Abiy Ahmed pulls off an astonishing turnaround for Ethiopia

in a cycle of unrest, repression and more unrest. Stability in East Africa’s largest country, with a population of more than 100 million, appeared to be crumbling, while the once-booming economy was facing a debt crisis. All of this was bad news for the United States, for which Ethiopia has been a key ally in combating terrorism in nearby Somalia. So it’s more than worth cheering the rush of developments in Addis Ababa during the past few weeks, which signal an astonishing turnaround under a new and dynamic young leader. In the The immediate effect of this reconciliation campaign has been to stem ethnic unrest that had been threatening to tear Ethiopia apart. Mr. Abiy, who at 41 is one of the youngest leaders in Africa, is an Oromo, a group that makes up one-third of Ethiopia’s population. Oromo-populated areas around the capital were the starting point for anti-government demonstrations beginning in 2015 that eventually spread to other areas, including those populated by ethnic Amhara. The government responded harshly: By the end of last year, at least 700 people had been reported killed and thousands imprisoned. Fortunately, a majority in the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, which has ruled the country autocratically for 27 years, concluded that change was necessary. Early this year, a notorious prison was closed and the first releases of political prisoners began; in February, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, who has been in office since 2012, was forced to submit his resignation. A few weeks later came the unexpected appointment of Mr. Abiy, who appears to have the backing of Oromo and Amhara factions within the ruling coalition. His first act was to deliver a powerful inaugural speech in which he apologized for the killing of demonstrators and welcomed dissent — a stance no Ethiopian government has adopted in modern times. It remains to be seen whether Mr. Abiy can sustain his reform drive, which is sure to draw opposition from regime hard-liners. A key question will be whether economic reforms, including the sale of shares to foreign investors in large state companies and the privatization of others, will bring in enough hard currency to allow payments on foreign debts and ease import bottlenecks. A return of economic dynamism would go far to address the long-festering unrest; if that is accompanied by genuine political liberalization, the cause of democracy in Africa could get a historic boost.


Oklahoma residents grapple with faith, legalizing medical marijuana

As Presbyterian minister Bobby Griffith sees it, legalizing medical marijuana in Oklahoma could help arthritis sufferers with chronic pain and veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. The 41-year-old husband and father has a personal reason, too, for supporting State Question 788 — a pro-marijuana initiative that the Bible Belt state’s voters will decide June 26. “For myself, I would be interested in a prescription for it to see if it works better than my anxiety and depression medications,” said Griffith, co-pastor of a Presbyterian church near downtown Oklahoma City and a member of the national group Clergy for a New Drug Policy. As Griffith characterizes it, the Oklahoma ballot measure’s potential to improve health outcomes and reduce dependence on addictive opioid painkillers makes it a “moral issue.” Religious opponents counter that backing the issue would be immoral. Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), an ordained Southern Baptist pastor, blasts the ballot measure as a “recreational marijuana vote disguised as medical marijuana.” “The moral issue to me is really a family issue,” Lankford, who directed a Baptist youth camp before his 2010 election, told Religion News Service. “The best thing for our state is not to get more parents and grandparents to smoke marijuana,” added the senator, who filmed a commercial urging voters to reject State Question 788. “To have our communities more drug-addicted and distracted, that doesn’t help our families. It doesn’t make us more prosperous. It doesn’t make our schools more successful.” About 30 states have passed medical marijuana laws, starting with California in 1996, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Oklahoma would be the first to do so without listing qualifying conditions. That, assert critics, would allow doctors to issue two-year marijuana licenses to patients for any reason. The Oklahoma State Medical Association cites a lack of “evidence-based studies” to support medical marijuana. “It’s trying to trick the people of Oklahoma into buying into it,” said the Rev. Paul Abner, an Assembly of God pastor who leads an anti-marijuana coalition called Oklahoma Faith Leaders. On the other hand, Oklahomans for Health, the most vocal group rallying support for the ballot measure, says all patients and their doctors “should have the freedom to consider all available medical care options.” While that group has no overt religious message, faith arguments are prominent in a state where three out of four residents describe themselves in Gallup polling as “moderately religious” or “very


Jackie Kennedy’s childhood home sells for $43 million, setting a record

AOL co-founder Steve Case and his wife, Jean, just shattered a D.C.-area real estate record by selling their Virginia estate for a whopping $43 million. The duo, who have owned the residence dubbed Merrywood since 2005, sold it May 24 to the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, according to Fairfax County public records. The property was listed last June for $49.5 million. Merrywood, best known for being the childhood home of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, boasts nine bedrooms, 11 bathrooms and two half-baths, in addition to an exercise studio, indoor and outdoor pools and a lighted tennis court. The previous record for the most expensive home-sale transaction in the region was Robert and Elena Allbritton’s 2007 purchase of the Bowie-Sevier mansion in Georgetown for $24.56 million, according to Washington Business Journal. Trailing closely behind is Amazon founder Jeffrey P. Bezos’s $23 million purchase of the old textile museum in 2016. (Bezos owns The Washington Post.) But the Cases may not hold the home-sale record for long. Shortly after Case sold his home, the family of his former business partner James Kimsey listed his mega-estate, which includes a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home, for an unheard-of $62.59 million. The Kimsey family’s listing is the current record-holder for most expensive listing in the history of the D.C. area’s residential market. Read more: A new listing sets the record for the most expensive home to ever hit the D.C. area market


Rural America has too few dentists — but also too few jobs to create paying patients

to the West Virginia Oral Health Coalition, 43 percent of West Virginians ages 55 to 64 have lost six or more teeth because of disease or decay; 61 percent of residents older than 65 without a high school diploma have lost all their teeth. TOP: Lisa Haller of Junior, W.Va., right, sits with her children, Cheyenne Wyatt, 12, lower right, Serena Wyatt, 14, on chair, and Brayden Wyatt, 11, rear, who were getting adjustments to their braces at Beauchesne’s office last month. BOTTOM LEFT: Ashley Pase of Tunnelton, W.Va., waits to be seen by dentist Lynnel Beauchesne last month. Beauchesne estimates that her practice has 8,000 patients. BOTTOM RIGHT: Beauchesne and her 15-month-old daughter, Landyn, at her office. “I try to keep my prices in the realm of what people can afford and so they will want to come,” she says. Poor oral health has an impact beyond mere toothache. A landmark 2000 report by the U.S. Surgeon General found that oral health is intimately linked to people’s overall physical health and is often associated with serious systemic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease, as well as the likelihood of complications in pregnancy. Nevertheless, some 74 million Americans had no dental coverage in 2016, according to the National Association of Dental Plans, putting the dentally uninsured rate at nearly four times the rate for the medically uninsured. According to a 2014 report from the American Dental Association’s Health Policy Institute, nearly 20 percent of adults ages 21 to 64 said they’d foregone needed dental care in the past 12 months, with the most common reason being “could not afford the cost.” Patients’ inability to afford care is one reason younger dentists — many facing up to $250,000 in school debt — are reluctant to settle in rural areas and why dentists like Beauchesne find themselves working hard to keep their doors open. Chip Perrine has owned a practice in Cowen, W.Va., for 30 years. He and his daughter, Valerie, say they are the only privately practicing dentists in Webster County, which has about 8,300 residents, but they often have openings in their schedule. “I keep hearing we’re underserved, but I don’t feel I’m underserved — I feel underutilized,” he said. His son joined the practice after graduating from dental school but eventually left to start a practice elsewhere because he couldn’t afford to stay. “We are open to any


The Health 202: Donna Shalala supports Bernie Sanders-style health care. That wasn’t always the case.

is one step closer to legalizing marijuana, after its Senate passed legislation late last week to allow recreational use. Last year, Uruguay became the first country to legalize the production, sale and consumption of marijuana. Canada could be the second. Even though the drug is illegal recreationally, people 15 and older spent an estimated $5.7 billion in Canadian dollars on marijuana last year, Katie writes. The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has estimated the country could see $6.5 billion in legal retail sales by 2020 if the legislation becomes law, equivalent to about $5 billion in U.S. currency. — Trump told reporters last week first lady Melania Trump wouldn’t accompany him on foreign trips to Canada and Singapore following her surgery, revealing new details about the procedure to treat a benign kidney condition she underwent in May. “First lady is great. Right there!” Trump told reporters while pointing to the White House residence. “She wanted to go. Can’t fly for one month the doctors say. She had a big operation. That was close to a four-hour operation. And she’s doing great.” Trump said the first lady was staying at the White House due to doctor’s orders. Melania had directed her aides to release almost no information about her medical condition or detail why she spent five days at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Meanwhile, Melania Trump attended the Ford’s Theatre annual gala last night, one of the only public appearances she’s made since her surgery, Politico’s Brent D. Griffiths reports. — An obscure district court lawsuit over the Affordable Care Act became a potent threat to one of the health-care law's most popular provisions last week, when the Justice Department filed a brief arguing that next year its protections for people with preexisting conditions should be invalidated, "Approximately 52 million Americans under the age of 65 could find their access to health insurance at risk because of a wide range of preexisting conditions, from diabetes to cancer to pregnancy," “It would be essentially a return to what the individual market looked like before the ACA, where insurers would require applicants to fill out long questionnaires about their medical histories, and make decisions based on people’s health and how much to charge,” said Larry Levitt, a senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation. “Now we’re in the situation where very sick people have gotten insurance, and so changing the


Woman fatally shot in D.C. residence

A woman who was found dead inside a residence Sunday night in Southeast Washington was the victim of a homicide, a D.C. police spokesman said Monday. Police identified the victim as Wykeena Ferguson, 40, of Southeast Washington. A statement from police said the victim had been shot; police had earlier said she had been beaten to death. Police found Ferguson shortly before 7 p.m. in the 700 block of 12th Street SE. Authorities said the officers were responding to a call to check on the occupant. The area is just off Pennsylvania Avenue. The victim was pronounced dead on the scene. peter.hermann@washpost.com


