After a young couple was killed, the alleged gunman fled to Ethiopia. He may never face trial.

a one-way plane ticket from Dulles International Airport to Addis Ababa, leaving the same day Kedest’s body was found. Detectives had begun piecing together evidence they believed would link Nessibu to the killings, but they were just a step behind. The first search warrant states one of the men who was in the car with Nessibu and Kedest told detectives on Dec. 29 that Nessibu killed Henok and was seen holding the murder weapon in the area where Kedest’s body was found. By March, prosecutors felt they had enough evidence to pursue charges. A Fairfax County grand jury indicted Nessibu for murder and a weapons charge in both killings. Prosecutors began efforts to have Nessibu returned to the United States. In a typical extradition, prosecutors work with the Department of Justice and State Department to formally request a suspect’s return to the United States. The United States maintains extradition treaties with more than 100 countries that govern the process, which can take months or even years. The families said prosecutors hit a roadblock in Nessibu’s case, because the United States does not have an extradition treaty with Ethiopia and the country bars the extradition of its citizens. The families said Ethiopian officials offered to try Nessibu in that country’s courts, but they balked saying they doubt it would be a fair trial. Similar issues with extradition have played a role in other high-profile cases. In 1997, Samuel Sheinbein, then 17, and a friend killed and gruesomely dismembered a fellow high school student in Montgomery County, Md. Sheinbein fled to Israel, where he claimed Israeli citizenship. The United States sought Sheinbein’s extradition, but the Israeli courts blocked it, saying the nation’s law at the time banned the extradition of its citizens. The move caused an international row and eventually led Israel to change its law. “There has been in the past, not just in Ethiopia, but in other countries resistance to turning over natives,” said Joshua Dratel, an attorney who specializes in extradition cases. That battle is one the families plan to keep fighting. The killings occurred as the families were preparing for the holidays. Kedest’s family recalled having to remove her unopened presents from beneath the Christmas tree. Without an end to their ordeal in sight, the wounds remain as raw as they did that day. “We are devastated,” said Elsabeth Yohannes. “We need justice for Kedest and Henok.” justin.jouvenal@washpost.com


The most interesting thing about Côte d’Ivoire’s election was that it wasn’t interesting

IMF, and joined a new party, the Rassemblement des Républicains (RDR or Rally of the Republicans), with the intention of contesting the 1995 presidential election. Bédié blocked Ouattara from running by introducing an ultranationalist policy known as Ivoirité in a new electoral code, requiring presidential candidates to be born of native-born Ivorians. Ouattara was generally believed to have at least one parent from what is today Burkina Faso. With Ouattara excluded and Gbagbo boycotting, Bédié won the 1995 election with 96 percent of the vote. Then events became really interesting. In the run-up to the 2000 election, the country experienced its first military coup in 1999. A new constitution was adopted in 2000 that enshrined and expanded upon the exclusionary requirements of the electoral code, such that 12 of 17 candidates for president were disqualified, including those of two of the three major parties, leaving Gbagbo as the only candidate of a major party to challenge the military leader, Robert Guéï. The 2000s in Côte d’Ivoire: Elections and exclusion spark civil wars Guéï declared himself the winner of the 2000 election, prompting three days of protest. Guéï fled the capital and Gbagbo was declared the winner. Once in office, Gbagbo’s government extended Ivoirité to new policy areas. Northerners were denied nationality certificates if they did not have documents proving their parents were Ivorian. More importantly, there were reports of a planned Ivoirité purge of northerners in the military – leading to an outbreak of war in 2002. During peace talks, the FPI-led National Assembly passed a law to loosen the candidacy restrictions in preparation for the 2005 election, but the war continued and the election was never held. Finally the war ended, and in 2010, after Gbagbo commissioned some polls that indicated he would win, the presidential election was held with Gbagbo, Ouattara, and Bédié all on the ballot. After no one won a majority in the first round, Gbagbo and Ouattara faced off in the second round. The independent electoral commission declared Ouattara the winner, but the constitutional court (whose members are appointed by the president) declared Gbagbo the winner. Both men were sworn in as president in competing ceremonies (Gbagbo in the presidential palace and Ouattara in the Abidjan Golf Hotel), and a second civil war broke out for several months, leading to over 3,000 deaths. Finally troops loyal to Ouattara, with support from the French and U.N.


Who actually died in Egypt’s Rabaa massacre

little is known about the socioeconomic profiles of those who joined the occupation. In a tragic irony, the manner in which the killing unfolded allows us to address this shortcoming. Because security forces fired indiscriminately into the crowd, the victims were effectively a random sample that can help us better understand the social backgrounds of pro-Morsi protesters in the square. To conduct our analysis, we identified the home districts of 701 protesters killed at Rabaa using biographical data collated by WikiThawra, an online database of protesters killed and arrested in Egypt since the January 25th revolution. We then measured how the fatality rate varied across 333 districts, the lowest administrative level for which census and electoral data is available. The victims came from more than half of the country’s districts. Surprisingly, the fatality rate was not higher in districts that had voted for Morsi in the first round of the 2012 presidential election. However, two variables are significant: a district’s distance from Cairo and its illiteracy rate. The first graph shows the actual relationship between these two variables and the number of people killed. It also plots the statistical relationship. Note that we also adjust for the presence of parallel pro-Morsi occupations in other Egyptian cities, which provided alternative venues for protest against the coup. The second graph focuses on the rate of illiteracy, after taking into account a district’s distance from Cairo and alternative sites for protest. As our analysis shows, pro-Morsi protesters killed at Rabaa came from districts with low rates of illiteracy, in other words the most prosperous and urbanized parts of the country. This finding is important because it contradicts much of the reporting by state and pro-military private media in Egypt, which routinely depicts the Rabaa protesters as either “half-educated,” or “peasants” bused in from the countryside. Another version of this narrative asserts that, “75 percent of those in Rabaa were poor, lured into joining the occupation by the promise of a free meal.” Such labels play on enduring class cleavages in Egyptian society, and are designed to delegitimize popular opposition to Morsi’s ousting. Of course, whether or not protesters killed at Rabaa came from relatively prosperous urban areas does not alter the culpability of the current military regime. What it does do is further expose the energetic and politically motivated myth-making that has been taking place in Egypt since the crackdown began. Neil Ketchley


Young people voted in droves for marriage equality in Ireland. Equality would have won without them.

would vote, and how they would vote, by asking how much they knew about the referendum issue. Irish voters generally avoid uncertain outcomes. “If you don’t know, vote no” and “If you don’t know, don’t vote” were common refrains from earlier campaigns. This obviously produces an incentive for No campaigners to confuse people and muddy the issues, so as to depress turnout and increase the No vote. However, it also means that those who know more about the issues are more likely to vote and more likely to vote yes. This might lead one to expect that the young Yes voters should have had a good deal of correct knowledge about the issue. Younger people are more likely to be open about their own sexuality and to know someone in their social network who is gay or lesbian. Perhaps this increases their awareness of the issue? In Figure 3, we show the levels of knowledge of the referendum – evaluated by asking people in different age groups four factual questions about the referendum. Strikingly, the younger generation knows least. Figure 3 suggests that this is largely a generational shift, rather than an effect of the stage in life of a voter. In other words, it is something specific to this generation of young people, rather than a stage that all young people go through. If we compare the marriage vote to the 1992 abortion referendums on whether Irish citizens have the freedom to travel to another country to get an abortion, and also on whether abortion information should be available in Ireland, we see that the cohort of those who were then 18-24 years old and are now 41-47, still votes more or less the same way. The Irish marriage referendum therefore shows unusually high levels of mobilization and engagement among younger voters, but the impact on the result is very limited: had younger citizens not come out, the Yes side would still have easily won. This engagement also had its limitations: while younger voters did, indeed, come out to vote, they did not learn as much about the referendum issue as their older counterparts. Nevertheless, a generational shift is clearly visible in the survey data over time. Conservative Ireland is slowly dying. Johan Elkink is a lecturer in politics and international relations at University College Dublin (@jelkink). David Farrell is a professor of politics at University College Dublin (@dfarrell_ucd).


Kipchoge will again attempt an ‘almost superhuman’ sub-2-hour marathon

The last time he tried this sort of unofficial event, he was helped by Nike and other world-class marathoners, but fell a tantalizing few seconds short in 2017. The date and place for this attempt has not been set, although it is expected to occur in London in September or October. Sponsors will assure that conditions — little wind, a nearly flat surface, cool but not cold temperatures, a middling elevation — are optimal, just as they were in Monza, Italy, in 2017. “The course also has to be flat, a good surface, and it can’t have corners which are too sharp,” Jim Ratcliffe, the billionaire INEOS owner, told the Guardian. “Secondly, we have to find pacers to keep up. Then, it is about having the right environment and a crowd to lift Eliud’s spirits, as in Monza it got a bit lonely. A lot of this is about pain tolerance. What level of pain are you prepared to tolerate?” Last September, Kipchoge smashed the world record by 78 seconds in winning the Berlin Marathon. The 2016 Olympic marathon gold medalist for Kenya, he won the London Marathon for the fourth time last month in 2:02.38, the second-fastest official time ever. “I learned a lot from my previous attempt and I truly believe that I can go 26 seconds faster than I did in Monza two years ago,” he said (via the BBC). “I am very excited about the months of good preparation to come and to show the world that when you focus on your goal, when you work hard and when you believe in yourself, anything is possible.” Ratcliffe acknowledged that the accomplishment would take an “almost superhuman” effort and it’s likely to draw a worldwide crowd. Kipchoge’s attempt in 2017 in Italy was live-streamed and presented a surreal scene for anyone who has watched a marathon. There were few fans — just runners, a car, a couple of bicycles and empty bleachers, as The Washington Post’s Bonnie Berkowitz noted. Runner’s World pointed out that Nike custom-made shoes and analyzed metrics, such as oxygen usage, skin temperature and the amount of carbohydrate runners stored in their legs. The track was chosen for its near-ideal conditions. “Running the fastest-ever marathon time of 2:00:25 was the proudest moment of my career,” Kipchoge said (via the BBC). “To get another chance to break the magical two-hour mark is incredibly exciting.” Read


