Turkey’s Erdogan stirs the pot

Until the killing of Post Global Opinions columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s reputation had been under siege in the West. After Turkey detained American pastor Andrew Brunson, President Trump slapped sanctions on Turkey, which was already in an economic tailspin. (“The United States doubled its tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from Turkey and froze the assets of the Turkish interior and justice ministers,” Julie Honoré wrote in Foreign Policy magazine. “The Turkish lira hit a low of 5.11 to the dollar, and inflation reached 24.5 percent. Erdogan railed against the United States, and some Turks made a show of burning dollars, boycotting McDonald’s, and destroying Apple products.”) Erdogan has been under severe criticism from the West for his practice of snatching Westerners, his campaign of domestic repression and his coziness with Russia and Iran. Jake Sullivan and Eric Edelman wrote in February: Khashoggi’s disappearance provided Erdogan with a rare opportunity to go on offense. He decided to release Brunson, and further, to conduct a campaign to embarrass Riyadh and upset the relationship that Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner have cultivated with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (or MBS, as he is known). In doing so, he has elevated Turkey’s profile and put MBS’s defenders in the United States in a bind. State-controlled Turkish media have dribbled out news that contradicts the lies offered by Riyadh. Now Erdogan himself is stepping up the pressure. The Post reports: In describing the Saudis’ meticulous planning for the murder, Erdogan severely undermined the Saudi cover story that Khashoggi’s death resulted from a fistfight inside the consulate. (“Erdogan highlighted attempts by the Saudis to obstruct or cover up the killing, including a ruse involving a Saudi agent who was dressed like Khashoggi and captured on camera exiting the consulate,” The Post reports.) The timing of the speech seemed designed to embarrass Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who despite criticism arrived in Saudi Arabia for a conference on combating terrorism financing. It also comes as CIA Director Gina Haspel arrives to discuss Turkish intelligence on the killing. The administration should be concerned that Turkey has the ability to discredit a whitewash designed to keep the U.S.-Saudi relationship on track and help the Saudis put the Khashoggi killing behind them. So long as Turkey engages in conduct that undermines U.S. interests in combating Iran, there will likely not


The Cybersecurity 202: Google steps up security efforts as most campaigns use its email services

Europe.” PATCHED: “A high-profile Saudi investment conference that was due to begin this week experienced another setback Monday after its website appeared to be defaced by hackers critical of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman,” Also on Monday, Reuters reported that Saud al-Qahtani, a top aide for the Crown Prince, ran the killing of journalist Khashoggi via Skype. “According to one high-ranking Arab source with access to intelligence and links to members of Saudi Arabia’s royal court, Qahtani was beamed into a room of the Saudi consulate via Skype,” Reuters reported. “He began to hurl insults at Khashoggi over the phone. According to the Arab and Turkish sources, Khashoggi answered Qahtani’s insults with his own.” The Post's Tamer El-Ghobashy, Kareem Fahim and Carol Morello reported that Qahtani “on Sunday changed his Twitter biography — reflecting his demotion from adviser to the Royal Court to the head of the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity.” PWNED: A Bloomberg Businessweek story that described a hardware-based hacking operation by China continues to face denials. Super Micro Computer disputed the content of the story in an Oct. 18 letter Moreover, Andy Jassy, who manages Amazon Web Services, said Monday that Bloomberg Businessweek ought to retract the story, — National security adviser John Bolton said Monday that Russian interference did not affect the result of the past U.S. presidential election but created “distrust” of Russia — The FBI is investigating cyberattacks that targeted the website of Bryan Caforio, who unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination in California's 25th Congressional District this year — “The Treasury Department is investigating the theft of nearly $700,000 from the D.C. government in July by scammers who successfully impersonated a city vendor — If New Jersey's elections were to be hacked, security experts worry that it might be impossible to know whether vote counts were changed because virtually all electronic voting machines in the state are paperless Warren County is the only county whose voting machines include a paper backup at the moment, and the town of Westfield in Union County will also start using new voting machines with a paper trail on Election Day, according to the Asbury Park Press. “The Brennan Center for Justice's Democracy Program sent letters to New Jersey and seven other states last month that use paperless voting machines as their main vote counters, urging them to move forward in the wake of a federal court ruling


House members demand answers about Khashoggi from top spy chief

More than 50 Democrats and one Republican in the House sent a letter to the nation’s top spy chief Monday, demanding information about when the United States learned of Saudi Arabia’s plans to target slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and whether they warned him about what they knew. “We seek urgent answers as to whether Mr. Khashoggi was in fact contacted about the credible threat to his life and liberty posed by the Saudi plot to capture him,” the members, led by Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), wrote to Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats. They also insisted the director tell them “the precise date” when the intelligence community learned of the plot against Khashoggi, and to know whether any of intercepts of Saudi officials’ plans would be declassified. They threatened to compel the information from the intelligence community if it was not readily provided. “Considering the profound ramifications of this potential crime, U.S. foreknowledge of Saudi plans to detain Mr. Khashoggi, and whether the U.S. intelligence community carried out its duty to warn, we intend to use the full force of congressional oversight and investigatory powers to obtain these answers, should they not be forthcoming,” the members wrote. Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) joined the Democrats in signing the letter. U.S. intelligence agencies have a “duty to warn” when they have clear evidence that someone might be in mortal danger — and intercepts showed that the Saudis were discussing a plan to lure Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia. But it is unclear whether U.S. intelligence agencies knew specifics about the threat — and as a dissident, Khashoggi was probably aware that some level of threat existed. None of the members who signed the letter sit on the House Intelligence Committee, where members have been receiving more constant access to intelligence surrounding Khashoggi’s disappearance and apparent murder than lawmakers with lower security clearances. But the letter coincides with growing frustration from members on both sides of the aisle and in both chambers of Congress, who say that the administration should be keeping Congress more in the loop about what they know. The matter is more urgent in the House, where next month members are expected to vote on a measure to invoke the War Powers Resolution as a means of curtailing U.S. military, intelligence and air support for the Saudi-led coalition operating in Yemen’s civil war. Khanna is


Germany plans to suspend arms sales to Saudis; other European countries press for more information on Khashoggi’s killing

PARIS — As President Trump continues to equivocate in his response to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, European leaders have shown a united front in casting blame on the Saudi government and calling for concrete actions to punish Riyadh for what mounting evidence suggests was a hit job followed by a state-authorized coverup gone wrong. On Sunday evening, Germany became the first Western government to suspend future arms sales to Saudi Arabia after Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters that “arms exports can’t take place in the current circumstances.” Merkel’s move followed a joint statement from the German, French and British foreign ministries highlighting an “urgent need for clarification” of what happened to Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributing columnist, after he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. European lawmakers will vote Thursday on a parliamentary resolution on Khashoggi’s killing. According to a draft of the nonbinding resolution seen by The Post, some lawmakers are likely to push for “targeted sanctions” against the killers and also for a European Union-wide ban on the export of arms and security equipment to Saudi Arabia. In a telephone interview with The Post on Saturday, Trump reiterated his refusal to consider sanctions on Saudi Arabia and noted what he insists is a $110 billion arms deal with the Saudi government. Western European countries are no strangers to Saudi arms deals: Britain and France are the kingdom’s two largest respective exporters after the United States, albeit at significantly smaller levels. In any case, the apparent willingness in Paris, Berlin and London to risk these economic benefits — in word, if not yet in deed — is a rare occurrence, political analysts said. “These three countries have been spending their time competing with each other for Saudi contracts and benevolences,” said François Heisbourg, a former French presidential adviser on national security and a Paris-based security expert. “The notion that they were going to work together on this was unprecedented.” As for why Khashoggi’s killing has resonated to such a strong degree in Europe, Heisbourg said that one possible explanation was the memory of the Hariri case. In November 2017, Lebanon’s Saudi-born Prime Minister Saad Hariri was detained in Riyadh, where he announced on Saudi state television his intent to resign. Hariri, a French citizen, was permitted to leave the country only after the intervention of French President Emmanuel Macron. Once outside Saudi Arabia, Hariri


The Neil Armstrong movie appears to be flopping because of Marco Rubio. The truth is more complicated.

Man” contains subject matter that might be expected to play strongly in red states. But this political question, attention-grabbing as it is, ignores more nuts-and-bolts movie issues that were just as likely to have a significant impact, relating as much to how and when the film was released as to what a politician was tweeting about it. Chazelle’s previous movies (they also include “Whiplash”) all were platformed — that is, released on a handful of screens before being broadened to thousands of them. The idea is for the movie to build buzz slowly, assuredly, before being subject to the opening-weekend buzz saw of the 2,500-plus screen release, in which a shaky opening weekend dooms a picture. “First Man” did not go that route — a substantive fact, given that the film, with its vibe of art-house restraint, was not even roundly loved by the people who saw it. The film garnered a B+ in the opening-weekend polling system known as CinemaScore. That’s solid, but hardly great. And the film ran up against stronger-than-expected competition in fellow wide releases “Venom” and “A Star is Born.” A platform release would have avoided them. The film also didn’t do well in Houston and Los Angeles, according to a person familiar with the figures who was not authorized to talk about them. That would seem like a potential revolt by the Aldrin crowd — after all, both metro areas are key to the U.S. exploration of space (the former via NASA and the latter with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory). But that would be a red herring. The more likely reason the film unperformed in those cities is because both teams from them were in the Major League Baseball playoffs last weekend. A movie about the 1969 lunar landing is marketed to, and a strong appeal for, older males, a demographic that is also highly drawn to playoff baseball. It is hard to know how all these factors interacted with one another. Stripping away these layers, one is left mainly with the controversy and its antagonists. This was, said critics on the left, an example of how badly pop culture has been politicized. Of course critics on the right said the same thing about the movie. One inference they both might have pointed out, and even agreed on: In times so divided, making a movie about unity could be the most politicizing act of all.