Lily Lines: Look who’s getting a statue. Plus, The Lily has something to celebrate.

get a Wikipedia page). Please continue to send us comments and feedback: lily@washpost.com. West Virginia State University will honor alumna Katherine Johnson with a bronze statue and scholarship in her name. As a mathematician, Johnson worked as a human “computer” at the agency that became NASA, working in relative obscurity as a black woman. Her contributions were later recognized in the “Hidden Figures” movie. Trump nominates openly lesbian judge President Trump announced his first LGBTQ court pick on Thursday. He’s nominating Mary Rowland to be a federal judge in Illinois. Out of Trump’s nearly 140 district and circuit court nominees, she is the only one who is openly gay or lesbian. Nearly one-third of his judicial nominees have anti-LGBTQ records. Vatican open to role for women in the Amazon The Vatican says it is open to considering an official role for women and the ordination of married men to address a severe shortage of priests in the Amazon region, according to CNN. A blood test could predict preterm birth A new type of blood test can determine how far along a woman is in her pregnancy and how likely she is to give birth ahead of term. The test is still in early stages of development, according to National Geographic, but the team of scientists behind it says if it proceeds to commercial release, the test could allow pregnant women to more easily access this type of prenatal care and information. The test would be cheaper and easier to transport than ultrasound equipment. Spain’s history-making government Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez made history by appointing 10 female cabinet members, out of 16. The country’s new Socialist government is the first to boast a cabinet of more women than men. According to a 2017 United Nations study, women make up less than 10 percent of elected parliaments in nearly 40 percent of countries. Simona Halep wins first Grand Slam title Top-ranked tennis player Simona Halep won the French Open by defeating American Sloane Stephens 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. It is Halep’s first Grand Slam title. Halep is the second Romanian woman to win a Grand Slam singles trophy. Her manager, Virginia Ruzici, won the French Open 40 years ago. “We seem to finally be coming together instead of trying to get ahead of one another.” “Young women are becoming more politically involved. My friends and I who are in high school are


Air Force captain with top-secret clearance, who disappeared in 1983, is discovered living in California

he did this, he said, was because he was “depressed about being in the Air Force” — so he left, created a fictitious identity in California and never came back, investigators said. In the years after Hughes went missing, a slew of NASA catastrophes, such as the space shuttle Challenger disaster of 1986, as well as the explosion of the Ariane rocket in French Guiana, caused national security commentators to speculate whether the disasters were related and possibly the result of Soviet sabotage. Hughes’s disappearance, in the eyes of some, fit right into the puzzle. In a 1986 Los Angeles Times commentary titled “Sabotaged Missile Launches?” for example, the former longtime New York Times foreign correspondent Tad Szulc wrote: “The French and American accidents are adding up to a bizarre pattern, surrounded by strange coincidences and unexplained events, deeply preoccupying Western intelligence. These include the apparent defection to the Soviet Union in 1983 of the U.S. Air Force’s leading expert on rocket self-destruct procedures” — meaning Hughes. Quoting anonymous intelligence sources, Szulc wrote that the intelligence community feared Hughes had either been captured by Soviets or that he voluntarily defected. One such anonymous official said, “He is worth his weight in gold to the Russians in terms of future ‘Star Wars,’ if we have them.” Upon launching its investigation into Hughes, the Air Force did not immediately rule out defection as a possibility, according to 1984 newspaper accounts in the Albuquerque Journal in which a public affairs officer said it is one “option.” But eventually the Air Force and FBI said it had no evidence indicating any top-secret information had been leaked or that Hughes engaged in espionage. Although Hughes had access to “U.S. Secret and NATO Secret information,” the Air Force maintained that he was not carrying classified information with him on his trip to the Netherlands. Linda Card, a spokeswoman for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, told the Albuquerque Journal Sunday that to this day officials still do not have any evidence indicating leaks of classified information. But still, she said, the case remains under investigation. “Until we have the whole story,” she said, “we don’t have the story.” Hughes is awaiting pretrial proceedings for his desertion case at the Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, Calif. He faces up to five years of confinement, forfeiture of all pay and dishonorable discharge from the Air Force.


Trump takes aim at China’s tech sector. That could hurt U.S. innovation.

While Chinese PhD students typically remain in the United States, more and more of China’s overseas students are going home. Beijing reports that the number of students returning to China has approached 80 percent of the number of students going abroad in recent years — up from 31 percent in 2007. This shift reflects opportunities in China as well as the difficulty of securing work visas in the United States. China also benefits from the two-way flow of academic visitors. In 2017, the State Department issued 39,038 J-1 visas to individuals from China — nearly twice the number issued to U.K. citizens under the J-1 Visitor Exchange Program. Such visas often require recipients to return to their home country for at least two years at the end of the program. This “brain circulation” between China and the United States has helped generate a dramatic spike in scientific collaboration. The NSF reports that U.S. scientists and engineers published nearly 44,000 articles with Chinese counterparts in 2016, far more than they did with those of any other country. The United States is right to worry about China’s efforts to acquire advanced technologies. High-tech espionage by Chinese actors remains a real problem. Even legitimate attempts to acquire cutting-edge technology could augment China’s military capabilities. In some cases, however, tighter controls may disrupt productive collaborations without effectively protecting the U.S. technological lead. Tighter restrictions on Chinese students and visitors, for example, could undercut the two-way flow of brainpower between the United States and China. But if China already has a critical mass of top scientists, and if U.S. scientists publish their results immediately online, it’s hard to say which country would be hurt more as a result. Perhaps the greatest danger is that the United States becomes so fixated on protecting its technological lead that it neglects efforts to extend that lead. After all, the United States and China are not playing a football game with two minutes left on the clock. They are enmeshed in a complex relationship that will continue indefinitely. Some analysts call for the United States to invest in its own industrial policy, including spending on targeted research and public-private partnerships. Yet Washington can also encourage innovation without spending money. Maintaining net neutrality rules would help many start-up firms. Welcoming foreign entrepreneurs would help spur new business development. Measures like these might be unrealistic in Trump’s Washington. Yet if the


Lockheed Martin adds $100 million to its technology investment fund

Bethesda-based defense contractor Lockheed Martin has announced it will double the size of its technology investment fund from $100 million to $200 million, a move it says was enabled by tax savings under the Republican tax bill passed last year. The fund, which was started in 2014, makes small investments in start-ups whose technology might have military applications, bringing Lockheed into emerging fields such as self-piloting submarines, artificial intelligence and quantum computing. The goal is to absorb innovation that is happening outside of government-funded labs and reach out to organizations outside the Beltway. Defense contractors such as Lockheed are often criticized for falling behind West Coast firms when it comes to technology innovation. “There’s a growing sense that [large defense contractors] are missing out on commercial innovation, and the pace of commercial innovation is accelerating,” said Chris Moran, executive director of Lockheed Martin Ventures. Moran faces the daunting task of representing the world’s biggest defense contractor in a Silicon Valley tech scene where the work of military agencies is sometimes frowned upon. That cultural divide flared up last week when Google indicated it will back out of a Defense Department initiative called Project Maven, under which the Internet giant’s artificial intelligence was deployed to rapidly analyze massive quantities of drone footage. “Silicon Valley is a bubble — its own ecosystem and environment,” said Moran, who worked for a Santa Clara, Calif.-based semiconductor company before joining Lockheed. Contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing, which operates a similar investment fund called HorizonX, are trying to bridge that cultural gap by approaching innovative start-ups outside the Washington region and investing in them, effectively buying a seat at the table. Lockheed’s fund managers are not overly worried about extracting a profit from the companies they invest in. Rather, they are after advanced intellectual property that could reshape the U.S. military’s arsenal. “The goal is to access technology, and the way we’re doing that is by making investments,” Moran said. The fund has invested about $40 million in eight companies since 2016, spanning a striking range of technology areas. Among the portfolio firms is IQ Analog, a San Diego-based semiconductor company that is working on ultrafast data converters. There’s nTopology, a New York-based start-up that makes software for 3-D-printed manufacturing systems. Another recent investment went to Cambridge, Mass.-based Humatics, which is working on navigation systems meant to help small drones safely navigate crowded cities.


a New York-based start-up that makes software for 3-D-printed manufacturing systems. Another recent investment went to Cambridge, Mass.-based Humatics, which is working on navigation systems meant to help small drones safely navigate crowded cities. The company has invested in hardware-focused companies such as Ocean Aero, which is building robotic submarines that can spy on hostile maritime installations, defuse mines or carry a payload. In some cases, Lockheed finds itself investing alongside more traditional technology funds and commercial organizations. It joined Softbank, a global technology fund operated by Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son, for example, when it invested in the artificial-intelligence-focused computer chip maker Mythic. Lockheed has also been attuned to recent advances in driverless cars as it looks for ways to incorporate robotics into weapons development; the fund has made two undisclosed investments in detection systems for self-driving vehicles, which Moran said are “very closely aligned with the automobile industry.” The company says it has seen an early success in Terran Orbital, which makes “nano-satellites” that are a fraction of the cost and size of the bus-size satellites Lockheed specializes in. Units of Terran Orbital’s design were later purchased by the U.S. government under one of Lockheed’s contracts, Moran said. The fund has the added benefit of showing lawmakers and government contracting officers that Lockheed has been making good use of its savings under the recently passed Republican tax bill. Lockheed’s effective corporate tax rate fell by about 10 percent as a result of the law, chief financial officer Bruce Tanner said in a recent earnings call. Defense contractors have been under pressure to prove they are using the recent tax windfall to invest in research and development as opposed to share buybacks and stock dividends. After the tax legislation passed, a chorus of industry executives, including Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson, said it would be a mistake for government contract officers — who negotiate prices with defense contractors — to recover some of the tax savings through lower prices. Executives from large contractors have argued that wider margins are desirable for taxpayers in the long run because they will encourage firms to invest in R&D. Asked whether the company could have doubled the size of the fund without the tax savings, Moran said there were discussions about offsetting the fund’s operational expenses, but adding to the fund itself wasn’t on the table until after the tax bill was approved. aaron.gregg@washpost.com


