. Kundrat, 33; Sgt. Chad E. Jenson, 25; Sgt. Talon R. Leach, 27; Sgt. Joseph J. Murray, 26; Sgt. Dietrich A. Schmieman, 26; and Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Ryan M. Lohrey, 30. They were members of the Marine Special Operations Command (MARSOC), a force of fewer than 3,000. The others killed came from the transport squadron. They were Maj. Caine M. Goyette, 41; Capt. Sean E. Elliot, 30; Gunnery Sgt. Mark A. Hopkins, 34; Gunnery Sgt. Brendan C. Johnson, 45; Staff Sgt. Joshua M. Snowden, 31; Sgt. Julian M. Kevianne, 31; Sgt. Owen J. Lennon, 26; Cpl. Daniel I. Baldassare, 20; and Cpl. Collin J. Schaaff, 22. The Mississippi disaster marked the second major loss of life in an aviation mishap for MARSOC in 28 months. In March 2015, a Black Hawk helicopter crashed off the coast of the Florida Panhandle, killing seven special operators from the same unit and four members of the Louisiana Army National Guard. A group of current and former Marine Raiders launched long marches from the crash sites back to Camp Lejeune in 2016 and 2018 to mark the anniversaries of the crashes. The breakup of the aircraft over Mississippi required an extensive recovery effort in two separate debris fields separated by about a mile, the report said. dan.lamothe@washpost.com


China to revise plan for global technology dominance

Chinese officials are revising a controversial government program aimed at securing global technology dominance in a bid to address one of President Trump’s chief complaints about China’s trade practices, according to two individuals briefed on the plans. Officials are retooling the “Made in China 2025” plan to offer foreign companies greater opportunities to participate, though details have not been finalized. China unveiled the 10-year strategic plan in 2015 with a goal of achieving global primacy in 10 advanced technology industries, including robotics, quantum computing and artificial intelligence. The road map, a signature element of President Xi Jinping’s tenure, sets specific goals for reducing China’s dependence on foreign sources of critical materials such as semiconductors. By 2025, China aims to be 70 percent self-sufficient in key high-tech industries, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. The individuals spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the potential change in plans. Trump administration officials have zeroed in on “Made in China 2025” as a key irritant in the ongoing trade dispute between Washington and Beijing. The two sides are conducting talks aimed at resolving U.S. complaints about such structural elements of China’s economic model under a March 1 deadline. The program represents a “top-down state-directed approach to technology development” that is at odds with genuine market competition and unfair to foreign companies, according to a March report by the office of U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer, who leads the U.S. negotiating team. “We don’t object to them trying to become more involved in high tech,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told CNBC on Wednesday. “We do object to using inappropriate methods like stealing secrets, like forced technology transfers, that sort of thing. We’re perfectly happy to compete with them toe to toe as long as it’s a level playing field.” If Xi endorses significant changes to the program, it could help pave the way for a trade deal. But some analysts remain skeptical. “I’m still not convinced the replacement will be any less interventionist,” said Scott Kennedy, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “It’s a positive sign, but it doesn’t guarantee that China will fundamentally change the role of the state in the economy.” The Chinese government engages in a variety of economic planning via other channels, including the 13th Five-Year Plan. The planning document, which covers 2016 through 2020, emphasizes innovation


لا أستطيع التنفس”: قوة ومأساة كلمات جمال خاشقجي الأخيرة”

رجلًا أسودًا يبلغ من العمر 43 عامًا وعمل في إدارة الحدائق والاستجمام في مدينة نيويورك. كان خاشقجي مطلعًا على أسرار العائلة المالكة السعودية وصاحب صلاحيات وصول وامتيازات في المملكة. حتى في المنفى، تَنَقَّل خاشقجي بين طيات شبكات نخبة الأكاديميين في جامعات رابطة اللبلاب ومراكز الأبحاث والشخصيات الإعلامية. كان غارنر ضحية قوة مفرطة للشرطة، في حين كان خاشقجي هدفًا لمؤامرة اغتيال دولية أمر بها ولي العهد السعودي الأمير محمد بن سلمان على الأرجح. يكمن الرعب في الطريقة التي لقى بها الرجلان مصيرهما القاسي الذي يعود جزئيًا إلى تفاهة المهمات التي كانا ينفذانها: كان غارنر يبيع السكائر المنفردة في زاوية شارع ما. ذهب خاشقجي إلى القنصلية لما كان يتصور أنّه سيكون موعدًا سريعًا لالتقاط أوراق تتعلق بإتمام عملية زواجه. في كلتا الحالتين، عمّ اليأس بعد رؤية قتَلَتِهم وهم يواجهون عواقب قليلة على الرغم من وجود أدلة فيديو في قضية غارنر – أو تقييمات وكالة الاستخبارات المركزية “سي آي أيه” التي خلصت إلى تحميل ولي العهد السعودي المسؤولية عن جريمة قتل خاشقجي. في كلتا الحالتين، يُلام الرجلان في بعض الأحيان على وفاتهما التي نتجت عن أشخاص في السلطة: لماذا قاوم غارنر الشرطة ولم يمتثل لأوامرها؟ لماذا ذهب جمال خاشقجي إلى قنصلية بلد كان يعرف أنّه يريد إسكاته؟ بعد مقتل خاشقجي، تركزت الكثير من التحليلات والكثير من الآراء على الجغرافيا السياسية رفيعة المستوى في الشرق الأوسط والخراب الذي سببه أمراء أثرياء وأقوياء، أو الضغينة تجاه احتضان الولايات المتحدة للسعودية. لكن لا يمكننا أن نغفل عن هذا الرجل. في العام الأخير من حياته، أراد جمال خاشقجي أن يجعل حياة الناس العاديين أفضل. يجب ألا ننسى رسالة خاشقجي الحقيقية في عمله: حياة العرب مهمة. من خلال المطالبة بأنّ “السعوديين يستحقون أفضل” من قمع محمد بن سلمان، كان خاشقجي يقول إنّ حياة السعوديين مهمة. بالكتابة ضد سجن النساء الإصلاحيات، فقد كان يقول إنّ حياة النساء مهمة. بتوسله من أجل إنهاء الحرب المدمرة في اليمن، كان يخبرنا أنّ حياة اليمنيين مهمة. فهل يستمع العالم؟ إنّ تكريم مجلة “تايم” له كأحد “حراس الحقيقة” في عددها الخاص بشخصية العام يُعَدُّ شهادة رائعة على عمل ورسالة جمال خاشقجي. لكن لكل جمال خاشقجي فهنالك المئات من الناس في العالم العربي الذين دُمِّرَت حياتهم ولن نعرف أسماءهم على الأرجح. هل سنستمر بقبول جرائم القتل والتعذيب واختفاء الأبرياء كتكلفة لممارسة الأعمال التجارية مع حكومات مثل تلك في السعودية والإمارات العربية المتحدة؟ هل نتسامح مع قادتنا الذين يساعدون الحكومات القمعية والفاسدة على تغطية جرائم قتل الصحفيين وسجن الناشطات؟ هل ينبغي مقارنة حياة البشر بتكلفة مبيعات الأسلحة أو براميل النفط؟ هل سيستمر صانعو القرارات السياسية والمؤسسات


Washington must wake up to the abuse of software that kills

the other companies that are selling spyware and other surveillance tools that governments routinely abuse. “This is not devoid from geopolitics. This is a symptom of a larger problem. It’s time to think about it in the way we think of arms control,” he said. “The idea that software can’t kill people, I think we need to revisit that.” Beacon referred inquiries to NSO. Through a spokesperson, NSO disputed the findings of the Citizen Lab, saying there’s no public evidence that Pegasus was used to target Abdulaziz. More broadly, the company provided me information on their internal and external vetting process for customers, which includes a Business Ethics Committee made up of intelligence and national security experts who have the power to prevent any sale that doesn’t pass muster. That committee’s ethics review comes only after the Israeli government has signed off on any export of the Pegasus software, the NSO spokesperson explained. The company’s operations are based in Israel, although technically NSO is a subsidiary of Luxembourg-based Q Cyber Technologies, of which American investment firm Francisco Partners is the majority stakeholder. That’s where the American firms come in. Francisco hired a team of firms to advise them on export controls and ethics, including Beacon Global Strategies. Beacon is led by Jeremy Bash (former CIA and Pentagon chief of staff), Andrew Shapiro (former assistant secretary of state for political and military affairs) and Michael Allen (former majority staff director for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence), and also employs former CIA director Leon Panetta as a senior counselor. “[Beacon] has been among several outside advisors and law firms asked to provide advice and perspective on a Business Ethics framework for the sale of critical technology to law enforcement and national security agencies,” the NSO spokesperson said. “The Business Ethics framework is a rigorous internal compliance process designed to ensure that the end-user customers have valid law enforcement or investigative missions, uphold the rule of law, and agree to deploy the technology only for collecting digital evidence in a limited number of critical criminal or national security investigations.” Beacon didn’t lobby for NSO; rather, it provided confidential advice designed to mirror what the U.S. government might determine in an application for an export license. The NSO spokesperson said the company’s internal processes have resulted in turning down more than $100 million of potential business, and cited a case in which