Khashoggi death throws new light on Saudi prince’s crackdown on dissent

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The police came for Samar Badawi in the middle of the night in July, pulling her out of her house as she carried her crying 3-year-old daughter. They set up klieg lights and filmed the arrest of Badawi, 37, a prominent human rights activist. Curious neighbors were forced to sign agreements to never discuss what they had seen, said Yahya Assiri, a Saudi human rights activist and longtime friend of Badawi’s. The jailing of Badawi, who has been honored by the U.S. State Department and has spoken at the U.N. Human Rights Council, is emblematic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s relentless crackdown on those seen as challenging his authority, according to human rights groups. “He is trying to silence everyone,” said Assiri, who lives in self-exile in London. “There are no human rights defenders still free in Saudi Arabia. They are all behind bars.” The Oct. 2 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul has focused a harsh international spotlight on Saudi Arabia and forced Riyadh’s allies, especially in Washington, to take a more critical look at the record of Mohammed, or MBS, as the powerful 33-year-old prince is known. He has been widely lauded, by Saudis and others, as a reformer who has brought long-overdue social and economic change to the kingdom. Young people in particular support him. President Trump has hailed him as a key partner in Middle East peace efforts and in countering Iran’s influence, as well as a deep-pocketed customer for U.S. arms manufacturers. But the Khashoggi case — and the arrests in the past year of Badawi and dozens of other human rights and women’s rights activists, as well as clerics and even wealthy businessmen and princes — has brought new attention to Mohammed’s record of crushing dissent since he became crown prince in June 2017. Saudi officials have acknowledged that Khashoggi, who contributed opinion columns to The Washington Post, was killed by Saudi agents. Riyadh describes the killing as a “rogue” operation gone wrong; 18 people have been arrested, and five officials have been fired, including two very close to Mohammed. But critics, including in the U.S. Congress, are demanding further investigations into whether Mohammed may have ordered a covert action against a journalist who frequently criticized him. “If there is no punishment for this, they will think they can do anything and nobody can


The Saudi investment conference’s website apparently has been hacked and taken down

A high-profile Saudi investment conference that was due to begin this week experienced another setback Monday after its website appeared to be defaced by hackers critical of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The home page for the conference — which markets itself as “Davos in the Desert” — was overtaken Monday and replaced with a message calling for Saudi officials to be held “responsible for its barbaric and inhuman action, such as killing its own citizen Jamal khashoggi and thousands of innocent people in Yemen.” Calling the Saudi government a source of terrorism financing, the message was accompanied by a composite image of Mohammed holding a sword above the head of Khashoggi. And it linked to a number of YouTube videos from an account that had been created a day ago. Within minutes, the entire website had gone offline. Saudi officials admitted on Saturday that Khashoggi, a contributing columnist for The Washington Post, had been killed in the country’s consulate in Istanbul, after initially denying it for weeks. On Monday, surveillance video obtained by CNN appeared to show a Saudi operative impersonating Khashoggi by walking out of the consulate in his clothes. The outcry over Khashoggi’s killing has had punishing consequences for the conference, known formally as the Future Investment Initiative. The conference is part of a broader, years-long effort by the Saudi government to diversify its economy and shift away from its dependence on oil exports. The conference organizers didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Amid the growing international crisis, the chief executives of JP Morgan Chase, BlackRock and Siemens have all withdrawn from the summit, as have the leaders of HSBC and Uber. Foreign investors sold off more than $1 billion of investments in Saudi stocks last week, according to Bloomberg News — a record blow as government officials continue to seek status from world indexes as an emerging market. Analysts say the Saudi government hopes that the label will lead to a massive influx of new money from global investors.


Here’s how the Saudi crown prince could face international justice

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his henchmen might believe they are outside the reach of international justice following the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But they shouldn’t be so sure. There are a range of ways the Saudi leader and the other perpetrators could be punished for their alleged crimes, in both civil and criminal courts all over the world. “If the reports are accurate, the acts against Mr. Khashoggi are serious violations of international human rights law, including the law to protect the individual from torture and forced disappearance,” said Stephen Rapp, the former U.S. State Department ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues. Seeking justice and accountability for Khashoggi’s killing will not be easy, but several mechanisms do exist to go after MBS, as the crown prince is known, and the Saudis who reportedly carried out the murder, Rapp said. Khashoggi’s family has the right to pursue justice in civil courts, and prosecutors in several countries could also bring criminal charges, based on international law and precedent. “These kinds of acts give rights to the victims and others to raise this issue in international bodies and may open possibilities of private litigation,” Rapp said. “Stronger than that are the possibilities that the torture and forced disappearance of Mr. Khashoggi, and the murder being the worst of it, would open the way for prosecution in third countries of those involved in these acts.” Criminal prosecutions of MBS and other Saudi officials could be brought under the U.N. Convention against Torture, to which Saudi Arabia is a signatory. The convention prohibits acts that inflict “severe pain or suffering … inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.” Through the principle of universal jurisdiction, any country that is a party to the convention, including the United States, could refer a case to the International Court of Justice and seek an order for Saudi Arabia to prosecute or extradite MBS and the other suspects. A recent example is when Belgium brought a case against Senegal seeking the extradition and prosecution of Hissene Habre, the former president of Chad, for crimes against humanity. The United States and the Trump administration have resisted the principle of universal jurisdiction, for fear American officials could face charges. But other countries, such as Germany, have been more aggressive in prosecuting


CIA director flies to Turkey amid growing controversy over Jamal Khashoggi killing

CIA Director Gina Haspel departed for Turkey on Monday amid a growing international uproar over Saudi Arabia’s explanation of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to people familiar with the matter. The visit by the U.S. spy chief comes as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a speech planned for early Tuesday vows to reveal the full extent of what his aides are calling a Saudi-directed murder and attempted coverup. The arrival of the director suggests an effort by the U.S. intelligence community to assess the information the Turks have, including what Turkish officials have said is audio that captures the killing. Intelligence officials are increasingly skeptical of the Saudi account and have warned President Trump that the idea that rogue operators flew to Istanbul and killed Khashoggi without the knowledge or consent of Saudi leaders is dubious, a White House official said. On Monday, Trump told reporters that “I am not satisfied with what I’ve heard” from Saudi Arabia and pledged to get to the bottom of what happened. “We have top intelligence people in Turkey. We’re going to see what we have. I'll know a lot tomorrow,” he said. “They'll be coming back either tonight or tomorrow morning. But we have people in Saudi Arabia and in Turkey.” A CIA spokeswoman declined to comment. Other officials spoke about the director’s travels on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the trip. The chief concern for Washington is that Erdogan will reveal details about Khashoggi’s killing that implicate Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, who has been a key ally for the Trump administration. On Saturday, the Saudi government acknowledged that Khashoggi was killed by Saudi agents after he visited the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. The 33-year-old prince has denied any knowledge of the killing and his top diplomat, Adel al-Jubeir, called it a tragic “rogue operation” by a group of people acting outside Mohammed’s consent. A U.S. official who has not heard the audio that purportedly captures the killing but is familiar with its contents said it does not corroborate Saudi Arabia’s version of events that Khashoggi’s death was the result of a fistfight. Turkish investigators concluded days ago that Khashoggi was killed and dismembered by a Saudi team dispatched to Istanbul. At least 12 members of the Saudi team are connected to Saudi security services, and


Istanbul has felt like home for Arab exiles. Khashoggi’s killing has them scared.

ISTANBUL — As the brief promise of the Arab Spring uprisings faded, Istanbul became a haven for dissidents and exiles from around the region and of all ideological stripes. This Turkish city felt more familiar than Europe to the Arabs, who recognized its food, pace and people as being similar to their own, and Turkey’s government could provide these exiles with a measure of protection from the repression they fled at home. But in recent weeks, a pall has been cast over the vibrant Arab diaspora that has called Istanbul home for years. The killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul has not only deprived the community of one of its celebrated members. It has also prompted fear among the exiles that if a regime is determined enough, it can get to them anywhere. “We could not imagine the level of brutality,” said a Saudi writer. “We do not know anyone now who wants to be politically active after this, who wants to go from staying silent to speaking out.” Many exiles from several Arab nations said their safety rests on whether Saudi Arabia is held to account for the targeting of Khashoggi, a contributing columnist for The Washington Post who lived in the United States but was planning to marry a Turkish woman and settle in Istanbul. On Saturday, Saudi Arabia said that its government agents killed the 59-year-old journalist during what they called a rogue operation to return him to the kingdom. Turkish officials have said they possess evidence that Khashoggi was marked for a premeditated assassination, and suspicion has centered on Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia. Khashoggi, though once a royal-court insider, had in recent years become a frequent critic of Mohammed. Arab dissidents in Turkey have been mourning Khashoggi’s death while closely watching the global fallout. “If Salman gets away with this, Sissi will do the same. Bashar will do the same,” said another dissident Saudi writer, referencing Egypt’s and Syria’s presidents, Abdel Fatah al-Sissi and Bashar al-Assad. This slightly built and soft-spoken 28-year-old writer fled Saudi Arabia last year as Mohammed asserted his power over the royal court, targeting rival princes, businessmen, clerics and activists even as he liberalized some of Saudi Arabia’s restrictive social conventions. Like most of the people interviewed for this article, the writer insisted on anonymity, for fear of drawing