Winners and losers from the Trump-Kim summit

President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met in Singapore and signed what Trump called a “comprehensive” document in which North Korea agreed to move toward ending its nuclear weapons program, and the United States said it would halt joint military exercises with South Korea. Many details remain unresolved, including the concrete steps that North Korea will take in the denuclearization process. Still, the summit was a historic moment with some clear winners and losers. Trump The president set a very high bar for himself, predicting that he would know “within the first minute” whether Kim is serious about denuclearization and even entertaining the prospect of winning a Nobel Peace Prize. In reality, no single meeting could convince the world that North Korea is now a good-faith negotiator. Nevertheless, the summit was Trump's most statesmanlike performance to date and represented a significant de-escalation of tensions between nuclear powers. In the run-up to the meeting, Trump enjoyed unusually positive news coverage. Kim The mere occurrence of the summit was a victory for Kim, an international pariah suddenly accorded the respect of a bilateral meeting with the president of the United States. One goal of North Korea's nuclear program has been to command higher status on the global stage, and the sit-down with Trump advanced its cause. Kim Dong-chul, Tony Kim and Kim Hak-song Three Americans held captive by North Korea were among the biggest beneficiaries of diplomatic progress between the Kim regime and the United States. They were freed and returned home in May. Mike Pompeo The secretary of state helped lay groundwork for the summit even before he became secretary of state. It was apparent in March, when Pompeo was still director of the CIA, that the president viewed him as an important player in diplomatic talks. After Trump nominated Pompeo to replace Rex Tillerson in April, Trump dispatched Pompeo to North Korea on a secret mission before the Senate had confirmed him. More than anyone else in the Trump administration, Pompeo elevated his status in the course of talks with North Korea. Singapore The summit host got an economic boost. “From summit-themed burgers and online scalpers peddling 'World Peace' medallions and 'Peace Out from Lion City' T-shirts, Singaporeans are cashing in,” Reuters reported. Dennis Rodman Long mocked for his naive infatuation with North Korea, the Hall of Fame basketball star traveled in Singapore and was legitimized like


Forget ‘man vs. machine.’ When doctors compete with artificial intelligence, patients lose.

Last month, dermatologists were told they had narrowly lost a competition. “Man against machine,” a study by Holger Haenssle and colleagues They were charged with differentiating melanoma from benign moles using images obtained via dermoscopy, a technique that allows dermatologists to view the skin through a high-quality magnifying lens with a powerful lighting system. This story made headlines: “AI beats doctors at cancer diagnoses.” As dermatologists, we read the headlines with surprise and thought, “Aren’t we on the same team?” To optimize the potential benefits of artificial intelligence while preserving the doctor-patient relationship, we believe that collaboration, not competition, is the winning strategy. In 1960, the renowned American psychologist and computer scientist J.C.R. Licklider published his treatise: “Man-Computer Symbiosis,” which described how the two could have a mutually beneficial relationship. In nature, he noted, the fig tree is pollinated by an insect that depends upon it for food. He then extrapolated the concept of symbiosis to computing. In his paradigm, humans “set the goals, formulate the hypotheses, determine the criteria, and perform the evaluations,” while computers “do the [routine] work that must be done to prepare the way for insights and decisions in technical and scientific thinking.” Human-computer symbiosis provides a valuable lens through which to view the appropriate role of artificial intelligence in medicine. As AI becomes more powerful, rather than fostering competition, we should develop solutions that can be integrated into our practice. The promise of artificial intelligence is considerable, with potential gains in efficiency, patient outcomes and access to care. But so, too, is the risk. AI is only as “intelligent” as its inputs. The convolutional neural networks, as used here, are “trained” by viewing thousands of images, learning to recognize patterns alongside diagnoses and improving through feedback. Inaccurate or incomplete training of this form of AI could result in misdiagnoses in patients. For example, this study’s training set did not include most melanoma mimickers beyond moles. And it included only a small percentage of atypical moles, which are what dermatologists are commonly trying to differentiate from melanoma. Moreover, a convolutional neural network trained to diagnose melanoma using images primarily obtained from light-skinned patients may disproportionately miss melanomas on patients with darker skin. By working together, we can ensure that AI tools are valuable and safe for patients. Only a human doctor can view a patient holistically — as a complex physical and emotional being. A patient


In the midst of restaurants’ Me Too reckoning, female chefs grapple with what comes next

binds the Women of Food together. There is, it appears, no woman in the food industry whose career hasn’t been affected by sexual harassment — not even two female chefs at the top of their game. But what should be done about it? The Women of Food are trying to figure this out. Here is what Dominique Crenn believes: The men of the restaurant industry “didn’t pay attention because they thought it was important. Some paid attention because they were scared,” Crenn says. “We should have paid attention a long time ago.” People pay attention to Crenn. She has the pedigree: three restaurants in San Francisco, including Atelier Crenn, the first American, female-led restaurant to receive two Michelin stars. In 2016, she was named best female chef in the world by World’s 50 Best, a restaurant-ranking organization. She was featured on Season 2 of the Netflix show “Chef’s Table,” and, last month, the James Beard Foundation named her best chef in the West. She earned a reputation for speaking up for women when she criticized the company San Pellegrino for not employing a single female juror in its chef competition. And she called out World’s 50 Best for having a “Best Female Chef” award, which she says is a consolation prize, given that women who win it often don’t even make the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. “If you give a chef a female award, you’re going to alienate that gender [from] the other gender,” she says, and that furthers the inequality that already exists in the kitchen. Statistics show that few women make it to the upper echelons, becoming chef or owner of a restaurant. And people will listen to her about sexual harassment. She has dealt with it personally, both as a victim and as a boss who fired an employee accused of harassment. When she was starting her career, she says, there was a sous-chef who harassed her. She won’t say where it occurred, only that it wasn’t at Stars, the famed Jeremiah Tower restaurant in San Francisco. She complained to the head chef, but “the chef said, ‘If you don’t like it, you can leave,’ ” and threatened to give her a bad reference if she ever spoke of the incident. “It was disgraceful,” she says. She quit. Years later, as an owner of several restaurants, she was the chef people came to when a male


The Cybersecurity 202: Trump administration is taking a tougher line on Russia than Trump

sanctions mandate with tough penalties. In March of this year, it slapped sanctions on Russian government hackers and spy agencies as punishment for election interference and the NotPetya attack. And another round of sanctions came in April, targeting a group of Russian politicians, tycoons and businesses as a response for the same offenses. This latest round of sanctions were imposed under the sanctions law and an executive order from former President Barack Obama that created a way to impose sanctions for cyber activity. (To be sure, while the administration initially missed multiple deadlines for imposing the sanctions, saying in January that the legislation itself was enough of a deterrent, they have since seemed to embrace the punishment for Russia despite the relative silence from the top.) Yet the Treasury Department’s salvos keep the pressure mounting on Russia, “I think this round of sanctions is intended to send a signal that we mean business about Russia's cyber operations,” But it’s unlikely to completely stop them, she added. “Russia notoriously uses criminals and others outside of the ‘traditional’ loci of government and tech business to do their dirty work in this area, and they’ll continue to do so after these sanctions.” Real change in Moscow’s behavior will probably only come if the U.S. government targets Putin’s closest affiliates, “The U.S. will need to use sanctions and other measures to affect things that Russian leadership cares about,” PINGED: Authorities have arrested 74 people in the United States and overseas as part of a crackdown on online wire transfer fraud that targeted businesses and individuals Scammers engaging in "business email compromise" impersonate business professionals via email and request payments or access to sensitive financial information such a payrolls or W2 forms PATCHED: Congress is challenging Trump on ZTE “The threat Huawei and ZTE pose to our national security is too great to ignore,” Cotton said in a statement. “This amendment will help keep Americans' private information out of the hands of the Chinese Communist Party, and I’m pleased it will be included in the NDAA.” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who also backs the amendment, said “lawmakers must ‘remain clear-eyed and unified on the threat China poses to U.S. interests and national security,’ even if the president wasn’t,” Demirjian reports. From Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), one of the amendment’s backers: There were other cyber-related amendments senators sought to add to the defense


Photographer embroiled in Nobel literature prize scandal is charged with rape

The Swedish Academy announced in May that it would delay handing out this year's Nobel Prize in literature, marking the first time in more than 60 years that the award has been postponed. The decision came after claims that photographer Jean-Claude Arnault, who is married to academy member Katarina Frostenson, had sexually assaulted and harassed a number of women, including on academy property. On Tuesday, Arnault was charged with two counts of rape, both of which allegedly occurred in 2011. "We are talking about the same woman and the rapes took place in October and December 2011," prosecutor Christina Voigt said. She added that the evidence against Arnault "is robust and sufficient for prosecution," with seven people backing the woman's claims. If found guilty Arnault's lawyer, Bjorn Hurtig, said that his client "maintains that he is completely innocent of the allegations." "I do not share the prosecutor's view that the evidence is robust," Hurtig said. "Accounts differ, there is no technical evidence, there are no direct witness accounts and the events are a long time in the past." Some allegations against Arnault surfaced in November, when 18 women accused him of sexual assault and harassment in an article published in the Dagens Nyheter newspaper. A number of those incidents allegedly took place on academy property or at the Forum, a cultural center he and Frostenson run in Stockholm, which was partially funded by the academy until this year. In April, days before the academy announced that it would postpone the award, reports emerged that Arnault had also groped Swedish Crown Princess Victoria at an academy event in 2006. It is not clear whether the two alleged rapes in which Arnault was charged on Tuesday took place on academy property or elsewhere. Arnault is also accused of leaking the names of seven Nobel winners before they were announced, potentially in a scheme to profit from bets made on the secretive awards. The accusations have rocked the academy, and some members of its 18-person board have stepped down, despite their lifetime appointments. Sara Danius, the first woman to serve as permanent secretary of the academy, was forced out of her role in April. Read more: The Nobel Prize in literature takes a year off. Let’s make it two. From ‘fire and fury’ to peace prize? Some talk of a Nobel award for Trump on North Korea. How #MeToo really was different, according