With eyes on China and Trump, Japan to invest in ‘aircraft carrier,’ F-35 fighters

it argued, but Japan needs a well-thought-out plan “that will not trigger a futile arms race in the region.” Predictably, China’s nationalist Global Times newspaper also was critical, arguing last month in response to the Izumo plans that “an aggressive move like this may drive the country to repeat its militaristic history.” But Japan’s conservative Sankei newspaper argued that the new guidelines did not go far enough, and it recommended that the country adopt significantly higher defense budgets and develop the capability to attack enemy bases as a form of “punitive retaliatory deterrence.” In an op-ed, Michael Green of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Jeffrey Hornung of the Rand Corp. also argued that Abe’s plans might not be ambitious enough, given the threats from China and North Korea and his domestic challenges, including declining recruitment and a growing shortage of military personnel in a country whose population is shrinking. Among other steps, they recommend that Japan raise defense spending from its current 1 percent of gross domestic product toward the NATO target of 2 percent. Japan’s constitution renounces war and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes, although Abe wants to revise the constitution to legitimize the defensive role of Japan’s military, known as the Self-Defense Forces. During last year’s tension with North Korea, Abe’s government also decided to buy two Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defense units from the United States, another groundbreaking step that was controversial here. The refitting of the Izumo is designed to help Japan defend its 6,852 islands, which stretch over nearly 2,000 miles from southwest to northeast. A constant source of tension is the Senkaku islands, controlled by Japan but also claimed by China, which refers to them as the Diaoyu islands. The 814-f00t Izumo, with a full-load displacement of 27,000 metric tons, is primarily designed for anti-submarine warfare. It is much smaller than the aircraft carriers operated by the U.S. Navy, which can reach up to 100,000 metric tons. “You can debate how much additional power-projection capability that gives you, but nothing signals political resolve like a carrier, which is exactly why the Chinese have two and are building a third and why we have multiple strike groups that we can sail around the world,” said Richard Fontaine, president of the Center for a New American Security. Although China and North Korea are the main


‘Fox & Friends’ exposes Pompeo on Khashoggi killing

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made some unfathomable statements about the killing of Post Global Opinions columnist Jamal Khashoggi in a Wednesday interview on “Fox & Friends.” Like this one: “Some of the reporting that you’ve seen on that has been inaccurate,” said Pompeo, after co-host Ainsley Earhardt noted that the CIA believes with high confidence that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the killing of Khashoggi. It’s one of the year’s biggest stories, and “Fox & Friends” was on it. Earhardt and colleague Brian Kilmeade wondered if the reporting on the CIA’s findings was actually inaccurate. “Look, we all know that they’re still working on this,” Pompeo said, as noted in a write-up in The Post. “This is still a developing set of facts with respect to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. The intelligence community is working diligently on that.” He added: The direct evidence, this is what I’ve said before, the direct evidence isn’t yet available. It may show up tomorrow. It may have shown up overnight and I haven’t seen it.” Contrast that Waffle House special with what Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said after a briefing on the matter. “There’s not a smoking gun — there’s a smoking saw,” said the senator in reference to the reported dismemberment of Khashoggi’s body after he was killed at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. “We know the prince knows, right?” asked Kilmeade, in a valiant attempt to break through Pompeo’s talking points. The secretary responded, “I’ve spoken to the king ... I’ve spoken to the crown prince a number of times since the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, and it is absolutely America’s intent to hold everyone accountable who was responsible for this.” Kilmeade asked whether Pompeo believed the crown prince, prompting this remark from Pompeo: “The kingdom of Saudi Arabia decides who’s running the country. ... We are working closely with the kingdom to make sure that America is protected.” Just how stunning was it to see a top Trump administration official get hounded on “Fox & Friends”? Stunning enough to prompt a round of awe over at “Morning Joe,” its MSNBC competitor. Co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski chatted with Sen. Dick Durbin about Pompeo’s remarks and just couldn’t square them with reality or decency. “I understand Donald Trump doesn’t care,” said Brzezinski. "But why doesn’t Mike Pompeo care right now? Are the pathetic deflections


Kremlin jails a veteran human rights activist — for a Facebook post

on Kalanchevskaya Street in Moscow to speak in detail about that work. With documents in his hands, he recalled how the KGB’s role in the 1991 coup was a special focus for his commission. I doubt it had forgotten. Ponomarev’s lawyers filed an emergency appeal at the European Court of Human Rights over violations of his rights to liberty and freedom of expression. No doubt the court will eventually rule in his favor — as it recently did in the case of anticorruption campaigner Alexey Navalny over his politically motivated arrests. Perhaps the Russian government will even pay Ponomarev the required compensation (unless Putin will have already withdrawn Russia from the Council of Europe, as he seemingly intends to do). For now, though, the activist is being held in conditions he described as “torture,” in a smoke-filled cell with no proper mattresses on cots, and with criminal convicts as cellmates. “These cowards with badges and in robes do not even understand who … Ponomarev is,” Lev Shlosberg, an opposition lawmaker from the liberal Yabloko party, tweeted after the sentence. “Arresting him is like arresting Mother Teresa. The list of candidates for lustration has grown today.” Lustration — restrictions on government service for former operatives and accomplices of totalitarian regimes, of the kind that were introduced in some Eastern European countries (but not Russia) after the fall of communism — is a matter for a future, democratically elected Russian parliament. It is to be hoped that it will not repeat the magnanimous mistake of Boris Yeltsin’s government that decided against lustration in the 1990s. But in the meantime, the judges who put a 77-year-old human rights activist in jail for a Facebook post could be held to account internationally. Six years ago this week, the United States led the Western world in adopting legislation that provided for targeted sanctions on human rights abusers. The Magnitsky Act mandates the U.S. government to enact travel bans and asset freezes against people “responsible for … gross violations of internationally recognized human rights committed against individuals seeking … to obtain, exercise, defend, or promote internationally recognized human rights and freedoms, such as the freedoms of religion, expression, association, and assembly, and the rights to a fair trial and democratic elections, in Russia.” Judge Dmitri Gordeyev of the Tverskoy District Court and Judge Anna Seliverstova of the Moscow City Court appear to fit the description perfectly.


The bright side of Britain’s Brexit chaos

of a majority of Conservative parliamentarians, she will have to resign. A determined pro-Brexit figure would likely replace her. But selecting a new leader would probably take four weeks or more, leaving no time to renegotiate the Brexit deal before the scheduled departure on March 29. Therefore, the new prime minister could be expected to exercise Britain’s right to freeze the Brexit process. This would arguably put Britain in a healthier position than it has been since the 2016 referendum. A true-believing Brexiter would be in charge and would have to take responsibility for whatever deal he or she negotiated. There would be no more blaming the limitations of the deal on May, who suffered from a lack of credibility among the Brexiting faithful because she herself had been a Remainer. When the Brexiter prime minister got to grips with the negotiation, he or she would discover that May’s deal is hard to improve. But at that point the hard-liners in the party would have to reluctantly own the outcome. What does this mean for our probability estimates? Let’s say the odds of May losing the confidence vote tonight are 30 percent. Of that, 20 percentage points would put Britain on a path to a May-style compromise, but one negotiated by a Brexiter. Because the hard-liners could scarcely denounce a deal that their own faction had produced, just 10 percentage points put Britain on a path to a crash-out. The second possible outcome in Wednesday’s vote is that May wins by a convincing margin. This seems unlikely: Let’s give it 20 percent. If it happened, May would take it as a mandate to try again to get her compromise deal through Parliament. The core of this deal is a surrender of economic sovereignty to Brussels in return for control over immigration, stability in Ireland, free-trade in merchandise goods and an end to budgetary transfers to Europe. The surrender of sovereignty is severe, and deeply unpopular — Britain could not negotiate its own trade deals, and would have to abide indefinitely by European regulations that it had no part in shaping. So, of the 20 percent probability of a clear May win, only half — say, 10 percentage points — leads to a compromise Brexit, bringing the cumulative probability of this option to 30 percent. If May won the no confidence vote comfortably but still failed to get her compromise through,