Mnuchin meets with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman despite outcry over journalist’s death

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin met with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday, according to the Saudi government, illustrating how the White House is retaining close ties with the embattled Middle Eastern leader despite a growing international outcry over the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry posted a photo of the meeting on Twitter. In a caption, the Saudi government wrote that Mohammed in the meeting stressed “the importance of the Saudi-US strategic partnership, where it holds an important role in the future in line with the Kingdom’s #Vision2030.” Amid international backlash over Khashoggi’s killing, Mnuchin last week announced that he was withdrawing from a conference being held in Saudi Arabia Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributing columnist, died at the Saudi Consulate in Turkey earlier this month, though the Saudi Arabian government has given conflicting reports on how it happened. Tony Sayegh, Mnuchin’s top spokesman, said the two men discussed the Khashoggi investigation, sanctions against Iran and the Saudi economy, as well as combating the financing of terrorism. Still, Treasury was reluctant to comment on the meeting, which had not been previewed in advance. Bruce Riedel, a former senior CIA official who is now head of the Intelligence Project at the Brookings Institution, said the meeting between the crown prince and Mnuchin is a way for Saudi officials to send a statement to the United States that they cannot be ignored and won’t be cowed by any investigation into Khashoggi’s death. “He’s just trying to tough it out and say, ‘You have to deal with me,' " Riedel said. "'I’m in charge here. I’m not going anywhere. You can’t avoid having your picture taken with me when you come here.' ” During the trip to the Middle East, Mnuchin has posted multiple photographs of his meetings with leaders from Israel and Jordan. But he did not post any photograph or statement about meeting with the crown prince. President Trump has sought to tamp down growing criticism of the Saudi royal family in the wake of Khashoggi’s death, but he’s under growing pressure from Republicans in Congress to respond. Even though Mnuchin said he wouldn’t attend a financial conference in Riyadh, he decided he would still travel to Saudi Arabia this week for other meetings. He was scheduled to meet with his Middle Eastern counterparts to discuss ways to combat terror financing, but he did not


Itsy-bitsy space cameras

Never before has such an itsy-bitsy satellite traveled so far from its home planet. And never before have scientists seen space through its wide-angle camera eyes. This image of Mars was captured Oct. 3 by MarCO-B, one of the twin tiny spacecraft sent to the Red Planet alongside NASA’s InSight mission. It is a “CubeSat” — a miniature satellite made at low cost from off-the-shelf materials in an effort to democratize space research. MarCO-B (which engineers nicknamed WALL-E, for the Pixar character) and its twin MarCO-A (called EVE) are no bigger than briefcases and weigh less than 40 pounds. If all goes according to plan, the tiny satellites should arrive in orbit to photograph the InSight lander as it makes its descent to the Martian surface Nov. 26. The interchangeable boxes that constitute each satellite were reportedly inspired by the four-inch plastic cubes used to display Beanie Babies. Usually, CubeSats are launched into low Earth orbit by student researchers, commercial groups and nations with small space programs. They’ve been equipped with technology from every conceivable discipline for a wide range of scientific research: cameras for environmental sensing, particle detectors for space weather protection, packets of microbes to help researchers understand how life might survive far from Earth. This spring, MarCOs A and B became the first CubeSats to leave their home planet, rocketing through the void of space at a pace of roughly 1 million miles a day. Earlier this month, the Mars Cube One team, which operates the satellites, programmed MarCO-B to rotate in space and take several test images of its distant, dusty target. Captured from 8 million miles away, Mars is just a pale red dot, but mission manager Cody Colley said in a statement that “finally seeing the planet is definitely a big win for the team.” — Sarah Kaplan


New video appears to show Saudi suspect wearing Jamal Khashoggi’s clothing

ties to the Saudi security services, and several have connections to the crown prince, according to their posts on social media, emails and local media reports. Saudi authorities deny that Mohammed had been aware of the operation. Like many other foreign officials, Mnuchin announced last week that he was withdrawing from a high-profile investment conference in Saudi Arabia this week. But he traveled to the kingdom for other meetings, officials said. In New York, Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a White House adviser, said in an interview at a CNN conference Monday that he has advised Mohammed to be “fully transparent” about the Khashoggi case. Kushner has cultivated a close partnership with the heir to the Saudi throne. Kushner declined to say whether he believes the Saudi account of Khashoggi’s death, saying the administration was still “in the fact-finding phase.” Trump said top U.S. intelligence officials were in Turkey, suggesting they were trying to assess the information the Turks have gathered. CIA Director Gina Haspel departed for Turkey on Monday, according to people familiar with the matter. Saudi officials have refused to say what happened to Khashoggi’s remains, one of many questions raised about their explanation for the killing. For weeks, the Saudi government had said that Khashoggi walked out of the consulate after his Oct. 2 visit. The body double shown in the newly released video appeared to be an attempt to substantiate that claim, but the cover story fell apart, according to a diplomat familiar with the case. The video footage clearly shows that the man is wearing different shoes than Khashoggi wore when he entered the consulate. “It was a flawed body double, so it never became an official part of the Saudi government’s narrative,” said the diplomat, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter. The video that aired Monday — which appeared to show Mustafa al-Madani, 57, and an accomplice — further challenges the Saudi government’s explanations of what transpired in the consulate and in the hours after Khashoggi’s death. In clips from closed-circuit television cameras, Madani is wearing the gray pants, light shirt and black jacket worn by Khashoggi before he entered the mission. Madani, who is suspected of working for Saudi intelligence, traveled to New York shortly before Mohammed was scheduled to arrive there as part of his U.S. tour this spring, according to records maintained by the Department of


As NASA’s prized telescopes falter, astronomers fear losing their eyes in space

a few weeks at the most. NASA expects both telescopes will continue functioning into the 2020s. Still, the brief brush with oblivion gave astronomers a lasting scare. “People suddenly realized that Hubble is not going to live forever,” said Tom Brown, the Hubble mission head at the Space Telescope Science Institute. Chandra is 19 years old; Hubble is 28. Brown said frantic fellow astronomers have kept his phone ringing “nonstop” in the past two weeks. “They’re thinking about what happens next.” NASA’s billion-dollar-a-year astrophysics program currently flies eight major telescopes aimed at studying space beyond the solar system. Of these, all but one are in their “extended missions” — the bonus years beyond the time for which the spacecraft was originally designed. The only flagship NASA space observatory under construction is the James Webb Space Telescope, whose gold-plated dish is designed to collect infrared radiation from the earliest objects in the universe. NASA intended for the timing of Webb’s mission to overlap significantly with Hubble’s. But the launch of the $10 billion behemoth has been repeatedly delayed as the space agency deals with design problems and costly human errors. This year, NASA announced that Webb won’t launch until 2021 at the earliest, cutting the concerted observing time short. NASA’s next big project would be the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope, which is also targeted toward infrared wavelengths and in 2010 was considered the top astrophysics priority of the National Academy of Sciences. But funding for the observatory has been up in the air after President Trump omitted the telescope from his last two budget requests. The outlook for research across other parts of the light spectrum are fuzzy at best. When Hubble fails, Brown pointed out, there will be no visible or ultraviolet telescopes at that scale. Likewise, NASA has no large X-ray observatories ready to replace Chandra. Compton was succeeded by the smaller Fermi telescope, which has two instruments to Compton’s four. Fermi is already 10 years old and exceeded its original mission by five years. Gamma ray astrophysicist Julie McEnery, the project scientist for Fermi, worries that even a temporary gap in telescope coverage could have lasting repercussions in her field. “You have to have a minimal level of activity in any given telescope area to maintain expertise in the community so you can continue to build instruments,” she said. To prevent such gaps, NASA would have to


Paralyzing polio-like illness mainly affecting children confirmed in 22 states, CDC says

other testing, CDC has not been able to find the cause for the majority of the cases. “There is a lot we don’t know about AFM, and I am frustrated that despite all of our efforts, we haven’t been able to identify the cause of this mystery illness." The increase in cases appeared to begin in 2014, when the CDC started tracking the illness. Each year since then, usually in August or September, the CDC has logged a spike in the illness. The spikes were significantly higher in 2014, 2016 and 2018-to-date than in 2015 or 2017. The CDC knows of one child who died with the disorder in 2017. Since officials have been unable so far to determine how the disease spreads, they are starting to count suspected cases as well as confirmed to better anticipate increases over the coming months. It’s too early to know whether the total for 2018 will surpass those previous years. But the data reported Tuesday represents “a substantially larger number than in previous months this year,” Messonnier said. There is no specific treatment for the disorder, and long-term outcomes are unknown. The rare but serious disorder affects a person’s nervous system, specifically the spinal cord. Neurological conditions like it have a variety of causes, such as viruses, environmental toxins and genetic disorders. Among the cases under investigation are five reported to Maryland health officials in recent weeks, a health department spokeswoman said Tuesday. Maryland’s first case was reported Sept. 21. No known cases have been reported in Virginia or the District this year, but there were three confirmed cases in Virginia in 2016, health department officials said. Messonnier said it was important for parents and clinicians to remember that this is a rare condition, affecting less than 1 in 1 million children under 18. “As a parent myself, I understand what it’s like to be scared for your child,” she said. “Parents need to know that AFM is rare even with the increase in cases we are seeing now.” Still, because this is a “pretty dramatic disease,” Messonnier said health officials want to raise awareness about the symptoms to make sure parents seek medical care immediately if their children show a sudden onset of weakness or loss of muscle tone in their arms and legs. Once diagnosed, some patients have recovered quickly, but some continue to have paralysis and require ongoing care, Messonnier