A swarm of bees invaded an MLB game, forcing a 20-minute delay

And now for something you never, ever want to read on the scoreboard at a baseball game: The start of Monday afternoon’s Reds-Giants game in Cincinnati was delayed for about 20 minutes because a swarm of bees decided to set up shop near home plate at Great American Ball Park, eventually moving into the stands. “There must be a hive somewhere in the ballpark,” Matt Birkley, a beekeeper, told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “It could be inside of a big hollow pipe or a wall or some kind of space like that. They swarm because the hive gets overcrowded. They will create a new queen then the old queen leaves the hive with about half of the worker bees. “They all leave at one time that’s why you see them swarming like that. At some point, the queen will land and the rest of the bees will form a big ball around her to protect her. Scout bees will then go and look for a new place to live. Once they find an appropriate home, they will relay the location to the rest of the bees in the swarm. Then again they will all leave at about the same time and go find the new home. My best advice is to just leave them alone and they will disperse on their own. This time of year is definitely swarm season for honeybees.” Reds second baseman Derek Dietrich got the day off from playing but was drafted into beekeeping duty. Oddly enough, this isn’t the first time a Reds-Giants game in Cincinnati has been bee-sieged by the stinging insects. As detailed by an Associated Press report, in 1976 a swarm estimated at between 5,000 and 10,000 bees “took up residence” in the San Francisco dugout during an April game at Riverfront Stadium, forcing a 35-minute delay. Several Giants were stung before two heroic Reds fans stepped in. “Two fans quelled the furor by removing the queen bee by hand from the swarm which covered the microphone above the dugout,” the AP reported. “The queen bee was placed into [a] makeshift cardboard beehive, and quickly was joined by her swarming workers. “Walter Howard, a 26‐year old owner of a Cincinnati extermination firm, and Floyd Hastings, a bank auditor from Fort Wright, Ky., with a beekeeping background saved the day. Their efforts produced a standing ovation from the crowd. Hastings was stung eight to


What we know about the death of popular Christian writer Rachel Held Evans

The death of best-selling author Rachel Held Evans this past weekend came so quickly and mysteriously that it left many struggling to understand how such a young and vital person could come to her end after what seemed like such a routine diagnosis. Evans was widely admired for her willingness to wade into theological battles over the role of women, science, LGBT issues and politics, and her death has led to an outpouring of tributes and support for her family. The symptoms experienced by the 37-year-old writer do not fit into an easily explainable diagnosis, medical experts say. The first sign to the public that something was wrong came from her own April 14 tweet saying she was in the hospital for the flu, a urinary tract infection and an allergic reaction to antibiotics. Five days later came this distressing public update to her followers from her husband, Dan: “During treatment for an infection, Rachel began exhibiting unexpected symptoms. Doctors found that her brain was experiencing constant seizures.” Her husband said doctors had put her into a medically induced coma to stop the seizures while they tried to figure out what was causing them. “Something enormously dramatic happened between April 14 and 19,” said William Schaffner, an infectious-disease professor at Vanderbilt University who stressed that he did not treat her or have firsthand information. Schaffner and other medical experts stressed that with the limited information known about Evans’s case, it is hard to tell exactly what happened. But the fact that her illness began with flulike symptoms and then progressed to constant seizures strongly suggests she may have developed encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain. With encephalitis, as tissue becomes inflamed, the brain can begin to swell and bulge against the skull bone, building up internal pressure, causing damage to the tissues and triggering abnormal electrical signals that cause seizures, Schaffner said. In subsequent updates to Evans’s followers days later, her husband said that doctors were struggling to explain exactly what was causing the seizures, calling them “compounding factors.” When the doctors tried to wean her off the medicine keeping her in the coma, the seizures returned. “When you hear about brain swelling and seizures, it does point to central nervous system infection and [the] possibility of encephalitis,” said Amesh Adalja, an infectious-disease and critical-care doctor at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. The possible flu, urinary tract infection and


14 and 19,” said William Schaffner, an infectious-disease professor at Vanderbilt University who stressed that he did not treat her or have firsthand information. Schaffner and other medical experts stressed that with the limited information known about Evans’s case, it is hard to tell exactly what happened. But the fact that her illness began with flulike symptoms and then progressed to constant seizures strongly suggests she may have developed encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain. With encephalitis, as tissue becomes inflamed, the brain can begin to swell and bulge against the skull bone, building up internal pressure, causing damage to the tissues and triggering abnormal electrical signals that cause seizures, Schaffner said. In subsequent updates to Evans’s followers days later, her husband said that doctors were struggling to explain exactly what was causing the seizures, calling them “compounding factors.” When the doctors tried to wean her off the medicine keeping her in the coma, the seizures returned. “When you hear about brain swelling and seizures, it does point to central nervous system infection and [the] possibility of encephalitis,” said Amesh Adalja, an infectious-disease and critical-care doctor at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. The possible flu, urinary tract infection and antibiotic allergic reaction that Evans first tweeted about are not likely to have caused the encephalitis, Adalja said. Some antibiotic reactions can cause seizures, but those seizures would not have continued over time as Evans’s did. Encephalitis is an especially perplexing disease. It can be triggered by a host of things, including bacterial infections and rabies. But the most common cause is viral infection, including viruses borne by mosquitoes, such as West Nile. Often there is no medicine to give a patient with encephalitis, Adalja said. Doctors simply try to manage the swelling in the brain. The cause in many cases remains an enigma, Schaffner said. Many of those who recover are left with intellectual or motor-function disabilities because of damage and scarring to the brain that occurred during the inflammation. “It’s difficult to believe that in the 21st century this is the case, but with encephalitis, it’s an illness that can sometimes affect young people with dramatic, unfortunate results,” Schaffner said. In Evans’s case, according to her husband’s online updates, her doctors tried over several days to juggle the benefit of keeping her in a medically induced coma with the risks it posed. On Thursday, her brain began to


Here’s stunning video of a ‘particularly dangerous’ tornadic storm from 22,236 miles in space

satellite, imagine holding a flaming lighter a few inches beneath a giant piece of white paper. The spot of paper just above the lighter would quickly become discolored and eventually burn. Then imagine moving the paper, as though it’s being blown by jet steam winds. Now instead of a burn, there’s a dark stripe marking all the places torched by this heat source. That’s kind of how an intense anvil can stretch so far downstream of a very localized heat source. It’s important to note that the towering anvil cloud is not a hot plume, rather, a thick cloud of frozen particles (ice crystals and snow flakes). Remnants of the storm’s anvil are carried hundreds of miles downwind, over long distances by the strong jet stream winds. Meanwhile, a constant plume of upward motion farther west sustains the behemoth storm, its updraft plume marked by a bubble of red colors. That’s the “overshooting top” — the product of an updraft so strong the storm punctures the tropopause — ordinarily an effective “ceiling” or stable layer for weather systems. But when a pocket of air rises with enough momentum, it struggles to put the brakes on even when it shouldn’t be able to rise. That’s a surefire sign of a vicious storm. As a result, the cloud tops are extremely cold since they reach so high. Some may appear a bit warmer because of contact with the stratosphere — a region about 10-12 miles above the ground where temperature climbs with height. At the same time, ripples can be seen propagating throughout the anvil. These are little waves in the upper atmosphere caused by disturbances originating from the turbulence around the overshooting top. It would be like diving to the bottom of a pool and then blowing a really big bubble. When that pocket rises (less dense) and then hits the top, concentric wavelets would ripple outward from the center. Ground-based radars offered an equally remarkable perspective, peering into the storm and noting a rain-free void where the updraft was so intense that precipitation was unable to fall. Dust along a boundary wrapping into the tornadic circulation can be seen, as well. They’re images that combine natural beauty with raw destructive power, and similar scenes may unfold on the Plains in the days ahead. Following scattered afternoon storms Monday, a more significant severe weather event could play out Tuesday and Wednesday.


As legal marijuana booms, Denver votes on decriminalizing hallucinogenic mushrooms

If you thought legalized marijuana truly put the “high” in the Mile High City, wait until you hear what Denver is up to now. On Tuesday, residents will vote on whether to effectively decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms, the hallucinogen used by some cultures for religious purposes for centuries, and outlawed by the federal government since 1970. The movement to “Decriminalize Denver” is the nation’s first public referendum on “magic mushrooms,” after an effort in California failed to reach the ballot last year. Initiative 301 would apply only to Denver, not the entire state of Colorado. It would place into city code the directive that enforcing laws for personal use or possession of psilocybin mushrooms “shall be the lowest law enforcement priority in the City and County of Denver,” though having the mushrooms would still technically be illegal. The mushrooms would not be available in the city’s cannabis dispensaries, and sales would still be classified as a felony. They would remain classified a Schedule I drug under federal law, as is marijuana, with “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” The image of hallucinogens as chemicals that launch users into a swirling mélange of colors and voices, presumably impairing one’s ability to drive or operate heavy machinery, can be tough to overcome. But supporters say the mushrooms’ powerful mind-altering qualities can have long-term positive effects on addiction, depression, chronic pain, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, in addition to the eight-hour journeys into the mystic. Psilocybin is not addictive, does not lead to overdoses and is not thought to have long-term side effects, research has shown. It is a naturally occurring compound in some fungi. A number of studies have shown positive effects on people addicted to opioids, alcohol or tobacco, as well as diminished depression and anxiety. Researchers have found such benefits to mushrooms that the Food and Drug Administration has granted “breakthrough therapy” status to study psilocybin for treating depression. The FDA describes breakthrough therapy as designed to expedite development of a drug after preliminary evidence shows “the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement over available therapy.” Kevin Matthews was a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point who was forced to retire due to major depression. He returned to Denver and struggled for years until he tried mushrooms for the first time. “It was one of the most profound experiences of my life,” he said.