The case for Trump’s Nobel

sympathies: W.B. Yeats (1923), Luigi Pirandello (1934) and T.S. Eliot (1948). So committed was Pirandello that he melted down his medal in support of Benito Mussolini’s mission. The Nobel has also venerated frauds, including Johannes Fibiger, who took home the 1926 award for medicine for discovering how a parasitic worm caused stomach cancer. The problem? The worm did not cause cancer. The following year, Julius Wagner-Jauregg was celebrated “for his discovery of the therapeutic value of malaria inoculation” for the treatment of syphilitic dementia, a method that, it turned out, more than doubled a patient’s problems. And, notoriously, in 1949, António Egas Moniz won for his invention of the lobotomy. The Nobel has likewise honored criminals. In 1918, Fritz Haber, perhaps the greatest contributor to the development of chemical weapons, took home the prize for chemistry. Three years before his Nobel victory, Haber oversaw the disbursement of weaponized chlorine over Belgium on the Western Front. There was the more recent case of Daniel Carleton Gajdusek, awarded in 1976 for his research in infectious disease — and convicted 20 years later of molesting a boy (and accused of molesting dozens more). The judges have also had a tendency to award prizes too early, not anticipating the turn recipients might take. In 1991, while under house arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi was lauded with the Nobel Peace Prize for pressing the world’s attention on those numerously “oppressed and isolated in Burma” (also known as Myanmar). She campaigned for a “free, secure and just society.” Yet, since being elected in 2015, Suu Kyi has stood by as uncounted thousands of her people have been killed. The military cracked down on the Rohingya Muslim minority, whom Suu Kyi has held up as “non-indigenous,” noncitizens in the majority-Buddhist Burma. The international community has labeled the crimes “ethnic cleansing.” The Nobel laureate denied the reported war crimes, calling out “Fake Rape” on Facebook. Her office called it “fake news.” Such “mistaken” awards are inherent to the giving of a grand prize to purportedly “great men” of consequence. The Nobels idealize the notion of surpassing ingenuity. But this kind of norm-breaking and audacity can both characterize a Nelson Mandela’s goodness and a Trump’s grotesqueness. As George Bernard Shaw, named a Nobel laureate in 1925, professed, “I can forgive Alfred Nobel for having invented dynamite, but only a fiend in human form could have invented the Nobel Prize.”


Lesson from Liberal, Kan.: Community colleges must reach out more to communities

employees 3,500, is the economic heartbeat of our community. Liberal was once a place where a high school graduate could get a decent-paying job that provided a comfortable life. But those days are largely over. Automation across industries has taken hold and farms continue to consolidate into corporate interests. The type of available jobs in our community has shifted and in the place of the reliable careers of yesteryear is a burgeoning skills gap like that afflicting many communities across the country. The skills gap was expanding every day. As a result, we were missing opportunities to enroll students and set them forth on the path to earning an associate’s or bachelor’s degree that would lead to gainful employment. We had to rethink what our college looked like and how it served our community. We needed to work harder to understand what the community needed and valued. We saw that to remain relevant in empowering the region required us to accept the reality that we must focus on the changing needs in skills and training and flexible access for all students. The challenges of shifting demographics and the economic and life realities of the students who walk through our doors reveal themselves daily. The challenges for first-generation college students — a majority of our incoming classes — and non-traditional students who juggle parenthood and other life demands, are the center of our focus. The National Student Clearinghouse found in 2016 only 59 percent of rural high-school grads enroll in college — a rate lower than urban and suburban peers. According to a recent federal study, 28 percent of rural adults have associate’s or bachelor’s degrees — 13 percentage points lower than the share for urban adults. And despite evidence that higher education offers tangible economic benefits, rural white Americans are more likely than those in cities and suburbs to believe that their children will be worse off financially than them, according to a Pew survey. Adding to our picture in Liberal is the significant immigrant community. Many of those immigrants don’t know how or when to access an institution like ours. However, community colleges are uniquely positioned to tackle these issues. According to a recent New America survey, four out of five Americans view community colleges as worth the cost and nearly 90 percent view apprenticeships and skills training as effective ways to prepare students for a good living. So


Treasury officials slap fresh sanctions on Russians for helping the FSB build offensive cyber capabilities

sanctioned five Russian entities and three Russian individuals for helping Russia build up its offensive hacking prowess, targeting them as part of an continuing effort to deter Moscow’s aggression in cyberspace, U.S. officials said. The entities and individuals were designated for aiding Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, the powerful intelligence and security agency sanctioned earlier for its role in interfering in the 2016 presidential election. “The United States is engaged in an ongoing effort to counter malicious actors working at the behest of the Russian Federation and its military and intelligence units to increase Russia’s offensive cyber capabilities,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. “The entities designated today have directly contributed to improving Russia’s cyber and underwater capabilities through their work with the FSB and therefore jeopardize the safety and security of the United States and our allies.” The sanctions are also in response to Russia’s tracking and potential targeting of undersea communication cables, which carry the bulk of the world’s telecommunications data, officials said. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) placed four companies, one research institute and three Russian individuals on the sanctions list, freezing all assets subject to U.S. jurisdiction and barring U.S. companies and individuals from doing business with them. The sanctions were imposed under an Obama-era executive order creating a tool to impose sanctions for malicious cyber activity, and under a law Congress passed last August, the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, to levy new sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea. Treasury officials noted that Russia’s destabilizing cyber activities have included unleashing the destructive NotPetya computer worm, cyber-penetrations of the U.S. energy grid to enable potential future sabotage, and global compromises of network devices such as routers and switches that also could enable potential disruptive cyberattacks. The companies sanctioned are Digital Security, which officials said since 2015 has worked on a project to increase Russian intelligence services’ offensive cyber capabilities; and two Digital Security subsidiaries — ERPScan and Embedi; and Divetechnoservices, which OFAC said has procured underwater equipment and diving systems for the FSB, including a submersible craft valued at $1.5 million, Also sanctioned was the Kvant Scientific Research Institute, which OFAC stated was owned or controlled by the FSB and provided material and technological support. The individuals placed on the sanctions list are Divetechnoservices owner Vladimir Kaganskiy, its general director, Aleksandr Tribun, and its program manager, Oleg Chirikov. ellen.nakashima@washpost.com


You’re going where? St. Louis

gift shops with cheeky socks and irreverent books, and Phoenix Rising, in the Delmar Loop, scores on all fronts. On a recent browse, I noted sloth socks, bacon bandages, books on crafting with cat hair and even a President Trump candle that smells of suntan lotion and steak — all the things you never needed, right in one place. Bonus: It’s surrounded by eclectic boutiques, so you can easily make it part of a larger shopping spree. I’ve spent many Christmases in St. Louis, and my go-to for last-minute gifts has always been Christopher’s, where you can find something for every family member — even that eccentric uncle — and yourself. There are delectable smells (candles, lotions, balms and soaps), fun coffee-table books and cookbooks, olive oils, teas, conversation-starting serving dishes and clothing. The people who work here are always friendly and helpful, and it’s easy to lose track of time wandering into the different sections of this store in Kirkwood, a suburb that has a charming, small-town feel. Guidebook musts The Vault Luxury Resale It seems as if every cool city now has a standout gift boutique brimming with crafty artisan items. In St. Louis, that store is Urban Matter. You can find handmade pottery, funky jewelry, art, woodwork, purses, garden gear and other selections made by more than 100 artisans, many of whom are locals. It’s a one-stop shop for hostess gifts and trinkets to take home, and it’s all beautifully staged with the feel of a small, year-round craft fair. Stay Local fave The lunar-themed Moonrise Hotel, which has what it terms “the world’s largest man-made moon” rotating on its roof, is smack-dab in the middle of the Delmar Loop action. That means you have easy walking access to fun restaurants, bars and shops — and a “Jetsons” abode to come home to. The rooms are fun, with midcentury modern decor, bright colors, an abundance of moon-themed art and, in the bathroom, cartoonlike drain covers. (The one in my room said “kaboom!”) The Rooftop Terrace Bar is a draw for locals and visitors looking to sip craft cocktails while taking in panoramic views of the area, all beneath the real moon. In a town overloaded with beige chains, it’s fair to say the Moonrise eclipses the rest. (Sorry.) Guidebook must It’s likely that you’ll see a bride or two if you stay at the Chase Park Plaza


As Cambodian democracy weakens, U.S. imposes sanctions on a high-ranking Cambodian official