said. After testing patients’ stool specimens, the CDC determined poliovirus is not the cause of the AFM cases. Messonnier said West Nile virus, which had been listed as a possible cause on CDC’s website, is also not causing the illnesses. In some individuals, health officials have determined that the condition was from infection with a type of virus that causes severe respiratory illness. So far, the CDC has found no relationship between vaccines and children diagnosed with AFM from the 2014 cases. Officials said they will be conducting additional analysis on this year’s cases. “Our medical team has been reviewing vaccine records when available during this year’s investigation and do not see a correlation,” said CDC spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund. The disorder has been diagnosed in unvaccinated children and also in children who have received some of their recommended vaccinations, she said. The agency doesn’t know who may be at higher risk for developing this condition or the reasons they may be at higher risk. The CDC has tested many different specimens from patients with this condition for a wide variety of pathogens, or germs, that can cause AFM. No pathogen has been consistently detected in the patients' spinal fluid. There appears to be no geographical clustering of the U.S. cases and no other country has reported the pattern seen here so far of cases spiking every two years, Messonnier said. Parents can best protect their children from serious diseases by taking prevention steps, such as washing their hands, staying up to date on recommended vaccines and using insect repellent to prevent mosquito bites. Neurologists who specialize in treating brain and spinal cord illnesses may recommend certain interventions, such as physical or occupational therapy, on a case-by-case basis. Benjamin Greenberg, a neurologist who has treated children with AFM at the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas, said AFM is “exquisitely rare.” But, if their child is diagnosed, parents should prepare for extensive physical therapy — therapy that isn’t always covered by insurance, he said. Some children paralyzed by AFM have eventually regained their ability to walk, but need time. “Families really sticking with it are seeing slow but steady recovery,” he said. CDC is not releasing a list of the 22 states with confirmed and suspected cases because of privacy issues. But some state health departments have been making public their reported cases. States are not required to provide this information


‘Hyperalarming’ study shows massive insect loss

five out of our six populations we got the strongest possible support for heat causing those decreases in abundance of frogs and insects.” The authors sorted out the effects of weather like hurricanes and still saw a consistent trend, Schowalter said, which makes a convincing case for climate. “If anything, I think their results and caveats are understated. The gravity of their findings and ramifications for other animals, especially vertebrates, is hyperalarming,” Wagner said. But he is not convinced that climate change is the global driver of insect loss. “The decline of insects in northern Europe precedes that of climate change there,” he said. “Likewise, in New England, some tangible declines began in the 1950s.” No matter the cause, all of the scientists agreed that more people should pay attention to the bugpocalypse. “It’s a very scary thing,” Merrill said, that comes on the heels of a “gloomy, gloomy” U.N. report that estimated the world has little more than a decade left to wrangle climate change under control. But “we can all step up,” he said, by using more fuel-efficient cars and turning off unused electronics. The Portland, Ore.-based Xerces Society, a nonprofit environmental group that promotes insect conservation, recommends planting a garden with native plants that flower throughout the year. “Unfortunately, we have deaf ears in Washington,” Schowalter said. But those ears will listen at some point, he said, because our food supply will be in jeopardy. Thirty-five percent of the world’s plant crops require pollination by bees, wasps and other animals. And arthropods are more than just pollinators. They’re the planet’s wee custodians, toiling away in unnoticed or avoided corners. They chew up rotting wood and eat carrion. “And none of us want to have more carcasses around,” Schowalter said. Wild insects provide $57 billion worth of six-legged labor in the United States each year, according to a 2006 estimate. The loss of insects and arthropods could further rend the rain forest’s food web, Lister warned, causing plant species to go extinct without pollinators. “If the tropical forests go it will be yet another catastrophic failure of the whole Earth system,” he said, “that will feed back on human beings in an almost unimaginable way.” Read more: ‘This is very alarming!’: Flying insects vanish from nature preserves Watch these bizarre flies dive underwater using bubbles like scuba suits This bug is real, and now so are your nightmares


A toddler couldn’t move his arm. Doctors discovered a polio-like condition.

watch her daughter while she rushed him to the emergency room. Then she called her husband, frantic, and told him what happened. Young said she had a suspicion: acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), an extremely rare but serious condition that has been compared with polio because it, too, can lead to paralysis and, in some cases, death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Young said she had been reading about the condition since it started making headlines in 2014. In July, her son became one of the first children diagnosed in the recent cluster in Minnesota. Since the CDC began tracking AFM in 2014, 362 cases have been reported in the United States, 38 of which have been reported across 16 states this year. It prompted the Minnesota Department of Health to put out an alert last week, stating that over the past several weeks, six cases have been reported in children across the state. It stated: The CDC states that AFM targets the spinal cord, which can lead to weakness in the muscles. Symptoms can include facial-muscle weakness, seen as droopiness; issues moving the eyes or droopy eyelids; issues swallowing; or slurred speech. In rare cases, the CDC stated, it can cause numbness, tingling and pain in the extremities, problems urinating, paralysis, respiratory failure, and death. Marc Patterson, a pediatric neurologist at the Mayo Clinic, told The Post that, like polio, AFM is caused by enteroviruses — a collection of viruses that typically cause mild symptoms, such as stomach problems, or no symptoms at all. In some patients — possibly those with genetic predispositions — these viruses can invade the nervous system, leading to conditions such as AFM. Patterson said that there is no vaccine to guard against enteroviruses (except for polioviruses) and that treatment for AFM is simply supportive treatment. After a diagnosis, he said, doctors may prescribe physical therapy to help with recovery and, in some cases, surgery to help repair nerves. Asked why it seems that AFM cases have been climbing across the United States in recent years, Patterson said that “there may be a number of factors.” He said it could be that the viruses are mutating to be better able to invade their hosts, or it could be that doctors are now better able to recognize the signs. Young, from Minneapolis, said she had heard about AFM during a 2014 cluster in


Court restores federal protections for Yellowstone-area grizzly bears

scientific studies it relied upon, failing to recognize that all evidence suggests that the long-term viability of the Greater Yellowstone grizzly is far less certain absent new genetic material.” In a statement, Fish and Wildlife said it was reviewing the ruling and noted that it means the bears' management — in the hands of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho since last year — now returns to the federal government. Nevertheless, the agency said, “we stand behind our finding that the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly bear is biologically recovered and no longer requires protection. . . . Our determination was based on our rigorous interpretation of the law and is supported by the best available science and a comprehensive conservation strategy developed with our federal, state, and tribal partners.” The ruling came amid heightening criticism of the Endangered Species Act from conservatives who say it imposes steep burdens on private landowners and industry while failing to restore imperiled populations back to their historic levels. The Department of Interior proposed regulations this summer that would overhaul the law, while GOP lawmakers have proposed a slew of bills that would remove protections for specific species from the list and bar them from being listed in the first place. “This is a prime example why Congress should modernize the Endangered Species Act. We should elevate the role of states and local experts who are on the ground working with the grizzly – and other endangered species — on a daily basis," Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso (R), chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, said in a statement Tuesday. He added: " The grizzly is recovered in Wyoming. Period." Monday’s ruling was the latest legal setback for the Trump administration’s environmental agenda. Federal courts have ruled against Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Commerce Department on several fronts, including a decision last month that blocked the administration from modifying a ban on imports of all seafood caught with gillnets in Mexico because the practice threatens the critically endangered vaquita porpoise. Grizzlies in the Lower 48 were placed on the Endangered Species List in 1975, by which point the predators had been eradicated from 98 percent of their historical range and the Yellowstone-area population had dropped to fewer than 140 bears. The federal government first delisted Yellowstone grizzlies in 2007, when their numbers had rebounded to well above 500. But that decision was


A prototype of how to fight the next pandemic: A vaccine without the shot

When the next deadly pandemic flu hits, the first challenge will be to develop a vaccine. But looming behind that obstacle is another: How to get an inoculation to millions of people without inadvertently exacerbating the crisis. After all, droves of people — some who might already be sickened — who flock to health centers for a shot could be a potent way for the infection to spread. On the 100th anniversary of the influenza pandemic of 1918 that sickened a third of the world's population and killed 50 million people, vaccine researchers are urgently searching for new approaches to prepare for the next pandemic — a threat that most public health officials consider inevitable. A new study provides proof of concept for a solution that could upend the traditional centralized model, in which health professionals give injections at clinics. Researchers created an H5N1 vaccine, boosted by a special ingredient that primes the body's immune system to respond. Then, they administered it through a microneedle that only penetrates the upper layer of the skin. They see this prototype technology as a platform that could lead to novel vaccine patches that can be distributed rapidly and administered without a nurse. People would simply have to stick a bandage-like strip, lined with microscopic needles, onto their skin. "It's an excellent, extremely comprehensive and well-done study,” said Mark Poznansky, director of the Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, who was not involved in the research, which was published in Science Advances. “What they're suggesting is something you could stick in an envelope and get to people rapidly — it's an important breakthrough technology." The research team combined several different technologies into their prototype: tiny, hollow microneedles that penetrate only the upper layer of the skin were paired with vaccines made from noninfectious “virus-like particles” that can be rapidly produced by tobacco plants. Crucially, researchers added another ingredient, called an adjuvant, that speeds up and strengthens the body's response to the vaccine. The study, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, is still at an early stage. Large-scale human trials will be needed to determine the safety of the approach, which successfully protected ferrets from H5N1 and appeared safe in a small human trial to study safety. Darrick Carter, a biochemist at the Infectious Disease Research Institute in Seattle, said that one of the most exciting things their study showed was


The hunter’s moon is peaking, illuminating our increasingly long October nights

October’s full moon, also known as the hunter’s moon, reaches peak fullness and brightness Wednesday. The moon has already put on a show and will shine brilliantly for the next few nights. The hunter’s moon is the full moon that comes after the harvest moon, the first full moon after the equinox. A hunter’s moon usually falls in October but sometimes in November. The name ties into multiple historical traditions, and the moon occurs when it’s prime time for stocking up on game animals, such as deer, ahead of the coming winter. In the Southern Hemisphere, the hunter’s moon occurs six months from now. In Washington, Wednesday’s full moon rise is set for 6:44 p.m., or during the finality of the twilight period, about 30 minutes after sunset (6:17 p.m.). Clear skies should allow optimal viewing in the Mid-Atlantic as well as along the West Coast. Cloudy conditions in the central and southeast United States will impair sky-watching conditions. While Wednesday is the full moon, the difference in illumination is difficult for the eye to discern in the nights and days surrounding totality. With this in mind, Thursday morning will offer a special treat of a nearly full moon still hanging in the sky for about 30 minutes after sunrise. A daytime moon will then be visible through the rest of the week. In addition to the hunter’s moon, the Orionid meteor shower is still going on. The brightness of the hunter’s moon may overpower it, but there’s at least a somewhat better shot than normal of also catching a shooting star while looking up.