Boeing waited until after Indonesian plane crash to inform FAA of 737 Max safety review

tremendous scrutiny over whether design flaws could have contributed to the deaths of hundreds of people in Indonesia and Ethiopia, where two 737 Max jets crashed in recent months under similar circumstances. The disclosure could also feed into a broader inquiry over whether the process for designing and certifying commercial jets in the United States is flawed. The 737 Max was grounded worldwide in mid-March after the second crash brought the death toll to 346. The software, which connects the airplane’s external sensors to pilots’ cockpit displays, is designed to alert pilots when sensors on either side of the plane are reporting conflicting measurements for the plane’s “angle of attack," a measure of how the plane approaches oncoming wind. Boeing included the alert as an optional feature in the 737 Max to alert pilots to potential equipment failures. In its statement, Boeing said the planes can be operated safely without the alert. “Neither the angle of attack indicator nor the AOA Disagree alert are necessary for the safe operation of the airplane," the statement reads. "They provide supplemental information only, and have never been considered safety features on commercial jet transport airplanes.” Boeing’s statement Sunday comes a week after the Wall Street Journal reported that the angle-of-attack disagree alert was inoperable when Southwest Airlines and other carriers started flying the planes. “The disagree alert was not operable on all airplanes because the feature was not activated as intended,” Boeing said in a statement last Monday. When it discovered the software problem in 2017, Boeing assigned a committee to review the issue, which ultimately determined the planes were safe to fly. But it wasn’t until November 2018, after the Indonesian plane crash, that the company informed regulators at the Federal Aviation Administration. It is unclear whether Boeing would have been required to do so under FAA regulations. The company said it followed its standard operating procedures. Later that month an investigative report from Indonesian authorities found that those sensors had malfunctioned in the final moments of the flight, and that pilots had struggled to overcome an automatic anti-stalling feature that nudged the plane’s nose downward. The FAA review board found the alert to be a “low-risk” safety issue which would not render the plane unsafe to fly. An FAA spokesman said Sunday, however, that "Boeing’s timely or earlier communication with the operators would have helped to reduce or eliminate possible confusion.”


Beware the fix: Increase in sports betting brings with it a familiar threat

century, someone is cheating somewhere. If they cheat on Wall Street, why wouldn’t they cheat on Main Street? I thought about this a lot the past few months, watching the Super Bowl, the Masters and “Jeopardy!” Gladys Knight sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” before Super Bowl LIII; the length of the national anthem is now a popular prop bet. What would stop an entrepreneurial plunger from approaching her, saying, “Gladys, if you can make sure to finish the song in under 1 minute 45 seconds, we can make you X dollars richer”? If it were me — and this is probably the only time I’d be crooning the national anthem, because I sing worse than I write — I might consider compromising my artistic integrity for a big payday. (Column Intermission: Stepson of Destiny Isaiah Eisendorf, averaging 10.0 points and 6.1 rebounds in his first professional year in Israel’s second division, suffered a torn meniscus in his right knee at season’s end. Just before surgery — and I couldn’t make this up because I am cannabis-free 24-7 — he tweaked his knee while sitting on the couch, aggravating the injury. I have never been prouder; he is a chip off the old beanbag chair.) A Wisconsin day trader, James Adduci, bet $85,000 at 14-to-1 odds on Tiger Woods winning the Masters, making him nearly $1.2 million. Let’s say Brandt Snedeker and Bubba Watson head into the final round of a PGA Tour event eight strokes ahead of the field, with Snedeker a pre-tournament 100-1 wager to win it all. Might not a bettor with a huge financial interest approach Watson about taking a dive? Note: I am not saying that Gladys Knight or Bubba Watson — or James Holzhauer of “Jeopardy!,” whom I am about to discuss — would do anything improper. I am just putting out the plausibility that there are some out there who would direct these questions towards those who can affect these outcomes. On “Jeopardy!,” Holzhauer, a sports bettor from Las Vegas, has won 22 straight matches for nearly $1.7 million. He gets almost every question right, and even when his opponents also might know the answer, he almost always buzzes in first. Would it be in the show’s interest for Holzhauer to keep winning in record fashion? Uh, do pigs attract flies? In the 1950s, quiz shows were rigged to boost ratings, most notably NBC’s “Twenty-One,”


Tonight’s TV highlights: ‘The Bachelorette’ reunion special, and more

(All times Eastern.) Premieres Abyss Chernobyl State of the Union Returning The Best Thing I Ever Ate Finales The Resident Shadowhunters Man With a Plan Into the Badlands Late Night Conan Busy Tonight/Philipps Daily Show/Noah Tonight Show/Fallon Late Show/Colbert Jimmy Kimmel Live Late Late Show/Corden Late Night/Meyers — Sarah Polus


A marathon runner was denied the ‘fastest nurse’ world record because she didn’t wear a dress

Jessica Anderson trained for the London Marathon with a goal: She wanted to be the fastest woman to complete the race dressed as a nurse. Breaking the Guinness World Record was “a challenge but not totally out of reach,” Anderson said, and on April 28, she accomplished the feat — crossing the marathon finish line at 3:08:22 — faster than the 3:08:54 record. But her timing wasn’t enough to take the title, according to Guinness World Records, whose criteria for a nurse’s uniform is based on mid-20th century ideas. Because Anderson ran wearing medical scrubs and not a dress, she did not qualify as a record-breaker. In February, Anderson, a nurse at Royal London Hospital for seven years, applied to be considered for the competition. Per Guinness guidelines, she attached photos of her proposed marathon outfit — the uniform she wears daily: a blue scrub top and trousers. Anderson was “quite shocked” to learn her application had been rejected because her outfit “didn’t meet their criteria.” Guinness guidelines specified “a white or blue dress, pinafore apron and white cap,” Anderson told The Washington Post. (Pantyhose were optional.) “That didn’t feel right to me,” she said. “After that it was too late to resubmit, but I didn’t want to change my outfit anyway.” Although the submission deadline had passed, she also wrote Guinness officials. In a letter viewed by The Post, dated Feb. 19, the nurse called the criteria “outdated and frankly quite sexist.” “This is my actual nursing uniform which I wear to work, and it baffles me that it doesn’t qualify as a costume for an attempt at ‘fastest marathon in a nurse’s uniform,’ ” she wrote, asking to be directed to whoever was in the position to review the uniform criteria. Two days later, she received a reply. In a message to Anderson, reviewed by The Post, a Guinness official explained that her attire bore too many similarities to Guinness requirements for “fastest marathon dressed as a doctor,” which included scrubs, a white coat and stethoscope. Without the “old fashioned, stereotypical attire,” Guinness worried the nurse’s outfit might not be properly differentiated from the doctor’s. The official also drew on other categories as a comparison: “Marathons dressed as a brownie or scout,” which also require “older fashioned costumes” and not the modern clothes worn by the scouting community, and marathons dressed as a chef, requiring “a chef’s hat


As people age, regular eye exams are important

What should an exam cover? During a routine exam, vision-care technicians will often check your eyesight, peripheral vision, and your eyes’ ability to work together and move in all directions. Doctors will then use a lighted microscope (slit lamp) to inspect your outer eye. For a look inside, and to check your retina and optic nerve, doctors will use drops to dilate your pupils. They will also look for signs of eye disease. What about high-tech tests? In recent years, high-tech imaging tests have become available. They use computerized equipment to, say, produce highly detailed images of the eye. “Imaging tests can be useful for diagnosing symptoms or following up on suspicious findings from an exam,” Gordon says. For example, if you have glaucoma, a visual field machine can detect vision loss more precisely than the traditional method. High-tech imaging tests are generally unnecessary unless you have signs of significant eye disease, the AAO says. But some practices offer them for routine exams, Beaver says, even though they provide no additional information and could yield misleading results. Plus, medical insurance usually doesn’t cover these tests if you have no symptoms; vision plans may or may not. A possible exception: Instead of dilating your eyes during a routine exam, a high-tech camera can produce a magnified image of the back of your eye. (The test can cost $20 to $40.) It’s “a reasonable option for people at low risk of eye disease who don’t want to deal with a few hours of blurry vision,” Gordon says. But an exam with dilation is considered more thorough and accurate, and is recommended for people at risk for or diagnosed with eye disease. Which doctor should you see? Ophthalmologists have a doctor of medicine or doctor of osteopathy degree, with four years of medical school, several years of residency and specialized training. Optometrists have a four-year doctor of optometry degree. How to choose? ●For routine exams and prescriptions for contacts or glasses: either. Some optometrists specialize in fitting medically necessary contacts, such as for people with scarred corneas. ●For symptoms such as dry eyes, an infection or pain: either. Good optometrists will refer you to an ophthalmologist if the problem is beyond their scope of practice. (State laws vary on which conditions optometrists can treat.) ●For serious eye disease or any eye surgery: ophthalmologists. They’re licensed to do surgery and treat all eye diseases.


