What is Marburg, the Ebola-like virus that killed a health-care worker in Uganda?

Marburg virus is closely related to Ebola. (C. Bickel/Science Translational Medicine) A 30-year-old hospital technician died of the Marburg virus this weekend in Uganda, health officials there announced Sunday. Marburg, like Ebola, is a hemorrhagic fever. It's rare but severe. According to NBC's Monday report, officials in Uganda have quarantined about 80 people who came into contact with the victim, one of whom — the man's brother — has developed the early symptoms of the disease. Sixty of those quarantined are health-care workers. On Tuesday, Uganda's Ministry of Health said in an emailed statement that testing on 11 potential cases of Marburg came back negative, including that of the victim's brother. Those who still show symptoms similar to Marburg three days from now will be re-tested at that time, the ministry added. As with Ebola, there is no cure for the virus. And like Ebola, Marburg can have a high death rate for those infected. That's leading many to wonder whether the Marburg case will begin yet another deadly outbreak of a terrifying disease in Africa, even though the bulk of the evidence suggests otherwise. What is Marburg — and what are the symptoms? Ebola and Marburg are the exclusive members of the Filovirus family of hemorrhagic fevers. Marburg has an incubation period of five to 10 days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. After that, infected individuals can develop a severe headache, myalgia, a fever and chills. Like Ebola, those initial symptoms are similar to many other diseases, including malaria. After a few days, the symptoms worsen. They can include nausea, vomiting, chest pain, a sore throat, abdominal pain, diarrhea and a rash. Eventually, severe cases progress to "jaundice, inflammation of the pancreas, severe weight loss, delirium, shock, liver failure, massive hemorrhaging and multi-organ dysfunction," the CDC explains. There's a huge range in the disease's fatality rate in previous outbreaks, from 23 percent to 90 percent. How do you catch it? Marbug, like Ebola, is not an airborne virus. The disease is spread through direct contact with the blood, tissues or bodily fluids of an infected person or, as has happened in many cases before, an infected primate or fruit bat. Although Marburg seems to have its origin in and around Uganda, the first outbreak was actually in Europe: In 1967, laboratory workers in Germany and what was then Yugoslavia fell ill after handling African green


Consumer Reports throws its support behind GMO labeling

Shareholders of General Mills rejected a proposal last month to get rid of all genetically modified ingredients in its products. The company is among the biggest contributors to the campaign fighting Measure 92, the Oregon ballot measure that would require GMO (genetically modified organism) labels on foods. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Advocates of labeling for genetically modified foods are getting some heavyweight support from Consumer Reports, the nonprofit known for its comprehensive product reviews. On Tuesday, the group and its policy arm Consumers Union began touting a pair of studies on consumer behavior and product claims, the latest in a string of efforts supporting genetically modified food labeling requirements on the ballot in Oregon and Colorado. While Consumer Reports has been involved in other policy fights before, the push for a GMO labeling mandate is the only ballot issue the nonprofit is involved with this fall. “Foods that are frozen, made from concentrate or homogenized are all required to be labeled. Why shouldn’t products containing GMOs also be labeled?” Jean Halloran, director of food policy initiatives at Consumers Union, said in a statement. “Shoppers are being misled when they buy products labeled ‘natural’ given their expectation that they are getting food that contain no GMOs.” (Consumer Reports) At a news conference in Portland, Ore., Tuesday, Consumer Reports unveiled the results of a new investigation of the packaging claims of more than 80 common products. The study found that food labels offer a wide range of meaning. Nearly two in three U.S. residents equate “natural” with non-GMO, according to an earlier Consumer Reports survey, but the new investigation found that the label “natural” reveals little about food products. “While many consumers believe that the Natural label on a product means that it contains no GE ingredients, this label actually has no meaningful definition for processed foods and is not verified,” the nonprofit’s Food Safety and Sustainability Center wrote in its report. (You can view a list of the products reviewed here.) The most trustworthy claims, Consumer Reports found, are those certified by the Non-GMO Project, a third-party group that certifies products as containing 0.9 percent genetically modified organisms or less. Organic claims were slightly less meaningful, the study found, while general non-GMO claims were only somewhat meaningful. The results of the investigation were touted alongside a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. adults conducted earlier in the year. That poll found that


CDC says it is exploring ways to increase traveler screening in U.S. and Africa

were coming to the United States, only 77 people had a fever or other symptoms that caused them to be taken out of the line, he said. “As far as we know, none of those 77 people had Ebola,” Frieden noted. Of course, these methods are not perfect, as was made clear when Duncan filled out a questionnaire, had his temperature taken by a person trained by the CDC and boarded multiple flights on his way to Dallas. New measures are unlikely to fully keep out everyone with Ebola, as Frieden alluded to, owing to the realities of air travel and the disease itself. Because there are no direct flights from the three West African countries hit hardest by Ebola to the United States, a passenger could travel through a number of highly trafficked hubs as Duncan did when he went through Brussels, Dulles International Airport outside Washington and Dallas-Fort Worth. This would make a travel ban — which public health officials have repeatedly said is a bad idea — very complicated, because of the number of connections and airports involved. In addition, because it can take up to three weeks for Ebola symptoms to emerge, a person could travel and be in another area for some time before they start feeling feverish. In this case, thermometers and a visual inspection by customs agents at U.S. airports would not be able to detect the disease. Obama’s promise of stepped-up screening for Ebola at U.S. airports that handle international flights will fall on the shoulders of the Customs and Border Protection officers who greet passengers arriving from abroad. Though they often seem preoccupied with scrutinizing passports and luggage, customs officers are trained to detect signs of illness, and they routinely do just that, officials said. “CBP personnel review all travelers entering the United States for general overt signs of illnesses,” the agency said in a statement. In addition to visual observations, CBP officers question passengers about their health and are instructed to alert the CDC if a passenger appears to be seriously ill. If a person is thought to have “a possible communicable disease,” they are isolated while the CDC and local authorities conduct the evaluation. Federal law requires pilots to radio ahead if a passenger dies or falls ill with certain symptoms. “If somebody comes in on a flight that has a fever or any one of those triggers, CDC


Epilogue: Sports suspensions

As you may have read by now, Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps was recently arrested for driving under the influence. Now, he has been suspended for six months on the grounds that his actions were “detrimental to the image or reputation of USA Swimming.” This is a rather different argument than the one that has circulated around the National Football League and domestic violence this summer and fall, in which the suggestion has been that by not suspending players in such cases, or handing out light suspensions, the league appears to be condoning such behavior. Michael Phelps after winning the men’s 200-meter butterfly at the 2012 U.S. Olympic swimming trials. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) There are potential merits to both arguments. Arguably, the sports and entertainment industries are businesses based in reputation: Your employees need to be at least somewhat appealing as well as competent, or fans will be less eager to invest in them. And both fields also have powerful signaling capacities to suggest what is and is not acceptable, and what is and is not important. But it would be helpful for leagues and organizations like USA Swimming to talk openly about their reasoning for suspensions and transparent about their suspension guidelines. And as they hash out these issues in public, I am curious: If organizations are going to suspend people for personal behavior, on what grounds should they do it? And what would your preferred punishments look like?


PM Update: Gusty storms overnight, clearing for lunar eclipse; Beastly Super Typhoon Vongfong

10:10 p.m. update Radar lightning: A fast-moving cool front triggers widespread showers and even a rumble of thunder overnight. But clearing behind the front should occur rapidly enough to view Wednesday morning’s lunar eclipse. Wednesday, overall, is a beautiful day, with sunshine and lovely 70s in the afternoon. Through Tonight: HRRR simulated radar shows rain over the region by 7 p.m. (WeatherBell.com) General winds – outside of showers – are from the southwest at 10-15 mph, gusting to 20-25 mph. The rain departs the region quickly between midnight and 2 a.m., with gradually clearing skies after 3 a.m. By 6 a.m., when the lunar eclipse approaches its peak, cloud cover should decrease below 30 percent. Morning low temperatures are fairly mild for sky watchers with lows from the low-to-mid 50s in our cooler suburbs to near 60 downtown. Tomorrow (Wednesday): See Matt Rogers’ forecast through the weekend. And if you haven’t already, join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter Pollen: Super Typhoon Vongfong: The Joint Typhoon Warning Center predicts that Vongfong will peak at 190 mph within the next 24 hours. Super Typhoon Vongfong is expected to weaken significantly before reaching Japan early next week. On Tuesday afternoon eastern time, NASA’s Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) caught this incredible image in a satellite pass. At the time this image was captured, it was night time in the Western Pacific. The image is illuminated entirely by moonlight. (Dan Lindsey/NOAA) (Angela Fritz contributed to this post.)


Gypsy Soul, B Side and True Food Kitchen up the food factor at Fairfax’s Mosaic District

complements fancy cocktails from mixologist Jeff Faile with charcuterie, cheeses and small plates like arepas, pork belly pupusas and meatballs. “The food is an added benefit of a great beverage program,” Anda says. Gypsy Soul 8296 Glass Alley, Fairfax; 703-992-0933, gypsysoul-va.com Don’t miss: the fried chicken skins James Beard Award-winning chef R.J. Cooper has been spinning culinary gold at Rogue 24, his rule-bending fine dining restaurant in Blagden Alley, since 2011. In comparison, his new 135-seat bistro features a more casual — yet just as mindful — menu. Though dishes are approachable, don’t expect traditional preparations. “We don’t serve ketchup or mustard at Gypsy Soul,” Cooper says. “But we develop the flavors on the burger with mustard seed and green tomato jam.” True Food Kitchen Don’t miss: the edamame dumplings Founded in Phoenix in 2008, this healthful restaurant serves nutrient-rich dishes based on the “Anti-Inflammatory Food Pyramid” created by co-owner Dr. Andrew Weil. The pyramid stresses fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish, Asian mushrooms, spices, dairy and chocolate (in moderation). It translates to produce-stacked plates with minimal salt and little fat as well as fresh-pressed juices. Though this locale is the restaurant’s 10th, it’s the first East Coast outpost. (The next closest True Food Kitchen is in Atlanta.) Local legends In addition to the notable newcomers, the Mosaic District houses outposts of these D.C.-based favorites. H.S. - A third location of Ted’s Bulletin, the 1930s-inspired diner based in Capitol Hill, opened on Monday. - sweetgreen, D.C.’s beloved build-a-salad spot, has been a fixture at the Mosaic District since 2012. - Cava Mezze Grill serves fast-casual spin-offs from Cava, the more formal restaurant on Barracks Row. - Since 2012, Dolcezza has scooped its signature all-natural gelatos to the Fairfax audience. - The Mosaic District Taylor Gourmet serves the same quality sandwiches as the other locales. - This Matchbox offers the same wood-fired pizzas, plus a private dining room. Coming soon - Brine, a seafood-heavy joint from the Rappahannock Oyster Co. team - A second location of DGS, the Jewish deli with roots in Dupont Circle from Nick and David Wiseman - Sisters, Old Town Fairfax’s Thai food mainstay, plans to open a second location in the spring You may also like: Road trip inspiration: Bonnie Blue Southern Market and Bakery in Winchester, Va. A pumpkin dish for every day of October EatsPlace restaurant will host a new local chef every four months