Turkish president holds first talks with Saudi crown prince amid fallout from Khashoggi killing

ISTANBUL — Turkey’s president spoke directly with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday as the Turkish probe into the killing of Jamal Khashoggi returned to the Saudi Consulate’s grounds in an apparent hunt for the journalist’s remains. Turkish officials did not immediately give details of the exchanges between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the crown prince, with the two countries sharply at odds over Khashoggi’s slaying on Oct. 2. But the contact came even as both sides sent contrasting signals. Erdogan earlier Wednesday kept the pressure high, saying no one linked to the killing will “avoid justice,” an apparent message to Saudi leaders. Investigators, meanwhile, sought to search a well on the grounds of the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul and studied surveillance images, trying to piece together Saudi movements before Khashoggi’s slaying. Mohammed, speaking at a business forum in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, called the killing a “heinous crime” and acknowledged the international outcry over it. But he also made overtures to Turkey and other countries with hopes that Khashoggi’s death would not leave a “wedge” in relations. Turkey claims that a Saudi hit team planned the killing of the Washington Post contributing columnist for when he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Saudi Arabia has acknowledged that Khashoggi died inside the consulate but says he was accidentally killed in a physical altercation with a team sent to negotiate his return to the kingdom. Khashoggi was living in exile in the United States and had planned to move to Istanbul and marry his Turkish fiancee. Erdogan’s call with the crown prince was the first conversation between the two leaders since Khashoggi’s death. They discussed “joint efforts” to investigate the case, Turkey’s state-run news agency reported, and the official Saudi Press Agency carried a similar statement. Earlier, however, Erdogan had vowed to seek justice against those who ordered the killing. “We are determined not to allow a coverup of this murder and to make sure all those responsible — from those who ordered it to those who carried it out — will not be allowed to avoid justice,” he said in a speech in Ankara, the Turkish capital, news agencies reported. Turkey’s state-run news agency also reported Wednesday that Saudi officials had prevented Turkish police from searching a water well in the garden of the consulate in Istanbul’s Levent district. According to the private broadcaster NTV,


Expert panel urges hepatitis A shots for homeless in U.S.

responsible for developing recommendations for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the use of vaccines in the United States. The CDC is expected to adopt the recommendation and send guidance to health-care providers. The recommendation is for a two-dose series of shots, but even one shot can provide immunity for up to 11 years and possibly even lifetime immunity, said Noele Nelson, who heads the CDC’s team on viral hepatitis. Nelson estimated the cost of routine vaccination at $16 million to $33 million, but vaccination during a prolonged and rapidly spreading outbreak can be even more expensive and challenging to the health-care system. In San Diego alone, the cost of its outbreak, which was officially declared over last week, was $12.5 million, she said. Some committee members and other health experts raised concerns about ways to keep track of people who have been vaccinated. They also noted the difficulties in providing routine vaccination to homeless people who do not have access to regular health services or may not remember they had been vaccinated. Nathaniel Smith, director of the Arkansas Health Department, said the move is welcome. For states that do not have ongoing hepatitis A outbreaks, such a recommendation would allow health-care providers to act to prevent future outbreaks. Immunizations recommended by the expert panel also make it easier for insurance coverage, he said. Some homeless people may be covered under Medicaid, the government health insurance program for low-income people. The nation’s homeless population increased last year for the first time since 2010, spurred by a surge in the number of people living on the streets in Los Angeles and other West Coast cities, according to a report by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The report showed nearly 554,000 homeless people nationwide during local surveys conducted in January 2017. That figure was up nearly 1 percent from 2016. The hepatitis A virus can cause a mild to severe illness lasting a few weeks to several months. In rare cases, it can cause liver failure and death, more commonly in people age 50 and older and in people with other liver diseases. Symptoms include fatigue, fever, loss of appetite and nausea. Read more: As gentrification escalates in California, people wonder: Where can the homeless go? Percentage of children who haven’t received any vaccines has quadrupled since 2001 Paralyzing polio-like illness mainly affecting children confirmed in 22 states


Animal-protection enforcement is plummeting

The Oct. 19 Politics & the Nation article “Steep drop in enforcement of animal welfare laws” exposed serious problems with grave consequences for animals whose treatment is regulated by the federal Animal Welfare Act and Horse Protection Act. The Agriculture Department has abandoned its duties to hold licensees who fail to comply with the law accountable. For example, for exhibitors such as roadside zoos and circuses, the agency went from a high of 279 citations in October 2015 to a low of just 20 citations in June 2018, according to our research. The decline is not because facilities have suddenly begun complying with the law. In March, a zebra was struck by an SUV after escaping a festival, and in September, a camel ran amok while giving a ride to children at the Shrine Circus in Pittsburgh. Neither incident resulted in a citation. We’re seeing the same hands-off approach to the USDA’s oversight of puppy mills and other businesses subject to very modest animal-protection requirements. It’s time for those at the USDA to remember that their “clients” are taxpayers who want federal laws meaningfully enforced — not scofflaws who abuse animals for profit. Sara Amundson The writer is president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund.


A young Saudi woman is facing execution — for taking part in nonviolent protests

demonstrations. None of the evidence suggested any participation in any violent acts. Yet the prosecutor demanded the death sentence for all of the detainees except one. Ghomgham thus became the first Saudi female activist to face the prospect of execution for acts of peaceful dissent. She faces her next hearing on Oct. 28, when the court may deliberate on her final sentencing. To make matters worse, Saudi authorities summoned Israa’s father, Hassan al-Ghomgham, and charged him with “inciting the public against the state.” The father now risks being tried along the same lines as his daughter and son-in-law. The brazen murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul is thus just one more depressing part of a much broader and worrying trend. Saudi local newspapers recently revealed that the Public Prosecution Office has increased the number of cases brought to the Specialized Criminal Court in 2018 by 182 percent over the previous year. The government, which has one of the highest execution rates in the world, has also been making widespread use of capital punishment (for both political and drug-related offenses). So far this year the authorities have already beheaded 93 people. This reflects the hostile political climate and the policies of the country’s de facto ruler (and son of the king), Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is using draconian anti-terrorism laws to ruthlessly target human right activists and behead those who dare to oppose him. Ghomgham’s and her fellow activists’ cases illustrate that the crown prince’s much-touted reform plans have nothing to do with respect for basic and fundamental rights and freedoms. These reforms are not meant to improve the justice system, promote the flourishing of civil society, or to build mechanisms for accountability. The crown prince’s plans for reform aim above all to consolidate his own power. A look at the royal decrees issued since 2015 shows that the king and crown prince have appointed their own loyalists to top positions in the government, especially the security and the judiciary. Amid an escalating crackdown against political opponents, the king has issued rapid decisions in the past few years to appoint and promote hundreds of judges and members of the Public Prosecution Office. Last year, the government established a body ominously known as the Presidency of State Security, which is specifically designed to oversee the files of political prisoners. The Saudi regime has pursued a two-track strategy to promote


National Digest: Seven children die from viral outbreak in New Jersey

HEALTH 7 children die from viral outbreak in N.J. Seven children have died and others remain ill from a viral outbreak at a nursing home and rehabilitation center in New Jersey, health department officials said. Officials with the New Jersey Health Department said Wednesday that the seven “medically fragile children” were among 18 confirmed cases of an adenovirus among pediatric patients this month at the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in Haskell, not far from the New York border. Adenoviruses are ubiquitous viruses that can cause a variety of illnesses, from the common cold and conjunctivitis (pinkeye) to more severe diseases such as bronchitis and pneumonia, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The strain responsible for the outbreak in the New Jersey facility is adenovirus 7, known for causing pneumonia and other respiratory illnesses. — Lindsey Bever CALIFORNIA 3 arrested on charges stemming from riot The leader of a Southern California white supremacist group and two other members were arrested on charges of inciting a deadly riot in Charlottesville last year, prosecutors said Wednesday. The arrests come weeks after other group members were indicted in Virginia on similar charges. Rise Above Movement leader Robert Rundo was arrested Sunday at Los Angeles International Airport and was denied bail in Los Angeles federal court on Wednesday, U.S. attorney’s office spokesman Thom Mrozek said. Two others, Robert Boman and Tyler Laube, were arrested Wednesday morning and Aaron Eason remains at large, Mrozek said. All four are charged with traveling to incite or participate in riots. The latest arrests come just weeks after the indictments of four other California members of RAM for allegedly inciting the Virginia riot in August 2017. — Associated Press Winning jackpot ticket sold in South Carolina: — From news services Digest