The Daily 202: Five implications of Trump’s Oval Office clash with Pelosi and Schumer over the border wall

data of more than 20 million government employees, family members and applicants, and also information collected during Chinese breaches of health-care institutions such as Anthem and CareFirst. “The Marriott breach exposed an unusually broad array of data, including names, addresses, phone numbers, passport numbers and credit card numbers, as well as information on where people traveled and with whom. Such information would be valuable [to] intelligence agencies seeking to build dossiers and track movements of diplomats, spies, military personnel, business executives and journalists. Armed with a rich array of personal data, an intelligence agency can also tailor an approach to a person to see whether the individual can be recruited as a spy or blackmailed for information. The passport data, which is not often collected in data breaches, probably was a particularly valuable find for the hackers.” -- The Trump administration plans to condemn China for economic espionage and the hacking attempts, further escalating tension between the two countries. -- Trump told Reuters in an Oval Office interview that he is willing to personally intervene in the Justice Department's case against Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, who is wanted for extradition to the United States from Canada. “Meanwhile, Canadian authorities confirmed that Michael Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat and an analyst for the International Crisis Group, has been detained in China. It was unclear Tuesday whether Kovrig’s case was related to China’s threats that there will be ‘severe consequences’ for Canada if Meng is not released. But the detention of a Canadian citizen in China is sure to complicate an already complex standoff involving Beijing, Washington and Ottawa.” -- The Chinese government claimed it arrested Kovrig because his think tank was operating illegally in the country. -- Many in China view Meng’s arrest as a matter of national pride. -- Trump said that he stands by the Saudi crown prince despite the CIA's assessment he is linked to the killing of Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi. -- Connecting the dots: Trump’s refusal to accept the expert conclusions of the U.S. intelligence community, a habit that began with dismissing Russian interference during the 2016 election, has continued to infect his approach to national security. “... U.S. officials involved in interactions with the White House said that the disconnect between spy agencies and the president is without precedent and that senior analysts have spent the past year struggling to find ways to adapt


The Energy 202: Why climate activists stormed Nancy Pelosi’s office again

Committee chair. The protest in Pelosi’s office, clearly well-organized, was fraught with emotion as speakers as young as 7-years-old explained how they expect climate change to impact them. Some said they are already feeling its effects. Sally Morton, one of Pelosi’s constituents from San Francisco, described seeing and breathing smoke from massive wildfires to the east that scientists say have been fueled by warmer temperatures. “I woke up to smoke the thickest I’ve ever seen it in my life,” she said, lips quivering. “I felt it in my eyes. I felt it in my lungs.” In total, Capitol Police arrested 143 demonstrators. The Sunrise Movement, which is helping to promote a “Green New Deal” along with some incoming Democratic lawmakers and other activist groups, brought in about five times as many protesters on Monday than it did in mid-November (though this time Ocasio-Cortez was not one of them). After that protest in November, Pelosi pledged to reestablish a select committee on climate change similar to the one she created in 2007. Before being disbanded by Republicans in 2011, that panel held hearings on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and helped shape the last major piece of climate legislation in Congress — a cap-and-trade measure that ultimately died in the Senate and became political fodder against some House Democrats in the 2010 election that swept many of them from office. Pelosi made that promise with an eye toward securing support from fellow Democrats to be the next House speaker. But for these progressive activists, it was not enough. Ocasio-Cortez and the Sunrise Movement want a new committee specifically tasked to take up the ”Green New Deal,” a catch-all term for a suite of legislative proposals aimed at rapidly cutting climate-warming emissions from nearly all sectors of the economy. “Over the past three weeks, we have heard excuse after excuse for why our Democratic leaders can’t support this committee,” Sunrise Movement co-founder Varshini Prakash said at Pelosi’s office. ”We’ve heard, ‘It’s not the right committee.’ ’It’s not the right time.’ ‘We don’t know enough about it.’ That is not an excuse for jeopardizing my generation.” The day of protests also included notably less hostile meetings with the offices of about 50 House members to lobby them to support the ”Green New Deal.” So far, at least 31 members of the next Congress support the establishment of a committee that would specifically take


Britain has plunged into Brexit chaos. Here are the key facts.

Over the past few days, Britain has entered into a major political crisis. Negotiators for the Conservative Party government made a deal with European Union negotiators over the Brexit process. However, the deal was unacceptable to the Democratic Unionist Party, which the government relies on for support, as well as to the Labour Party and many members of the Conservative Party. Now rebel Conservatives have gathered the necessary votes to challenge the leadership of Prime Minister Theresa May. How did this happen, and what happens next? The U.K.-E.U. exit deal was highly controversial The key challenge that both May and the European Union face is that there is no obvious deal acceptable to both Britain and the E.U. Negotiations have been eaten up by an issue that was never seriously discussed in the lead-up to the Brexit referendum — the border between the Republic of Ireland (which remains in the E.U.) and Northern Ireland (which is part of the U.K. and, hence, is leaving the E.U.). There are no real border controls along this frontier, which has helped cement peace in Northern Ireland, but this is threatened by the U.K.’s decision to exit the E.U. and the E.U.’s Customs Union and Single Market. Through skilled diplomacy, the Republic of Ireland has persuaded its E.U. partners to condition a Brexit deal on a solution to the border problem. This has caused frustration among many pro-Brexit British politicians: A senior Conservative was quoted Tuesday as saying that the “Irish really should know their place.” U.K. Conservative MP Priti Patel argued that Britain should threaten to hold up food supplies to Ireland as a negotiation tactic, reviving memories of the Irish Famine in which millions of Irish starved or were forced to emigrate, in part because of negligence by the then-ruling British government. The border issue led the U.K. and the E.U. to agree on a “backstop” arrangement, in which the entire U.K. would remain inside Europe’s customs arrangements if they could not reach a long-term deal that would solve the problem. However, the backstop has caused consternation within the Conservative Party, who see it as trapping the U.K. within E.U. rules. The obvious alternative — applying the backstop just to Northern Ireland — has been ruled out by the Democratic Unionist Party, which fears that this would bring Northern Ireland closer to the Republic, making a united Ireland (which they dread) more


The star flutist was paid $70,000 less than the oboe player. So she sued.

Michele Zukovsky, who retired as principal clarinetist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2015, remembers mentioning her salary only once to her colleagues in the mid-1960s. She was earning about $350 a week. They snickered, making her think she was overpaid. “So after that happened, I never spoke about it again,” she says. In 2017, Brook Ferguson, 37, the principal flute player with the Colorado Symphony , filed a gender discrimination claim with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Unlike Rowe’s, Ferguson’s dispute remained private, and she didn’t file a lawsuit, she says, because it would have been too costly. Ferguson, speaking publicly for the first time, shared emails and other documents with The Post in which orchestra management questioned her résumé and offered her a raise only if she waived her legal rights. In the documents, she also complained about a conflict she’d had with another orchestra member and about alleged sexually charged comments by the orchestra’s management. Jerome H. Kern, chief executive and chairman of the board of trustees, says that Ferguson is “highly paid” and that the organization does not make decisions based on gender. “Our orchestra has more women than men,” Kern says. (In fact, men outnumber women in the Colorado Symphony 48 to 32.) “Our concertmaster is a woman. I think you’d be hard-pressed to find another woman on the orchestra who would complain about discrimination by management.” Ferguson says the emotional toll of the dispute led her to seek therapy and eventually take a year’s sabbatical. “The hardest thing you can ever possibly do is call your management to task in a public way,” she says. “It’s really considered a betrayal of trust and a betrayal of this idea about these contracts that they’re confidential.” Orchestra leaders long ago acknowledged one aspect of the gender gap. In 1970, women made up fewer than 5 percent of the players in the big five. The BSO was the first to use a screen, in 1952, and other orchestras followed to create the blind audition process. The screens made a difference. The New York Philharmonic, for example, has gone from 90 men and 26 women in 1993 to its current makeup of 48 men and 44 women. But most orchestras remove the screen for the final round of auditions. “If it’s for a principal position, we’ll have them play with the whole section,” says Gary Ginstling, executive