Sweetgreen retools its menu to incorporate more seasonal produce, new grain bowls

Surprise! Sweetgreen has shaken up its salads. The locally based salad chain kept things secret until Tuesday, when it unveiled a new menu focused on seasonal produce available at all of its stores. The new menu takes the number of seasonal salads from one to three. It also has three grain-based salads instead of just one. The green salad menu also got a shakeup: In the new Rad Thai, greens are topped with shredded cabbage, citrus shrimp and a spicy cashew dressing; Sweetgreen’s baked falafel is now mixed with kale, romaine, hummus, pita chips and feta in the Hummus Tahina salad; and the District Cobb has been replaced by the Avocobbo, topped with a blue cheese dressing. Don’t worry: Founders told Express they’d never get rid of the Guacamole Greens. You may also like: A pumpkin dish for every day of October Where to find pawpaws, North America’s largest edible native fruit Taylor Gourmet’s Penn’s Landing sandwich is our dish of the week


What type of climate-change funding for developing countries do Americans and Germans support?

and Germany to study this question (1,500 respondents were in each study). The results offer, for the first time, quantitative and systematically comparable insight into public perceptions of large-scale North-South climate funding (the forthcoming article in Global Environmental Change is available ungated here). We used a so-called conjoint experiment to estimate whether and how much particular characteristics of North-South climate funding are likely to affect public support. Participants were confronted with sets of proposals for funding schemes that had a fixed set of attributes. These attributes describe characteristics of countries entitled to receive the funding, how funding decisions are made, the general purpose of funding (adaptation vs. mitigation), and how much other donor countries contribute. The order of attributes was randomized across participants, and the values on each attribute were randomly assigned. Participants had to compare and express their preferences with respect to two proposals shown side by side, and each participant was asked to complete five of these choice tasks. The results provide insight into the effects of distinct design elements on public support for climate funding, but also into combinations of policy design features that are more (or less) popular. The figure below reveals some effects that are quite intuitive, whereas others are quite surprising. To start with, surprisingly, the magnitude of expected climate-change damage in recipient countries plays no significant role. Also, rather unexpectedly, income levels in recipient countries do not affect public support for climate funding. The same holds true for per-capita greenhouse-gas emissions in recipient countries. However, government efficiency in recipient countries has the expected effect; support for funding efficient foreign governments was about 5 percent to 9 percent higher than support for less efficient governments. Overall, however, recipient country characteristics do not substantially influence public support for climate-funding mechanisms. Contrary to our (perhaps overly pessimistic) expectation, populations in donor countries are willing to accept joint decision-making on funding allocation, rather than leaving funding decisions to donors alone. Funding schemes in which recipients control the decision-making process are, unsurprisingly, least acceptable to populations. Populations in both countries consider funding for adaptation alone least acceptable, and funding for both mitigation and adaptation most acceptable. This is in line with recent scholarship, which calls for greater integration of mitigation and adaptation efforts in development cooperation. Burden sharing between donor countries has by far the largest effect in both countries. The larger the contribution share of other countries


Photos: Lunar eclipse turns moon blood red over Washington, D.C.

(Kevin Ambrose) Beautiful clear skies presented the perfect back drop for this morning’s total lunar eclipse in the Washington, D.C. Photographers lined the eastern edge of the Reflecting Pool as the moon slowly turned from white to coppery red. The timing of the eclipse was perfect for photography because the blue hour in Washington occurred just as the earth’s shadow covered the moon. For a few moments, the light of the moon and the sky were in balance and the Lincoln Memorial was the brightest object in the scene. As the moon descended in the west and the sun was about to rise in the east, the moon turned from red to a faint white then disappeared just above the horizon. (Kevin Ambrose) (Kevin Ambrose) Here are views from around the region from our Flickr, Twitter, and Facebook pages… Total eclipse (Caroline Angelo via Flickr) (Wil Ether via Facebook) (number7cloud via Flickr) (Bruce Sorrell via Flickr) (Richard Barnhill via Flickr) (Rich Condit via Facebook) (Ryan Schuster) (Douglas Errett) (Susan Poulton via Facebook) (Susan Poulton via Facebook) (Jim Knapp via Facebook) (Joe Seamone via Facebook) (James Kain via Facebook) (Randy Taylor via Facebook) @capitalweather eclipse over College Park, MD http://t.co/BcEEeEJAaD #LunarEclipse over the Air Force Memorial close to totality. https://t.co/OExelmGSgJ @capitalweather @JacquiJeras http://t.co/MpeyEhKeej Tada!! #BloodMoon2014 @capitalweather http://t.co/Cs1ecgBAtv Probably the best eclipse picture I got before it dipped behind the trees: #LunarEclipse @capitalweather http://t.co/MMTPPwlLRJ @capitalweather Lunar Eclipse Blood Moon Centreville, VA #Bloodmoon @SteveRudinABC7 @OhMyGOFF @DougHillABC7 http://t.co/gUzBYcBEX3 Partial eclipse (Richard Barnhill via Flickr) Falls Church (Susan Poulton via Facebook) @capitalweather First try at #MoonEclipse photo. Taken through telescope with #Canon70D. http://t.co/ksEFwekN7B It begins. #eclipse #lunareclipse #bloodmoon @capitalweather @JacquiJeras @shomaristone @Ginger_Zee @ericagrow http://t.co/RiPkn1KUlk We're getting there.... #BloodMoon2014 @capitalweather http://t.co/tT8u331iyL (Phil Yabut via Flickr) Compilation of shots/view from this morning's #BloodMoon2014 @capitalweather http://t.co/TqUNu1VWge


Spectacular views of the blood moon

A man and a woman look at the moon as they ride a Ferris wheel, while a total lunar eclipse begins in Tokyo. (Toru Hanai/Reuters) Night owls and early risers in parts of Asia and North America were treated to view the total lunar eclipse or “blood moon” on October 8th, which even made a quick appearance in Australia. The Earth’s shadow renders the moon as a person in a Ferris wheel observes it during a total lunar eclipse in Tokyo, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014. (Koji Sasahara/AP Photo) The moon turns orange during a total lunar eclipse behind the CN Tower and the skyline during moonset in Toronto October 8, 2014. Mark Blinch/Reuters The blood moon as seen from Gosford, north of Sydney, October 8, 2014. (Jason Reed/Reuters) A seagull flies in front of a total lunar eclipse, also known as a “blood moon”, in Sydney October 8, 2014. (David Gray/Reuters) The beginning of a total lunar eclipse is seen from the Qizhong Tennis Court in Shanghai October 8, 2014. (Aly Song/Reuters) A lunar eclipse is seen near a statue entitled “Enlightenment Giving Power” by John Gelert, which sits at the top of the dome of the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack, N.J.,Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014. (Julio Cortez/AP Photo) A lunar eclipse dips down behind the Wheeler Town Clock in Manitou Springs, Colo. early Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014. The moon appears orange or red, the result of sunlight scattering off Earth’s atmosphere. (Michael Ciaglo/The Colorado Springs Gazette/AP Photo) A plane flies before the moon at the beginning of a total lunar eclipse in Yokkaichi, central Japan, on October 8, 2014. (Toru Yamanaka/AFP/Getty Images) The total lunar eclipse over Milwaukee on late Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014. (Mike De Sisti/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel/AP Photo) The Earth’s shadow begins to fall on the moon during a total lunar eclipse, as it goes behind a weathervane shaped like a Spanish galleon on the Freedom Tower, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014 in Miami. (Wilfredo Lee/AP Photo)


Before Ebola

(Courtesy of Amazon) A decade ago, a different epidemic erupted in Africa and threatened to rage out of control. The Marburg virus is a filovirus-type hemorrhagic fever, related to Ebola. In 2005, it quickly killed almost 300 people in northern Angola. Peter Apps was a young Reuters journalist who saw that horror firsthand, and this week he describes his experience in a deeply personal essay titled “Before Ebola” (Kindle, $1.99). His story is as much a tale of disease as it is a window on the exciting, sometimes terrifying life of an international reporter. Apps was just 23 years old and hadn’t been in Africa even a year before he convinced his boss to send him briefly to the city of Uíge. The populace there was confused and frightened. Mobs had attacked personnel with the World Health Organization. U.N. officials had only recently identified the disease that was cutting down children and health-care workers. Shortages of the most basic supplies made caring for the sick or disposing of the dead all but impossible. Marburg was killing almost 90 percent of its victims, an even higher rate than the rate at which Ebola is killing today. Apps describes health-care workers searching homes for bodies, spraying each other with chlorine from head to foot. Their work was a constant series of compromises between protecting themselves and trying to build trust with the population. The first thing a WHO official told Apps was, “Whatever anyone else says, this virus still isn’t under control. . . . We are quite terrified that this could really take off.” Fortunately, that didn’t happen. The epidemic was contained and brought under control. The challenges of combating Marburg, though, are strikingly similar to the current Ebola crisis: The families of victims need to be persuaded to report the illness and avoid contact with anyone showing symptoms. But fear, confusion and loyalty make that message difficult to convey. Basically, officials were asking families to immediately abandon their sick loved ones. Even knowing the risks of contamination, how many people would do that? Apps reports that Canadian researchers have recently announced a potential cure for Marburg: “So far, it has been tested only on monkeys. But, experts say, it may be the best hope yet of a treatment for the still-out-of-control Ebola outbreak.” A little more than a year after leaving Uige, Apps was in a minibus accident that left