Crying over plant-based milk

Paul Shapiro’s Oct. 20 commentary, “Having a cow over plant-based milk,” mischaracterized the position of milk producers in urging the Food and Drug Administration to enforce its own rules on the proper naming of fake dairy foods and beverages. Dairy producers don’t think consumers are “dim,” nor do they think that consumers can’t tell an almond from a cow. They do think consumers shouldn’t be misled into thinking a plant-based beverage with inferior nutritional content is equivalent to real milk that comes from a cow. Almond beverages, for example, have one-eighth as much protein as dairy — calling them a form of “milk” is a consumer deception. What the FDA is doing now is asking a relevant and necessary public-health question: What are the consequences to people’s diets if they don’t realize that not all “milks” are nutritionally equal? FDA rules state that milk comes from an animal, not a slurry of nuts, beans, emulsifiers, stabilizers and whiteners. Enforcing that distinction isn’t protectionist — it’s in keeping with standards that protect consumers from deceptive marketing. Mr. Shapiro’s essay ignored both the nutrition facts and the law. James Mulhern The writer is president and chief executive of the National Milk Producers Federation. Paul Shapiro made a great point Brian Ottens


Cleveland Orchestra fires concertmaster, top musician after sex harassment investigation

also admitted that he sometimes touched students, though he said he did so purely for pedagogical purposes. “La Rosa did not engage in the same behaviors with male students,” said the report. Neither Preucil nor La Rosa responded to requests for comment. “The numbers are shocking, and it made me sick to my stomach to read the report,” said Andre Gremillet, the orchestra’s executive director. “It’s devastating.” Gremillet apologized for “the reprehensible behavior of two members” of the orchestra. “I think we have done the right thing by publishing the entire report,” he said. “It was important for us for people to understand how thorough this process has been.” In The Post’s initial article, which appeared in July, violinist Zeneba Bowers said Preucil assaulted her in his Miami hotel room after a lesson when she was a fellow at the New World Symphony, the country’s leading training orchestra for young professionals, in 1998. Other musicians confirmed Preucil’s reputation for inappropriate advances. Earlier this month, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported two women made additional allegations against Preucil, including another former fellow of the New World Symphony who said he assaulted her in a Miami hotel room in 2005. “I would like to thank the other women who came forward, whose courage and fortitude has truly impressed me,” Bowers told The Post on Wednesday. “I thank the Cleveland Orchestra for conducting a thorough investigation. I hope that this will help begin to change this aspect of the working environment in the music business and in our society at large.” The concertmaster is generally considered the leader of the musicians of the orchestra, second to the conductor, and tends to be the highest paid. Preucil was widely held to be one of the best concertmasters in the country. Two other high-profile musicians Cleveland Orchestra officials said they were not aware of the allegations against Preucil that The Post reported. “Debevoise found no evidence that anyone in Orchestra management knew about specific instances of Preucil’s sexual misconduct other than the allegation that was publicized in 2007 by the Cleveland Scene,” the report said. “However,” it continued, “ former Orchestra leadership should have done more to investigate the reports about Preucil’s behavior.” As for La Rosa, the report stated that the orchestra was approached about his behavior on at least three occasions, twice by universities. In one case, the orchestra was unable to investigate because


Virus kills 7 children at New Jersey rehab center

The department said it is working with the facility on “infection control issues.” Health officials said the center has been told not to admit any new patients during the outbreak. The Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation could not immediately be reached for comment. According to the center’s website, it offers short-term and long-term care, from physical and occupational therapies to hospice care, and has a pediatrics center for “medically fragile” children. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, said that by adulthood, most people in the United States have been sickened by an adenovirus and recovered on their own. In patients with compromised immune systems, however, the viruses can be deadly. Adalja, an infectious-disease physician, said there is a nationwide problem with hospital-acquired infections — even more so with nursing home and rehabilitation centers, where, he said, “infection control is not as rigorous” because such facilities are not always set up to help prevent outbreaks. “It’s not surprising that this ferocious of a spread happened in a nursing-home setting,” he said, adding that “nursing homes are one of the weaker links in the chain of infection control.” Adalja noted that he does not know how the faculty in New Jersey is handling the outbreak, but he said the outbreak is considered “particularly severe” given the high number of fatalities. There have been similar outbreaks in the past. In 2006 and 2007, adenovirus 14 sickened at least 140 people across four states — New York, Oregon, Texas and Washington, according to CDC. Nine of them died, CDC said. Adenoviruses have also been a problem in military training centers, where men and women are under extreme physical and emotional stress and live in close quarters. For that reason, Adalja said, a Food and Drug Administration-approved vaccine for certain strains is given to members of the military. But when outbreaks occur, he said, it prompts questions about whether vaccines should be available to the general public. To prevent transmission, CDC recommends that people avoid close contact with those who may be ill as well as practice good handwashing techniques and avoid touching the eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands. There is no treatment for adenovirus, according to CDC, but the majority of cases clear up on their own. Read more: Can an upper-respiratory infection make you fat? If it’s caused by adenovirus 36, maybe.


No, NASA didn’t fix the Hubble Telescope by just turning it off and on again

Crouse paused when asked to explain what had happened in layman’s terms. “At a high level, if people want to call it jiggling around, I suppose they can,” he said. “But we were trying to do very particular activities we thought would clear the problem. It certainly wasn’t as simple as turning it off and turning it back on.” Still, that didn’t stop a variety of news outlets from reporting that NASA had fixed its telescope “the way you fix your router.” “NASA fixes Hubble gyroscope by turning it off and on again,” Engadget stated Wednesday. “What fixed NASA’s Hubble space telescope? Someone flipped a switch on and off,” USA Today followed. Crouse said those headlines were “an oversimplification,” though he can understand the confusion over extremely technical matters. “It’s hard to keep everybody up to date on exactly the process,” he said. “I can understand that some people maybe took the easy way out. But to reflect where we are [with Hubble], we’re very optimistic. We’re not out of the woods yet, but we’re very optimistic we can get back to doing science again.” The Hubble Space Telescope was launched into orbit in 1990, and ever since its first photo — an underwhelming grainy, black-and-white image of some stars, thanks to a flaw in a primary mirror — it has gone on to deliver some truly dazzling images from space. Time magazine has a roundup of the 50 “best” photos taken by Hubble, though all are quite extraordinary in their own way, depending on one’s interest in any particular corner of the universe. NASA has been developing a new telescope, the $8 billion James Webb Space Telescope, that will be able to see back in time, almost to the beginning of the universe. The Webb will be able to collect seven times the starlight as the Hubble and observe the universe in infrared wavelengths of light, which the Hubble can’t, The Washington Post’s Joel Achenbach reported in February. Eventually, the Webb telescope is expected to replace the Hubble, which “is still working fabulously but getting long in the tooth,” Achenbach wrote. Read more: As NASA’s prized telescopes falter, astronomers fear losing their eyes in space Behold, the Hubble Telescope’s latest close-up photo of Jupiter NASA’s next great space telescope is stuck on Earth after screwy errors A NASA astronaut films his spacewalk — and a breathtaking view of Earth


The Saudi royal family circles its wagons in the Khashoggi crisis

Of all the people who have anguished responses to the death of Jamal Khashoggi, Prince Turki al-Faisal is a special case: This pillar of the Saudi establishment says in an interview that he is “shocked” by the loss of his longtime protégé but is standing behind King Salman and the crown prince during this period of crisis. “People who think there’s going to be any change in the succession are wrong,” Turki said, rebutting speculation that Mohammed bin Salman might be replaced as crown prince because of allegations that he authorized the events leading to the death of Khashoggi, a Post contributing columnist. Instead, he said, Saudis are more supportive of MBS, as the crown prince is known, because he’s under attack. “The more criticism there is of the crown prince, the more popular he is in the kingdom,” Turki said. “If you took a poll among Saudis today, you would find that he is more popular than he was two weeks ago. That’s because Saudis feel that their leader is being unfairly attacked in the foreign media. That’s true of the royal family, as well. They feel that this is an attack on Saudi Arabia and the royal family, not just Mohammed bin Salman.” There’s no way to verify these claims of popular support for MBS. But it’s significant that this pro-palace view is being expressed by Turki, who, as a former intelligence chief and ambassador to London and Washington, speaks for a branch of the royal family known for its moderate views. Turki’s comments came on the eve of a statement by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that accused the Saudis of committing a “gruesome murder” but didn’t reveal any new evidence that would confirm that Riyadh had staged a premeditated killing. Turki talked with me Monday night at his residence in McLean, Va., for nearly 90 minutes. He described his meeting there the night before with one of Khashoggi’s former wives and three of their children, to “convey condolences” from the king and crown prince. “We talked about old times when we were in Washington and London,” Turki said. A similar show of condolence took place in Riyadh, where MBS met Tuesday with Salah, the oldest of Khashoggi’s children, who for months has been prevented from leaving the kingdom as part of an apparent pressure campaign against Khashoggi. A Saudi video showed Salah shaking hands with the


The Daily 202: Georgia governor candidates are both targeting pro-business GOP moderates in the home stretch