Cambodia’s democracy has been in increasing trouble in recent months, with Prime Minister Hun Sen dissolving the main opposition party and cracking down on independent media. Now there’s a sign that the U.S. government is paying attention. The Treasury Department announced Tuesday that it will sanction Hing Bun Hieng, the commander of Hun Sen’s bodyguard unit, for carrying out “serious acts of human rights abuse against the people of Cambodia.” The bodyguard unit, an elite force under the military with thousands of troops, is involved in internal security matters and has been linked to numerous crackdowns on the opposition. But the sanctions announcement goes beyond Hun Sen’s recent anti-democratic moves in Cambodia. The Treasury Department’s release specifically mentions Bun Hieng and the bodyguard unit’s connection to a 1997 grenade attack on an opposition rally that killed 16 people and wounded more than 100. The attack, still unsolved and unpunished, injured an American democracy activist, Roy Abney. The Treasury Department statement refers to him as a “U.S. citizen” who suffered shrapnel wounds. The U.S. government has so far “been reluctant to make this allegation public,” said Sebastian Strangio, a journalist who has written a book on Hun Sen. “That it is doing so now speaks to how far relations between Phnom Penh and Washington have frayed.” But the choice of Bun Hieng is something like a warning shot, Strangio said. While Bun Hieng “o Nevertheless, Cambodia’s government was quick to criticize the sanctions. The Cambodian Defense Ministry issued a statement Wednesday saying the U.S. action was a “stupid decision that Cambodia cannot accept,” according to the Associated Press. Hun Sen’s government is likely to cite the sanctions as further evidence of U.S. bias against his government. The United States has become somewhat of a boogeyman, analysts say, as Hun Sen stokes anti-American sentiment in Cambodia ahead of elections there on July 29. Read more: This Cambodian city is turning into a Chinese enclave, and not everyone is happy The former Khmer Rouge commander who still leads Cambodia is again stoking anti-American sentiment Cambodia’s ruthless leader is stepping up his authoritarian game


Eight is enough at one of D.C.’s finest restaurants

was to go to whatever restaurant I chose and they had to eat everything I gave them without a single word of complaint,” Melissa Pearce submitted in an email. “They could hate it, but I did not want to hear about it.” Past celebratory meals have featured food from around the globe, she says, offering up a list that sounds like a U.N. quorum: Ethiopian, Indian, Balkan, Spanish, Thai, Afghan, Turkish, Morrocan and Ghanaian. The strategy sounds like a success: “My kids now eat anything and seem excited,” the Bethesda reader reports. Pearce is looking for more ideas, “choices that would stretch [her children’s] comfort zone” in the D.C. area and embrace the family’s vegetarian tastes. To an already rich mix I would add Royal Nepal for Nepalese fare in Alexandria; Bob’s Shanghai 66 for dim sum and other Chinese dishes; the Library Tavern in Brightwood for Persian delights; and the youthful Kaliwa at the Wharf for a three-fer: Filipino, Korean and Thai cooking. Ratings on his mind “In your recent spring dining guide focused on new restaurants, why are six of them not yet rated?” Fairfax reader Bob Green asks in an email. Good question, the answer to which is that for reviews in the Sunday magazine, I typically assign stars (or not) based on an average of three visits to a restaurant. A handful of establishments in my spring collection of 30 reviews (May 6) opened close to my deadline or had significant cast changes, either of which called for further inspection. By the time this column appears, critiques for at least two newcomers will have published. Sababa , a modern Israeli restaurant in Cleveland Park, has two stars, a “good” rating, and Fancy Radish , a vegan dining room in the Atlas District, is the recipient of three stars, an “excellent” assessment. Details, details “Is there some little thing you wish a restaurant would do to enhance the dining experience, or that a restaurant has done and you thought, ‘That’s a great idea?’ ” a participant on a recent online chat asked. I responded that I appreciate hot moist towels with messy dishes; sufficient lighting, both to read the menu and see what I’m eating; specials that are printed on paper, especially if there are more than a few additions; and cocktail lists offered to everyone at the table. I then invited online chatters to weigh in


In Ireland, blasphemy can cost you $30,000. A referendum could change that.

Stephen Fry went on the Irish TV program “The Meaning of Life,” he was asked what he'd like to tell God. “I’d say ‘Bone cancer in children, what’s that about?’ " he said. “Why should I respect a capricious, mean-minded, stupid god who creates a world which is so full of injustice and pain?” If a god did indeed invent the universe, he added, then that god “is quite clearly a maniac, an utter maniac, totally selfish.” Then an anonymous Irish citizen walked into a police station in County Clare and said he’d like to report Fry for committing a crime. Blasphemy is illegal under the country's 1937 constitution, and the Defamation Act, introduced in 2009, means blasphemous remarks are punishable by a fine of up to 25,000 euros — about $30,000. The law prohibits “publishing or uttering matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters sacred by any religion, thereby intentionally causing outrage among a substantial number of adherents of that religion.” No publicly known blasphemy cases have led to prosecution in recent years, and Fry’s case was no different. Nothing much appeared to happen after the complaint about Fry’s remarks was filed, and the investigation was dropped last year. But the incident still sparked an uproar in Ireland and drew attention to the blasphemy law, which critics say is outdated and sets a negative precedent for other countries that now point to Ireland to justify their own harsh blasphemy laws. Now Irish voters will have a chance to change that: This week, Ireland announced it will hold a referendum to remove blasphemy from the constitution. “By removing this provision from our constitution, we can send a strong message to the world that laws against blasphemy do not reflect Irish values and that we do not believe such laws should exist,” said Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan. The vote will probably take place in October. The upcoming blasphemy referendum will be the latest in votes that have proved how far modern-day Ireland has moved from its conservative past. In 2015, Ireland voted to legalize same-sex marriage. Last month, Ireland voted in a landslide referendum to repeal its abortion ban. Read more Ireland votes to overturn its abortion ban, 'culmination of a quiet revolution,' prime minister says Ireland's voters approve same-sex marriage. Here's how that happened. Ireland votes on its abortion ban, a 'once in a generation' decision


Trump tries a more middle-of-the-road pick for top White House environment post

before rejoining the D.C.-based consulting group CGCN this spring, said in an email Wednesday that “Neumayr is a consummate professional, who possesses outstanding legal skills and exceptional knowledge of environmental policy. She has been and will continue to be a tremendous asset to CEQ, the President, and the country.” Two congressional staffers who worked with Neumayr, but spoke on the condition of anonymity because her nomination has yet to be taken up by the Senate, said in a phone interview Wednesday that she is capable of dealmaking with the other side. Still, they emphasized, she would be committed to pursuing Trump’s agenda. The staffers described her as someone who was interested in the potential of increasing natural gas use to mitigate climate change emissions — a classic middle-of-the-road stance on the issue — and who diligently attended international meetings related to climate change negotiations, even though House Republicans often opposed the agreements those meetings were designed to support. “The thing about Mary is that you can work with her and talk with her and have a cordial professional conversation,” said one of the staffers. The influence of the CEQ, established in 1970 under the Nixon administration, varies depending on who occupies the Oval Office. It coordinates activities across agencies and typically exerts more impact under Democratic presidents. But it played an important role under President George W. Bush on issues ranging from ocean conservation to air quality, in part because its chair, James L. Connaughton, served for the entirety of Bush’s two terms. Under Trump, the council’s staff has largely focused on streamlining permitting rules to spur infrastructure development. The body implements the National Environmental Policy Act, a 1969 law that requires the federal government’s agencies to review the environmental consequences of numerous decisions, from permitting of new projects, to oil and gas leasing, to the management of public lands. Under the Obama administration, there was a move to greatly expand NEPA’s scope by requiring the government to factor in climate considerations of its decisions as part of the process — but Trump officials have already begun to reassess this approach. The president has complained loudly about what he perceives as red tape and bureaucratic delays in the permitting of infrastructure projects. A White House infrastructure plan specifically calls for the Council on Environmental Quality to “issue regulations to streamline the NEPA process.” Neumayr, if confirmed by the Senate, would


Transcript: Mental health and well-being in America

this problem. And frankly, I’m the son of a principal investigator, son of a doctor, and I was pretty skeptical about marijuana as medicine. I continue to be skeptical about marijuana as medicine, but I am very skeptical about the idea that we prescribe opioids to the extent that we do. And whatever works to reduce the incidents of death, accidental or suicidal, we should pursue as aggressively as we can. Cunningham: I want to—sorry. Tillis: If I can touch on just one other piece. First, I agree, and I’ve never really understood a society that thinks it’s all right to prescribe an opioid, a product of opioids, but have some problem with even considering the possibility of prescribing something that’s derived from cannabinoid. So on the medical, to me, it’s the thing that produces the greatest efficacy for the least risk to the patient. So I think that’s something we have to keep talking about. Not the Wild, Wild West that we’re seeing in some states, but treat it on par with other treatment options. But there is one other thing that I think we also have to do. And better educate—with my own personal experience—better educate caregivers and family members. I remember when I was going through this, and I did share it with some of my family members, what I was dealing with. You know, they have these platitude sort of solutions, like go fishing, or go surfing. I wake surf. I don’t surf on the big waves. They scare me. [LAUGHTER] But you know, just do that, or if you know somebody, go shopping. And that really—you have the same challenge for dealing with people with Alzheimer’s and dementia. We need to better educate the population on how they can help get people who are suffering with mental illness to someone who can help them. And there’s a lot to be done on the caregiver side. Cunningham: I wanted to go back real quickly to the telehealth thing. I want to talk more about opioids. But can you explain a little bit more why you think telehealth, telemedicine has so much promise in this area because, as you probably know, providers have been pretty slow to adapt to this, discouragingly so. Schatz: Well, I think they are going to adapt to it. Some of that was the economics of Medicare not reimbursing, right? So if, say,


Who’s willing to bet that state lotteries are free of manipulation?