Rethinking nations in the Middle East

You couldn’t swing a dead imperialist last summer without hitting an essay about the unraveling of the Sykes-Picot system in the Middle East. The bloody disintegration of Iraq and Syria seemed to have finally ripped apart the borders created by the British and French governments in the aftermath of World War I (even if the borders in question were actually forged at San Remo). It wasn’t just the rise of the so-called Islamic State spanning and erasing the Syrian-Iraqi border. The unprecedented, synchronized popular mobilization across borders during the early Arab uprisings of 2011 gave potent form to the ideals of transnational Arab political community supplanting the limits of nation-states. As the uprisings turned darker and most of the democratic transitions failed, new challengers to nation-states in the Middle East rose to the forefront: the Islamic State; the growing de facto independence of Kurds across Iraq and Syria, with ramifications extending into Turkey and Iran; the rise of sub-regional identities carried by heavily armed militias in failing states such as Yemen and Libya; unprecedented forced displacement moving millions of people within and across borders; and raging sectarianism dividing Sunnis and Shiites. These developments have not had a singular effect on national identities, however. While some states have collapsed, creating space for new subnational identities to challenge national cohesion, most have retrenched into a fiercer form of authoritarianism. Egypt’s military coup, for instance, has been sustained by the heavy-handed promotion of extreme nationalism. Many states in the Gulf have drawn upon sectarianism to consolidate support for their regimes in ways that could have an enduring impact on popular conceptions of national identity. Battles over the proper role of Islam in public life have reshaped political discourse from Egypt and Turkey (see Senem Aslan and Kristin Fabbe in this collection) and Tunisia (Elizabeth Young). Kurds imagine new political possibilities in very different contexts, as Nicole Watts demonstrates from Halabja and Serhun Al demonstrates through the historical experience of Turkey and Iraq. In February, therefore, I convened a Project on Middle East Political Science symposium with Laurie A. Brand at the University of Southern California to examine national identity in the face of such challenges. Their essays have now been released as Rethinking Nation and Nationalism, a special issue of POMEPS Studies, available for free download here. The “Sykes-Picot” framing of recent events has not been completely fruitless. The recent deluge of fascinating


A hotter, drier Middle East climate could threaten stability

In the United States, the question of whether the Earth’s climate is changing continues to be hotly debated in mainstream and popular media. However, a growing body of scientific research demonstrates that certain areas of the globe are experiencing significantly lower levels of precipitation, higher temperatures and more frequent droughts than in centuries past. One of these regions is the Middle East. According to a recent study by scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) the Mediterranean basin has been experiencing significantly drier conditions since the 1970s. Moreover, current climatological research predicts that the Levant region of the Middle East will be one of the areas most negatively affected by rising air temperatures and shifting precipitation patterns during the 21st century. What implications does a drier and hotter Middle East hold for politics in the region? Does climate change have the potential to transform political dynamics in this geo-strategic area of the world? To find answers to these questions, I have spent the past several years exploring the political implications of increasing water scarcity in the Middle East and have recently published a set of preliminary findings in the journal Middle East Policy. In short, Arab countries face three key challenges in a world of more volatile precipitation events and higher temperatures: enforcing the sustainable use of groundwater, satisfying growing urban demand for water and an increased potential for social and political instability. Arab governments have manipulated water resources for political ends since the achievement of independence. For example, Jordan’s government actively promoted rural development during the 1950s and 1960s to secure political loyalty and support from rural residents, particularly tribal leaders. A key part of this strategy was providing subsidized diesel fuel to power pumps extracting water from wells. Low energy costs, along with official efforts to promote local demand for domestically grown crops, led Jordanian farmers to maximize crop yields by pumping huge amounts of water from the ground. By the 1980s, growing demand for and dwindling supplies of water led the Jordanian government to impose rationing on urban residents, limiting the delivery of water to one or two days a week. Despite these efforts to promote conservation, the extraction of groundwater for both agricultural and municipal use continued to grow. In 2010, the average rate of abstraction from renewable aquifers was 155 percent of the natural recharge rate. One dramatic effect of groundwater over-abstraction was


Did the Senate just open the U.S. up to ICC prosecution?

never surrender a U.S. official or soldier to the ICC. During President George W. Bush’s second term, relations began to thaw. In 2005, the United States allowed the passage of a U.N. Security Council resolution referring Darfur to the ICC. When President Obama arrived on the scene, relations continued to warm. The United States began actively participating in ICC conferences, identified areas in which it could cooperate with the court and spoke of its “positive engagement”with the ICC. In addition, the State Department expanded its Rewards for Justice Program to include ICC indictees and played an important role in the surrender of Bosco Ntaganda, charged with committing war crimes in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to The Hague. As David Bosco cogently argues in his book, “Rough Justice,” the ICC has generally sought to accommodate U.S. interests. Seeking to improve its relationship with the world’s most powerful country – and the country with the best surveillance techniques and thus access to the kind of evidence the court needs – prosecutors avoided stepping on Washington’s toes, neither investigating alleged abuses by U.S. officials nor intervening in states where the United States had preexisting political interests. This avoidance of confrontation, however, may be about to change in dramatic fashion. That allegations of torture by U.S. officials in Afghanistan were mentioned in the ICC prosecutor’s report may seem, at first glance, to be window dressing to assuage the concerns of many that the court is toothless when it comes to confronting powerful states. But behind this unprecedented and explicit mention of potential U.S. culpability is a court that appears more willing than ever to finally push the United States over accountability for international crimes in Afghanistan. However, in the wake of some serious setbacks including the collapse of the case against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, is the ICC in a position to do so? There are two lines of thought on whether the ICC should pursue a formal investigation of U.S. officials for their use of torture in Afghanistan. First, there is the argument that the court is in too weak of a position to pursue the prosecution of citizens from great powers. The fear here is that the positive relationship the court worked so hard to earn shouldn’t be sacrificed for a fight that the ICC can’t win. The second viewpoint is that the court is in too weak of a position


A realistic approach to linking carbon markets

the gridlock that has beset the Kyoto negotiations. They are not going away. So the question remains: how can linkage promote effective action on climate change – i.e. real and meaningful emissions reductions? We advise that linking markets proceed with caution. They must balance the benefits of economic efficiency with political feasibility. Specifically, we have five suggestions for an incremental approach to linkage. 1) Linking states should start small. Informal linkages through memoranda of understanding will promote learning and provide flexibility to work out any unanticipated problems. It will also allow a test-run to ensure that domestic regulatory institutions are up to the task. Once a pilot phase is successful, relationships can be further institutionalized through law. 2) Linkage should start in the developed world. This is so for several reasons. First, the most mature markets—including, among others, the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative—are located in the developed world. Quite simply, they have the most experience with cap-and-trade markets. Second, and related, these are most likely to have robust regulatory capacity to support and enforce a trading system. Finally, there will be smaller differences in marginal costs of abatement between developed nations. While this will sacrifice some of the efficiency gains, it may also mitigate political objections associated with large transfers of wealth. 3) Indirect linkage should be kept to a minimum. Indirect linking—where two states are linked through a third—reduces regulatory autonomy and creates another layer of coordination requirements. In other words, it can create problems both politically and in terms of policy design. As such, we suggest that markets linked through a third party explicitly agree with each other on the terms. 4) Banking and borrowing should be kept to a minimum. Banking and borrowing are designed to help smooth out prices over time by providing clear signals about future markets. But they can also be gamed, and may propagate any flaws in the market into the future. Linked markets should limit the number of allowances that can be banked or borrowed across time periods. In sum, linkage will require extensive regulatory coordination. And that coordination will invariably involve politics. Thus, at the outset, simpler systems are better, both for the purposes of learning how to design working systems, and for reducing opportunities for political objections. Linkage is not a panacea for climate change. Indeed, if the current patchwork of carbon markets evolves


The ‘documentary big bang’ in nuclear weapons scholarship

focusing on the one we happen to know about? In fact, this tendency, however annoying, is the reason why social scientists tend to trust our work. We are committed to “getting it right,” even if it requires interviewing dozens of participants and poring over thousands documents. Like Frank Gavin, I believe reconstructing complex historical events is excellent training for future policymakers and citizens. Is it not more practical than learning how to code wars on a scale of one to five, or making policy choices based on whether this or that correlation meets some arbitrary test of statistical significance? To help students understand why good historical scholarship takes time, and why it is worth it, I sometimes ask how many have witnessed some event that made the news. With many hands up, I then ask who among them thought the reporter got the story completely right. Invariably, the hands sink and smiles break out as students consider how much is wrong not just in that one story, but many other stories in the media. If you asked a room full of diplomatic historians the same question about “large-n” research, they would have a similar reaction: the coding of cases they know best is crude, if it is not false, and the causal mechanisms have little or no basis in the historical record. Rather than feeling reassured that the errors are randomly distributed, it leads us to doubt the whole enterprise. But the political scientists in Gavin’s cage match ask good, tough questions about whether historians can be confident that they have “gotten it right,” and why it is wrong to try to develop methods that might eliminate alternative explanations. I share many of their concerns about the opacity and non-reproducibility of historical research, and I am not sure Gavin has fully answered them. For instance, is there a historian who has not, at some point, cited a newspaper story to support some crucial point? Since Thucydides, good historians have tried to find all the available sources and determine which ones are most credible. But we inevitably pick and choose those accounts that appear to add up to the most plausible explanation. As critics like Duncan Watts and Nassim Taleb point out, implausible things happen all the time. If we cannot actually run experiments, how can we eliminate different interpretations? Moreover, taken as a whole, the archive is intrinsically biased. Policymakers