GOP lawmakers from rural areas realized their constituents were being harmed by their obstinacy, so they came around. And partly it’s because they don’t loathe Ralph — who almost switched parties a decade ago after voting twice for George W. Bush — the way they did Terry, a former DNC chair and Bill Clinton’s best friend. During last night’s debate, Abrams was pressed on her promise to expand Medicaid on Day One. -- Trump tweeted his support this morning for Kemp by saying Abrams will “destroy the state” if she wins: WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING: -- The Red Sox beat the Dodgers in the first game of the World Series. -- “Red Sox victory in Game 1 of World Series is a long strategic nightmare for the Dodgers,” GET SMART FAST: KHASHOGGI FALLOUT: -- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States would revoke the visas of the Saudi agents accused of killing Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. -- Trump told reporters that Riyadh’s account of Jamal's death was “the worst coverup ever.” -- In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump said Saudi Arabia had bungled the Khashoggi case from “beginning to end.” -- Turkish President Recep Erdogan’s speech on Khashoggi's death appeared aimed at undermining the influence of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. -- Erdogan promised he would deliver the “naked truth” about Khashoggi in his speech, but for the most part he failed to deliver, -- Leaders in the Arab world fear the controversy over Khashoggi’s death could trigger regional conflict. -- Some U.S. business leaders traveled to a glitzy summit in Riyadh dubbed “Davos in the Desert," which is being hosted by MBS himself (he received a standing ovation there.) -- Many U.S. attendees tried to keep a low profile. “Bankers kept their name tags obscured behind ties. Many tried to keep a low profile and avoided talking to the news media,” -- Some tech start-ups that have received Saudi-linked funds are being urged to more closely vet their investors. MORE ON THE MIDTERMS: -- Newly released records cast doubt on Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum’s explanations for how he obtained tickets in 2016 for the Broadway musical “Hamilton.” -- A GOP super PAC plans to air ads in a Virginia House race previously considered a lock for Republicans. -- A new poll shows Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison has fallen


Trump’s hardening line on Saudi Arabia and Khashoggi: From ‘It’s not a citizen’ to ‘worst cover-up ever’

After initially taking a soft line on punishing Saudi Arabia for Jamal Khashoggi’s death, President Trump has in recent days toughened his rhetoric somewhat. While not blaming the royal family and while offering somewhat generalized criticisms, Trump has employed words like “cover-up” and “lies” and suggested real repercussions if Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is implicated. Below is a brief run-through of Trump’s comments on the matter, and here’s a graphic showing what the rest of the Trump administration has been saying. Oct. 8: “I don’t like hearing about it. Hopefully that will sort itself out. Right now, nobody knows anything about it, but there’s some pretty bad stories going around. I do not like it.” Six days after Khashoggi disappeared — and before reports that the Turks suspected he was murdered — Trump offered a very general and noncommittal “I do not like it” when asked about the matter. Oct. 11: “I don’t like it at all. Now, you know, you don’t have American citizens, but that, in this case, doesn’t matter. I don’t like it. I don’t like it with respect to reporters. It’s a terrible, terrible precedent. We can’t let it happen. And we’re being very tough... He went in and it doesn’t look like he came out. It certainly doesn’t look he’s around.” Later Oct. 11 This was when Trump began floating reasons perhaps the situation might not warrant an extreme response: He noted that Khashoggi wasn’t an American citizen. Trump added that Khashoggi’s status “doesn’t matter,” but given what would become repeated Trump references to Khashoggi’s lack of citizenship (among other things we’ll get to), it wasn’t difficult to believe Trump was softening the line. Later still on Oct. 11 For the third time in one day, Trump conspicuously referenced Khashoggi’s lack of U.S. citizenship. But for the first time, he introduced another potential reason not to act: a $110 billion arms deal with the Saudis. The fact that the scope of this deal was badly exaggerated suggested even more that Trump is grasping for excuses. Oct. 14: “It’s being looked at very, very strongly, and we would be very upset and angry if that were the case. As of this moment, they deny it. And deny it vehemently. Could it be them? Yes.” Oct. 15: “I just spoke with the King of Saudi Arabia, who denies any knowledge of what took place with


When anthrax-laced letters terrorized Washington and New York

reported yesterday bring to 45 the number of people — in Washington, New York and Florida — who have been exposed to anthrax. Of those, two people have come down with the most serious form of the disease, called pulmonary anthrax because it is acquired through inhalation. They are Florida photo editor Robert Stevens, 63, who died, and Ernesto Blanco, a 73-year-old co-worker at American Media who remains hospitalized. Two more people have contracted the skin-transmitted form of the disease, which is less serious. They are Erin O’Connor, 38, an assistant to Brokaw, and the infant son of a producer at the rival ABC network in New York who apparently was exposed to the bacterium during a visit to the studio. Both are expected to recover. ABC offices in New York remain sealed off indefinitely as investigators seek to discover the source of the anthrax. The CDC said yesterday that preliminary tests had matched the anthrax sent to Brokaw with the strain of anthrax that killed Stevens in Florida. David Fleming, deputy director of the CDC, said in a telephone conference call with reporters that investigators had matched a fairly complete genetic fingerprint of the Florida strain with a small set of genetic markers from the New York strain. Comparable test results for the strain found in Senate offices are not yet available, he said. No anthrax has yet been recovered at ABC. "The strain in New York, on the results of a small number of genetic comparisons, preliminarily appears to match the strain in Florida,” Fleming said. But investigators also had a new case to contend with yesterday. In New York, Pataki said anthrax spores were found on a hard surface in a small office in his Manhattan headquarters where his security officers usually sit. Officials evacuated Pataki and about 75 staff members from the high-rise building. Health officials first tested Pataki's office after his secretary developed flulike symptoms after handling a “suspicious” letter Sept. 25. The officials said the letter bore a New York state postmark and did not include threats. The secretary delivered the letter to the governor's police detail, but officials later determined the letter was not the source of the anthrax. Aiming to alleviate heightening concerns about bioterrorism, New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani said none of the nasal swabs taken from 500 NBC News employees last week had returned positive. Public health officials expected


How Erdogan took control of the Khashoggi case

Tharoor wrote. “Meanwhile, the Qataris pledged to inject some $15 billion worth of investment in Turkey’s flagging economy in August. Some analysts read Ankara’s moves — coupled with Erdogan’s overtures to Iran over the past year — as a riposte to the emergence of a U.S.-backed Middle East bloc including the Saudis, Emiratis and even Israel.” Tuesday’s speech cemented the impression that Erdogan is targeting Mohammed. The Turkish president didn’t mention the crown prince by name during his address, speaking instead to King Salman, the crown prince’s father and the official head of the Saudi state. Many observers viewed it as an attempt to divide the elderly king from his divisive son. The Turkish leader no doubt relished the chance to change the dominant narrative about his country as well. Turkey has largely been in the news for various spats with Western countries, Erdogan’s crackdowns and the considerable economic woes caused by his government’s financial mismanagement. And what of the United States, Turkey’s NATO ally and ostensible close partner? Erdogan has recently made overtures to President Trump. Just days after Khashoggi disappeared, Turkey freed American pastor Andrew Brunson from house arrest in Turkey, easing a long-running standoff with the United States. But the leverage Erdogan has over Mohammed is uncomfortable for Washington, too. Despite growing anger with the kingdom in Washington, Saudi support is key to much of the United States' policy in the Middle East. “The chief concern for Washington is that Erdogan will reveal details about Khashoggi’s killing that implicate” the crown prince, The Post noted in a report about CIA Director Gina Haspel’s heading to Turkey. There is a chance that Erdogan’s power plays could backfire. Even so, the Turkish president has been dealt a great set of cards by the Saudis, who have looked cruel and incompetent as the saga has unfolded. On Tuesday, for example, the official Saudi Press Agency published photos of King Salman and the crown prince meeting two members of Khashoggi’s family, including his son — inadvertently highlighting the reports that the journalist’s family has been blocked from leaving the country. “We do not have to do anything,” a senior Turkish official recently told the Wall Street Journal. “The Saudis are doing a great job at ruining themselves.” Want smart analysis of the most important news in your inbox every weekday along with other global reads, interesting ideas and opinions to know?


Saudi crown prince calls Khashoggi’s slaying a ‘heinous crime,’ vows perpetrators will be brought to justice

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — In his most extensive public comments since the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul three weeks ago, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said Wednesday that his country is doing all it can to complete an investigation and bring those responsible to justice. Mohammed called the killing “a heinous crime” that was “really painful to all Saudis” and to “every human being in the world.” Addressing more than 3,000 business leaders from around the world at the Future Investment Initiative, Saudi Arabia’s signature economic forum, he accused unidentified critics of trying to use the case to “drive a wedge” between Saudi Arabia and Turkey. He pledged that this would not happen as long as his father is king and he is the crown prince. The killing of Khashoggi, a critic of the 33-year-old crown prince, has overshadowed the high-profile conference, intended to highlight Mohammed’s drive to modernize the kingdom’s economy and diversify away from oil. Amid widespread suspicion over Mohammed’s role in the lethal operation, his remarks had been much anticipated here and attracted a standing-room crowd in the main hall, a vast auditorium with vaulted doorways adorned with the Saudi symbol of crossed swords and a palm tree. The crown prince acknowledged no responsibility for Khashoggi’s death. Mohammed, the country’s de facto ruler, has been criticized for crushing dissent and jailing dozens of activists, including women who had campaigned for the right to drive, in the past year. The gathering, in an opulent conference center attached to the Ritz-Carlton, was boycotted by dozens of big-name sponsors and chief executives. Still, executives have come from across the Middle East, China, Russia, Europe and the United States. Many said that economic and security ties between the United States and Saudi Arabia are too strong to be derailed by Khashoggi’s death. Those speaking Wednesday included chief executive Samir Assaf of HSBC Global Banking and Markets and Eric Cantor, the former U.S. House majority leader who is now vice chairman and managing director of the New York-based investment bank Moelis. The bank’s chief executive, Ken Moelis, spoke at the conference Tuesday. Despite the backlash over Khashoggi’s killing, Mohammed appeared on a panel with the leaders of Bahrain and Lebanon and sought to project himself as the target of unidentified and malign enemies. “Undoubtedly, cooperation today between the Saudi and Turkish governments is unique, and many are


Police identify victim of fatal shooting in Germantown, Md.