to know. There’s a tendency to view publishing the names of lottery winners as voyeurism, but in fact, there are compelling justifications for the public to know who’s winning. Lotteries are a $70 billion industry in the United States, and there is increasing anecdotal evidence that the games are vulnerable to manipulation. Just last year, a former executive with the Multi-State Lottery Association pleaded guilty to tampering with software so he could predict the winning numbers drawn in five state lotteries. The scheme enabled him to partner with straw buyers to claim $2.2 million in winnings before he was caught. The scam came to light because Iowa, like most states, requires players to provide their real names when they claim their winnings. When a shell company based in Belize tried to redeem a winning ticket in Iowa, investigators rejected the claim and started investigating the company. That unraveled the conspiracy. In November 2016, a consortium of journalists and researchers from 10 countries published an exhaustive study about state-run gambling and all the ways it can go wrong. Among the conclusions: More than 1,700 people across the United States turn up repeatedly in lottery records as “super-winners” of 50 or more significant prizes, an astronomically improbable rate. The consortium’s data-gathering led to spinoff investigations across the country. The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism looked into the backgrounds of frequent prizewinners and found that at least three of the 13 players who have won 20 times or more in recent years either worked for lottery retail stores or were closely tied to someone who did. This isn’t new. Four years ago, reporters from the Palm Beach Post used public records from Florida’s lottery agency to document a suspicious pattern of repeat prizewinners. The most likely explanation? The winning tickets were actually held by people who had stolen them, owed child support or otherwise couldn’t risk being detected — so they sent straw-man claimants to pick up the winnings. The 2014 investigation led the Florida Lottery to shut down sales at 18 retailers and implement other safeguards. A similar pattern turned up in Massachusetts. The Boston Globe reported that the practice of paying a commission to frontmen who redeem tickets for criminals was so commonplace that state lottery officials had coined a name for it: “Ten Percenters.” Revealing the names of winners has other benefits, including enabling people who may be owed money


New research shows marathoners have less arthritis than non-runners

A new study comes to the somewhat counterintuitive conclusion that marathon runners have less arthritis than non-runners. The study Most people would assume that serious runners face a high risk for arthritis of the hip and knees. Yet prior research has generally failed to uncover such a connection. The most recent study, published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, actually found that veteran American marathoners had only half as much arthritis as non-runners. According to alarming new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, arthritis now represents a $300 billion annual burden. Method and results Researchers from the orthopedic department at Philadelphia’s Thomas Jefferson University compared arthritis rates between 430 U.S. marathoners and a matched sample of non-runners in the National Center for Health Statistics database. The marathoners (average age 46, and 51 percent women) had been running for an average of 19 years, logging 35 miles a week, and finishing 48 marathons. Despite this, they had an arthritis prevalence of 8.8 percent vs. 17.9 percent for non-runners. Aging past 65 did increase the marathoners’ arthritis rate — to 24.5 percent. But this was still roughly half the 49.6 percent of non-runners older than 65. The team from Thomas Jefferson believes marathoners and other runners may gain arthritis protection from muscle development, body weight control, decreased levels of inflammatory agents and the well-known bone strengthening that follows moderate-impact sports. Recommended action If you’re running healthy, stay the course, advises Thomas Jefferson orthopedist Danielle Ponzio. If you’re thinking about beginning a running program but are concerned about arthritis, don’t worry. Just begin slowly and progress moderately. “Running is not harmful to healthy hips and knees,” Ponzio says. “In fact, it promotes joint and general health.” Those runners who do develop arthritis often get it after earlier injury or surgery, or from family genetics. localliving@washpost.com


6 ways the AT&T-Time Warner merger is likely to affect you

smartphone. Data gathering The collection and use of geographic data is just the tip of the iceberg. AT&T plans to dramatically expand its use of customer and viewer information to supercharge its business. "We have really great customer insight on what kind of shows, media, content they’re viewing, where they are, all kinds of information on the consumer," said Stephenson at an industry conference last month. But so far, he said, those insights have been limited to a "small scale." As it pipes Time Warner's content over its wireless and home broadband connections, AT&T will get a much broader perspective on what consumers like to watch, on which platforms, in which locations and so on. This could turn AT&T into a data-gathering behemoth resembling Google, Netflix or Facebook. Targeted ads All that data collection will allow AT&T to sell highly targeted advertising, just as Google does. These targeted ads are way more profitable than non-targeted TV ads, Stephenson has said, bringing in anywhere from three to five times more money. Whether you're at home or out and about, this could mean that two people watching the same sportscast could end up watching very different ads. For example, Stankey said, a beer-lover might see a beer commercial, while a soft-drink fan would see an ad for soda. “The market we're competing in is the market for the consumer's time and attention,” Stankey said in court testimony. More 4K video everywhere 4K video, or ultra high definition, is regarded as the next step up from high definition video. Compared with video that's rendered in, say, 720p or 1080p, you get a sharper image. The catch is that it requires TV screens and monitors that can support that resolution. And until more consumers adopt those newer screens, there's not much of a market for 4K content. That's the chicken-and-egg dilemma that has bedeviled 4K so far. But Stankey said the merger could lead to faster rollout of 4K. That's because, once AT&T controls Time Warner, it can control how TV content is produced or shot, Stankey said. You can imagine all the sports games aired on TBS or TNT being shot in 4K, for example. Why would AT&T make that decision, and couldn't someone else just as easily make that call? Well, recall that AT&T is motivated to increase usage of its network. 4K streaming takes much more data than regular HD (which


First day of spring: Everything you should know about the vernal equinox

amounts of daylight and darkness. Though equinox means “equal night” in Latin, the sun is actually up for more than 12 hours. In D.C., sunrise and sunset occur at 7:11 a.m. and 7:20 p.m., respectively, resulting in 12 hours and 9 minutes of daylight. The date of the “equilux” — when sunrise and sunset are exactly 12 hours apart — happens March 16 or 17 each year: The unequal day and night are due to atmospheric refraction and the way we define sunrise and sunset. Atmospheric refraction is an optical phenomenon that bends the sun’s light as it passes through Earth’s atmosphere. This causes the sun to appear slightly higher in the sky than it is in reality. The other reason is how we define sunrise and sunset. The sun appears as a disk, not a single point. Sunrise is defined as the moment the sun’s upper edge appears on the horizon, while sunset doesn’t occur until the sun’s upper edge disappears from the horizon. Together, these factors add about 10 minutes of daylight to the equinox, depending on one’s distance from the equator. The March equinox is one of only two days each year when all points on Earth — apart from the polar regions — see the sun rise due east and set due west along the horizon. Until the summer solstice in June, the sun will continue to rise and set farther to the north. Careful sun observers might notice, though, that the sun appears to rise due east and set due west a day or two before the equinox. Once again, atmospheric refraction comes into play. Since sunlight gets refracted as it passes through Earth’s atmosphere, the rising and setting sun will appear slightly north of due east and west, respectively, on the equinox itself. If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, daylight is now increasing at its fastest pace of the year. Washington gains 2 minutes and 33 seconds of daylight per day in mid-March, while cities across the northern tier gain close to three minutes or more: The table above shows many cities gain about an hour and half of daylight during the month of March alone. The rate of daylight change depends on your latitude, or distance from the equator. In Miami — located just north of the tropics — daylight increases by only 91 seconds per day at its peak. At the


Federal prosecutors dismiss several Inauguration Day rioting cases

For the third time in less than a month, federal prosecutors late Wednesday dismissed cases against a handful of defendants charged with felony rioting during President Trump’s Inauguration Day ceremony. D.C. prosecutors dismissed eight cases against defendants with prejudice, meaning the government will not be allowed to refile charges at a later date. Prosecutors did not explain their reasoning in documents filed in D.C. Superior Court and later signed by Judge Robert E. Morin, the court’s chief judge. Prosecutors dismissed the cases against Steven Backus, Edward Bickard, Mally Espaillat, Saline Golenberg, Alexa Grazio, Elizabeth Lagesse, Luke McGowan-Arnold and Breton Strasburger. At least six of the eight were scheduled to go to trial on June 25. The Jan. 20, 2017, vandalism of downtown businesses stretched over 16 blocks, with many participants wearing black and covering their faces with masks or scarves as part of a disturbance called DisruptJ20. In all, 234 people were charged. So far, 21 defendants arrested in the protests have pleaded guilty before trial. Prosecutors have dropped more than 150 cases — including 10 that were dismissed since May 31 after Morin found that the U.S. attorney’s office failed to turn over some video evidence to the defense. Trials in December and earlier this month resulted in either acquittals or mistrials for 10 defendants. Prosecutors will decide next month if they plan to retry three defendants in cases where juries were unable to reach unanimous verdicts on all counts. There are now 39 cases left scheduled for trials throughout the year. keith.alexander@washpost.com


Transcript: One-on-One with Gary Cohn

that seem to be doing it. So which are you the most bullish— Cohn: But when you say “bullish about getting sorted out”—I think there’s different solutions for different parts of the equation. Now what Ambassador Lighthizer’s doing with the 301 on China, I think has a lot of merit. And the fact that China has been stealing our intellectual property, forcing us to transfer intellectual property to them—that’s not fair either. Talk about comparative advantages, things that we are a big exporter of—we are a big exporter of intellectual capacity and technology. We need to be fairly compensated for that. So we cannot allow countries to basically steal our technology without compensating the companies and the shareholders that own that technology. So what Ambassador Lighthizer’s doing on the 301, I think that is something that we do need to enforce. We need to enforce rule of law. We have to say, look, if you’re in the business of creating technology and creating products that we need in our country, we need to pay for them just like every business in your country pays for those products. So that may be a different solution than what we’re doing with NAFTA and what we’re doing with Mexico and Canada, where we share borders where they’re paying for our technology—no one’s questioning whether they’re paying for our technology or not. We’re talking about different issues. It’s different issues with Mexico, and it’s different issues with Canada. So those are going to be different discussions. Paletta: Is the China relationship—it’s so complicated on so many different levels—is that one that there can be a mutual understanding that there needs to be some sort of change? Obviously, American companies can’t be ripped off and stolen from. Cohn: So, look, until I left, I was part of the China negotiating team. And I think China completely is aware that the relationship as it exists today cannot be the relationship we have forever—that we have to get to a better, more sustainable, equitable relationship with China on trade and on intellectual property and on copyright protection, and on all of these issues. I think there’s an acknowledgement from China—and by the way, market access is hugely important, where China could come in buy companies here and own 100%, U.S. companies are in China, and there’s been long set of rules where you could own 25%, maybe