We need a Nobel Prize for environmentalists

within the area of sustainability – most famously the 2007 peace prize jointly awarded to Al Gore and the IPCC. But if the foundation is primarily tasked with rewarding those individuals and organizations that have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind, then a Nobel Prize for sustainability should be central to that aim. Recently, the WWF and the Zoological Society of London reported that the number of wild animals on Earth has halved over the past 40 years. This dramatic decline in the abundance of fauna has been associated with an equally dramatic decline in the diversity of all species, so that we are currently in the middle of what may prove to be one of the great mass extinctions in the history of life on Earth. Our global emissions of carbon dioxide continue to rise and we are on course toward dangerous climate change within decades. So why not add the names Edmond Becquerel, Rachel Carson, Dian Fossey, James Lovelock, the Penan people in Malaysia and others that have done the most to promote ways to live sustainably on our home planet to the 876 other recipients of a Nobel Prize? The Penan fight back against loggers. A Nobel-worthy protest? (Friends of the Earth, CC BY-NC-ND) It was Nobel’s wish that the foundation would award five prizes (the economics prize was created much later, after an endowment from the Swedish central bank in 1968 “in memory of Alfred Nobel”). As he never explained why he chose those particular themes, we can only speculate as to his reasoning. Arguably, physics was the foremost science in the late 1800s, as it was in the process of transforming our understanding of the universe with new theories on the atom, electricity, magnetism and cosmology. Great advances were also being made in medicine and physiology. And what is man without an understanding of literature? Promoting peace is clearly a laudable aim. Perhaps easiest to understand is the prize for chemistry, given that Nobel was a gifted chemist and made his fortune largely by building an industrial chemicals empire. For example, in 1867, Nobel invented dynamite, and in 1875 gelignite. These easy-to-handle and very powerful high explosives greatly aided mining and the extraction of natural resources such as coal and iron that were needed to continue to drive the industrial revolution. Nobel’s 1887 invention of ballistite, which he sold to the Italian military, made rifles


Hardly anyone uses heroin. So why do we keep freaking out about it?

calculated, because marijuana has no known lethal dose. So it stands to reason that even a small uptick in heroin use will lead to a noticeable spike in heroin deaths. ... but painkillers kill far more people each year. In 2011, the most recent year for which complete data is available, 4,102 people unintentionally overdosed on heroin. By contrast, 17,241 people OD'd on prescription drugs (for comparison, gun homicides killed over 11,000 people that year). "We just don’t have the same recognition that a prescription for opiates is a quite lethal product," he says. Rather than focusing solely on heroin or on prescription drug deaths, Caulkins recommends looking at them in tandem - that will give us a sense of whether cracking down on prescription opiate use will lead to more overall deaths due to heroin substitution, or fewer deaths as more people kick the opiate habit completely. But we won't have a good sense of that for another few years. Overreaction produces dumb legislation. Some of the most counter-productive drug legislation in recent history has been the direct result of widespread freakouts over perceived "epidemics" of drug use. Mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders, widely enacted in the early 1990s in response to perceived upticks in inner city drug use, stand out as one glaring example. Even as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle work diligently to roll back those laws today, some states are toughening penalties on heroin. Bobby Jindal recently signed legislation in Louisiana that doubles the mandatory minimum sentence for heroin dealers, despite considerable evidence that these laws do nothing to deter drug use. Inasmuch as the Louisiana law deters users from voluntarily seeking drug treatment for fear of getting in trouble with the law, it may likely increase both overall heroin use rates, and deaths from the drug. It is heartening, on the other hand, to see that some states are taking smarter approaches to heroin use. A package of bills currently being debated in New Jersey would, among other things, increase Medicaid payments to drug treatment providers, launch a statewide program for monitoring the opiate prescriptions, and funnel more money into substance abuse prevention efforts. Overall, it's important for the public - and particularly the media - to keep some perspective when it comes to the numbers on heroin. It doesn't make a lot of sense to speak of "epidemics" when use rates


Here’s what the Ebola epidemic (still) looks like in West Africa

A Doctors Without Borders worker carries a child suspected of having Ebola in a treatment center in Liberia on Sunday. (John Moore/Getty Images) Last week, health officials announced the first case of Ebola diagnosed in the United States. On Wednesday, the patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, died in a Dallas hospital. Since the first U.S. diagnosis, an American freelance journalist was stricken with Ebola; he was repatriated from Liberia and is now receiving treatment in Nebraska. There have been scares in the Washington area, South Florida and Newark, N.J., as fears of infection worsened. And a Spanish nurse who was treating an Ebola-stricken priest became infected herself, in the first case of Ebola transmission outside of West Africa. But as the attention shifted to U.S. concerns and the situation in Europe, the death toll has continued to rise in West Africa, where medical teams are still scrambling to contain the deadly virus. There are now more than 8,000 confirmed, suspected and probable cases of Ebola in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to World Health Organization figures released Wednesday, hours after Duncan's death in Dallas. Nearly 4,000 deaths have been reported in the region. The situation is especially dire in Sierra Leone, which this month reported a one-day death toll of 121, according to Reuters, and Liberia, where more than 2,000 Ebola deaths have been recorded. Here's how the epidemic and the response looks in those countries now. A Liberian nurse picks up disinfected boots at an Ebola treatment facility in Monrovia, Liberia, this month. (Ahmed Jallanzo/EPA) A child suffering from Ebola receives treatment in Makeni, Sierra Leone. (Tanya Bindra/Associated Press) A health worker checks the temperature of a woman entering Mali from Guinea on Thursday. (Joe Penney/Reuters) The ongoing Ebola outbreak is the worst in history. Medical workers are overwhelmed by those seeking care, families struggle with dead and dying relatives, and children have been left orphaned and abandoned. In Nigeria, the spread of Ebola appears to have been stopped; there have been no new cases in Africa's largest country since the end of August. But in Sierra Leone, the Guardian reports that the rapid escalation of cases has drawn comparisons to how the virus spread in Liberia, where Duncan was reportedly infected. "The disease has reached every county of Liberia," Anthony Banbury, head of U.N. Mission for Ebola Emergency Response, told the BBC. "It is clear that the international


Oddsmakers have already picked a winner for the Nobel Peace Prize

The Norwegian Nobel committee on Friday will announce this year’s winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, an award that comes with an onslaught of media attention, often a dollop of controversy, and a $1.24 million check. In a year full of war and raging debates about the use of military force, there is also no shortage of contenders for the peace prize, from critics of Vladimir Putin to Vladimir Putin himself to a group championing a constitutional clause. Yes, a constitutional clause. The selection process is famously shrouded in secrecy -- the official nomination list is kept under wraps for 50 years. But we do know there were 278 nominations this year -- a record number -- and because some of the nominators talk, we know who a few are. The Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), a Norwegian peace studies organization that monitors the Nobel committee, publishes a list of confirmed candidates, a tiny fraction of the overall total. But that doesn’t stop speculation -- or in Britain, a flurry of betting -- about the person or organization that will soon be listed alongside laureates like Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela. Here are some of the favorites with betting odds from two popular bookmakers here, Paddy Power and William Hill: 1. Pope Francis Pope Francis gestures towards Catholic worshipers as he arrives to lead a Mass in central Seoul on Aug. 16. (Lee Jin-Man/AFP/Getty Images) Paddy Power: 9/4 William Hill: 5/2 The bookies' favorite, Pope Francis, could become the first pontiff in the history of the prize. The 77-year-old Argentine was nominated by Argentina's congress, with his sponsor, legislator Oscar Martinez, saying that the pope had been “decisive in maintaining international peace through his clear position regarding the conflict in Syria." The pope’s rhetoric is new, and he has undoubtedly changed the tone of global Catholicism, winning praise for his humility and focus on the poor. The Time magazine 2013 “Person of the Year” is also hugely popular with the bookies, taking in more money than any other nominee. But commentators wonder whether peaceful rhetoric and humble gestures alone are enough, and just 18 months into his papacy, Pope Francis is still pretty new at being the pope -- although as President Obama’s 2009 prize proved, being a newbie on the job isn’t necessarily a negative for the committee. 2. Edward Snowden Edward Snowden participating, via


The agony of waiting for your son’s beheading

This undated photo shows Peter Kassig standing in front of a truck filled with supplies for Syrian refugees. A video purportedly produced by militants in Syria released Oct. 3, 2014, shows Kassig, of Indianapolis, kneeling on the ground as a masked militant says he will be killed next. (AP Photo/Courtesy Kassig Family) Another plea had just come in, and it was like the others. Directed at the the leader of the Islamic State, it evoked the anguish of a desperate mother whose son is so very far away, held by unknown captors who could well become his executioners. Her name is Paula Kassig, mother of Peter, and she wants her son back. “I am trying to get in touch with the Islamic State about my son’s fate,” she wrote Wednesday evening. “I am an old woman, and [Peter] is my only child. My husband and I are on our own, with no help from the government. We would like to talk to you. How can we reach you?” The message pleading for the release of the American aid worker Peter Kassig, who the Islamic State captured last year in Syria, was tragic for any number of reasons. It was tragic because it echoed the unheeded pleas of the other families. “I want what every mother wants, to live to see their children’s children,” the mother of Stephen Sotloff begged before her son’s execution. “I plead with you to grant me this.” The wife of executed British hostage Alan Henning also issued a plaintive statement: “I implore the people of the Islamic State to see it in their hearts to release my husband.” So did the family of David Haines, also beheaded by the Islamic State. The parents of Peter Kassig, an American aid worker being held hostage by Islamic State militants, released a statement pleading for their son's release. Paula Kassig’s message was also tragic because it carried notes of resentment — not just at the intractability of her son’s captivity, but over the perception U.S. authorities had forgotten her family. My husband and I are on our own, with no help from the government. She’s not the first family of an American hostage to feel abandoned by the government, reflecting tensions over what has become a controversial American policy of refusing to barter with terrorists. The policy is this: The United States doesn’t often trade prisoners for hostages. It


