Britain braces for an exodus of E.U. doctors and nurses feeling hurt by Brexit

BETTYHILL, Scotland — From his wind-scoured bungalow, Andreas Herfurt overlooks the village cemetery, an end place in his line of work. For almost 20 years, the German has served as the town doctor here in the woolly wilds on the north coast of Scotland. “Those are not just my former patients,” Herfurt said of the graves surrounding the old church. “They are my neighbors and my friends. I have learned the hard way the whole truth about cradle-to-grave medical care.” Herfurt is the National Health Service’s family physician for 850 souls in a 400-square-mile rural practice. This is a place where the cozy village pub — the Farr Bay Inn, known with a wink as the FBI — has a public room the size of a walk-in closet, the only restaurant option in winter is a fish-and-chips shop, and sheep outnumber humans by thousands to one. Herfurt, 53, who never became a British citizen, says he has loved his life in the NHS, the United Kingdom’s much-admired, oft-derided, state-run universal health-care system. He has made decent money, by European standards. And he digs living in the middle of nowhere, with his Scottish wife and their big, slobbery dog. “But I don’t know how much longer we will stay,” he said recently , taking a break at his clinic in nearby Armadale. “In the simplest, most emotional terms, because I am human, I wonder: Am I wanted?” he said. The German doctor is not alone in such feelings — which could spell disaster for the British health service. Like Herfurt, many of his European colleagues in the NHS say they were stunned by Brexit, the vote by Britain in a June 2016 referendum to leave the European Union. The exit, which was not backed by most voters in Scotland or Northern Ireland, is scheduled for March 2019. In a survey at the end of last year, the British Medical Association discovered that almost half of the European doctors working in Britain were considering leaving following the Brexit vote, and that nearly 1 in 5 were taking concrete steps — selling homes, looking for jobs. If Brexit was driven by strong emotions, so is the reaction to it by some European doctors and nurses in the NHS. In interviews with The Washington Post, several of those who are thinking about leaving didn’t point to overt acts of xenophobia. They acknowledged that nobody


Roger Bannister, barrier-busting miler who broke four-minute mark, dies at 88

trio reduced their time for the quarter from 66 to 58.9 seconds. They were poised for the record attempt. Fastest man alive On the day of his four-minute mile in the Amateur Athletic Association vs. Oxford meet, Dr. Bannister saw patients at the hospital, used a laboratory grindstone there to sharpen his spikes and had ham salad for lunch with a running friend from his freshman year. Discouraged by the wind and light rain, he wavered about postponing his attempt through the warmup and until minutes before the 6 p.m. race. A lull in the wind finally convinced him. At 6-foot-1 and 158 pounds, Dr. Bannister was taller than the pacesetters he relied on. After a false start by Brasher, he was keyed up but fresh from five days of rest. His damp, thin hair flopping, he strode impatiently at Brasher’s heels and shouted, “Faster!” When Chataway took over pacesetting shortly after the half-mile, Dr. Bannister, his arms carried high but his stride relaxed, fluidly accelerated with him. They whipped through the three-quarters-mile mark in 3:00.7, raising a clamor from the crowd, bundled in long dark overcoats in contrast to the runners’ light singlets and shorts. Dr. Bannister left Chataway behind with 300 yards to go, unleashed his mystic reservoir of strength at the final turn and drove himself the last 50 yards as pain tightened its grip. Breasting the tape with his head tipped back and Adam’s apple protruding, he collapsed, unable to stand for at least two minutes. After the record In 1955, Dr. Bannister wed Moyra Jacobsson, a Swedish artist whose father, Per, became managing director of the International Monetary Fund. They had four children. A complete list of survivors was not immediately available. The same year of his marriage, Dr. Bannister wrote a book, “The Four Minute Mile.” He went on to do BBC television commentaries for sports events and occasionally interviewed celebrities for BBC radio programs. Dr. Bannister became a staff neurologist at National Hospital at Queens Square in 1963 and, the next year, joined the staff of St. Mary’s. He worked at both facilities for more than 20 years, teaching, seeing patients and conducting research on the understanding of degenerative disease and disorders of the autonomic nervous system, which controls involuntary functions such as heart rate and digestion. He contributed to medical journals and edited two textbooks and received the American Academy of Neurology’s