Massive redevelopment coming to former Walter Reed Army Medical Center site in Northwest

The former Walter Reed Army Medical Center site, a 66-acre parcel of land in Northwest Washington, will receive much-anticipated redevelopment that will include housing, offices and retail spaces. When complete, the site will include 3.1 million square feet of mixed-use development, including adaptive reuse of some of the historic buildings, new construction and more than 20 acres of open space. Now called the Parks at Walter Reed, the site will host public activities this summer, and developers are announcing plans and beginning construction. Two redevelopment projects are already under construction in Building 14, which will have about 200 apartments to meet the affordable housing needs of veterans and seniors. The projects, by HELP USA and a joint venture of Urban Atlantic, Hines, 1750 K Affordable Partners and Housing Up, received support from the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) and the D.C. Housing Finance Agency (DCHFA). The first two new-construction buildings, the Brooks and the Vale, both at Georgia Avenue and Aspen Street, will include approximately 390 residential units for sale and rent along with 18,000 square feet of retail space. Among the activities this summer are: For more information on the Parks at Walter Reed, visit theparksdc.com.


Trump and Kim declare summit a big success, but they diverge on the details

North Korea still has nuclear weapons. It still has ICBMs. It still has the United States in danger. Somehow President Trump thinks when he says something it becomes reality. If it were only that easy, only that simple.” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), meanwhile, said on Twitter that Trump was being “truly delusional,” noting that North Korea has “the same arsenal today as 48 hours ago.” Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) also mocked Trump, saying on Twitter: “One trip and it’s ‘mission accomplished,’ Mr. President?” “North Korea is a real and present threat,” Schiff said. “So is a dangerously naive president.” Richard N. Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said that “the summit changed nothing.” “Worse yet, overselling the summit makes it harder to keep sanctions in place, further reducing pressure on NK to reduce (much less give up) its nuclear weapons and missiles,” Haass said on Twitter. Trump, in tweets that continued well after his arrival at the White House on Wednesday morning, defended his decision to halt military exercises, saying, “We save a fortune by not doing war games, as long as we are negotiating in good faith — which both sides are!” He called his meeting with Kim “an interesting and very positive experience.” He also wrote that before he took office last year, “people were assuming that we were going to War with North Korea.” “President Obama said that North Korea was our biggest and most dangerous problem. No longer — sleep well tonight!” the president wrote. Trump, who has frequently sparred with the media, was also unsparing in his criticism of television coverage of the summit, pointing out two networks for scorn. “So funny to watch the Fake News, especially NBC and CNN,” he said on Twitter. “They are fighting hard to downplay the deal with North Korea. 500 days ago they would have ‘begged’ for this deal-looked like war would break out. Our Country’s biggest enemy is the Fake News so easily promulgated by fools!” Appearing on Fox News on Wednesday, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway stoked earlier talk among Trump supporters that his efforts on North Korea would deserve a Nobel Peace Prize. “Look, the last president was handed the Nobel Peace Prize — this president’s actually going to earn it, and that’s all we need to know from this,” Conway said. Obama won the prize in 2009 karen.deyoung@washpost.com john.wagner@washpost.com


Asked if discrimination exists, top banking regulator says he has ‘personally never observed it’

Joseph Otting, one of the country’s most powerful banking regulators, repeatedly stumbled over questions from lawmakers this week on whether discrimination remains a problem in the United States, saying he had “personally never observed it.” Otting, the U.S. comptroller of the currency, is a leading proponent of revamping the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act, which compels banks to lend to borrowers in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. Democrats warn that rolling back the law could open the way for more discriminatory lending, and lawmakers peppered Otting with questions about the issue during two congressional hearings. During a House Financial Services Committee hearing Wednesday, Rep. Michael E. Capuano (D-Mass.) asked Otting whether he believed “discrimination exists in America today.” “I have personally never observed it, but many of my friends from the inner city across America will tell me that it is evident today,” Otting said. Capuano pressed Otting, asking, “Do you believe that it exists?” “People have told me it exists, and so I trust those people when they tell me that,” the comptroller responded. Capuano returned to the question several times, asking Otting whether he had ever read about discrimination and whether he believed those reports. Otting’s response: “My experience with writers are they’re right half the time.” Capuano eventually surrendered, as he ran out of time. “I’m going to give it up,” he said. “Mr. Otting, you got me. Never having seen discrimination, you’re a very lucky man.” Later in the hearing, another Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II of Missouri, called Otting’s responses to those previous questions “stupefying, even jaw-dropping.” Cleaver asked Otting whether he was familiar with the white supremacist rally that rocked Charlottesville last August, leading to the death of a counterprotester. “To be honest with you, I don’t watch TV,” Otting said. “I saw what was across the headlines, but I didn’t spend specific time to study or analyze what took place.” Had he read any newspaper articles about the violence in Charlottesville, Cleaver asked? “I don’t read a newspaper,” Otting said. Cleaver then broached a topic that has roiled the banking industry for years: whether tech companies that want to offer some banking services should be required to comply with the same anti-discrimination laws as traditional banks. “I am a big believer of minority inclusion,” said Otting, who began his career at Bank of America. Noting his more than 30 years of experience in the


Will Colombia’s next president be a former left-wing guerrilla?

the Betancur government refused to bargain with the hostage-takers, instead returning demands with fire. During the 27-hour ordeal, 11 justices and 55 courthouse employees were among the more than 100 people killed. The M-19 achieved none of their demands and lost at least 30 of its own. Controversy surrounds the attack, including a supposed link to Medellin Cartel boss Pablo Escobar (who allegedly paid the guerrillas to destroy criminal records), and the forced disappearance of 11 attack survivors accused of aiding the guerrillas. 4. The M-19 sparked the creation of Colombia’s right-wing paramilitaries In 1981, the group kidnapped Martha Nieves Ochoa, the sister of prominent members of the powerful Medellin drug cartel. Rather than pay the ransom demand, the cartel sought revenge, collaborating with other gangs to form the Death to Kidnappers (MAS) group, a right-wing paramilitary organization targeting the M-19 and others on the left. Paramilitary violence then spread widely across Colombia, resulting in more than 24,000 murders and thousands of forced disappearances in Colombia’s long civil war. 5. They helped pave the road from guerrilla to government The M-19 became the first armed group to sign a peace deal in Colombia, almost 30 years ago. Although nearly 7,000 combatants put down their arms, the violence continued. Hundreds of M-19 ex-combatants were assassinated by hit men and paramilitaries. Former M-19 leader and presidential aspirant Carlos Pizarro Leon Gomez was one of the three presidential candidates killed in the months before the 1990 election. Violent transitions were a regular feature of Colombian demobilizations. In the 1980s, when the FARC first attempted a peaceful transition to politics, right-wing paramilitaries assassinated thousands of its Patriotic Union candidates. These events loom over current negotiations, as the FARC demand security guarantees for ex-combatants targeted throughout the campaign. Yet the M-19’s agreement laid important foundations for transition and success. First, these and other narrow negotiations ushered in a wave of peace talks over the last 30 years, with dozens of paramilitary organizations, the FARC and now the ELN coming to the negotiating table for far more complex efforts at disarmament, demobilization and reintegration. Second, the M-19 agreement helped launch major reforms to the Colombian Constitution, enshrining protections for ethnic minorities, facilitating broader participation and reforming the country’s justice system. And this agreement also launched the political careers of former rebel reformers, one of whom may be one step away from the Colombian presidency. Danielle Gilbert


It’s Beer Day in Britain. Where are your children? Likely with you at the pub.

door, are “happier,” more “connected” and “more trusting of others” (especially after they’ve had a pint or two; it’s in the study). There are about 25,000 fewer pubs in Britain now than there were in the 1970s. But there’s still 50,000 of them left. “A pub closing is big drama for the people involved, no doubt, but this is Britain, and there will always be thousands and thousands of pubs,” said Fiona Stapley, editor of the “Good Pub Guide ,” which reviews 5,000 drinking establishments each year. “You could say that before, there were probably too many pubs,” Stapley added. “And many were not run as well as they could have been.” There’s other goodish news, too, for beer people. There are more breweries operating in Britain today — about 2,000 — than in any time since the 1930s. There’s a revival in “real ales” fermented in casks and pumped by hand into a pint glass. And there are more craft beers — thanks to the influence of the United States, which kicked off the movement of hoppy, zingy brews. In the past, many postwar pubs served pickled eggs, if you were lucky. Today, they’ve gone “gastro,” serving pedigreed burgers on brioche buns and locally sourced hake in artisan beer batter. A few gastropubs have earned Michelin stars. The decline in pub numbers draws headlines, but Sean Hughes, landlord of The Boot in St. Albans, promised, “It’s all going to be okay.” “These are challenging times, to be sure,” said Hughes, who was happy to spend an hour discussing those challenges. For example, he said, two-thirds of the price of a pint goes to pay taxes — business, beer and value-added. And supermarkets? Don’t get Hughes started on how grocery chains in Britain sell the discounted lager and $6 bottles of French plonk that are killing convivial, community-minded public drinking in pubs and encouraging imbibers to huddle at home alone, grimly sucking down their cups while watching “Love Island.” “But the British pub, especially the independent British pub? Never been better,” Hughes said. “Better beer, better food, better atmosphere.” Before his family took over The Boot 15 years ago, “this was a hellhole,” Hughes said. The pub served a single brand of low-market beer, vodka and gin — and that was it. Dining options? Peanuts, Hughes said. Now there are 15 beers and pâté, plus fish & chips & etc.