Bees from hive of 800,000 kill Arizona landscaper, injure others

A swarm of bees from a hive estimated to hold 800,000 attacked four landscapers Wednesday morning in southern Arizona, leaving one dead and another critically injured. The men had been mowing grass and weeding for a 90-year-old homeowner in Douglas, Ariz., when the insects emerged from a 3-by-8-foot hive in an attic and attacked the crew, the Douglas Fire Department said. One man died at a nearby hospital. “A witness said his face and neck were covered with bees,” Capt. Ray Luzania told Tucson.com. The other man, who was stung more than 100 times, was treated at the hospital and released. Two other workers who were stung refused treatment and a neighbor, who was also stung, drove to the hospital. Douglas Fire Chief Mario Novoa told USA Today that because there aren’t many honey bees left in the area, “we treat them all as Africanized [killer] bees.” None of the victims have been identified, and it’s still not clear what provoked the bees or how many were involved, Novoa said. But if they were killer bees, it wouldn’t take much to excite them — even small noises or vibrations have been known to do it. In the past, such attacks have been described as a scene straight from a horror film, with swarms so large the sky turns dark. The roar fills victims’ ears. Bees clog their mouths and nostrils when they try to breathe. And hundreds — or thousands — of stingers akin to hypodermic needles pump poison into their skin. The smell of honeybee venom has been compared to bananas. But it’s not typically the venom from killer bees that kills; it’s the number of stings, May Berenbaum, a professor at the University of Illinois’s Department of Entomology, told CBS News last year. With killer bees, “the venom is not more toxic,” she said. However, when killer bees are disturbed, “they are more likely to pursue the source of disturbance more consistently. “Bee venom is a cocktail of biologically active components that are designed to inflict pain. The honey bee stings only defensively — they don’t try to kill, they try to educate.” After Wednesday’s attack, firefighters in bee suits surrounded the home. The exterminator who was called to kill the bees estimated their colony had been growing for at least a decade. He said the honeycomb was so compressed, it was pushing them out. They had started


Patrick Modiano wins Nobel Prize in literature

(Catherine Helie, Gallimard/AP) Patrick Modiano was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature, the world’s highest literary honor, on Thursday. The Swedish committee praised the 69-year-old French writer for “the art of memory with which he has evoked the most ungraspable human destinies and uncovered the life-world of the occupation.” Peter Englund, the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, recommended that readers unfamiliar with Modiano’s work begin with “Missing Person” (“Rue des boutiques obscures”), a novel from 1978 that describes a man who lost his identity during the Paris Occupation. “It’s a fun book,” Englund said. “He’s playing with the genre.” “His books are always variations of the same theme,” Englund said, “about memory, about loss, about identity, about seeking. I don’t think he’s difficult to read. You can read him easily, one of his books in the afternoon, have dinner, and read another in the evening.” Modiano, who lives in Paris, has previously won the Grand prix du roman de l’Académie française and the Prix Goncourt. (Courtesy of David R. Godine) Although he has published more than 20 books, including children’s books, few of them are available in translation in the United States. “He’s a well known name in France — not anywhere else,” Englund said. (Thursday morning at 9:00 a.m., “Missing Person” was No. 76,199 on Amazon. By 4:30 p.m., it was No. 6.) Akane Kawakami, a professor of French literature at Birkbeck, University of London, said, “Modiano’s novels often read like detective novels in which the detective is inept, awkward or compromised, a hapless but likable narrator who ends up uncovering — if not solving — a mystery with its roots in the ‘annees noires’ of the Occupation. This is a period with which he seems obsessed, although he was born several months after the end of the war in 1945.” “Missing Person” is published in the United States by a small indie press owned by David R. Godine. This morning, Godine missed the Nobel announcement because he was in Dublin, N.H., staking his dahlias in the garden. Reached by phone, he exclaimed, “This means we’ll be ahead this year!” (Courtesy of David R. Godine) Modiano is the second French Nobel winner that Godine publishes. Years ago, he went to the Frankfurt Book Festival and asked, “Who are the great writers who have never been published in English?” He signed Modiano and J. M. G. Le Clézio, who


Should we worry about Ebola becoming airborne?

any infection, as demonstrated by outbreaks of measles, varicella (chickenpox) or even the now-eradicated smallpox. Larger droplets from coughing or sneezing is the main method for the spread of influenza and related viruses. For a virus to spread like this, a patient with respiratory symptoms generally has to be within one or two meters of the uninfected person. Transmission of respiratory viruses can also occur by direct contact with the nose, mouth or eyes from contaminated hands or surfaces. If respiratory transmission became the dominant mode of community spread of Ebola, presumably following mutations in the Ebola genome, it would “up the ante” in terms of the risk the virus poses. Like many RNA viruses, the Ebola genome changes quickly. But there’s no evidence of respiratory transmission in the current or previous Ebola community outbreaks, and the genetic variability of the virus is as expected. The “slowness” of spread in the current Ebola outbreak is against respiratory transmission being a major factor: The 2009 pandemic influenza virus, spread by respiratory droplets, had become worldwide in a comparable time frame. There are many reasons why this epidemic is continuing. Ebola outbreaks have not occurred before in this part of Africa, meaning there’s limited local medical, public health and laboratory experience in managing the disease. The early stages of infection are similar to the other common local endemic diseases, such as malaria, diarrhea and influenza. Inadequate hospital and public health infrastructure increases these clinical difficulties. This is exacerbated by cases appearing in highly populated urban areas, local cultural practices (such as handling of the dead before burial) and patient care outside the medical system, regional insecurity and suspicion of outsiders. These factors make it difficult to remove infected people from situations that allow transmission to others, and to provide the best advice to the community on infection control measures. And poverty is clearly the main amplifier of the Ebola virus’s spread. Although difficult to prove, aerosols generated by medical procedures may contribute to health-care worker infection in the context of poor use of personnel protective equipment. But once established in humans, viruses do not generally change their mode of transmission even though they may change in virulence. This doesn’t alter the importance of infection-control measures needed to control the outbreak, especially in the health-care setting. Appropriate mask and personal protective equipment use, with training of health-care personnel, is a crucial part of


frame. There are many reasons why this epidemic is continuing. Ebola outbreaks have not occurred before in this part of Africa, meaning there’s limited local medical, public health and laboratory experience in managing the disease. The early stages of infection are similar to the other common local endemic diseases, such as malaria, diarrhea and influenza. Inadequate hospital and public health infrastructure increases these clinical difficulties. This is exacerbated by cases appearing in highly populated urban areas, local cultural practices (such as handling of the dead before burial) and patient care outside the medical system, regional insecurity and suspicion of outsiders. These factors make it difficult to remove infected people from situations that allow transmission to others, and to provide the best advice to the community on infection control measures. And poverty is clearly the main amplifier of the Ebola virus’s spread. Although difficult to prove, aerosols generated by medical procedures may contribute to health-care worker infection in the context of poor use of personnel protective equipment. But once established in humans, viruses do not generally change their mode of transmission even though they may change in virulence. This doesn’t alter the importance of infection-control measures needed to control the outbreak, especially in the health-care setting. Appropriate mask and personal protective equipment use, with training of health-care personnel, is a crucial part of these procedures. There are no antiviral agents for the Ebola virus, although virus-specific antibody preparations and new drugs have been proposed and are in trial. Vaccine development has progressed, although interest by the profit-driven industry has been limited. But there are reasons for delays in vaccine development apart from the likely low financial return. The remoteness of the problem, the rarity of the disease and technical issues in working with the live virus have also contributed. In the short term, what’s needed most to combat the epidemic is quality infection control practices and research to fast-track antiviral drugs and vaccines. In the longer term, repair or creation of satisfactory health-care systems (in the context of the alleviation of poverty) in the developing world will minimize the impact of such outbreaks. Opinions freely given in the general media without supporting evidence risk diversion from the core requirements for controlling this outbreak. These requirements center on immediate and significant medical, technical and supportive assistance to the affected countries, including clear infection control advice for their health-care systems and general population.


8 things to do in the D.C. area on the weekend of Oct. 10-12

The weekend’s best in nightlife, music and art. For even more, check out Nightlife Agenda. A chili-eating contest, you say? Taste of D.C. this Saturday will have one. (Taste of DC photo) Friday: Saturday: Saturday-Sunday: Sunday: Through Feb. 8: Saturday: Sunday Saturday:


Amazon is reportedly opening a physical store. Here’s what that could reveal about the future of retail.

The Web site of Amazon.com. (AFP PHOTO/Karen BLEIER) Amazon.com is reportedly planning to open its first physical store, a move that could mark a key strategic shift for a retailer that has been a pioneer of e-commerce. The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon will open a brick-and-mortar shop in Midtown Manhattan in time for the holiday shopping season and that it will be a place for customers to return products, make exchanges or pick up their online orders. The Journal's report says it is possible the outpost will also act as a showroom for flagship Amazon products such as the Kindle or Fire smartphone. If Amazon opens the site, it would be one of the most vivid examples yet that retailers are intensely focused on building what's known an "omnichannel" strategy, one that relies on both brick-and-mortar and digital presences that are seamlessly integrated. E-commerce-only retailers have plenty of cost advantages over brick-and-mortar ones, namely that they are able to maintain lower overhead and a smaller labor force. And yet in the past two years, e-commerce darlings such as Bonobos, Rent The Runway, Birchbox and BaubleBar have pushed to hawk their goods and promote their brands in physical shops. These moves, the retailers have said, is an acknowledgement that for all of e-commerce's convenience and power, the physical store may still offer customers a unique and important value proposition. For some items, it seems, consumers still want to touch them or try them out before committing to a purchase. When asked by The Washington Post about the report of a forthcoming store in New York, an Amazon spokeswoman said in an e-mail, "We have made no announcements about a location in Manhattan." Sean Whitehouse, an analyst with retail consultancy Kurt Salmon, said a physical site could allow Amazon to build a more personal connection with its shoppers. "It’s the customer experience they can offer, like an Apple Store," Whitehouse said. Whitehouse also said such an outpost could have logistical benefits, serving as a convenient place for Amazon to store its inventory for same-day delivery items. Amazon has previously experimented with various physical formats before. It had a pop-up Kindle shop last year in San Francisco; it has also tested Kindle vending machines in shopping malls and other locations. Amazon is working on a host of new ways to bring its goods to consumers. In several large cities, it is


PM Update: Clouding over tonight, rain develops Friday afternoon; Watch a solar flare erupt

Clouds: After two beautiful, sunny days, clouds are on the increase portending a rainy period to close out the work week. Umbrellas aren’t required this evening, but carry them to work tomorrow. While the morning commute may be more or less dry, steady rain moves in during the afternoon. Through Tonight: Tomorrow (Friday): See my updated weekend forecast. And if you haven’t already, join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter Partial lunar eclipse seen from the air (Neil Ghosh via Flickr) Pollen: Solar flare: NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captures stunning images of a solar flare that peaked on Oct. 2. This flare, however, was designated M-class, just one-tenth as powerful as the most intense X-class flares. .