Local Digest: Man arrested in connection with fatal D.C. shooting in September

THE DISTRICT Man is arrested in Northeast killing D.C. police have arrested a man in the September shooting of a young man who was killed along a dangerous stretch of Benning Road in Northeast Washington. Rickie Collier, 25, of Northwest, was charged with second-degree murder while armed. Police had posted surveillance video of the gunman shortly after the shooting the night of Sept. 24 in the 1800 block of Benning Road NE. Collier is charged with shooting Marquiawn Williams, 25, of Northeast. Police said he was shot about 7:30 p.m. in front of storefronts. . An arrest affidavit says Collier and Williams were outside a store and that Collier apparently became nervous over the way Williams kept looking at him. The two argued, and the affidavit says Collier then shot him. One witness told police it appeared that Collier thought Williams owed him, quoting him saying, “I want my money.” — Peter Hermann MARYLAND Pharmacist sentenced in drugs-for-sex case A former pharmacist has been sentenced to more than three years in federal prison for illegally dispensing thousands of oxycodone pills in exchange for sex with women addicted to the painkiller. U.S. District Judge Ellen L. Hollander sentenced 64-year-old Richard Daniel Hiller of Owings Mills to 40 months in prison on Monday. She also ordered him to pay a $15,000 fine. Hiller pleaded guilty in September to charges including conspiracy to distribute oxycodone. U.S. Attorney Robert Hur’s office says Hiller knowingly filled fraudulent prescriptions for women after they had sex with him in a Towson pharmacy before business hours. — Associated Press Man stabbed at mall in Wheaton A man was stabbed and seriously wounded Tuesday night at the Westfield shopping center in Wheaton, Montgomery County police said. They said his injuries were life-threatening but that he was expected to survive. Police said hey did not think the attack was random. A man was shot and wounded in a car at the mall on Nov. 21. — Martin Weil THE REGION D.C. is top of cities where people move For the second year in a row, Washington is No. 1 of the top 15 cities where Americans moved in 2018, according to Updater, a relocation technology platform. Updater, found that the District held its No. 1 spot and that Dallas came in second again. — Michele Lerner


The Voyager 2 spacecraft has escaped the sun’s bubble

contemplate the vistas of our local galactic neighborhood.” The spacecraft is about 11 billion miles from Earth — so far it takes signals traveling at the speed of light 16.5 hours to reach mission control at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. That’s more than twice as distant as Pluto and 37 times farther than the journey from Earth to Mars. Neither of the Voyager probes has technically left the solar system, said Ed Stone, who has been the project scientist for the mission since 1972. In about 300 years, they will reach the edge of the Oort cloud — a halo of icy bodies loosely bound by the sun’s gravity that is thought to be the source of comets. It will take another 40,000 years for the spacecraft to exit that cloud and come under the influence of another star. For all their long years of travel, both spacecraft are essentially still on the solar system’s doormat. But even from this vantage point, the probes are gaining new insights about how our corner of the cosmos works. Each left the heliosphere at a different location, and encountered slightly different conditions when they reached interstellar space. This suggests that there are complex interactions between the solar wind and interstellar space that affect the shape of the sun’s bubble, said NASA heliophysicist Nicola Fox. “It’s a whole new view from the other side of that boundary,” she said. Out there, highly energetic particles blow through space’s dark expanse like a strange cosmic breeze. These galactic cosmic rays have tremendous energy and travel close to the speed of light; if they ever reached astronauts or spacecraft, the consequences could be severe. Fortunately, most of these particles are deflected from our solar system by the sun’s magnetic field. But scientists have to get beyond the sun’s protective bubble if they want to study these rays. So that’s what Voyager did. With its plasma instrument and other tools, Voyager 2 will use these cosmic rays as “galactic messengers,” de Nolfo said, revealing clues about the stellar explosions that formed them. But both spacecraft are living on borrowed time. “I like to say that they’re healthy, if you consider them as senior citizens,” said Suzanne Dodd, longtime project manager for the mission. Though the probes are functional, they are running out of the plutonium that powers them. Voyager 2 is especially vulnerable, Dodd said, because


How the Brexit drama is changing Britain

effect of the Brexit prospect on Northern Ireland is potentially even more destabilizing. May’s early decision that Britain must leave the European Union’s single market and customs union set up a contradiction that negotiations with the E.U. have been unable to resolve. No convincing way has yet been found to treat goods coming into Northern Ireland differently from those entering the Republic of Ireland, without a system of checks and inspection points on the border between the two countries. Many fear a “hard border” would provoke a resumption of the Troubles, the name given to the decades of violence between those, mainly Protestant, wanting to remain part of Britain and those, mainly Catholic, opposed to government from Westminster. The border issue has ignited, in turn, the question of whether what will soon be a Catholic majority in Northern Ireland would back reunification if it ever came to a vote. Ireland has shied away from the prospect, both fearing a resumption of violence and conscious (now that it is a comparatively affluent country) of what it has to lose. But the question is in the air all the same. The greatest damage, however, may be to Parliament itself. The Brexit referendum challenged Britain’s model of representative democracy — in which members of Parliament represent their constituents — by raising above it the direct democracy of a referendum. A majority of MPs have, from the start, appeared to favor closer relations with the E.U. than the result of the referendum implied. The one point on which most members of Parliament now agree is that they don’t want Britain to leave the E.U. with no terms in place — and yet the rules of parliamentary process mean that it could still happen almost by accident, if there is no agreement by March 29. It is going to be hard for members of Parliament to regain public trust on their fundamental role: trying to win solid public acceptance that Parliament legitimately makes decisions on people’s behalf. The drama of political paralysis, played out night after night on television screens, is not helping. Read more: George J. Mitchell: Britain and the E.U. promised no hard border with Ireland. They can’t renege now. Sebastian Mallaby: The case for a second Brexit referendum Sebastian Mallaby: Britain faces another political shock. It may matter more than Brexit. Anne Applebaum: Theresa May’s Brexit deal gives everyone something to hate


The benefits of this ‘strong economy’ have not reached all Americans

savings to cover a $400 emergency expense A substantial number of Americans — 45 percent — still rate the current economy as “only fair” or “poor,” Despite the abundance of “We’re hiring!” signs across the country, an alarming number of men in their prime working years are not employed or looking for work. The labor force participation rate for men ages 25 to 54 is 89 percent, which is below the pre-recession level (90.6 percent in November 2007) and well below what the rate was in 2000, when nearly 92 percent of men of prime age had jobs or were actively searching for work. In another telling sign, the number of dollar stores has surged from 20,000 to 30,000 locations since 2011, according to a report by Marie Donahue and Stacy Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. These stores are growing rapidly in urban black neighborhoods and rural America, Donahue and Mitchell found, two parts of the country whose residents are starting to look like a “permanent underclass." Arguably the brightest spot in the U.S. economy is hiring. Companies continue to add workers at a rapid rate, yet even in the labor statistics, there is troubling data. About 4.8 million Americans who want full-time employment are stuck in part-time jobs, Wages in several key sectors of the economy are also lagging behind, Suicide rates are so high that life expectancy is Most of these problems are structural, not cyclical, and will not be reversed easily. Many of these issues emerged shortly after 2000, although they accelerated downward during the Great Recession. They are unlikely to be cured by faster growth alone, especially if that stronger growth lasts only for a year or two, as many economists now expect, and then retreats to around 2 percent annual growth in 2020 — or even into a recession. Powell isn’t the only one reminding the country that deep problems remain, even as the rosy statistics pour in. Conservative scholar Oren Cass, a former adviser to Mitt Romney, is out with a book, “The Once and Future Worker: A Vision for the Renewal of Work in America,” that is getting a lot of attention. He argues even more forcefully that fixing many of these problems is the key to a stronger long-term economy and a better society, but it will take more than better GDP growth to get there. “While growth is necessary


The Finance 202: Brexit for Dummies: What just happened in the U.K. and what’s next

by members of Parliament, both from her own party and the opposition,” The Post’s William Booth, Karla Adam and Michael Birnbaum write. “Hardline Brexiteers want a cleaner break from the E.U., while Remainers worry about the economic and other costs of what May has proposed.” And May’s critics from the left and right continued heaping disapproval on her in the wake of her putative win. Why it matters: A failure to secure an agreement could lead to a “no-deal Brexit,” in which the country crashes out of the European bloc with no grace period and no legal arrangements in place to smooth ongoing cross-border commerce. “A no-deal Brexit could bring chaos at ports, a freeze in trade, empty grocery store shelves, grounded aircraft and the threat of recession, economists have warned,” Booth and Co. write. Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has estimated in the worst-case version of a no-deal Brexit, the British economy could shrink by 8 percent in a year, with property prices diving by a third. May’s game plan: Via the New York Times: “Her strategy appears to be to delay the critical vote — now probably in the middle of January — and to hope that the growing risk of a disorderly departure brings some lawmakers back into line. But many doubt that will work.” May heads to Brussels today as part of a last-ditch effort to shore up the deal she spent 17 months negotiating. The key flashpoint: The so-called Irish backstop, a piece of May’s plan guarding against the reemergence of a physical border between Ireland, which is remaining in the E.U., and Northern Ireland, which will still be part of the United Kingdom. Both sides agree they don’t want to see the return of the checkpoints and patrols that once marked the dividing line on the island. But the E.U., which wants to ensure substandard goods aren’t snuck into its market from Northern Ireland, has proposed preserving the bloc’s rules there if the E.U. and U.K. fail to reach a long-term trade agreement. Critics say that would keep the U.K. under the E.U.'s thumb. (Bloomberg has a good summary of the issue’s history and state of play here.) What’s really going on with the British right: Post columnist Anne Applebaum breaks it down elegantly. “Any Brexit deal involves bad choices,” she writes. “Either Britain pays an economic price for losing access to markets,