MARYLAND Many are sickened at Hopkins campus More than 100 people have been sickened by hand, foot and mouth disease at one of Johns Hopkins University’s four Baltimore campuses. News outlets report that the Maryland Department of Health has classified it as an outbreak. University spokesman Dennis O’Shea told the Baltimore Sun that officials have been broadcasting information about the outbreak at the Homewood campus. The university says 129 cases have been reported since early September. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that the highly contagious virus, which is characterized by a fever, sore throat and painful sores, is common in children younger than 5 but that others can catch it, too. People can lower their risk of catching it with good hygiene, including frequent hand washing. The university has been conducting extra cleaning in areas such as residence halls. — Associated Press Man, 20, fatally shot in Montgomery A man was shot to death early Tuesday in Germantown, Md., and a suspect later shot himself fatally, the Montgomery County police said. The homicide victim, Stephen Alexander Frazier, 20, of Germantown, was shot about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday in the 12900 block of Churchill Ridge Circle, police said, and he was found outdoors. About 7 p.m. Tuesday night, as officers were attempting to make an arrest in the morning shooting, the suspect shot himself inside a vehicle, police said. They said the incident occurred near Great Seneca Highway and Mateny Road. — Dana Hedgpeth and Martin Weil


Despite Khashoggi case, U.S. firms and Saudi prince show up at ‘Davos in the Desert’

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Gathered under grand domes and crystal chandeliers for a glitzy investment forum nicknamed “Davos in the Desert,” business leaders on Tuesday called the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi terrible and sad but said it shouldn’t derail their dealmaking or U.S.-Saudi relations. They knew that Saudi agents killed Khashoggi three weeks ago at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. And they knew that their host, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was widely suspected of being involved, despite vehement official denials. Marquee-name sponsors and chief executives, including Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone and AOL founder Steve Case, had pulled out in protest. The conference website was crippled Monday by hackers angry about Khashoggi’s killing. But thousands still came, in a wave of black Mercedes-Benzes and Chevrolet Suburbans, through the conference center’s enormous stone archways and past elegant fountains, with security agents manning a machine gun mounted atop a Dodge Ram pickup. And when Mohammed arrived, they gave him a standing ovation. American executives interviewed at the conference said they were jolted by Khashoggi’s gruesome killing. But they also said business ties between the United States and Saudi Arabia are far too valuable to be disrupted by it. A U.S. executive who advises sovereign wealth funds said that although the Khashoggi case was “shocking,” ultimately it would be only a “hiccup” in the business world. “You support your friends in good times and bad,” the executive said. “The trajectory [in Saudi Arabia] is toward more openness and transparency, but there are going to be bumps in the road.” He, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. Todd Albert Nims, a Texan who lives in Riyadh and runs a filmmaking company, said he was born in Saudi Arabia, the son of an oil company executive, and has spent “half my life” in the country. Nims said the killing of Khashoggi, who contributed opinion columns to The Washington Post, was “horrifying” but should not damage U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia. “It’s not who these people are,” he said. “Saudi Arabia has been a friend. They have been a huge stabilizer in this region. We shouldn’t trash it all over one thing. It’s like a marriage. This is one day in the life of a marriage.” President Trump has said Khashoggi’s killing must be investigated, but he has stopped short


Trump calls Khashoggi killing ‘worst coverup ever’ but says it’s up to Congress to act

President Trump said Tuesday that Saudi officials had the “worst coverup ever” in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Turkey but said he would “leave it up to Congress” to punish Riyadh for its behavior. “They had a very bad original concept, it was carried out poorly, and the coverup was the worst in the history of coverups,” he said in a 40-minute Oval Office appearance with Vice President Pence and lawmakers. “They had the worst coverup ever.” Trump has faced bipartisan criticism for taking a soft stance on the Saudis and as recently as last weekend called the government’s story “credible.” But the president appeared more open on Tuesday to punishing the Saudi government, telling reporters in the Oval Office he would consider jeopardizing military sales if the Saudi government was officially behind the killing. “In terms of what we ultimately do, I’m going to leave it very much — in conjunction with me — I’m going to leave it up to Congress,” Trump said, adding he hopes a decision will be bipartisan. Later Tuesday, speaking with reporters in the Cabinet Room before a dinner with military leaders, Trump acknowledged that “we’ll have to do something” if Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is implicated in Khashoggi’s death. But Trump added that he had spoken on Monday with the crown prince, who “strongly said that he had nothing to do with this; this was at a lower level.” Trump allies and advisers have encouraged him to take a tougher stance against the oil-rich monarchy, saying that Congress would fill the vacuum and punish Saudi Arabia either way. The administration took its first concrete step to penalize Saudi Arabia late Tuesday when the State Department said that it was revoking the visas for 21 Saudis implicated in Khashoggi’s killing. The Saudi government has consistently changed its story on the Oct. 2 death of the Washington Post contributing columnist. First, Saudi officials said Khashoggi left the embassy unharmed, but after 17 days, following grisly news reports of Khashoggi’s death, Saudi officials said early Saturday that he was killed during an altercation inside the consulate. Trump has repeatedly declined to say whether the crown prince was behind or aware of the killing as many U.S. officials and foreign governments have concluded, in part because many of the crown prince’s associates were involved in the killing. Trump instead has


After Khashoggi’s killing, Turkey’s leader seeks to weaken Saudi Arabia’s powerful crown prince

ISTANBUL — In President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s speech Tuesday about the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, there was a glaring omission: the name of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Mohammed is widely seen as Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, and since Khashoggi vanished, questions have swirled about whether any Saudi operation to capture or kill him could have been ordered without Mohammed’s approval. But Erdogan addressed his comments — his appeals for justice, his demands for answers — not to Mohammed, but to his father, King Salman. If it was a conspicuous display of respect for the Saudi monarch, it was also an attempt to drive a wedge between the king and the crown prince, whom Erdogan considers a rival and ideological opponent, as well as a threat to Turkey’s interests and ambitions in the Middle East, analysts said. There was debate about whether Erdogan aimed to marginalize Mohammed or prod Salman to pick a new successor, but in either case, he was trying not to damage Turkey’s overall relationship with Saudi Arabia, they said. And it was the latest sign of Erdogan’s willingness to use Khashoggi’s case — prolong it even — to serve his larger strategic goals. More than three weeks after Khashoggi was killed by Saudis in what Erdogan called a “planned” operation, his government has yet to publicly divulge all that it knows about the plot or who ordered it. Saudi Arabia denied any knowledge of Khashoggi’s whereabouts for weeks but acknowledged in the last few days that he had been killed in what they said was a fistfight with “rogue” Saudi operatives. Turkish investigators said they had pieced together much of the Saudi plan within days of Khashoggi’s killing. But their strategy has been to leak details bit by bit, pressuring the Saudis to reveal what happened and perhaps wringing concessions from Riyadh and its allies. Erdogan’s speech Tuesday continued that pattern, providing intriguing new details but failing to deliver the “naked truth” that he had promised and that had generated global interest in what he had to say. He may have had a much smaller audience in mind. The speech contained a “direct message” to the king, said H.A. Hellyer, a senior nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank, noting the deferential references to Salman in Erdogan’s comments. Even Erdogan’s most difficult request — that Saudi extradite to Turkey 18 suspects


Potentially deadly malware used in Saudi industrial hack likely came from Russia, researchers say

Cybersecurity researchers have linked a Russian government lab to a potentially deadly cyberattack last year at a Saudi petrochemical plant, part of a global operation to target computers that operate critical industrial systems. In a blog post published Tuesday, the firm FireEye said it has “high confidence” that a government-owned research facility in Moscow built some of the malware used in the attack, which temporarily halted operations at the plant. During the attack, the malware triggered a safety system that shut down operations. Had that not happened, the attackers could have set off a potentially deadly chain of events, FireEye researchers said. “They could have had free rein to create dangerous conditions,” said John Hultquist, FireEye director of intelligence analysis. And they got close, he said. The firm did not identify the plant’s owner, which had hired FireEye to do a forensic investigation. FireEye said it linked the attack to the Central Scientific Research Institute of Chemistry and Mechanics through clues such as IP addresses and malware that revealed the online nickname of a hacker who worked for the lab. The researchers also found computer code written in Cyrillic and noted that the attackers kept Moscow working hours — all potential signs the hackers were Russian. The Russian Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. What made the attack potentially deadly was its use of a potent malware variant that FireEye has dubbed Triton. Though the firm has linked the institute to other malware strains used in the Saudi attack, it said, “We do not have specific evidence to prove” that the lab built Triton. Nonetheless, Hultquist said, the link to the lab is highly suggestive of Russian government involvement. “Russia has been extremely aggressive recently in U.S. and other global industrial control networks,” Hultquist said. “Shutting down a plant could lead to other unforeseen consequences. Anyone manipulating those safety systems could be endangering lives.” In March, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI issued a joint report alerting the public to Russian government targeting of energy, nuclear and other critical systems. Security professionals are worried that the Triton malware could mark a dangerous escalation in global cyberwarfare, because it appears specifically made to sabotage a safety system whose sole purpose is to save lives by averting fatal incidents. “FireEye’s attribution is certainly a strong possibility,” said Sergio Caltagirone, the director of threat intelligence