Purple Line opponents seek funding for DNA testing to find rare crustaceans

The Friends of the Capital Crescent Trail fears the project could harm the shrimplike Kenk’s amphipod. (Courtesy of National Park Service) A trail advocacy group fighting the route for a light-rail Purple Line in the Maryland suburbs is asking the Town of Chevy Chase for $25,388, mostly to conduct DNA testing to detect whether two rare shrimplike creatures would be harmed by the proposed alignment. The nonprofit Friends of the Capital Crescent Trail said DNA testing could detect whether seeps in Rock Creek Park and the Coquelin Run area contain the crustaceans, even if none can be found. The creatures — called the Hay’s Spring amphipod and the Kenk’s amphipod — are extremely rare and tiny, and they live deep inside the seeps, according to the group’s funding request. The Hay’s Spring has been listed as a federally protected endangered species since 1982. The Kenk’s amphipod is a candidate for federal listing. The trail group filed a lawsuit in August alleging that federal agencies that approved the project’s environmental study didn’t adequately consider a rail line’s potential effects on the creatures, the trail and the surrounding wildlife habitat. Federal officials have said that the Purple Line’s construction would have no impact on either crustacean, saying their habitat is too far away or would be unaffected by the watershed’s groundwater. The town council is scheduled to have a public hearing on the donation request, and possibly vote on it, Nov. 5. The request was first reported by Bethesda Now. Part of the $25,388 requested also would be used to study whether increased development planned for the Chevy Chase Lake area and other communities along the route would increase storm water runoff and erosion, and whether construction would pollute nearby water. A 16-mile Purple Line would run two-car trains mostly along local streets between Bethesda in Montgomery County and New Carrollton in Prince George’s County. It would have 21 stations. State officials have said that the line would provide faster and more reliable east-west transit and would help spur redevelopment around stations. The most controversial part of the route has been a three-mile segment between downtown Bethesda and Silver Spring, where trains would run along the Georgetown Branch extension of the Capital Crescent Trail. Montgomery County bought the land in 1988 for $10 million to preserve for a transitway. Montgomery officials have promised to rebuild the trail alongside the train line, but


‘Scandal’ recap Season 4, Episode 3: ‘Re-entry is always hard’

Can you hear me over all the clanging silverware? This episode was kind of like one of those long silences at the Papa Pope-Jake dinner Olivia tried to pretend she didn’t enjoy. My heart rate was stable the whole time, save a slight jump when Papa Pope started to play five finger filet with Jake’s hand and the knife he used to slice his coffee grounds-rubbed pork. In spite of this episode’s boredom factor, there were a few events that could take us into heartpounding territory in the weeks to come. Let’s recap, shall we? (ABC/Eric McCandless)<br />“I just…stopped by.” Portia de Rossi’s character, Elizabeth, continued to conspire against Cyrus. Her scheme involves Michael (no last name, apparently) the “male prostitute/business student” who convinces him that love can be bought (at $2500, plus tip). Cyrus definitely seems to be under his spell. One person with his feet planted firmly on the ground is Jake, who, at the beginning of the episode was closing in on Papa Pope’s role in the deaths of Harrison and Fitz’s son: mastermind, obviously. Jake spent most of the episode declining Liv’s invitation to have dinner with her and her father. Jake is really feeling some kind of way about not having the boyfriend title, but eventually he relents and goes to a dinner more awkward than last season’s Grant Family reunion. As Olivia left the room to take a call related to her latest case, Jake confronted Rowan over his bad deeds and suggested that he leave the country. Not surprisingly, Rowan informed Jake that he’s “not going anywhere.” We can’t really blame him. As he told Oliva, who is having trouble readjusting to this new version of her old life, “re-entry is always hard.” Having been at the helm of B613, surely Jake is aware that knowledge can come with a price — just ask David Rosen. When it looked like the Grant administration was going to lose the battle brewing over their gun control law, Rosen swept in with some blackmail material for one of the circuit court judges. The judge’s forced vote ends up tipping the balance in their favor and Rosen is met with fanfare. But by the end of the episode, he learns that the judge he blackmailed has committed suicide (by gunshot, no less). David may have learned a lot from the bad influences in his life — everyone


Scientists uncover more secrets from Antikythera’s ‘Titanic of the ancient world’

up to 50 meters long.” But the Titanic didn’t have what this ship did. Researchers believe the vessel may have been carrying treasures from Roman-conquered Greece to Italy to fete Rome’s aristocracy when it sank, leaving behind a trove of relics that have mystified and amazed explorers since the days of the first discovery. A diver carrying a bronze spear believed to come from a bronze or marble statue. (EPA/GREEK MINISTRY OF CULTURE) “Some of the [statues], it is not too much to say, may claim a prominent position in the history of Greek sculpture,” researchers wrote in the 1901 edition of the Journal of Hellenic Studies. ” … It gives us for the first time an adequate idea of what bronze statuary was in Greece and in the fourth century B.C. … Such are the statues which the sea had given back to us after entombing them in its depths for nearly two thousand years.” It gave back more than statues. There was also a heavily corroded gear wheel that turned out to be an ancient clockwork device, the complexity of which surpassed anything of its day. It was something close to a calendar, displaying “celestial information, particularly cycles such as the phases of the moon and a luni-solar calendar,” researchers wrote in Nature in 2006. “The Antikythera Mechanism is technically more complex than any known device for at least a millennium afterwards.” Using a complicated “pin-and-slot” mechanism to track the moon, it would come to be known as the world’s oldest computer. “When you see it your jaw drops and you think: ‘bloody hell, that’s clever,'” scientist Mike Edmunds told BBC. “It’s a brilliant technical design.” While this most recent dive didn’t yield anything that matched the computer, Greek scientist Simossi said researchers will be back for more. Metal detectors picked up signs of additional ancient artifacts hidden in the remains. “We have to continue,” she told AP. “It can’t stay at this. “But it’s very difficult, the sea is open. … It’s as if the wreck doesn’t want to be uncovered.” A great video about this exploration is here. A piece of the so-called Antikythera Mechanism, a 2nd-century B.C. device known as “the world’s oldest computer,” which was discovered by sponge divers in 1900 off a remote Greek island in the Aegean. The mechanism is a complex mechanical computer that tracked astronomical phenomena. (LOUISA GOULIAMAKILOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP/Getty Images)


D.C. area forecast: Cloudy with rain increasingly likely today; Weekend not perfect but not bad

- Today’s Daily Digit - A somewhat subjective rating of the day’s weather, on a scale of 1 to 10. - 5 Cloudy 60s makes for a so-so autumn day. Some showers around, which are welcome, but it shouldn’t be a washout. - Express Forecast - Today: Very cloudy. Occasional showers (esp. p.m.). Highs: 60s. - Tonight: Periods of rain. Lows: Low-to-mid 50s. - Tomorrow: AM showers? Clearing, breezy. Highs: 61-68. - Sunday: Mix of sun and clouds. Shower? Highs: 60s. FORECAST IN DETAIL Autumn’s transitional nature is bringing with it more in the way of active weather, as the jet stream moves over our region. This facilitates a cold front cooling down our region as it passes through overnight and tomorrow morning. Today’s showers and overnight rain could be great for gardeners, and opportunities for outdoor plans could very well go forward by tomorrow afternoon and perhaps even on Sunday? Yes, a few question marks remain, but we think there will be several moments to enjoy this holiday weekend. Radar lightning: Today (Friday): Tonight: For related traffic news, check out Dr. Gridlock. Keep reading for the forecast through the weekend… Tomorrow (Saturday): Tomorrow night: Sunday: American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial on October 8. (Erik Cox Photography via Flickr) A LOOK AHEAD Sunday night: Monday Tuesday’s


House of the Week | Northeast rowhouse for $3.595M

The Washington Post’s picks of local distinguished homes on the market. View Photo Gallery —The Washington Post’s picks of distinguished homes on the D.C. area market. In the late 1950s, this building in Northeast Washington was one of the few places in America where you could watch Charlie Chaplin films. Now it’s a pair of rowhouses. B. Frank Meyers designed the Stanton Theatre, which was built in 1913 and became part of the Moore circuit in 1917. The Roth Theatre chain took it over in 1949 and it became an art house showing revivals, foreign films and Chaplin movies. Because Chaplin had been blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee and the U.S. government had revoked his visa in 1952, few venues showed his films at that time. After the theater moved to 18th Street NE, the building became home to Lagana Printing Services and the Foundation for Hospice and Homecare. It was eventually snapped up by developers who wanted to bring upscale housing to this corner of historic Capitol Hill. One of the rowhouses has already sold, but the second recently came on the market. (Photo by HomeVisit) A floor-to-ceiling gas fireplace in Italian ceramic tile takes center state in the living room. Because the Historic Preservation Office found that the building had undergone extensive renovations over the years and “its original use as a theater is no longer perceptible,” architect Carmel Greer of District Design was not constrained in her design. Nonetheless, she preserved the building’s brick and stucco exterior. The front of the home overlooks Stanton Park, the four-acre piece of land that was part of Pierre L’Enfant’s original plan for the city in 1791. It is one of Capitol Hill’s largest parks and named for President Abraham Lincoln’s secretary of war, Edwin M. Stanton. Constructed by Maryland-based Oracle Builders, the five-bedroom, seven-bathroom home has a sleek modern feel inside. The 11-foot ceilings are grounded by the ebony-stained redwood floors. A floor-to-ceiling gas fireplace in Italian ceramic tile takes center stage in the living room. The kitchen opens to a private brick patio and a parking pad for two cars. (Photo by HomeVisit) A 1,000-square-foot roof deck offers panoramic views. Four bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, are on the top two floors. The two master suites, one on each floor, have their own balconies. The lower level has a wet bar with beverage refrigerator in the