A friend was killed in D.C., and I want the truth

his funeral that this very vicious system of ignorance and violence claimed two victims: One went to the morgue; one went to prison. Beats’s parents even reached out to the shooter and vowed to stay in touch with him to do their part in breaking this cycle of violence. In honoring them and representing We Act Radio, a social-justice media outlet east of the Anacostia River working to ensure that people of color participate in the creation of community policies, I must acknowledge the truth. The truth is that America’s version of democracy is a fallacy, a lie. President Trump is proof of that, but we must not pretend that everything was fine before he got here. If it were, then it would at least get the 68 square miles of its capital right. The District would have the best schools, the best health care and the best roads. We truly would be the shining city on the hill living in the safest place in the entire world. How many years did we accept the District as the crack-infused “murder capital” of the world when it was a majority-black city? Cocaine flooded our cities, and little was done except to use it as an excuse to fill prisons. This country has more guns per capita than any country in the world. Data correlate crime, violence and illiteracy. The part of the District east of the Anacostia River has more guns than any other part of the city and, until very recently, no bookstores. (I can only imagine how many liquor stores it has.) Lead in the blood of children leads to learning disabilities and violent behavior. Yet privately owned D.C. Water has just completed an aqueduct that will clean the polluted Anacostia River (where poor people used to fish) by 50 percent just by flipping a switch, and even more over time. Waterfront property value will soon double. Yet, at the current rate, replacement of all lead pipes in the District will take 100 years. It seems as though the river and real estate are more important than people’s lives. My friend wasn’t just killed by an underemployed, lead- poisoned, illiterate, gun-loving American who refused to read books and was drunk off violence in music, video games, films and pro-war American culture; he was killed by a very efficient system that is doing exactly what it was designed to do.


A child in Idaho was treated for plague — the first human case in the state in 26 years

A boy in Idaho is recovering after contracting plague — the first human case in the state in more than two decades, health officials say. Christine Myron, a spokeswoman for the Central District Health Department, said Wednesday that the child, who has not been publicly identified, is back home in Elmore County and “doing well” after being treated with antibiotics in the hospital. The child became ill late last month and, earlier this week, health authorities received laboratory confirmation that he had bubonic plague, Myron said. Bubonic plague is the most common form and known for causing swollen lymph nodes or buboes, according to the World Health Organization. Pneumonic plague, which is based in the lungs, “is the most virulent form of plague” and “can be fatal” when not diagnosed and treated early on, according to the WHO. It is still unclear whether the child in Elmore County was exposed to the disease in Idaho or during a recent trip to Oregon, according to the Central District Health Department. It said that in 2015 and 2016, the disease was discovered in ground squirrels in Elmore County as well as nearby Ada County. No cases have been reported this year. Myron said human plague cases in the state are rare, with the most recent cases reported in 1991 and 1992. Symptoms of bubonic and pneumonic plague are similar and include headache, fever and chills, and extreme weakness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC states that those with bubonic plague may also experience swollen lymph nodes and that those with pneumonic plague may experience pneumonia along with chest pain, coughing and trouble breathing. Sarah Correll, an epidemiologist with the Central District Health Department, said in a statement that plague can be spread to humans when they are bitten by infected fleas. “People can decrease their risk by treating their pets for fleas and avoiding contact with wildlife,” Correll said. “Wear insect repellent, long pants and socks when visiting plague affected areas.” To help prevent plague, the CDC recommends the following: Read more Broken pottery reveals the sheer devastation caused by the Black Death How the Black Death turned from a tummy bug to a deadly plague The history of the Black Death may be locked in this ancient flea


A 5-year-old girl’s sudden paralysis was a mystery. Then her mother checked her scalp.

not be immediately reached for comment. It was unclear where or when she thought her daughter had acquired the tick, or how long it had been on her body. Ticks are most active from April through September, The Washington Post has reported. Tick paralysis is caused by female ticks on the verge of laying eggs. After the tick eats a blood meal and is engorged, it secretes a neurotoxin into the host, according to the American Lyme disease Foundation. The symptoms can occur five to seven days after the tick starts feeding. Paralysis begins in the legs, then spreads to the upper extremities. It can manifest as fatigue, numbness and an increasing inability to move, according to the foundation. In the later stages, it is harder for the victim to move her face or tongue. If nothing is done, the toxin ultimately makes it impossible for a person to breathe, resulting in respiratory failure. The paralysis is more common in animals, which are unable to check themselves for the ticks. But human children also are susceptible because of their smaller body mass. Girls get tick paralysis more frequently because the ticks can easily hide in long hair, according to the foundation. The CDC reported a cluster of cases of the extremely rare disease in 2006. One of the victims was a 6-year-old girl who had trouble walking a week after visiting her grandmother in the mountains of Larimer County. A nurse bathing her after she was admitted to the hospital found a tick along her hairline. And last year, Amanda Lewis woke up and found that her 3-year-old daughter, Evelyn, couldn't stand no matter how hard she tried, according to the La Grande Observer. Lewis, of La Grande, Ore., posted a video on Facebook, hoping family members or friends could help figure out what was causing the girl's sudden strange ailment. They couldn't, but the video was watched about 22 million times and shared more than 600,000 times. At the hospital that day, physician John Page saw that a 3-year-old had been admitted with ataxia and suspected that it might be tick paralysis. He scoured the girl's scalp and found the arachnid, which was embedded in the skin and could have been easily dismissed as a red bump. Once it was removed, Evelyn was walking the next day. In Mississippi last week, Kailyn Griffin had a similarly quick recovery. Her


Controversy surrounds research on State Department employees sickened in ‘attacks’

to find a cluster of cases in a larger group of at-risk individuals.” He added, “Another possibly more important phenomenon is the way that doctors, sensing an 'outbreak,' can suggest or over-diagnose symptoms in patients in order to fit an a priori hypothesis.” A spokeswoman for Penn Medicine said the paper's authors would not be available for interviews. “We are continuing to work with the Department of State to evaluate and treat personnel who have reported audible phenomena experiences,” she added. “We are not able to provide specifics about different patient groups at this time.” The cases in Cuba began in November 2016 and were first reported to embassy officials there at the end of that year. They continued until last August, then reportedly stopped. Those 10 months were a period of political turmoil and a chilling of U.S.-Cuban diplomatic relations after the election of President Trump. Cuban scientists looked into the cases after conferring with U.S. officials. The Cuban conclusion: The issue was a “collective psychogenic disorder.” According to a story in the journal Science, the U.S. government gave Cuban investigators recordings of irritating sounds around the residences of embassy personnel — which turned out to most closely match the buzzing of Jamaican field crickets. Cuban scientists' skepticism has now been echoed in the United States and the United Kingdom. “We're baffled by this [JAMA] report,” said Alberto Espay, a professor of neurology at the University of Cincinnati. “The symptoms are certainly very real and in no way fabricated. This is not a case of a bunch of people colluding to try to come up with some symptoms all together.” But medical literature, he noted, has long documented cases in which clusters of people in stressful situations will exhibit similar symptoms of health problems. Last year, Trump told reporters that “some very bad things happened in Cuba. They did some bad things.” But although Tillerson described whatever happened there as “attacks,” the department has not used that term in recent weeks. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, testifying on Capitol Hill in late May, mentioned the health problem of the employee in China and said, “The medical indications are very similar and entirely consistent with the medical indications that have taken place to Americans working in Cuba.” Carol Morello contributed to this report. Read more: September 2017: U.S. yanks embassy staffers from Havana Americans evacuating in China amid illness fears


Myanmar is now erasing the Rohingya’s very name

“Bengalis.” In a nation with dozens of minority ethnic groups, Rohingya have been left stateless and persecuted. The maltreatment did not ease with the arrival of a fragile democracy in recent years, led by the longtime dissident and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who is now the de facto head of government. In recent weeks, the Burmese information ministry has detected the word “Rohingya” in television broadcasts by Radio Free Asia, a private, nonprofit news organization, funded by the U.S. government, which brings news to closed societies in Asia, and the BBC. Both organizations used “Rohingya” in shows that were shared with Democratic Voice of Burma, which operates on the state’s MRTV channel. The information ministry said that RFA and BBC could no longer air their content if they continued to use the word “Rohingya,” which is “strictly prohibited.” Both RFA and the BBC refused to censor their programs, and quit their partnership, although both will continue to be available to Burmese by shortwave, social media and websites. Censorship was absolute under the military dictatorship that ruled Burma from 1962 to 2010. Hope blossomed for change when the shift to democracy began, and especially after Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won a landslide in the 2015 election. But the past few years have shown that neither the NLD nor the military is making much progress toward press freedom; old laws that allow selective punishment of journalists remain on the books. The unjust detention of two Reuters reporters, Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, and Wa Lone, 32, who were investigating the killing of 10 Rohingya men and boys during the crackdown, is only the latest example. Many people are questioning why Aung San Suu Kyi has let this happen. In her defense, it is often pointed out, correctly, that the military retains significant power in Burma, including in parliament and control over key ministries, and that she can only do so much. It is also true that Aung San Suu Kyi has appealed to people not to use either “Rohingya” or “Bengali,” saying they are emotive terms, which is hardly a courageous response. She must be asked why her government is acting as a censor. Surely she remembers during her long years of house arrest tuning in to RFA and the BBC to hear the truth. It is distressing to see it suppressed on her watch.