United States posts record budget deficit in November

a $205 billion shortfall, compared with a $139 billion gap a year earlier. The United States ran the largest deficit in six years in fiscal 2018, the first full year of Trump’s presidency — when Republicans enacted a tax-cut package and raised federal spending for the military and other priorities. The measures have added to the growing federal deficit, which is forecast to push beyond $1 trillion by 2020. In the first two months of the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, the gap widened to $305.4 billion, compared with $201.8 billion the same period a year earlier. Spending on Defense Department programs rose 18 percent in October and November from a year earlier, while outlays for total interest on the public debt jumped by 7 percent. — Bloomberg CONSUMER SAFETY Retailers, importer sued over lead in toys New York state is suing two of the nation’s largest retailers and a third company for importing and selling children’s toys with lead levels up to 10 times higher than federal limits. State Attorney General Barbara Underwood said the lawsuit names Walmart, Target and LaRose Industries, which imports “Cra-Z-Jewelz” jewelry-making kits. The lawsuit says the companies “committed thousands of violations” of state laws regulating the safety of children’s toys sold. It seeks civil penalties from the companies and a court order requiring them to ensure they never sell toys containing high lead levels in New York. — Associated Press CRYPTOCURRENCY Basis closes, citing regulatory concerns Basis, a cryptocurrency project that in April announced it had raised $133 million from a slew of high-profile investors, said Thursday it was shutting down and returning the funds to backers over regulatory issues. The project, being developed by U.S.-based Intangible Labs, had aimed to create a new type of cryptocurrency known as a “stablecoin” that could maintain a stable price and be more usable than existing digital coins whose value in dollars is highly volatile. “Unfortunately, having to apply U.S. securities regulation to the system had a serious negative impact on our ability to launch Basis,” Nader Al-Naji, chief executive of Intangible Labs, said in a blog post. Investors included Google’s venture arm GV, Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, billionaire hedge fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller and Bain Capital. — Reuters Also in Business Google said its cloud Starbucks is expanding An airport-services — From news reports Coming today 8:30 a.m.: 9:15 a.m.: 10 a.m.:


Why campaigns to stop child marriage can backfire

— the control group. We found 80 percent supported the law when there was no endorsement. When the message came from a male authority figure — either a male traditional authority or MP — there was a backfire effect relative to the control. Female MPs also produced a backfire effect relative to the control. We believe that Malawians’ high trust in traditional authorities — coupled with their perceptions that women are competent on gender-based issues — make female traditional authorities the most effective endorsers. According to a 2014 Afrobarometer survey, Malawians are more likely to approve of the performance of traditional authorities than MPs. The Afrobarometer survey revealed 47 percent of men and 53 percent of women trust “parliament,” while 66 percent of men and 73 percent of women trust “traditional leaders.” Another question on whether respondents approved of how Malawi leaders had performed their jobs over the past 12 months, only 30 percent of men and 35 percent of women approved of “Your MP” — but 79 percent of respondents of both genders approved of their “traditional leader.” In in the LGPI survey as well, Malawians have higher trust in their traditional authorities than their parliamentarians: 53 percent of respondents trusted their traditional authority very much, compared to 28 percent expressing high levels of trust in their MPs. All four messengers caused backfire effects among some sub-segments of the population — actually decreasing support for banning child marriage. The backlash we saw was related to kinship systems, an important cultural practice. In Malawi, different groups have different kinship systems: in matrilineal groups such as the Yao, kinship follows the mother’s line; in patrilineal groups such as the Tumbuka, kinship follows the father’s line. Among people in matrilineal groups, we found male messengers caused a backfire effect — lower support for banning child marriage if a male traditional authority or male MP advocated the reform than if there was no endorsement (i.e., the control group). Among people in patrilineal groups, the most effective endorser was the male MP, who was more effective than the control. This raises concerns human rights campaigns might have limited or even negative impacts, but also shows the most effective endorser depends on the group that is hearing the message. Our study isn’t the first to recognize the possibility that human rights campaigns might backfire and cause those who oppose changes to become even more resistant.


A man-made war paid for by women and children

Miriam and 24 family members — all, but one, women and children — traveled treacherously winding mountain roads, risking encounters with rogue gunmen. For the past three months, she has been living in the small courtyard of a one-room office set up to help internally displaced people in Aden. Miriam says the pain and sense of loss suffered by Yemeni children is obvious when she looks at her own. “Just to hear the word ‘airplane’ terrifies them,” Miriam says. “They shout, ‘Mom, it’s going to hit us!’ ” One of her sons, a once-energetic 9-year-old, sits listlessly, picking at scabs and watching blood trickle down his legs. He only speaks to talk about going home and wanting to see his friends. At night, he and his siblings jolt awake from nightmares. Aid agencies report that an average of five children per day have been killed since the start of the war. Millions of Yemeni children have suffered trauma from the conflict. And because of the collapse of the country’s health-care system, psychosocial support and mental health care are essentially unavailable. The United Nations says many of these children will carry heavy emotional burdens into their adulthood with far-reaching consequences. 'The strangling angel' As a doctor cleans the tracheotomy tube protruding from Noora Muhammed Musa’s neck, the 4-year-old girl is writhing in her hospital bed. The pained expression on her face, the tears streaming down her cheeks, the quivering of her lips, all show that she is screaming in pain. But her cries are silent. Known as “the strangling angel of children” for the way it blocks the airways and causes death by choking, diphtheria had already killed three of Noora’s siblings, says her grandmother, Fatima Nasser Ahmed al-Gorari. Diphtheria, an airborne disease that had been eradicated in Yemen decades ago, is now spreading rapidly because of the conflict. Alnoor Muhammed Abdularishi, a pediatrician at al-Sadaqa Hospital, says Yemen is short of vaccines to prevent the disease and a vast number of the country’s health centers had shuttered because of war. And as the fighting scatters the population from one place to the next, it rapidly spreads the infection. According to UNICEF, the country’s 1.8 million malnourished children are particularly vulnerable to diseases like diphtheria and cholera, both of which can be easily prevented with access to vaccines and clean water. “No parent should have to bury their child,” Fatima says.


The entire Senate just said Trump is wrong about Jamal Khashoggi

President Trump and top Cabinet officials have completely obscured and slow-rolled their own intelligence community’s conclusion about the Saudis' killing of Washington Post Global Opinions columnist Jamal Khashoggi. On Thursday, every single senator in attendance rebuked them. Just moments after the Senate passed a resolution calling for an end to U.S. involvement on the Saudi side of the war in Yemen, the GOP-run Senate voted unanimously for Republican Sen. Bob Corker’s resolution officially blaming Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for Khashoggi’s death. The resolution by Corker (Tenn.) says, among other things: “The Senate … believes Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is responsible for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.” That’s also what the CIA has concluded, but it’s a conclusion that Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and even Defense Secretary Jim Mattis have taken great pains to undermine. A couple of weeks back, the latter two briefed senators, with Pompeo saying there was no “direct reporting” of Mohammed’s culpability and Mattis saying there was no “smoking gun.” Those statements may be technically true, but they ignore the fact that CIA assessments aren’t legal documents but did assess Mohammed’s responsibility for Khashoggi’s death with “high confidence.” Pompeo and Mattis set an impossible standard for holding the crown prince responsible. CIA Director Gina Haspel conspicuously wasn’t furnished at that briefing, but eventually senators did get one with her, as well. They came out of that meeting assured of Mohammed’s involvement. They even went so far as to suggest Pompeo and Mattis had deliberately misled them. “If they were in a Democratic administration,” Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said of Pompeo and Mattis, “I would be all over them for being in the pocket of Saudi Arabia.” Corker said that if Mohammed were on trial, he would be convicted within “30 minutes.” The senator also said the difference between Haspel’s briefing and the one provided by Pompeo and Mattis was akin to the “difference between darkness and sunshine.” These were Republican senators, mind you. Trump himself has set the tone as far as obscuring and questioning Mohammed’s actual role. While previously promising accountability for whoever was responsible for Khashoggi’s death, Trump eventually said Saudi Arabia was just too important an ally and threw his hands up in the air. “Our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic


Red panda named Henry dies at National Zoo’s facility in Virginia

A 4-year-old red panda named Henry has died at the National Zoo’s research facility in Front Royal, Va. Zoo officials said they were trying to figure out the cause of the Dec. 5 death. Officials put out a statement Wednesday saying they were waiting to see whether test results revealed more about the circumstances of his death. Zoo authorities said Henry was born at the Smithsonian’s Conservation Biology Institute in June 2014 to his mother, Regan, and father, Rocco. His mother had been “unable to raise cubs in the past,” officials said, “so keepers took the extra step of hand-rearing Henry.” Henry had been in “good health,” zoo officials said. They said he was eating well and urinating and defecating normally. Officials said postmortem radiographs showed “no signs of trauma or injury” to Henry. A final pathology report will be done in the coming weeks and give officials more details as to what happened, according to Annalisa Meyer, a zoo spokeswoman. Red pandas are considered endangered in part because of the destruction of their habitat. They are native to the bamboo forests of China, India and Nepal, according to zoo experts. They’re easily recognizable by their ruby colored coats and short snouts. They have large, round heads and big, pointed ears. Their long, bushy tails help them keep their balance and keep them warm from cold weather. While the zoo is mourning Henry’s passing, officials introduced a new animal — a prehensile-tailed porcupine named Quillbur — at the zoo’s main facility on Connecticut Avenue in Northwest Washington. Zoo officials said he is “terrific and radiant!” in a Twitter posting. He came from a zoo in Binghamton, N.Y. Quillbur joins the facility’s two other prehensile-tailed porcupines — Bess and her daughter, Beatrix. Prehensile-tailed porcupines are native to the forests of Guiana, Brazil, Bolivia and Venezuela. They live in trees, eat fruit and are known for being great climbers. They’re also known for having a nose that feels like a marshmallow, according to Meyer. They weigh between four and 11 pounds, and their tails, which they use to grasp things, are just about as long as their bodies. Another interesting fact about them — it can take up to six months to figure out a prehensile-tailed porcupine’s sex, because its sexual organs are internal. But zoo scientists usually use “the innovative technique of analyzing DNA extracted from a quill” to figure out


Henry has died at the National Zoo’s research facility in Front Royal, Va. Zoo officials said they were trying to figure out the cause of the Dec. 5 death. Officials put out a statement Wednesday saying they were waiting to see whether test results revealed more about the circumstances of his death. Zoo authorities said Henry was born at the Smithsonian’s Conservation Biology Institute in June 2014 to his mother, Regan, and father, Rocco. His mother had been “unable to raise cubs in the past,” officials said, “so keepers took the extra step of hand-rearing Henry.” Henry had been in “good health,” zoo officials said. They said he was eating well and urinating and defecating normally. Officials said postmortem radiographs showed “no signs of trauma or injury” to Henry. A final pathology report will be done in the coming weeks and give officials more details as to what happened, according to Annalisa Meyer, a zoo spokeswoman. Red pandas are considered endangered in part because of the destruction of their habitat. They are native to the bamboo forests of China, India and Nepal, according to zoo experts. They’re easily recognizable by their ruby colored coats and short snouts. They have large, round heads and big, pointed ears. Their long, bushy tails help them keep their balance and keep them warm from cold weather. While the zoo is mourning Henry’s passing, officials introduced a new animal — a prehensile-tailed porcupine named Quillbur — at the zoo’s main facility on Connecticut Avenue in Northwest Washington. Zoo officials said he is “terrific and radiant!” in a Twitter posting. He came from a zoo in Binghamton, N.Y. Quillbur joins the facility’s two other prehensile-tailed porcupines — Bess and her daughter, Beatrix. Prehensile-tailed porcupines are native to the forests of Guiana, Brazil, Bolivia and Venezuela. They live in trees, eat fruit and are known for being great climbers. They’re also known for having a nose that feels like a marshmallow, according to Meyer. They weigh between four and 11 pounds, and their tails, which they use to grasp things, are just about as long as their bodies. Another interesting fact about them — it can take up to six months to figure out a prehensile-tailed porcupine’s sex, because its sexual organs are internal. But zoo scientists usually use “the innovative technique of analyzing DNA extracted from a quill” to figure out the animal’s sex faster. dana.hedgpeth@washpost.com


Is boozy kombucha good for you? It’s getting so popular it might not matter.

bacteria and yeast. The fermentation also produces alcohol. The end result is a drink that’s tart and sour, lightly carbonated and chock full of probiotics. With our culture’s increased focus on gut health, kombucha has soared in popularity in the past 10 years, commanding entire refrigerated sections of your local grocery store. In 2010, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau cracked down on kombucha producers after tests of various brands revealed that the drinks contained anywhere from 0.5 percent alcohol by volume to 2.5 percent. Some stores were carding purchasers of kombucha, and Whole Foods pulled drinks from its shelves. Under federal law, kombucha with an ABV of 0.5 percent or more must be regulated as an alcoholic beverage. Commercial kombucha makers changed their formulas and implemented additional testing to comply with the regulations. That’s when the Kanaans decided to go a different route and begin brewing their kombucha as an alcoholic beverage (they also make a nonalcoholic version). “It’s old-style brewing, like Belgians or lambics,” Rachel Kanaan said. “In the second ferment, it’s open-air fermented, too. It’s allowed to brew, and then we bottle and we do bottle conditioning, which is much better than other companies that are force-[carbonating].” Their kombucha beer comes in several flavors: raspberry, ginger, bourbon peach and a KPA, or kombucha pale ale. Like other boozy kombuchas, it has emerged as a popular choice — and an alternative to cider — for those who avoid gluten. Other kombucha brewers charted a similar course. You’ll see brands such as Boochcraft, Kombrewcha and Wild Tonic selling brews with from 3.2 to 8 percent ABV. That puts them at the level of a beer (typically a 4.5 percent ABV) and below a wine (typically 11.6 percent). Big beer companies are getting in on the game, too. This year, Full Sail Brewing Company launched Kyla, a line of hard kombucha — combining two trends, one of them is infused with cold brew coffee. In June, Molson Coors acquired the California company Clearly Kombucha, which makes typical, low-alcohol kombucha. (The company has “no immediate plans to introduce a hard kombucha,” a spokesman said.) And Boston Beer, which owns Samuel Adams, told The Washington Post it has plans to introduce a new brand, Tura Hard Kombucha, in early 2019. The name comes from the word “natural,” and the brand will start with the flavors blueberry-ginger and hibiscus-wild berry. Distribution


World Digest: Dec. 13, 2018

February 2017. — Associated Press SOMALIA Al-Shabab defector arrested ahead of vote The former No. 2 leader of Somalia’s al-Shabab extremist group, who is a top candidate in a regional election next week, was arrested Thursday, prompting protests in which four people were killed, officials said. Mukhtar Robow, once a spokesman for al-Shabab, was arrested by Ethiopian troops who are part of the African Union peacekeeping forces supporting Somalia’s federal government, said an electoral official in South West state. Somalia’s Security Ministry confirmed Robow’s arrest, citing the federal government’s earlier ban on his candidacy and alleging that he had failed to renounce extremist ideology. Robow made a high-profile defection last year from al-Shabab and is running to be regional president of South West State in elections next week. His defection was welcomed by the government, but not his candidacy. Gunfire erupted in Baidoa as Robow’s supporters protested his arrest in the southwestern city. At least four people were killed, including an Ethiopian soldier, in the clashes between troops and armed men thought to be Robow’s supporters, police said. — Associated Press CONGO Fire ruins 80 percent of capital's vote machines An early-morning fire in Congo’s capital destroyed nearly 80 percent of the city’s voting machines just 10 days before the presidential election, officials said Thursday, adding that the blaze appeared to be criminal but vowing that it would not disrupt the vote. Congo’s use of voting machines in the Dec. 23 election is a first for the country and a rarity in Africa. But it has caused concerns among the opposition, diplomats and experts about possible manipulation in favor of President Joseph Kabila’s preferred successor. Kabila is stepping aside after taking power in 2001. The electoral commission said the fire broke out at a warehouse in Kinshasa, adding that it was too early to declare the cause. The fire destroyed equipment planned for use in Kinshasa. Nearly 8,000 of the capital’s 10,368 voting machines were ruined, said Corneille Nangaa Yobeluo, president of the electoral commission. He said the commission would nonetheless hold the election as scheduled. Kabila’s chief adviser said that the fire was a criminal one and that polling booths also were burned. Congo’s security minister said the voting machines would be replaced “very quickly.” — Associated Press Sri Lanka's high court deems president's actions unlawful: Venezuela's last big opposition paper to cease print edition: — From news services