Local athletes featured in Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd

3,000 (9:45.59) and 3,200 (10:22.29). Alcorta will look to continue her winning ways at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. More: Alcorta’s anchor leg leads West Springfield to medley crown at Penn Relays Alcorta finishes third at Foot Locker Cross Country Championships Alcorta commits to North Carolina April 7 — Crystal Wang, Roberto Clemente Middle School, Table Tennis Wang, 12, finished third at the U.S. team trials in March to become the youngest member, male or female, in the history of the national team. In December, at the age of 11, she became the youngest to win the U.S. 21-and-under title by defeating Angela Guan, 15, of San Jose. Wang attends middle school in Germantown and trains at the Maryland Table Tennis Center in Gaithersburg. April 21 — Brandon Ivey, Briar Woods, Taekwondo A junior at Briar Woods, Ivey is the first American male to win gold at the junior world championships in 16 years. He defeated Hamza Kattan of Jordan, 5-4 in sudden death overtime, to take the heavyweight title in Taipei in March. In 2013, He was named USA Taekwondo’s male junior athlete of the year. May 5 — Emily Cox, W.T. Woodson, Marathon Cox, a senior at W.T. Woodson, was the youngest female qualifier at the April Boston Marathon and finished with a time of 3:46.08. Cox’s stellar run continued a family tradition begun by her late grandfather, John, who was 84 when he ran his final Marine Corps Marathon in 2011. Cox qualified for the Boston Marathon with a finishing time of 3:31.51 at the 2012 Marine Corps. Nine relatives on her father’s side of the family have combined to complete 101 Marine Corps Marathons, but Emily is the lone Cox to compete in Boston. More: Youngest female racer at the Boston Marathon, is running for something bigger Cavaliers senior finishes first Boston Marathon May 12 — Drew Hunter, Loudoun Valley, Track and Field Just a sophomore at the Purcellville school, Hunter has already established himself as one of the area’s top distance runners. Hunter broke out during the cross-country season, posting the top underclassman time at several major races before winning the Virginia 3A championship at Great Meadow in a time of 15 minutes, 37 seconds. Late last month at the Penn Relays, Hunter won the 3,000 meters with a time of 8 minutes, 16.31 seconds — the second-fastest time ever run at the meet.


We’re in danger of killing off the biodiversity that makes our way of life possible

On Monday, the United Nations released a report declaring that upwards of 1 million plant and animals forms of life are on track to become extinct within the next several decades, as a result of human activity. “Grave impacts on people around the world are now likely,” the report dryly summarized. As Robert Watson, the British scientist in charge of the report, explained, “We are indeed threatening the potential food security, water security, human health and social fabric” of our lives. Translation: We are killing off the life that makes human life possible. Unless we change our ways fast, our existence is going to become increasingly precarious. And not surprisingly, we’re not approaching this fast-coming catastrophe with anything near the urgency it needs. Biodiversity is all life on Earth, from blue whales to the flies that buzz about us. It’s the fish and large mammals many of us eat, but also the flora that protects the streams and oceans, and the microorganisms we cannot see but are vital for health of the planet. Many species are in increased jeopardy as a result of human actions such as industrial agriculture and claiming wetlands for real estate development. As a result, an ever increasing number are likely to die off within a matter of decades. This is separate from the impact of climate change, though climate change does worsen the situation by causing even further damage to the ecosystem. As The Post’s Darryl Fears put it, “The warming climate is a major driver that is exacerbating the effects of overfishing, widespread pesticide use, pollution and urban expansion into the natural world.” All that, in turn, also kills off unique forms of life. Yet the report also makes it clear this predicted mass biodiversity extinction is not inevitable. We can still avoid much, if not all, of this. Current economic incentives often favor nature destroying activities that make species extinctions more likely, but different government and financial policies could discourage the actions that are causing the biodiversity apocalypse, while promoting more life sustaining undertakings. The U.N. report makes clear this is a worldwide problem, and the United States is hardly the only country to blame. Still, we are the world’s leading power, and it’s incumbent on us to set the example. If we won’t do the right thing, what hope is there anyone else will? But good luck with that. The Trump administration


Pump the brakes on Maryland’s highway-widening proposal

It is alarming that Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) initially pushed for a vote on pursuing a private-public partnership for the proposed toll lanes on the Capital Beltway and Interstate 270 while Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp (D) was on a long-planned vacation. Thankfully, he reconsidered [“Hogan delays toll vote until officials return,” Metro, May 4]. The ramifications of this proposal would greatly affect the public’s safety and well-being — and it shouldn’t be rushed. Along with the risks detailed in the grim U.N. report on biodiversity [“Extinctions put humans at grave risk, report warns,” front page, May 7], the ramifications of climate change could be devastating. We must not take down more trees, pave more ground, allow more cars on the roads and disrupt more wildlife habitats. Fouling of air and water, noise pollution, and loss of acres of trees, parkland and the YMCA would be devastating to the residents of this area. And, because of the possible burden to taxpayers, the scrutiny of the treasurer is vital. Joyce Stocker We who actually live Nan Wellins


Our satellites are prime targets for a cyberattack. And things could get worse.

satellites or the Internet they plan to provide. SpaceX, like other private space companies, has shared virtually no information about its cybersecurity efforts or plans. This is extremely disconcerting, considering the potential ramifications of a satellite being hacked. The most mundane outcome is that the satellite will no longer function, but the other extreme is for an attacker to break into a satellite and take over any thrusters (which SpaceX has insisted its satellites will have) and then propel the satellite into critical infrastructure and military satellites in other orbits. In other words, attackers could possibly use the hacked satellite as a kinetic weapon. There has long been a void of attention to securing space infrastructure, ranging from space-faring rovers to satellite ground-control systems that manage all the space-based assets. Virtually no policy or oversight agency exists concerning securing space assets — something I’ve discussed with government leadership to little avail. While the FCC regulates communications, it should not necessarily be responsible for all things space security. Perhaps the new Space Development Agency could be. This leaves space security in the hands of the private sector, which is exploiting the recent ease of access to space. The advent of small satellites known as CubeSats offers the chance to launch a satellite into orbit for as little as $30,000 . And because the government wants to encourage economic activity in this area, requirements to do so are extremely light. This leaves those who are creating the satellites responsible for the cybersecurity of their assets, which is not usually part of the rocket scientist’s traditional skill set. As a space cybersecurity researcher, I am excited about the renewed interest in space from both the commercial and exploratory perspectives. But we need to be strategic about the security of these space systems. Unlike “Internet of things” devices such as baby monitors, which we purchase for less than $100 and discard or sell once a new model comes out, satellites often remain in orbit for much longer and are less dispensable. So if we don’t consider the cybersecurity of the space asset now, we’ll likely be dealing with the ramifications of that for several years to come. The lack of government intervention in satellite security does not mean that we can ignore cybersecurity as an issue. Private space companies such as SpaceX, OneWeb and Blue Origin need to join the conversation about cybersecurity and


Board chairman, two members resign from UMMS board

Three members of the University of Maryland Medical System board resigned Tuesday, including chair Stephen A. Burch, the latest development in a self-dealing scandal that has engulfed the hospital system and led to the resignation last week of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh (D). Burch’s and board member Kevin O’Connor’s resignations are effective July 1; board member Scott Rifkin resigned effective immediately, the hospital system said in a news release. The Baltimore Sun first reported in March that several UMMS board members, including Pugh, had business deals with the system they oversaw, which were in some cases worth millions of dollars. Pugh, who was also on the board, gave up that seat weeks ago; several other board members have also resigned or are on leave. Interim chief executive John Ashworth said Rifkin’s resignation was part of the system’s “effort to prevent conflicts and increase transparency.” Rifkin provided software for the hospital system from his company, Real Time Medical Systems. He said he offered the software free and considered it a donation to the hospital system. Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said Tuesday that he has been “very clear that the hospital system has a lot of work to do to restore public trust.” “This is another important step in that process,” Hogan said of the resignations. The Maryland General Assembly passed legislation this year that would dissolve the UMMS board in several stages, require members to reapply, and bar members from holding single-source contracts with the system. Ashworth thanked Burch, O’Connor and Rifkin in a statement, saying they brought “invaluable experience and perspective to the Board.” Robert A. Chrencik, the president and chief executive of UMMS, resigned last month — one day after federal agents searched Baltimore City Hall and Pugh’s home in a highly visible indication of a federal criminal case over lucrative book deals Pugh made with private businesses, including UMMS. rachel.chason@washpost.com


Inclusiveness is the new normal at the James Beard Awards

wildest dream.” He then dedicated his medal to “my ancestors who have worked in kitchens for hundreds of years, with no recognition and no choice, just in order to survive.” With his victory in the rising star category, Onwuachi joined a distinguished list of chefs, including Daniela Soto-Innes of Cosme in New York City; Danny Bowien of Mission Chinese Food in San Francisco; David Chang of Momofuku Noodle Bar in New York; Traci Des Jardins of the shuttered Rubicon in San Francisco; and Marcus Samuelsson when he cooked at Aquavit in New York. Onwuachi’s mother, Jewel Robinson, a caterer and chef herself, was in the audience to watch her son win the award, the capstone to a turbulent, two-year period in which Onwuachi closed his dream restaurant, Shaw Bijou, and then resurrected his career at Kith and Kin. “She was screaming,” Onwuachi said to The Washington Post on Monday. “That award is just as much hers as it is mine.” To celebrate, Onwuachi, his mother and his fiancee, Mya Allen, had burgers at Au Cheval. “We had cheeseburgers, french fries and Coke and called it a night,” he said. Also among the honorees was Patrick O’Connell, the five-time James Beard Award winner and the chef/owner behind Inn at Little Washington, which earned its third Michelin star last year. O’Connell received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his four decades of work at the Inn, which he famously created out of an old garage with the help of his then-partner, Reinhardt Lynch. “I’m living proof that you can hide out in a mountain village and still be discovered and recognized by your peers,” O’Connell said in receiving the award. O’Connell’s honor was a moment of pride for the LGBTQ community. The Beard Foundation’s efforts for inclusiveness will continue to feed on itself, generating more and more diversity as the years go by, said Onwuachi. “They are setting an example for the rest of the industry,” he said. “It also empowers you to believe that I can do it, you know. If this person can do it, I can do it . . . That’s what it’s really all about.” More from Voraciously: With a single typo, Trump turns a German holiday bread into a Twitter star Burger King’s Impossible Whopper is going national. Is that bad news for small restaurants? Pineapple on pizza is easy to hate — at least in theory