Under a new state of emergency, Ethiopia is on the brink of crisis, again

the second in two years — as necessary to restore the order required for any reform, critics see it as a way of perpetuating the status quo. After his release, Bekele, the jailed Oromo opposition politician, toured local towns to meet with the young protesters — who call themselves Qeerroo, or “youth” in the Oromo language. He hopes to revive his political party, most of whose leaders were jailed over the past two years, by merging it with the Qeerroo and getting them into politics, instead of just protesting. In October 2016, anger over deaths at an Oromo religious festival led to attacks on foreign-owned businesses across the region. “I was advising the youth especially not to be emotional, to abide by the nonviolent struggle,” said Bekele, who describes himself as a student of Martin Luther King Jr.’s teachings. “The idea is to bring the Qeerroo to power, the good Qeerroo, the educated Qeerroo. This old generation must go,” he said, referring to himself and other party leaders. On Feb. 24, however, federal police stopped Bekele’s convoy outside the western Oromia town of Nekemte, saying that under the state of emergency, he could not hold a planned rally. The standoff lasted all night before Bekele and his supporters withdrew, but afterward the town erupted into violence, with clashes between youth and police that left at least one protester dead. Ayele Adamu, a young Qeerroo activist, said the protesters want an end to repression of their people and recognition of “the need for bread, for work and lowering unemployment.” What many analysts fear is that the Qeerroo and other disaffected youths elsewhere in the country will step up their protests and provoke a crackdown that could spiral out of the control of even the Ethiopian military. Turmoil in Ethiopia has also historically been accompanied by increased violence among its many ethnic groups. But Lefort, the longtime observer of Ethiopia, said there is a glimmer of hope. So far, he said, the Qeerroo and others have not engaged in wholesale violence, and the parties of the ruling coalition still appear to be ready to work together and hash out some kind of new system — probably one not much more democratic than it is now but that will at least address the different groups’ grievances. “I think a rosy scenario is a little more possible than a black scenario,” he said. paul.schemm@washpost.com


A self-taught astronomer spotted something no scientist had ever seen

this is a fundamental question: What is the structure of the star at the moment of explosion?” said Melina Bersten, an astrophysicist at the Institute of Astrophysics of La Plata in Argentina and the lead author of the report. With Buso’s observations, scientists can begin to answer that. Buso, a 58-year-old locksmith from the Argentine city of Rosario, inherited his love of astronomy from his parents. When he was 10, his father roused him from bed to glimpse Comet Bennett blazing in the sky. The year before, his mother had held him at her side in front of the family’s television to watch Neil Armstrong take humankind’s first steps on the moon. “Vitito,” she told him, using his nickname, “you have to see this moment. You will never forget it.” Buso began building telescopes at age 11, using tin cans, magnifying glass lenses and Play-Doh to make the stars seem closer. Eight years ago, he sold a piece of land he owned with his father and used the proceeds to construct an astronomy tower on his roof. He calls it Observatorio Busoniano. These days Buso prefers to scan the skies with cameras mounted atop his 40-centimeter telescope, which allows him to observe phenomena too faint to be spotted by eye. On the evening of Sept. 20, 2016, he decided to test a new camera by pointing it at the NGC-613 — a barred spiral galaxy about 65 million light-years from Earth. Within a few minutes, he noticed something strange in his photographs: a tiny pixel of light that didn’t appear in archive images he found online. “I thought, ‘Oh, my God, what is this?’ ” Buso recalled. The light didn’t look like a supernova — the usual source of new lights in the sky. (Indeed, “nova” means new star, though supernovas are the explosive deaths of suns that have run out of fuel.) Yet the light just kept getting brighter. Buso realized he needed to show this to a professional, but most of Argentina’s astronomers were at an annual conference far from the nearest observatory. He finally got in touch with a fellow amateur, who confirmed the sighting and helped him develop an international alert with data Buso provided on the object’s position, brightness and timeline. As soon as darkness fell the following night, Buso rushed to his roof to see whether that faint pixel had developed into a brilliant,


Senate banking bill likely to boost chances of bank bailouts, CBO says

financial institution will fail," the report says. "CBO estimates that the probability is small under current law and would be slightly greater under the legislation.” The truly biggest banks — Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, CitiGroup — have balance sheets well beyond $250 billion, and will not benefit from that change. But other well-known banks would be freed of some supervision, including firms such as SunTrust Banks and Fifth Third Bankcorp that received government bailouts to survive the financial crisis. CBO’s report comes as supporters and detractors of the bill argue about whether it promotes economic growth or economic instability. Supporters of the bill, which is backed by Republican leadership and 13 Senate Democrats, argue it offers meaningful relief to small credit unions and regional banks without encouraging the risky gambles that contributed to the Wall Street meltdown about 10 years ago. Spokespersons for Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), the bill's lead sponsor and chairman of the Banking Committee, were not immediately available to comment on the report. But Crapo earlier on Monday defended his bill. "My first response to that is this bill is anything but a deregulation of Wall Street," Crapo said. "If you look at the provisions in this bill, banks above $250 billion are not totally untouched, but almost untouched, in the provisions of the bill. And so we didn't even get all of the regional banks included in this bill." Detractors say it would loosen regulations and encourage large financial firms to take excessive risks. "This banking bill is a disaster. The Wall Street crash of 2008 showed the American people how fraudulent many of these large banks are. The last thing we should be doing is deregulating them," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement. "As the Congressional Budget Office reported today, the bill that the Senate will be considering this week will 'increase the likelihood that a large financial firm with assets of between $100 billion and $250 billion would fail.' Why would any member of Congress vote to move us closer to another taxpayer bailout of large financial institutions?" The proposed changes for the midsize banks include less stringent regulations on submitting plans for winding down if they fail (plans known as “living wills”); looser liquidity rules, which mandate that banks have easy access to safe capital in case their loans go south; and less frequent “stress tests,” which gauge how prepared a