When it comes to defending the press, President Erdogan is the world’s biggest hypocrite

journalism had become nearly impossible in my homeland. When Erdogan held a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany in September, I planned to ask him questions that couldn’t be asked in Turkey. When Erdogan learned that I was credentialed for the event, he threatened to cancel, saying, “If he comes, I won’t.” I chose not to attend the news conference to ward off a diplomatic crisis. But Erdogan’s rage had only worsened. Upon his return to Turkey, he recalled an old case: Five years ago, a group of young people had banded together to prevent the construction of a shopping mall on a park in the heart of Istanbul. Their Gezi Park protest movement quickly became the largest of its kind in Turkey’s history. Erdogan figured he could fire up his own supporters by casting the Gezi protesters as new enemies ahead of pending elections. First, he targeted Osman Kavala, a businessman and human rights activist who has been held for a year in prison without any charges. He called Kavala “the man who funded the terrorists at Gezi,” and then said that “Soros, the Hungarian Jew who spends his money trying to divide nations,” was behind Kavala. Of course, Erdogan never realized that the photograph from his meeting with Soros would come to light, which it did. There aren’t many media outlets left to publish such a photograph anyway, since most of them are tied to him and the remainder are daunted by punishment. The following day, Soros’s Open Society Foundation announced that it was closing its Turkey branch. The pro-Erdogan media published claims that I had incited the Gezi Park protests under Kavala’s instruction. Prosecutors subsequently issued another warrant for my arrest. Luckily, I was already in Germany, and the Germans refused my extradition. The difference between me and Jamal Khashoggi is that his assailants were better prepared and didn’t miss their target. So now, whenever I hear Erdogan vow to follow the case of Khashoggi’s murder to the very end, I can only laugh. Read more: The Post’s View: Erdogan took a stand for Khashoggi. Now he should free the critics he imprisoned. The Post’s View: What Erdogan didn’t say about Jamal Khashoggi may matter more than what he said Hatice Cengiz: The international community must bring my fiance’s killers to justice The Post’s View: Erdogan is transforming Turkey into a totalitarian prison


Britain’s long and tortuous path to Brexit

the vote was held on June 23, 2016, Leave won by 52 percent. The value of the pound immediately plunged 8 percent on the news and Cameron announced he would resign, sparking a leadership contest within the ruling Conservative Party. Theresa May was never much of a Brexit-eer. In fact, she unenthusiastically backed the vote to remain. But when it came time to elect a new prime minister, the Leave candidates split, and May won. From the outset, May promised to support leaving the E.U., reassuring voters “ May tried to deal with this by calling a snap election in June 2017, hoping to increase the Conservative majority. Instead, she lost seats — forcing her to partner up with Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party to govern. This added another layer of complexity to one of Brexit’s most intractable problems, the soft border with Ireland. May persevered, but it became harder and harder to draft a winning proposal. When she laid out her plan for Brexit in July 2018, a number of government ministers resigned in protest, arguing that it offered too many concessions to Europe. In September, when May went to Salzburg, Austria, to explain her plan to E.U. leaders, they rejected it. With time running out before March 29, 2019 — the date that Britain was due to come crashing out of Europe, deal or no deal — May made a desperate bid to reach agreement with E.U. leaders. Finally, in November, she came up with a draft accord. She took it back to her cabinet and gained their approval. But the withdrawal agreement May got from the E.U. was an uncomfortable compromise for many Brits. The 585-page document created a transition period, which would essentially keep Britain in the bloc’s Customs Union until 2020, and possibly longer. Brexiteers called it a betrayal, while those who wanted to remain continued to demand a second referendum on the terms of the deal. Parliament was scheduled to hold a “meaningful vote” on May’s deal on Tuesday. On Monday, apparently having concluded she would lose this vote, May canceled it. She’s now headed back to Europe to try to come up with an improved deal. It’s unlikely she’ll get much: Many of the biggest sticking points in Brexit negotiations, such as the border in Ireland, are as unresolved as they were in June 2016. The threat of a “no-deal Brexit," which many


Pompeo challenges accuracy of reports that CIA is confident of Saudi prince’s involvement in Khashoggi death

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declined to directly answer Wednesday whether he believes the denials from Saudi Arabia’s crown prince of involvement in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and he repudiated part of the reported findings of the CIA, the agency Pompeo led until earlier this year. Some of the CIA findings in the Khashoggi case are “inaccurate,” Pompeo told “Fox & Friends.” The U.S. intelligence community has concluded with “high confidence” that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was behind the killing of Khashoggi, a Saudi citizen and Washington Post contributing columnist who had been critical of the prince. The Fox hosts challenged Pompeo about that finding, and the Trump administration’s position that there is no direct evidence proving the guilt of the young prince, the kingdom’s heir to the throne and de facto ruler. “Some of the reporting that you’ve seen on that has been inaccurate,” Pompeo said of the CIA findings reported by The Washington Post and other news organizations. Pompeo, who was CIA director until replacing Rex Tillerson at the State Department last spring, did not elaborate when Fox hosts Brian Kilmeade and Ainsley Earhardt asked whether the central CIA finding implicating the prince was false or inaccurate. “Look, we all know that they’re still working on this. This is still a developing set of facts with respect to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. The intelligence community is working diligently on that,” Pompeo said. “The direct evidence, this is what I’ve said before, the direct evidence isn’t yet available. It may show up tomorrow. It may have shown up overnight and I haven’t seen it.” Pompeo is set to brief the House of Represenatives later Wednesday on U.S. actions and policy since Khashoggi’s Oct. 2 death inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Republican senators, including Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), a close ally of the White House on most foreign policy issues, have been sharply critical of President Trump’s handling of the Khashoggi case. CIA Director Gina Haspel delivered a closed-door briefing for senators last week that key lawmakers said provided overwhelming evidence of the prince’s involvement. “There’s not a smoking gun — there’s a smoking saw,” Graham said then, referring to the bone saw that investigators believe was used to dismember Khashoggi’s body after he was killed by a team of Saudi agents. Graham has argued that the killing reveals the prince to be


Second Canadian detained in China amid row over Huawei extradition

“severe consequences” for Canada if Meng is not released. Under the extradition treaty between Canada and the United States, U.S. officials have 60 days from the date of Meng’s arrest to make a full extradition request. Canada will then have 30 days to determine whether to commence the extradition process. More than 90 percent of extradition requests from the United States are granted, according to Canadian government figures. Both Spavor and Kovrig are being investigated by the local branches of the state security apparatus, rather than the regular police, underlining the severity of the situation. In both cases, local media reported that they were being held “on suspicion of endangering China’s national security.” Chinese authorities have not confirmed the reports. Spavor was arrested in the northern city of Dandong, where he lives and operates Paektu Cultural Exchange, an organization promoting sporting, business and cultural exchanges with North Korea. He was involved in arranging former U.S. basketball star Dennis Rodman’s first trip to North Korea, and met the leader Kim Jong Un at that time. More recently, he has been trying to promote business investment in North Korea as the diplomatic environment has become more favorable. Spavor was due to arrive in Seoul on Monday to speak at a conference about North Korea on Tuesday night. “I’ll be in Seoul from Monday the 10th for a few days for new consulting work,” he wrote on Twitter on Monday. But he never arrived at his destination, the website NKNews reported, citing multiple people familiar with his itinerary. Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat who works on China, Japan and the Korean Peninsula for the Crisis Group think tank, was arrested in Beijing on Monday. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said that the Crisis Group was not legally registered with the Chinese authorities, suggesting that this meant Kovrig was violating Chinese laws. “The relevant organization has violated Chinese laws because the relevant organization is not registered in China,” spokesman Lu Kang said at a news briefing Wednesday. A senior Canadian government official said, before news of Spavor’s detention, that Canada has not been provided consular access to Kovrig and does not know his whereabouts. The International Crisis Group also said Wednesday that it had not been able to get in touch with Kovrig. The group called for his immediate release. Paektu Cultural Exchange China has sharply tightened its rules on nongovernmental organizations operating in