Pulitzer Prize-winning Reuters reporters freed from prison in Myanmar

HONG KONG — Two Pulitzer-winning Reuters journalists held in Myanmar for more than 500 days for their coverage of the crackdown on Rohingya Muslims were freed from jail Tuesday, ending a prolonged detention that tainted Myanmar and its Nobel laureate civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were released as part of an annual amnesty that has freed thousands of prisoners since last month. An additional 6,000 people were released Tuesday. Myanmar officials offered no immediate explanation for the release of the two journalists, who had exhausted all their legal options after Myanmar’s highest court rejected their appeal late last month. But Suu Kyi — winner of the Nobel Peace Prize — has been under significant pressure from Vice President Pence and others to intervene in the case and free the journalists. She had defended their detention and said they were not jailed for their reporting but because they were convicted of breaking colonial-era state secrecy laws. The two journalists were accused in December 2017 of possessing secret documents but were widely believed to have been set up. In September they were convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison. The journalists and their lawyers have insisted that they were merely doing their jobs as reporters, never had the chance to read the documents before they were detained and had not been planning to share state secrets. The pair has received multiple honors and awards for their investigation into a massacre of 10 Rohingya Muslims, the story they were working on at the time of their arrest. These include the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting, which they won in April. Their Reuters colleagues posted video and photos of the two journalists Tuesday walking out of the gates of Yangon’s Insein prison, smiling and each carrying a single bag with their few possessions. They were mobbed by photographers and onlookers upon their exit. “I’m really happy and excited to see my family and my colleagues,” Wa Lone said in brief comments, thanking everyone around the world who helped secure his freedom. “I can’t wait to go to my newsroom.” The 33-year-old is the father of a baby girl who was born while he was jailed. Kyaw Soe Oo, 29, also has a young daughter. Their wives had repeatedly appealed to the Myanmar government to pardon their husbands. The two journalists have become a symbol of Myanmar’s


The Catalan independence movement is not behind the rise of Spain’s far right

linking the Catalan independence movement to the growth of the extreme right. This fiction is now underpinning the administrative and political recentralization of the kingdom of Spain. An accurate analysis of the election results of April 28 shows that, in fact, Vox has gained a lot of support from conservatives who traditionally have voted for the PP or the more recently established center-right party Ciudadanos, according to polling by the Center for Sociological Research. In other words, this extremist vote already existed and is not new. The real phenomenon that Spain has experienced is not the emergence of the extreme right but rather its fragmentation into three different formations that are competing for this space. The far right, part of the legacy of Franco’s dictatorship in Spain, had been sitting quietly because 40 years of dictatorship prevented their rapid entrance in the political system. However, the threatening and violent response of the Spanish government against the peaceful and democratic Catalan process endorsed the discourse of the extreme right, which they previously had not dared to express openly. The biggest parties in Spain have legitimized the idea that the unity of Spain is more important than respect for democracy and justice. This argument has normalized a political attitude central to the Spanish extreme right. If Spain had reacted democratically to the peaceful demands of the Catalan people (such as that of Britain toward Scotland or Canada toward Quebec) Spanish right-wing extremism would not have had the endorsement of the political system in espousing its radical and antidemocratic ideas. But this is why we must not retreat from our defense of democracy. Indeed, the best response to fascism or, in this case, to ultranationalism, will always be to promote peace, free information and the unity of democrats. Catalonia will keep moving forward to gain recognition for its right to self-determination through peace and democracy. We hope that Spain will rise to the occasion and give a 21st-century democratic response: that the Catalans should decide on their political future through a referendum. Read more: Anne Applebaum: Want to build a far-right movement? Spain’s Vox party shows how. Carl Bildt: Far-right parties across Europe play on a common theme: Fear Naomi Mezey: It’s not just Catalan separatists. Democracy is also on trial in Spain. María Ramírez: How a right-wing party exploited Spain’s divisions to win Sebastian Mallaby: The case for a second Brexit referendum


One million species face extinction, U.N. report says. And humans will suffer as a result.

One million plant and animal species are on the verge of extinction, with alarming implications for human survival, according to a United Nations report released Monday. The landmark report by seven lead co-authors from universities across the world goes further than previous studies by directly linking the loss of species to human activity. It also shows how those losses are undermining food and water security, as well as human health. More plants and animals are threatened with extinction now than any other period in human history, it concludes. Nature’s current rate of decline is unparalleled, and the accelerating rate of extinctions “means grave impacts on people around the world are now likely," it says. In a prepared statement, Robert Watson, a British chemist who served as the panel’s chairman, said the decline in biodiversity is eroding “the foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide.” Nearly 150 authors from 50 nations worked for three years to compile the report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services — a panel with 132 member nations, including the United States. Representatives of each member nation signed off on the findings. The authors urge the world’s governments to address the global decline of biodiversity together with human-caused climate change. The warming climate is a major driver that is exacerbating the effects of overfishing, widespread pesticide use, pollution and urban expansion into the natural world. For example, ocean ecosystems are degrading as temperatures rise toward 2 degrees Celsius — 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit — above preindustrial levels, the study warns. Coral reefs lost to warming and acidifying oceans could cause a collapse in commercial and indigenous fisheries, affecting billions of coastal residents who rely on seafood for protein. “Once you get to basically 2 degrees Celsius, the models show that only 1 percent can survive,” Watson said. “Let’s be quite candid. We’re not on the pathway to 2 degrees Celsius. We’re on a pathway to 3, 3 ½ degrees Celsius. The coral system is truly in trouble.” The report emphasizes the effects humans have on animals that are key to their own survival. Pesticides sprayed by farmers kill pollinators such as bees and other insects will likely to have a devastating effect on crops. Homeowners contribute to the problem by purchasing “bug zappers” that target mosquitoes but also eliminate key pollinators such as butterflies and moths, as well


Business as usual is not acceptable when it comes to protecting our planet

scrubby habitat — especially when humans struggling with poverty see opportunities to develop zones that are unsightly and seemingly unused. In fact, these areas, particularly the threatened tropics, hold vast value to human beings. “An estimated 4 billion people rely primarily on natural medicines for their health care and some 70 percent of drugs used for cancer are natural or are synthetic products inspired by nature,” the report notes. “More than 75 percent of global food crop types, including fruits and vegetables and some of the most important cash crops such as coffee, cocoa and almonds, rely on animal pollination.” Plants, the oceans and other natural features clean the air and water, and they suck up much — though not enough — of the planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions that threaten human society. Preserving biological diversity preserves options and opportunities — to develop the next lifesaving drug, improve crops or adapt to environmental changes. Yet “the rate of global change in nature during the past 50 years is unprecedented in human history.” Degradation has cut productivity across a quarter of the planet’s lands. A quarter- to a half-trillion dollars in agricultural production could be lost as pollinators die off. The disappearance of coastal protections such as coral reefs puts hundreds of millions of people at risk of flood and storm surge. More than 85 percent of Earth’s wetlands are gone. Coral reefs are perishing. Overall, land-based native species have dropped by at least a fifth. “Around 1 million species already face extinction, many within decades, unless action is taken to reduce the intensity of drivers of biodiversity loss,” the report finds. Governments first must stop encouraging the degradation. Some $345 billion in fossil fuel subsidies translate into total costs of $5 trillion when the decline in nature’s bounties is factored in. Relying on massive bioenergy production could decimate natural habitats. Setting aside lands in national parks helps and should continue, particularly as climate change drives species out of existing sanctuaries, but just as important is enforcing those protections. Developed countries are doing a better job of managing their fisheries, but the developing world must crack down on rampant overfishing. Transforming urban environments to include more green roofs, parks and water bodies can help. Perhaps most important is reforming agriculture so more can be grown on less land and with less disturbance of nearby unexploited areas. Business as usual is not acceptable.


World Digest: May 6, 2019

MYANMAR Reuters reporters freed from prison Two prizewinning Reuters journalists held in Myanmar for more than 500 days for their coverage of the crackdown on Rohingya Muslims were freed from jail Tuesday, their news agency reported, citing witnesses at the prison. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were arrested in December 2017 and later charged with violation of the country’s colonial-era secrets act. They were accused of possessing secret documents but were widely believed to have been set up and entrapped. The pair have been bestowed with multiple honors and awards over their investigation into a massacre of Rohingya Muslims, the story they were working on at the time of their arrest. These include the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting, which they won in April. Reuters on Tuesday posted a video and photos of the two journalists walking out of jail, taken at some distance. The pair were smiling and appeared healthy. They were released as part of a mass presidential amnesty, which saw thousands freed to mark the traditional new year holiday last month. This was the third such amnesty held since the new year. — Shibani Mahtani PANAMA Cortizo declared victor in presidential race Panama’s Electoral Tribunal has declared opposition candidate Laurentino Cortizo the winner of the country’s presidential election. The court said Cortizo, a member of the Democratic Revolutionary Party, or PRD, won 33 percent of the vote, with 95 percent of ballots counted from the Sunday election. It said Cortizo will be formally named president-elect on Thursday. Second-place candidate Rómulo Roux, a member of former president Ricardo Martinelli’s Democratic Change party, won 31 percent of the vote but has not conceded defeat. He suggested that the race was marred by irregularities. The campaign, focused on corruption and slowing economic growth in this Central American trade and financial hub, turned into the tightest presidential contest in recent years. The PRD, which has social-democratic leanings, will return to power for the third time since Panama’s transition to democracy three decades ago after the end of a military-led regime. There is no runoff in Panama, so the top vote-getter in the field of seven mostly business-friendly candidates wins outright and takes office July 1 for a five-year term. The election followed money-laundering revelations in the Panama Papers that dinged the country’s reputation on the world stage. The trove of secret financial documents showed how some of the world’s richest