Maryland open houses Oct. 11-12

864 Nancy Lynn Lane 884 Nancy Lynn Lane 826 Nancy Lynn Lane 839 Nancy Lynn Lane 835 Nancy Lynn Lane 827 Nancy Lynn Lane 444 David Dr 1158 Stiarna Ct 215 Treyburn Way CROFTON 21114 2306 Kezey Ct CROWNSVILLE 21032 777 Paul Birch Dr 1210 Tailwind Ct DAVIDSONVILLE 21035 3515 Castle Way DEALE 20751 5910 Sneed Dr EDGEWATER 21037 249 Galewood Dr 238 Edgewater Dr 3810 Colony Point Pl GLEN BURNIE 21060 3 Chain O Hills Rd 7525 Stonehouse Run Dr 133 Midland Rd 317 Delaware Ave 8040 High Oak Rd 21061 8017 Brass Horn Lane 213 Truck Farm Dr 7933 Cross Creek Dr 513 Manor Rd 113 Wells Ave HANOVER 21076 1701 Wolcott Way 7156 Wedmore Ct 2301 Sycamore Pl 7657 Elmcrest Rd HARWOOD 20776 9a Harwood Dr LINTHICUM HEIGHTS 21090 549 Forest View Rd MILLERSVILLE 21108 655 Wheat Mill Ct W 902 Misty Manor Lane 1603 Misty Manor Way 1605 Misty Manor Way 904 Misty Manor Lane 1713 Baldwin Dr 306 Beech Grove Ct ODENTON 21113 2716 Fresh Water Way 708 Horse Chestnut Ct 702 Horse Chestnut Ct 2645 Cedar Elm Dr 2655 Cedar Elm Dr 846 Thicket Ct 1223 Town Center Blvd 1431 Chanery Ct 1433 Chanery Ct PASADENA 21122 160 Roland Rd 4694 Mountain Rd 445 Magothy Bridge Rd 664 210th St 7827 Catherine Ave 1911 Yorkie Ave RIVA 21140 2717 Parkview Dr SEVERN 21144 776 Tobbin Ct 738 Rosewood Rd 1463 Washington Ave 124 Burns Crossing Rd 1909 Marqueen Way 8160 Ridgely Loop 8156 Ridgely Loop Carinoso Way Carinoso Way Carinoso Way 1156 Carinoso Cir 1157 Carinoso Cir 8144 Ridgely Loop 8179 Ridgely Loop 8165 Ridgely Loop 1161 Carinoso Cir 7911 Hadley Ct 1641 Stream Valley 8514 Pine Springs Dr 8513 Pine Springs Dr 8512 Pine Springs Dr 7707 Evanston Ct W 8409 Maple Brook Lane 7717 East Evanston Ct 7602 Garrison Ct 825 Drake Lane 820 Janet Dale Lane 824 Janet Dale Lane 825 Janet Dale Lane 823 Janet Dale Lane SEVERNA PARK 21146 813 Dividing Rd 740 Oak Grove Cir 450 Sackett Ct 300 Emilies Lane 155 Topeg Dr 1039 Rio Lane CALVERT COUNTY SOLOMONS 20688 13117 Windjammer Ave CHARLES COUNTY ACCOKEEK 20607 15500 Helen Dr CHARLOTTE HALL 20622 15207 Smokehouse Row Lane Lane NW 15192 Smokehouse Row Lane LA PLATA 20646 4822 Dower Hill Farm Pl WALDORF 20602 4 pmwich Ct 4664 Pebble Beach Ct 5455 St Rita Dr 5538 Peanuts Lane


READ IN: Pressure On Pressler Edition

Do you Read In? Sign up today and get the news you need delivered to your inbox at 8 a.m. every morning! A1: -- Malala Yousafzai, the 17-year old Pakistani girl who survived a gunshot from a member of the Taliban, and Indian children's advocate Kailash Satyarthi share this year's Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian committee announced Friday. Yousafzai is the youngest person to win a Nobel. The committee said they hoped to send a message about peace on the subcontinent by awarding the prize to one Pakistani and one Indian. (Washington Post, New York Times) -- Police and protestors clashed for a second straight night in St. Louis after a police officer shot and killed another African American teenager. Police used pepper spray to disperse several dozen protestors in South St. Louis. Protestors in Ferguson plan marches this weekend, two months after teenager Michael Brown was shot and killed by a police officer. (Reuters) -- Islamic State militants have overrun towns and villages in Anbar Province and attacked Iraqi troops in Ramadi, the provincial capital. U.S.-led airstrikes have not stopped Islamic State's momentum, and if the group is able to take over all of Anbar, it will have a staging ground for an assault on nearby Baghdad, and uninterrupted supply lines to Syria. (Washington Post) -- Mapp Biopharmaceutical, the company that makes the experimental Ebola drug ZMapp, said it will try to scale up production of the drug at its 32,000-square foot facility in Kentucky. Seven people have been treated with the drug, but the supplies of the virus have run out. Another experimental drug was given to Thomas Duncan, the Dallas Ebola victim who died this week. (Washington Post) The Ebola outbreak will begin to subside when the "reproduction number," which estimates how many people catch the virus from an infected person, falls below 1. Health officials think the number is between 1.5 and 2 right now. (Washington Post) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was absent from a celebration of the 69th anniversary of the founding of the Korean Workers' Party on Friday, a major holiday in the hermit kingdom. Kim did not make the traditional pilgrimage to a mausoleum on the outskirts of Pyongyang where his father and grandfather are interred. Kim hasn't been seen in public for more than five weeks. (Washington Post) -- Front Pages: WaPo leads with the Islamic State's threat to


READ IN: Pressure On Pressler Edition

Anbar province. LA Times left lead takes a look at voter ID laws and Democratic efforts to mobilize their voters. NYT looks at the GOP's suddenly dour tone in campaign ads, while WSJ says the White House is drafting options for President Obama to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay (This is not a repeat of 2009, we swear). USA Today leads with Wall Street's rough week, with three swings of 270 points or more. -- Have a happy three-day weekend, unless you're working on a campaign, in which case have a happy three days working 16 straight hours. We'll see you Tuesday. National Roundup: -- Florida: A new University of North Florida poll puts former Gov. Charlie Crist (D) ahead of Gov. Rick Scott (R) 43 percent to 38 percent, with Libertarian Adrian Wyllie taking 10 percent of the vote. A full 54 percent of voters disapprove of Scott's job performance. A ballot measure to legalize marijuana for medical use gets 67 percent of the vote; it needs to top 60 percent to become law. (Tampa Bay Times) -- Alaska: Two days, two live-caller polls, two leads for former Attorney General Dan Sullivan (R). Sullivan is ahead of Sen. Mark Begich (D) by a 50 percent to 44 percent margin among likely voters in a new CNN/ORC survey that also shows Begich's unfavorable rating at 52 percent. Sullivan leads by 5 in Anchorage, by 28 in Kenai/Mat-Su, and by 1 in the rest of the state. The same poll shows former Valdez Mayor Bill Walker (I) leading Gov. Sean Parnell (R) 51 percent to 45 percent among likely voters. (CNN, pdf) -- Wisconsin: The Supreme Court on Thursday granted an emergency appeal from ACLU lawyers hoping to block implementation of Wisconsin's new voter identification law, which a circuit court allowed to go into effect just a month before Election Day. A district court judge estimated more than 300,000 voters, about 9 percent of the electorate, didn't have the identifications necessary to comply with the new law. Justices John Roberts and Anthony Kennedy joined liberals on the court in voting to stay implementation. (Los Angeles Times) -- Illinois: New emails unveiled by a state legislative panel show campaign staff working on Gov. Pat Quinn's (D) 2010 election campaign saw a grant program to address street violence in Chicago as a top priority. Emails between Quinn's campaign manager, his brother and


READ IN: Pressure On Pressler Edition

the governor's veto. American Samoa is the only U.S. territory that doesn't have full veto power; the legislature has to seek approval from the Interior Department to override a veto. They're also the only state with a legislature that's not fully elected: Tribal leaders, not voters, pick senators. (Honolulu Star-Advertiser) DC Digest: -- President Obama wakes up in Los Angeles this morning, where he attends a DNC fundraiser at a private residence before heading to a regional park in the San Gabriel Mountains, where he makes remarks on the designation of a new national monument. Obama heads to San Francisco this afternoon for another DNC fundraiser. He'll stay there overnight. -- Vice President Biden attends a memorial service for James Brady this morning at the Newseum. This afternoon, he sits down with Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius. Then he ceremonially swears in Liz Sherwood-Randall, the new Deputy Secretary of Energy, at DOE's headquarters. -- The White House said Thursday an internal review cleared a travel office volunteer who was suspected of inappropriate conduct during a 2012 trip to Cartagena, Colombia. The White House said it examined logs at the Hilton Hotel, where a female guest was registered overnight in the same room as the volunteer, who now works in a State Department office. A spokesman did not say whether the White House would comply with Rep. Jason Chaffetz's (R-Utah) request that it turn over documents relating to the investigation. (Washington Post) -- The Fall Dining Guide is here! Check out Tom Sietsema's ten favorite restaurants (3. Rose's Luxury; 2. Mintwood Place; 1. Rasika), and 30 more to keep you happy and well-fed while the weather turns cold. TV Time Out: -- New Jersey: Crossroads GPS wants to add a few more trophies to the wall. The group will spend $430,000 on Philadelphia broadcast next week for former Randolph, N.J. Mayor Tom MacArthur (R), who's running to replace retiring Rep. Jon Runyan (R). The Crossroads ads start Oct. 21, the same day the NRCC starts their own advertising. The DCCC has been on Philly and New York cable channels since mid-September, airing ads for Burlington County Freeholder Aimee Belgard (D). -- Georgia: Yesterday, we told you Ending Spending Action Fund was going into Kansas. Next week, they'll start pumping another $2 million into the Senate race between businessman David Perdue (R) and philanthropy executive Michelle Nunn (D). The group, tied to


Here’s the Internet’s reaction to the Nobel Peace Prize winners

About 70 years ago, the Nobel committee was unable to recognize Mahatma Gandhi for his valiant and unprecedented nonviolence movement that led to an independent India. Today, Malala Yousafzai, a 17-year-old Pakistani girl who was shot by the Taliban and then promoted the importance of education, and Kailash Satyarthi, a proponent of Gandhi's teachings who used them to wage a protest against child labor, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The timing of the Nobel Peace Prize wasn't lost on many -- in recent days, India and Pakistan have once again renewed clashes in the border region. The forces of the universe are trying to give Pakistan and India a hint, hello, get the damn clue. #NobelPeacePrize As troops exchange fire, Indian & Pakistani win peace prize win for child rights. those know no geographical boundaries. #NobelPeacePrize #NobelPeace prize for Malala and Satyarthi signals push to end India, #Pakistan rivalry http://t.co/e59Vv2fVbj http://t.co/ldOKlzslK2 Ah, an allegory of the govt-people divide: Everyday people winning peace prizes while two exchange threats and mortar #NobelPeacePrize In its statement, the Nobel Peace Prize committee specifically pointed out that a Hindu and a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani, were joined in "a common struggle for education and against extremism." Yet again, Nobel committee uses Peace Prize to make a political statement. http://t.co/JEBkexFchy via @scroll_in India & Pakistan jointly share the Peace Prize. That speaks strongly for itself.Didn't need the Hindu-Muslim underlining in Nobel statement "Nobel Committee regards it as an important point for a Hindu and a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani..." Why the religious, political tone? Still, there were some happy feelings out there An #Indian and a #Pakistani share the #NobelPeacePrize! HOW AWESOME!! Mahatma Gandhi never won the Nobel Peace Prize. But in a way, he did today. RELATED: Nobel Peace Prize winners A look at the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize winners and other recipients throughout the years. View Photo Gallery —A look at the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize winners and other recipients throughout the years.