Theresa May survives no confidence vote, but her Brexit deal remains in doubt

leader Jeremy Corbyn said in written a statement. “The Prime Minister has lost her majority in Parliament, her government is in chaos and she is unable to deliver a Brexit deal that works for the country and puts jobs and the economy first.” Jacob Rees-Mogg, a Conservative member of Parliament and an arch-Brexiteer, called the vote “a terrible result” for May. Although it did not force May’s ouster, Rees-Mogg said that it was enough to show how little confidence her party had in her and that she should do the honorable thing and resign. Commentators drew comparisons to Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s only other female prime minister, who won a confidence vote but resigned anyway in 1990. The leader of Scotland, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, expressed frustration with the political squabbling. She tweeted: “Today is a stark reminder that the UK is facing chaos and crisis entirely because of a vicious civil war within the Tory party. What a self-centered bunch they are. They all need to go, not just the PM.” Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said May’s survival will hardly solve the Conservative Party’s Brexit problems. “Is the problem actually the prime minister? The problem is what it has always been. Any deal that could pass muster with the E.U. won’t pass muster with Tory Euroskeptics.” In Brussels, where preparations are underway for a summit of European leaders Thursday and Friday for which Brexit is only one among many issues, diplomats were measured in their reaction to the British drama. Many have long braced for a challenge to May’s leadership, and although the British instability added to uncertainty surrounding the Brexit deal, several diplomats said there was little they could do to sway events in London. If anything, the leadership challenge hardened resolve among the remaining E.U. nations to insist on an ironclad backup plan to preserve a border-free frontier between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Diplomats increasingly doubt that they can rely on assurances from any British leader, because that leader can quickly be replaced. Britain’s crashing out of the E.U. with no deal could also lead to the imposition of border controls between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, meaning that the E.U. and Britain both have motivation to resolve the issue. “We do not have any intention of further changing the withdrawal agreement,” Merkel told the


Time’s Person of the Year: ‘Guardians’ of the truth, including slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi

It’s been a grim year for those seeking to pursue and preserve the truth. Journalists around the world have been targeted and assaulted for their work. Some have paid with their freedom; others have paid with their lives. Even the president of the United States — a country that has prided itself on having freedom of the press since its founding — has repeatedly attacked the media as “the enemy of the people.” Other world leaders have echoed this aggressive stance against the media, cracking down on reporters who have tried to hold them accountable. We are living through nothing short of a “war on truth” — but it is in such a time that “professional truth seekers” are more important than ever, Time magazine declared in its latest issue. For these reasons, Time magazine announced its 2018 Person of the Year is “the Guardians,” four individuals and one group — all journalists — who this year helped expose “the manipulation and the abuse of truth” around the world. Among them: Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributing columnist who was killed inside Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul in October. “The Guardians” also include the staff of the Capital Gazette, whose Maryland newsroom was attacked by a gunman in June; Maria Ressa, chief executive of the Rappler news website who has been made a legal target for the outlet’s coverage of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte; and journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who have been jailed in Myanmar for nearly a year for their work exposing the mass killings of Rohingya Muslims. “As we looked at the choices, it became clear that the manipulation and the abuse of truth is really the common thread in so many of this year’s major stories, from Russia to Riyadh to Silicon Valley,” Time editor Edward Felsenthal said on the “Today” show Tuesday. Of Khashoggi’s selection, Felsenthal said it was the first time the magazine had ever chosen someone no longer alive as Person of the Year. But it wasn’t so much the brutal details about his death as the work he had done most of his life — holding Saudi Arabia’s government accountable — that solidified his legacy. “It’s also very rare that a person’s influence grows so immensely in death,” Felsenthal said. “His murder has prompted a global reassessment of the Saudi crown prince and a really long overdue look at the


My eHarmony match said all the right things. Was he too good to be true?

woman. “This is Andrea.” “I don’t know you,” I say. “Andrea Conner. David’s daughter.” I’ve never heard someone talk so sweetly knowing their aim is to swindle. “Don’t call again,” I say and block her, too. My phone finally silent, I take a long, scalding shower. Seeking more explanation, I call Steve Baker, the author of that BBB report. “Everyone thinks they can easily tell a romance fraud,” Baker tells me, but scammers are tough to sniff out. “Perpetrators are multifaceted crooks organized in large networks who conduct a wide variety of frauds, not just one 22-year-old on his laptop in a cyber cafe.” Baker says that increasing numbers of dating frauds are discovered while business email scams are being investigated. While being wooed, victims might unwittingly launder money or act as intermediaries. In one intricate scam, 30 or more American women were defrauded by a Nigerian operating out of South Africa. He’s now serving a 27-year sentence in Illinois, and sales of his worldwide assets will go to his victims. To help root out fake suitors, Baker suggests running a reverse image search using Google images to see how many names pop up. “Anybody you cannot meet in person within a week or two is probably a fraud,” Baker says. “Victims are perfectly normal people, just like you and me. Only they’re more likely to believe in true love and think they’ve found it. True love requires a leap of faith for everyone.” It irks me that I’ll never know what was really going on with Dr. David Conner. Why did he target me? How much money has he made off unsuspecting online daters like me, and how many people does he target at once? Does he sleep well at night? Does his mother know what he does for a living? In the absence of details, I write my own ending. I would do well with a good man; I proved it to myself with a fraud. After years in a monogamous relationship, I accept my naiveté. But foolish I’m not. These bogus beaus are simply that good. READ MORE: This couple on Vietnam’s ‘The Bachelor’ explains how they secretly fell in love I never wanted to sacrifice my career for a relationship. Then I realized something had to change. My husband is 70. I’m 35. I’ve become a Dear Abby for others in relationships with large age gaps.


This New York Marathon marriage proposal is a reminder that proposing in public is a bad idea

enjoy being the center of attention, or do they prefer quieter moments together? Will they say yes, or might the prodding from strangers nudge them there? If any of your answers are more about you than your partner, cancel the flash mob and call off the Jumbotron. The debate over the public marriage proposal — is it harmless and cute or narcissistic and manipulative? — surfaces nearly every time another one goes viral. This past weekend, a man proposed to his girlfriend who was in the middle of running the New York City Marathon. According to CBS News, Dennis Galvin hopped over a barrier and onto the marathon course and asked his girlfriend, Kaitlyn Curran, to marry him. CBS said it was Curran’s first time running a marathon. She’d trained for a year and still had 10 miles to go when Galvin interrupted her to pop the question. She said yes, cried (tears of joy or annoyance?), hugged him — and then kept running. In the video footage, she looks happy. But couldn’t he have waited? Let the woman have her moment — all 4 hours and 24 minutes of it, which she has trained so hard for — without pulling her over to give you 30 seconds of glory. On Twitter, readers aired their thoughts for and against the proposal. The couple hasn’t responded publicly yet. But most people prefer a private proposal — and most are done that way. In a Knot article detailing five big proposal mistakes, proposing in front of an audience was one of them. In a survey of 19,000 couples, the wedding website found that most women said proposing in public or in front of friends and family were not advised. “Once you’ve asked and she’s (hopefully) accepted, you two will want to linger in your own little love bubble for a while — not possible if colleagues, cousins, or perfect strangers are getting in your faces to congratulate you,” according to the Knot’s story accompanying the survey. There’s no private love bubble in the middle of a marathon course — especially when one person has to get back to conquering another 10 miles. READ MORE: How to break off your engagement or cancel your wedding the right way Ariana Grande’s ‘Thank u, next’ is the latest breakup song to preach the importance of self-love Why millennials are taking their get-out-the-vote efforts to Tinder


Britain’s Brexit crisis was entirely self-inflicted

she would avoid triggering Article 50, the provision to formally begin the process of leaving the E.U., until Britain’s objectives were “clear and agreed.” But many steps that could have forestalled strife were not taken. Though she had said she would not rush the process, May’s determination to deliver Brexit led to her announcement in October 2016 that she would start the clock on a formal withdrawal by the following March. Parliament voted to trigger Article 50 in March 2017, then passed legislation that set the date for exit. The hard deadline that now looms was put in place by those deliberate — and avoidable — decisions. It was another choice by May to call a snap general election in April 2017, shortly after setting off the Brexit negotiations. The idea was to cement her bargaining position, but instead, in the June vote, she lost her party’s majority in the House of Commons. This meant she had to keep her lawmakers in the fold and maintain the support of the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to deliver Brexit, or look for support from lawmakers from other parties. May’s government has since mishandled its relationship with a Parliament characterized by Brexit divisions across party lines. It has resisted many opportunities to let Parliament understand the government’s plans for Brexit, arguing time after time that it did not want to show its negotiating hand to the E.U. This annoyed lawmakers: In a series of votes in recent months, the opposition, sometimes supported by Conservative rebels, forced the government to release sensitive papers on the negotiations. Parliament even held the government in contempt, an unprecedented act. When the country has a full postmortem on Brexit, there may be some successes to look back on. Negotiating and planning for leaving the E.U. — under both deal and no-deal scenarios — has been the biggest policy effort by a British government in many decades. Government officials have taken on a gargantuan task, one that is being scaled up further as they find themselves planning for a no-deal Brexit: They are already war-gaming the various crises that could ensue, such as queues at the border or dwindling medical supplies and food stocks. But after several years of bad choices, the paths currently on offer seem to tend toward more political drama, not less. The next general election is scheduled for 2022, but Parliament can force