The Energy 202: Trump administration heeds oil and gas industry calls to remove protections for imperiled beetle

THE LIGHTBULB The Trump administration said it plans to weaken protections for a beetle facing a threat of extinction from climate change, a move welcomed by oil and natural gas drillers lobbying for the change. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced last week a proposal to change the status of the American burying beetle from “endangered” to merely “threatened,” which would make it easier for oil and gas producers who must work around the insect when drilling and laying pipeline. With that change in status, which has yet to be finalized, energy producers and other businesses in oil-rich Oklahoma would no longer need to seek out federal permits to operate in the insect’s habitat. Ranchers there and in other states to the north, including Nebraska and South Dakota, would also be exempt from what many of them see as those cumbersome procedures. Jeff Eshelman, a spokesman for the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), which initially asked the federal government to review its endangered declaration for the beetle, said the “status change is welcome news.” But environmental advocates lashed out at the decision to lift the 30-year-old protections on the species. They say it’s ironic since the beetle is imperiled by climate change, but removing protections will allow easier oil and gas drilling will only contribute to rising temperatures. And the decision came just before a United Nations panel issued a major report warning that the world is on the brink of losing up to one million plant and animal species to extinction. In explaining its decision, the Fish and Wildlife Service said it is beyond its power to save the species in the southern part of its range — which includes much of eastern Oklahoma along with parts of Arkansas, Kansas and Texas — from the biggest threat it faces there: climate change. Biologists for the agency concluded that higher temperatures and lower soil moisture there over the next three decades will make much of the area too inhospitable for the insect. “Even with the most aggressive reductions in climate change models,” said Kevin Stubbs, an Oklahoma-based biologist for the Fish and Wildlife Service, “it wasn’t going to change the fact that the temperatures down here were going to rise above levels we think would support the beetle.” That reasoning didn’t cut it for environmentalists. “They’re basically throwing their hands up,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director for


‘America First’ may be last hope for these cattle ranchers

a herd of horses to Alaska. His father later opted to run a sawmill rather than a ranch. So when Ted and his wife, Debbie, launched their operation in 1985, they had only 10 head of cattle. “We started from scratch,” he said. “We didn’t inherit anything.” Today, they own about 750 Hereford cattle, which spend winter months in Paterson and the rest of the year near Colville, north of Spokane. It would take three tons of hay per head of cattle to keep the herd alive up north during the winter, which is why Ted and George bring them here to graze on corn stalks and wheat. On a recent day, father and son drove across the pasture in their 2006 Dodge Ram pickup with 300,000 miles on it. Shotgun shells rattled on the dashboard, available if needed to deal with the coyotes that threaten the herd. As cattle prices rose and fell in recent years, the Wishons became convinced they were the victims of foreign forces, including the WTO and large meatpackers. From $79 per 100 pounds in December 2009, prices soared to a peak of $171 in November 2014, before plunging to $94 in late 2016 and recovering now to about $115. Bill Bullard, chief executive of the 5,000-member R-CALF, said mandatory product labeling would allow domestic cattle to command higher prices. The larger National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), representing about 175,000 cattle producers, feeders and meatpackers, insists that’s not true. The association, which backs voluntary labels, cites a 2015 study for the U.S. Agriculture Department, which “found little evidence that consumers would be likely to increase their purchases of food items bearing U.S.-origin labels.” The controversy dates to 2008, when Congress required mandatory labels for beef and pork. But when the labeling rules were in effect, only animals that were born, raised and slaughtered in the United States qualified as “Product of USA.” Major meatpackers objected to the added cost of tracking and separating live animals, an expense that was passed along to some ranchers. Kevin Kester, a rancher in San Luis Obispo, Calif., whose herd includes cattle from Mexico, said the measure had added a six-figure sum to his annual costs. “We had to quit producing the Mexican cattle. It had a huge negative impact on my family ranching business,” said Kester, a former NCBA president. Mexico and Canada, which ship about 2 million live


5 things to know about Highline RxR, coming to Crystal City in February

to make the window wall, which took a while," Bayne says. "There were a lot of moving parts." If all goes well, Highline will serve its first guests on Monday, Feb. 2. Here's what you need to know about the new arrival. Yes, it's designed to evoke that other Highline. There's a stage, but … The Highline team is soliciting ideas through its Web site, highlinerxr.com, Bayne says, so you should write in if you're interested in supporting live music. Bayne says the response so far has been "a huge desire for something new and cool, that's not a chain restaurant. We've gotten 'Please have a great happy hour.' 'Please have craft beer.'" Current entertainment plans include a weekly trivia night with District Trivia, which runs the games at sister bars Buffalo Billiards, Penn Social and Carpool. Look for craft beer, draft wine and plenty of whiskey. Abby Sexton, formerly of Mockingbird Hill, put together the beverage program, and she promises there will be at least 38 bourbons, ryes and Scotches, including some specially ordered varieties that aren't easily available in Virginia, thanks to the state's alcohol laws. "I want to get beyond Macallan and Glenfiddich, though we'll obviously have those," she says. Each week, a different selection of whiskies will be discounted to encourage sampling. Unusually for Bedrock, Highline will also have a cocktail program, overseen by Sexton, with a mix of "some craft cocktails and some classic cocktails. I don't want to adhere to any one approach." She envisions putting a traditional Hemingway Daiquiri on the menu next to a Paloma variation that uses grapefruit-flavored Stiegl Radler instead of the usual grapefruit soda. It's not just a bar. For fuel, the menu consists primarily of sandwiches and snacks at the moment: Think beer and cheese soup, BLTs and bacon nuts (a mix of seasoned walnuts, pecans and almonds cooked with bacon.) Healthy options include salads and veggie dishes, including a few vegan items. Food specials will launch four to six weeks after the bar opens, and provisionally include Taco Tuesday and a weekly fried chicken offering to go with the bourbon deals. You might not see any TVs, but they're there. Looking for something to do besides staring at a screen? There are free board games to borrow, and a selection of arcade games, ranging from Ms. Pac-Man to Terminator: Salvation. Highline RxR, 2010 Crystal Dr., Arlington. www.highlinerxr.com.


Healthy food is an app click away, but we’re eating more junk than ever. How did we get here?

“Are we living in a food paradise or a food hell?” Yes. That contradiction is at the heart of British food journalist Bee Wilson’s astute, wide-ranging “The Way We Eat Now: How the Food Revolution Has Transformed Our Lives, Our Bodies, and Our World.” In our modern world, organic and locally sourced favorites are an app click away, as is a veritable United Nations of carefully prepared, delicious food from around the globe. But we’re also stuffing our faces with record quantities of processed, high-calorie, low-nutrient faux food, making ourselves fat and ill. Popular authors and documentarians like Robert Kenner, Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser and Morgan Spurlock have delivered such news before. What Wilson brings to the table is a big-picture global synthesis. She explains how a storm of factors have combined to turn humanity into a collective Augustus Gloop. What’s to blame? Among the contributors she details are evolutionary biology, international investment in junk-food companies, restaurant marketing and portion inflation, family and work changes, a flood of cheap vegetable oil, relentless snack promotion in developing nations, the rise of restaurant home-delivery services, and the way our brains don’t register high calories in liquid form. Faced with 40,000 items in a supermarket, she explains, most of us simply buy and eat too much. Some of us cope with the overload of choices by restricting our diets — gluten free, vegetarian, vegan, paleo, liquid — occasionally descending into eating disorders. We glom onto the latest fad food to the point of screwing up global nutrition patterns. (Our quinoa fetish has raised prices so high that many Bolivians who produce the protein-rich grain can no longer afford to eat it.) Or we give up on traditional food altogether, ingesting bleh-tasting, over-sugared protein bars and sports drinks the same way we’d fill our cars with gas. Wilson brings bountiful sources to her economic, sociological and medical brain food. And she makes it surprisingly palatable through her self-deprecating humor, relatable recollections of her own binge-eating and colorful globe-trotting examples. She writes like the busy mom that she is, caught up as we all are in the whirlwind schedules and demands of modern life. While she promotes civilized, set-aside mealtimes when possible, she eschews an overly nostalgic view of centuries past in which women spent hours a day preparing meals because they had no freakin’ choice. She also has an endearingly single-minded grudge against bland


‘He is wrong’: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s family calls him out for anti-vaccine conspiracy theories

and removed it from its website. He has continued to write and give speeches on the repeatedly debunked claims that vaccines cause autism and leads a group called the Children’s Health Defense, which propagates misinformation about risks posed by vaccines. In 2000, measles was declared eliminated from the United States, thanks to the country’s vaccination practices. But 764 measles cases across 23 states have been reported as of May 3, according to the latest CDC numbers. The latest U.S. outbreaks are believed to be caused by travelers bringing the virus from countries having large measles outbreaks. When unvaccinated people are exposed, they are susceptible to becoming infected with the highly contagious virus. The disease can spread quickly within communities where not enough people are vaccinated to prevent an outbreak. Anti-vaccine sentiment has taken hold in several spots across the United States, creating dangerous conditions for the spread of the virus. Some communities in Washington state have low vaccination rates because of parents’ belief that the shots will harm their children. The Washington state legislature has passed a bill that would make it harder for parents to opt their children out of the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine. It is awaiting the signature of Gov. Jay Inslee (D). A vaccine misinformation campaign targeting Orthodox Jews in New York City is thought to have made the community vulnerable to the virus. There have been 466 confirmed cases of measles in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens since September, according to the city’s health department. Most of the cases have involved the Jewish community. Last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the outbreaks were posing an increasing public health risk. “We have come a long way in fighting infectious diseases in America, but we risk backsliding and seeing our families, neighbors, and communities needlessly suffer from preventable diseases,” Azar said. In April, the Food and Drug Administration issued a stern and lengthy statement by Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, urging Americans to vaccinate. “We cannot state strongly enough,” Marks said, “The overwhelming scientific evidence shows that vaccines are among the most effective and safest interventions to both prevent individual illness and protect public health.” Lena Sun contributed to this report. Read more: U.S. officials say measles cases hit 25-year record high GOP legislator attacks top vaccine scientist on Twitter, accusing him of self-enrichment, ‘sorcery’