Who is India’s Kailash Satyarthi, the other Nobel Peace Prize winner?

Indian children’s rights activist Kailash Satyarthi spoke at the 2013 Global Conference on Child Labour. Satyarthi is the joint winner of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize along with Taliban attack survivor Malala Yousafzai. Who is Kailash Satyarthi? Childrens' rights activist Kailash Satyarthi, 60, has worked to end the chronic practice of child labor for nearly three decades. An engineer by training, Satyarthi is from Vidisha, in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. He began working for the rights of children when he was 26. What is his contribution as an activist? Satyarthi’s Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save Childhood Movement), formed in 1983, has rescued nearly 80,000 children from illegal and hazardous work across India over the years. The children have been rescued from the construction and carpet industries, bangle and firecracker production, brick-kilns, restaurants and child trafficking networks and bondage. What has been the big highlight of his struggle? Satyarthi led the Global March Against Child Labor in 1998, when children rescued from illegal work marched through 60 countries and reached Geneva. How has he advocated for children in the carpet industry? In the mid 1990s, he raided many carpet looms in eastern India that hired child laborers and exported carpets abroad. He worked to develop a self-certification label for South Asian carpets meant for exports to signal that they are free of child labor. Back in 1994, it was called Rugmark; now it's known as Good Weave. What challenges has he faced? In the 1990s, when he worked to clean up the carpet industry, he was accused of working against Indian interests and showing India in a bad light. What are some of his recent campaigns? Satyarthi and his group played a key role in bringing about the Right to Education law, which mandates free education to Indian children. He has also worked for stricter laws against child trafficking. His group also campaigned to include trafficking in the anti-rape law enacted in recent years. What awards has Satyarthi won? The awards include Defenders of Democracy (United States, 2009), Fredric Ebert International Human Rights Award (Germany), Robert F Kennedy International Human Rights Award (United States, 1995), Alfonso Comin International Award (Spain, 2008) and recognition on the list of "Heroes Acting to End Modern Day Slavery" by the U.S. State Department (2007). Is he the first Indian to win a Nobel? Satyarthi is the first Indian to have been awarded the


Malala Yousafzai through the eyes of two women of the Middle East

Malala Yousafzai gives a press conference July 14 after meeting with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja, Nigeria. (Wole Emmanuel/AFP/Getty Images) Malala Yousafzai, the 17-year-old Pakistani activist who won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, made two memorable visits to the United States last year. In July 2013, on her 16th birthday, she addressed the United Nations, calling on world leaders to join her fight for the right of girls to get an education. It was less than a year after she was shot in the head as she sat on a school bus, an attack by the Taliban that was intended to silence her and her efforts. As the young activist was finding her voice and coming into her own, two She The People contributors who are daughters of the Middle East wrote about the effect of Malala’s rising star on the West and, more importantly, on their home region. Umema Aimen, a native of Pakistan who last year was a student at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, wrote about how Malala’s courage and activism were not appreciated in her home country. You’d think that being shot by the Taliban for speaking out for the right of all girls to go to school would make her as celebrated here as in New York, where on her 16th birthday last week, she spoke at the U.N. Youth Assembly. “Malala Day,” they called it. But there are no such days here, and it is so disheartening to see this girl who has so much passion for Pakistan being treated so harshly in the country she loves. Over and over, we hear speeches that begin, “I support Malala and the right to education for all, but…” This but disgusts me. Malala was thought to have been a favorite to win the Nobel Prize last year. When she didn’t win the prize last October, there was an outpouring of disappointment from commentators to activists to regular people who admired her story. At the time, the young activist happened to be back in the United States for a publicity tour that included a visit to the White House for a photo op with President Obama and his family and numerous other media appearances. She the People contributor Nora Boustany took note of one of those interviews: “Comedy Central’s ‘Daily Show’ host, Jon Stewart, blurted out that he wanted to adopt her.” Boustany, a former


Malala Yousafzai wins the Nobel Peace Prize

The Taliban’s reaction: (Ann Telnaes/The Washington Post)


Grow lights and drones: How California’s drought is driving farmers into high-tech

areas up in that direction," said Runsten. "Some of the predictions show places like northern Idaho and Canada being good for wine production, but they're covered in forest. … The models show that a lot of places in California won't be able to grow high-value wine" for much longer. Vineyards aren't the only ones shifting their gaze northward. So are corn and soybean growers in other parts of the United States (USA Today has a handy interactive that depicts the shift over just the last half-century). In California, farmers are expected to lose $2.2 billion and more than 17,000 jobs to this year's water crisis alone, according to a study by the University of California – Davis. Those numbers will only worsen if the drought continues, as expected, into 2015 and perhaps 2016. Research has already linked the drought to climate change; a Stanford University team said last month that high levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere would likely keep triggering the high-pressure barriers that forced rainstorms away from California's farmland this year. This trio of images obtained October 6, 2014 from NASA/JPL-Caltech depicts satellite observations of declining water storage in California as seen by NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment(GRACE) satellites in June 2002 (L), June 2008 (C) and June 2014. Colors progressing from green to orange to red represent greater accumulated water loss between April 2002 and June 2014. California's Sacramento and San Joaquin River basins, including the Central Valley, have suffered the greatest losses, in part due to increased groundwater pumping to support agricultural production. Between 2011 and 2014, the combined river basins have lost 4 trillion gallons (15 cubic kilometers, or 12 million acre-feet) of water each year, an amount far greater than California's 38 million residents use in cities and homes annually. AFP PHOTO / HANDOUT / NASA / JPL-CaltechHO/AFP/Getty Images Moving agriculture to higher latitudes may improve access to water. But the further up you go, the less light you get. Hence the grow lights. "That's how you get tomatoes grown in Canada in the wintertime, because there's not enough light there," said Kevin Wells, chief executive of the grow light manufacturer Lumigrow. A basic Lumigrow lamp starts at $600. More advanced models sell for $1,000 or more. Commercial greenhouses may use hundreds of thousands of these LED lights, said Wells. The company recently supplied the U.S. Department of Agriculture with a number


British Muslims help raise $50,000 for family of Briton murdered by Islamic State

This undated family photo shows Alan Henning, who was killed by the Islamic State group. (PA Wire/AP) The killing of Alan Henning, a British hostage held by extremist group Islamic State, has caused anger and turmoil for many who knew him, and many who didn't. Notably, many of the most prominent voices of anguish have come from Britain's Islamic community. That's largely because Henning was not a Muslim, yet was working with an Islamic charity when he traveled to Syria. The Islamic State appears to have targeted him over his colleagues due to that fact. A number of British Muslims had written a letter asking for Henning's release, and the organizer of the trip on which Henning was kidnapped released an emotional plea for clemency to the Islamic State. Both a church and a mosque hold services honoring Alan Henning, the 47-year-old British aid worker, who was slain by Islamic State militants after they had held him hostage for months. The calls for Henning's release apparently fell on deaf ears: Video of Henning's killing was released last Friday. Now Muslims in Britain have declared their support for fundraising efforts that would go to Henning's wife and two children as well as the causes he has supported. According to the Bolton Record, on Tuesday, a Muslim group from Henning's home town released a statement announcing their support for the fundraising projects. “We would now like to support the funds set up to help provide financial support for Alan’s family and other ongoing projects to benefit those in need to ensure his legacy continues,” a statement from the Bolton Council of Mosques read. "The Muslim community around the world celebrated Eid with their loved ones recently," the statement continued. “But, for one family they were without their loved one, Alan Henning, a hero, who voluntarily went to Syria to assist those in need." There are at least two separate online accounts dedicated to Henning. One fund was set up by Shameela Islam-Zulfiqar, a doctor who accompanied Henning on his trip, and currently has £24,216 in donations ($38,832). "News of his murder has left us all enraged and distraught," Islam-Zulfiqar had said this week. "In the face of this atrocity, we all need to stand together as Muslims and non-Muslims. We should not let this divide us." Islam-Zulfiqar says that the page was set up with permission from Alan's wife. "A project will


Malala is free as a bird — and a Nobel Peace Prize winner

father told NPR that when people ask him what he did to train his daughter, “”I usually tell people, ‘You should not ask me what I have done. Rather you ask me, what I did not do… I did not clip her wings to fly. I did not stop her from flying.” “Malala will be free as a bird.” It sounds simple. It should not be revolutionary. But it is. Look at Malala — penning a memoir, continuing her own education in England, poignantly addressing the U.N. on the power of pens and books, now, winning a Nobel Prize. This is what happens when you don’t clip girls’ wings. Imagine if we’d never gotten to know who Malala was. We nearly didn’t. “I didn’t see the two young men step out into the road and bring the van to a sudden halt,” writes Malala. “I didn’t get a chance to answer their question ‘Who is Malala?’ or I would have explained to them why they should let us girls go to school as well as their own sisters and daughters.” Instead there was a bullet. Malala could have been just “a girl shot by the Taliban” — a sad, too-short story. But instead she survived, and she’s using her voice. “Today I looked at myself in a mirror,” she writes near the conclusion of her memoir, “and thought for a second. Once I had asked God for one or two extra inches in height, but instead he made me as tall as the sky, so high that I could not measure myself… By giving me this height to reach people, he has also given me great responsibilities.” She would be intimidating even under ordinary circumstances. She read “A Brief History of Time” to relax. “I distracted myself from the fear and terrorism by thinking about things like how the universe began and whether time travel is possible,” she told the New York Times. The Nobel Peace Prize committee wrote, “Despite her youth, Malala Yousafzay has already fought for several years for the right of girls to education, and has shown by example that children and young people, too, can contribute to improving their own situations. This she has done under the most dangerous circumstances. Through her heroic struggle she has become a leading spokesperson for girls’ rights to education.” Thankfully, we never had to see what the world was missing.