Arrests at Hopkins in protest over creation of campus police force

Seven people were arrested Wednesday morning at Johns Hopkins University as Baltimore police reopened an administrative building where the doors had been chained shut for a week in a protest over issues including the creation of a separate campus police force. Baltimore police and Hopkins officials said trespassers who had seized control of Garland Hall were offered “full amnesty” in an operation that started before 5 a.m. They were given chances to leave the building without being charged, police said, but some chose not to leave. Five people were arrested for alleged trespassing, and two more were arrested for allegedly blocking traffic as police vehicles sought to leave the scene. Police said no one was injured in the incident. A Hopkins official said some of those arrested appeared to be students. A Facebook group called JHU Sit-In denounced the police action and praised “our brave comrades who were arrested.” The group said: “Over 80 cops were deployed to arrest 7 people. This is a terrible foreshadowing of what Johns Hopkins will do when granted a full armed police force.” Tensions have been simmering for weeks at Hopkins and in surrounding communities over plans to create a separate campus police force. The Democratic-controlled state legislature approved a bill allowing the move, and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) signed it. The launch of the Hopkins force, with up to 100 officers, will be a multiyear process. Campus police forces are fairly common at colleges and universities across the country. Hopkins officials said the move was needed to help meet the university’s security needs at multiple campuses in a city with significant public safety issues. Critics say a private force of armed officers under the control of Hopkins could harm relations between the university and Baltimore neighborhoods and produce a climate of fear and intimidation. Protesters began a sit-in at Garland Hall on April 3, demanding a stop to plans for the Hopkins force and the cancellation of contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that provide the agency with training in emergency medical services and leadership education. The building houses the offices of Ronald J. Daniels, the university president, and core administrative units such as the financial aid and registrar’s offices. On May 1, the university said it was forced to evacuate its personnel from Garland as protesters chained shut the exterior doors and covered interior security cameras. “The university has gone


Noticed an invasion of blue jays? You’re not alone. We’re in a bird bonanza.

season. “We’ve all noticed a lot of black-throated blue warblers,” she said. “All the warblers are coming through. Hummingbirds are back.” Saturday is World Migratory Bird Day. Laura is celebrating by going on a competitive birdathon, seeing how many different species her four-person team — called Two Drakes, a Hen & a Chick — can spot. “We’ll stay out about 18 to 20 hours,” she said, and hope to identify around 120 species. “We have a route we’ve fine-tuned over the last 10 years in Prince William and Fairfax counties. . . . Believe it or not, the transfer station on I-95 is an awesome birding location.” Wanna see birds in your backyard? “The easiest thing is to have a bird feeder up,” Laura said. “Really the most important thing is to have native plants and create a habitat in your yard.” I counted six blue jays in my backyard, but I lost count of the little red bugs in my front yard, which for some reason have been swarming the exterior of my Kia Soul this week. Are they aphids? “Clover mites,” said Mike Raupp, professor of entomology at the University of Maryland. The pinhead-sized insects are in the clover right now — literally and figuratively. “Clover is a favorite food plant,” Mike said. “There are a number of things they will eat in the landscape: clover, grasses, many different kinds of ornamental plants.” Mike explained that they overwintered in my yard as eggs, waiting. “These are the perfect conditions,” he said. “As we transition from a very cool, kind of damp spring and then — bam — into 80 degrees, that’s when we tend to see these guys explode.” Bugs don’t bother me, though I was a little discomfited by the dozens of crimson mites ambling over my car’s windshield. Fortunately, unless you’re a plant, they won’t bite you. “The real issue with these is when they move into people’s homes,” Mike said. “And they will.” Oh, great. “If you crush them on the curtains or on fabric upholstery, they’re going to stain it,” he said. “That red pigment you see is going to transfer over. The best thing to do is get out the vacuum and hold it a half inch above them and suck them up.” Mike said you can prevent them getting in in the first place by leaving a plant-free barrier of 18 to


I lost count of the little red bugs in my front yard, which for some reason have been swarming the exterior of my Kia Soul this week. Are they aphids? “Clover mites,” said Mike Raupp, professor of entomology at the University of Maryland. The pinhead-sized insects are in the clover right now — literally and figuratively. “Clover is a favorite food plant,” Mike said. “There are a number of things they will eat in the landscape: clover, grasses, many different kinds of ornamental plants.” Mike explained that they overwintered in my yard as eggs, waiting. “These are the perfect conditions,” he said. “As we transition from a very cool, kind of damp spring and then — bam — into 80 degrees, that’s when we tend to see these guys explode.” Bugs don’t bother me, though I was a little discomfited by the dozens of crimson mites ambling over my car’s windshield. Fortunately, unless you’re a plant, they won’t bite you. “The real issue with these is when they move into people’s homes,” Mike said. “And they will.” Oh, great. “If you crush them on the curtains or on fabric upholstery, they’re going to stain it,” he said. “That red pigment you see is going to transfer over. The best thing to do is get out the vacuum and hold it a half inch above them and suck them up.” Mike said you can prevent them getting in in the first place by leaving a plant-free barrier of 18 to 24 inches around the foundation of your house and filling it with mulch or decorative gravel. “Kind of create a no man’s land — let’s say a no-bug’s land — that these things don’t like to cross,” Mike said. Just as birders are excited about the spring songbird migration, so buggers are excited by the energy in the insect world. “The solitary bees are out buzzing,” Mike said. Solitary bees? “Some people call them sweat bees,” he said. “These are the guys that make the world go around. The honey bee is a nonnative insect brought over by the colonists to pollinate the nonnative plants we like to eat: apples, cherries, pumpkins. ...” While honey bees live in colonies, solitary bees are solo-practitioners, pollinating native plants. “Every female is a queen,” Mike said. I liked that image. Spring is in the air. Lots of other things are, too. john.kelly@washpost.com Twitter: @johnkelly


U.S. issues new sanctions against Iran on anniversary of Trump’s withdrawal from nuclear deal

The Trump administration issued new sanctions against Iran on Wednesday targeting its metal exports, hours after the Iranian president threatened to start enriching more uranium if it doesn’t get relief from U.S. measures that are crippling its economy. The new sanctions included in an executive order signed by President Trump apply to Iranian iron, steel, aluminum and copper. The measure comes exactly one year after Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 nuclear agreement that lifted U.S. and international sanctions on Iran in exchange for limits on its nuclear program. In the past year, the United States has designated nearly 1,000 Iranian individuals and entities for sanctions and is attempting to drive its oil revenue down to “zero.” Even as its economy has cratered, Iran has continued to meet its commitments made in the nuclear deal, according to inspections made by the International Atomic Energy Agency. But as the anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal approached, tensions between Washington and Tehran ratcheted up, and the United States is deployee a aircraft carrier and bomber group to the Persian Gulf. The United States has said the sanctions will only be lifted if Iran fundamentally changes its behavior and character. In the past year, Iran exported a total of $5.5 billion of products using the four targeted industrial metals, according to Iranian customs data analyzed by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. The materials also are used in Iran’s ballistic missile program. In a statement, Trump said the newest sanctions target a sector that generates 10 percent of its export revenue. “Tehran can expect further actions unless it fundamentally alters its conduct,” Trump said. “Since our exit from the Iran deal, which is broken beyond repair, the United States has put forward 12 conditions that offer the basis of a comprehensive agreement with Iran. I look forward to someday meeting with the leaders of Iran in order to work out an agreement and, very importantly, taking steps to give Iran the future it deserves.” The new round of sanctions duplicate sanctions already in place and are likely to have little impact. Financial sanctions already bar some trade in iron, steel and aluminum for companies around the world. Ryan Costello, policy director for the National Iranian American Council, said the administration’s policy of drying up any economic benefits for Iran explains why Tehran appears more willing to abandon the agreement, too. “Sanctions are


Who’s having a cow over meatless meats?

The May 4 front-page article “From lab to table: Can cell-cultured meat win over Americans ? ” noted that the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association jealously guards the use of the word “beef.” Very well; perhaps the producers of veggie burgers or cultured meats can come up with some other names. “Cruelty-free” is clear. How about “painless patties” for another? Ellis Burruss Regarding the May 3 It is not surprising that Beyond Meat had a successful initial public offering, with the company valued at more than $3 billion . Plant-based meat options are expanding so rapidly that we need a scorecard to keep up. Burger King, Carl’s Jr., White Castle and many others are offering next-generation plant-based meat products. Shoppers can find new products everywhere from Whole Foods to Walmart. There is constant news of another successful debut (e.g., Burger King’s rapid expansion of the Impossible Whopper from test to nation), another outlet planning to add plant-based options, or another major investor or fundraising round for these companies. The smart move now for businesses and investors is to try to get ahead of the curve, even as the growth of this market accelerates. Bruce Friedrich The writer is the executive director of the Good Food Institute.