By winning the Nobel prize, Malala joins Pakistan’s loneliest club

in starting research into nuclear and other technologies. But as far as many people in Pakistan were concerned, there was one blot on his record: Salam belonged to the Ahmadi sect, whose adherents are considered heretics by some Muslims because they don't believe Muhammad was the last prophet. In 1974, the Pakistani government amended the nation's constitution to decree that members of the sect would not be considered Muslims under the country's laws. Salam resigned from his government post and eventually moved to Europe, where he would live until his death in Oxford in 1996. The first Pakistani Nobel Prize laureate, Prof. Abdus Salam, is shown in London in October 1979 after he heard the news that he was joint winner of the 1979 Nobel Prize for physics. (AP) His Nobel prize in 1979 was the source of muted celebration at home, but received far more acclaim elsewhere, including in India, Pakistan's archrival neighbor. Pakistan's Express Tribune recounts: While [Salam] was shunned in his own country, the world held him in high regard. The then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, invited him to India and bestowed a great gesture of respect by not only serving him tea with her own hands, but also sitting by his feet. In Geneva, Switzerland, a road was named after him. In Beijing, the prime minister and president of China attended a dinner hosted in his honour while the South Korean president requested Salam to advise Korean scientists on how to win the Nobel Prize. Salam was also presented with dozens of honorary degrees of doctorate and awards for his hard work. Just this past week, the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, a U.N.-affiliated institute based in Trieste, Italy, commemorated its 50th anniversary. But none of Salam's great accomplishments mitigated bias against his community in Pakistan. There are roughly 3 million Ahmadis in Pakistan; other communities exist throughout South Asia and Southeast Asia. In Pakistan, further religious laws tightened the scope of their religious practice — Ahmadis, for example, aren't technically allowed to call their places of worship "mosques" — and created a legal basis for the Ahmadis' continued persecution. On grounds that they are supposed "apostates," Ahmadis face the perpetual risk of prosecution for simply observing their faith. The community also became vulnerable to violence from intolerant religious extremists. This year alone, at least 13 Ahmadis have been killed in targeted


Why the threat to execute Abdul-Rahman Kassig feels so personal

This undated photo provided by the Kassig family shows Peter Kassig standing in front of a truck filled with supplies for Syrian refugees. A video purportedly produced by militants in Syria released Oct. 3 shows Kassig, of Indianapolis, kneeling on the ground as a masked militant says he will be killed next. (Kassig family via AP) Last week, exactly a year after finding out that my friend had gone missing in Syria, I saw him again. But it was far from the scenario his family and friends had been hoping for. Kneeling in the dirt in an orange jumpsuit, Abdul-Rahman Kassig, or Peter as he was known before his conversion, was slated for execution in the Islamic State’s latest video. We'd braced for this moment ever since the killing of James Foley, the American journalist, in August. His executioner also threatened the life of another victim, a pattern that was followed in two videos that followed. And then, on Friday, when the group released footage of its beheading of British aid worker Alan Henning, we caught our first glimpse of Kassig since his kidnapping. Kassig is just one of millions of innocents caught up in Syria’s war, a conflict in which disappearances and death occur every day. For him, it was an unshakable desire to help those innocents that led him to become a victim too – abducted a year ago during an aid mission. Though some may question the risks he took, Kassig saw his calling in Syria's suffering. I first met him at a government hospital in northern Lebanon. It was the summer of 2012 and I was working as a freelance journalist. The United Nations had just confirmed what had been obvious for some time — that the conflict in neighboring Syria was a full-blown civil war. The wards of the Tripoli hospital were filled with horrors: A mother who had lost her entire family as well as her legs in a helicopter attack, a teenager whose spine had been shattered by sniper fire as he went to fetch bread, children peppered with shrapnel wounds. Most people see such tragedies as the sad toll of a war that they can’t influence. But Kassig couldn’t ignore the victims. An Indiana native, he'd given up his studies back in the United States to travel to Lebanon to volunteer. He'd first worked in the country’s Palestinian refugee camps, until the


We’ve figured out how to get a spacecraft all the way to Pluto

Mariner program made spectacular firsts: Mariner 4 took the first close-up pictures of another planet, in this case Mars, from space, and Mariner 9 was the first spacecraft to enter orbit around another planet. … then Venus to Saturn Mariner was very successful, and the spacecraft design was used to develop other space missions, such as the twin Voyager spacecraft that are still operating 37 years later, the Magellan spacecraft that explored the surface of Venus with radar, and the Galileo spacecraft that surveyed Jupiter, its moons and its space environment. Voyager was unique in that it undertook a grand tour of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, exploiting an alignment of the planets in the late 1970s that will not occur again until the mid-2100s. Voyager 1 has now entered interstellar space – the space between stars – at a distance of 12.5 billion miles from Earth. The Cassini-Huygens mission is the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn and has made great discoveries in the Saturn system, such as lakes on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, giant geysers erupting from the south pole of the moon Enceladus, and potentially witnessing the birth of a new moon from debris in Saturn’s rings. Cassini is known as a Mariner Mark II spacecraft, continuing the 50-year Mariner legacy. Future of space exploration The European Space Agency’s JUICE mission combines all of the challenges that we started with. Aiming for launch in 2021, the spacecraft will fly by Venus on its way to Jupiter, then enter orbit around Jupiter and study its moons, then enter orbit around the largest moon, Ganymede. JUICE must survive near Venus, where sunlight is twice as strong as at Earth, to Jupiter, where sunlight is 30 times weaker. More extreme challenges are found across our solar system. In July 2015, New Horizons will be the first spacecraft to fly past Pluto. Pluto is so far from Earth that data will come back from the spacecraft about 5,000 times slower than your home broadband, mimicking the early days of spaceflight, where images of Mars from Mariner 4 took hours to trickle back to Earth. But it will provide a new window into a largely unknown alien world. What will we discover? What will we learn about the origins of the solar system? What will we learn about ourselves? Continued space exploration is the only way we can answer any of those questions.


Mass kidnapping of students in Iguala, Mexico, brings outrage and protests

other criminal rivals. One grisly image circulating social media shows a dead student whose face has been removed. In Iguala, said Sergio Aguayo, a well-known Mexican rights activist and political analyst, "a political insurgency was repressed with violence by the part of the state that has become an enclave of organized crime." "The massacre has shown just how fragile Mexico's democratic institutions are," he said. A vehicle of the federal police canine unit crosses the checkpoint near Iguala. (Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images) Two weeks after the students disappeared, Mexican authorities have yet to give a clear explanation as to what happened. The mayor and the police chief have fled. The truth is trickling out one grave site at a time. In an especially chilling twist, the violence seems to have been partly set in motion by the students' plans to travel to the capital for the commemoration of modern Mexico's most notorious incident of political violence: the Tlatelolco massacre of Oct 2, 1968. The Tlatelolco slayings took place 10 days before the opening of the Olympic games in Mexico City. After days of anti-government demonstrations, police and soldiers opened fire on a group of protesters, killing dozens or possibly hundreds. The massacre has been a rallying cry for rights activists and student radicals ever since. In Iguala, a group of 80 to 120 students from the local teaching college gathered Sept 26 to demonstrate against education reforms and to raise money for their trip to Mexico City. At the end of the day, they allegedly forced their way onto three buses. It's unclear if they intended to commandeer them for a trip back their college or all the way to Mexico City. But the practice, which the students consider "borrowing," is also part of the radical protest tradition. The buses are usually returned. It is a tactic often tolerated by authorities, in spite of the inconvenience to passengers trying to get home or to work, not to mention the bus owners. At least that's how it worked in the old Mexico. Now, in places where bus companies and other businesses pay protection money to gangsters, the rules have changed. As the students rode off in the buses, it's not clear if the owners called the local gang, the Guerreros Unidos, or if local police enlisted them. It doesn't really matter when the local criminal organization and the police are the same


NASA’s haunting Jack-O-Lantern sun

Happy early Halloween. NASA released an image of the sun this weekend looking more like a pumpkin than a star. The image, produced by NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio, combines pictures of the sun in two different wavelengths of light (171 and 193 angstroms) that are typically colored gold and yellow. The resulting composite photo creates something that looks like the face of a Jack-O-Lantern. The process is explained here. The brighter spots in the image are the “active regions,” which “emit more light and energy,” according to NASA. They’re “markers of an intense and complex set of magnetic fields hovering in the sun’s atmosphere, the corona.” That’s one really creepy sun.


Where it’s legal to smoke weed, where it’s not — and where it soon may be

(REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi) Three states -- Alaska, Oregon and Florida -- and the District of Columbia will vote this November on whether to allow the sale and possession of a limited quantity of medical marijuana. Colorado and Washington have already approved the sale of marijuana, while the drug has been decriminalized in a dozen other states. Both recreational and medical marijuana is, however, still illegal in 24 states. Here's the status in all the states: Expanded chart here


Major supermarket chains changed how they label meat, surprising customers and USDA

supplement manufacturers misusing labels. The experts say that labels are supposed to allow customers to make more informed decisions, often granting a distinction of quality or making claims about health and safety, but they have instead turned into advertising vehicles. “Food labeling has become an incredibly powerful marketing tool,” said Bill Marler, a lawyer and food safety expert who regularly represents consumers in claims against food companies. Food packaging, in particular, has been blamed for alleged customer misinformation. Recently, PepsiCo decided to strip “all natural” claims from its Naked Juice line, saying that the products are natural but that it needed more regulatory guidance. Kellogg’s did the same for some of its Kashi products, while saying it stood by its advertising. Both companies faced lawsuits accusing them of misleading customers. In 2010, the Food and Drug Administration issued warning letters to 17 food manufacturers, mandating that they correct labels that made unfounded health claims. That same year, Dannon agreed to a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over claims it made about the health benefits of its yogurt. The number of food labels has skyrocketed in recent years, often using dietary, nutritional and cultural trends to nudge consumers to buy a specific good. In 2010, nearly half of all new food and beverage products came with a health- or nutrition-related claim, up from 25 percent in 2001, according to a report by the USDA’s Economic Research Service. Today, the food industry sells $377 billion worth of food labeled with the 35 most common claims, including “natural,” “organic” and “carb conscious,” according to data from the market research firm Nielsen. “Companies have always tried to make their food sound as attractive as possible without violating any laws or regulations,” said Michael Jacobson, the executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “Labels have become a battleground where companies use every trick they can muster, which is a problem because consumers tend to be naive.” Food and beverage manufacturers disagree, insisting that labels reflect a desire to provide customers with better information about what they’re buying. “The primary purpose for claims and nutrition symbols used on food labels is to provide positive dietary guidance,” said Brian Kennedy, director of communications for the Grocery Manufacturing Association, which represents hundreds of food companies. “There is a robust regulatory system in place to ensure the proper use of claims and other symbols