Millions of Syrians’ lives depend on whether they’re designated as ‘refugees’

As the war in Syria rages on, Syrian refugees in neighboring countries face increasingly restrictive conditions. Alarming debates surrounding the return of Syrian refugees to their home country have reemerged in Lebanon, which hosts approximately 1.5 million Syrians. But who is designated as a refugee? This critical yet understudied issue of labels can impact lives. When Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri states that no Syrian refugees will be forcibly returned, who exactly is including and excluding? In new research, we examine the many categorizations that shape the lives of Syrians in Lebanon today and how these labels have been constructed. We draw on our extensive fieldwork in Lebanon between 2013 and 2017, including interviews with United Nations, government and local officials as well as Syrian refugees and migrants. Registration with U.N. Refugee Agency key to legal protection Perhaps most importantly in the lives of Syrians in Lebanon is the question of whether or not they are registered by the U.N. Refugee Agency, UNHCR, as a “refugee.” If registered and provided a UNHCR certificate, Syrians can renew their residency in Lebanon without a local sponsor and without the prohibitively expensive $200 annual renewal fee required of Syrians who are not registered. In May 2015, the Lebanese government suspended UNHCR’s registration of Syrian refugees, which reduced the share of officially “registered” refugees. Though they no longer receive a certificate, Syrians who have arrived at UNHCR offices since are still considered “recorded.” This categorization provides them access to similar humanitarian aid and support as registered refugees but leaves them in a complex legal gray zone. Despite often being counted in official numbers for the purposes of donor support, they are denied the limited legal protection granted to registered refugees. “Unregistered” refugees, those who have not approached UNHCR at all, are yet further removed from international protection and face profound challenges to claiming their refugee status. Syrian refugees are re-categorized as “economic migrants” Lebanon’s lack of a consistent legal framework has made Syrians vulnerable to vacillating political interests. National authorities often have conflicting political interests — hosting such large numbers of refugees is strategically important when approaching international donors, but politicians also fear Syrians’ long-term presence and potential naturalization. Lebanese political actors have often disagreed with UNHCR’s approach in the country, and generally oppose the idea of Lebanon as a country of asylum. In fact, Lebanon lacks formal domestic refugee legislation and national leaders


The Daily 202: Peter Navarro gets his 15 minutes of fame as the salesman for the Trump tariffs

subpoena is Susan McDougal, a former business partner of Bill Clinton. In 1996, she was ordered jailed for 18 months after refusing to testify in the Whitewater investigation. -- “It is an understatement to say that Sam Nunberg is playing with fire GET SMART FAST: FOLLOW THE MONEY: -- Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s payment to adult-film star Stormy Daniels was flagged as suspicious by his bank and reported to the Treasury Department. MORE STONEWALLING: -- The House Intelligence Committee appears unlikely to issue a contempt citation against Steve Bannon as the panel’s Republicans try to wrap up their Russia probe as quickly as possible. -- Senate investigators are planning to question Reddit and Tumblr on Russian interference following new reports their platforms may have been used as a means to spread and amplify disinformation during 2016. -- The panel's top Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner (Va.) said the new reports highlight the need for other tech companies to study their own platforms for vulnerabilities. THERE'S A BEAR IN THE WOODS: -- A jailed Belarusian escort with close ties to Oleg Deripaska — the Putin-linked billionaire and former patron of Paul Manafort — is offering to share with the United States “hours” of audio recordings that allegedly shed light on Russia’s election interference in exchange for asylum. “In the interview at the immigration center on Monday, Ms. Vashukevich said that she had often recorded conversations between Mr. Deripaska and his associates, and that she had 16 to 18 hours of recordings, including conversations about the United States presidential election. -- The Russians don't mess around: A former Russian national convicted of being a spy for MI6 is in critical condition in Britain after he was exposed to an “unknown substance.” He and another woman were found this weekend in Salisbury, slumped and unconscious, on the bench of a local shopping center. THE MAN BEHIND THE DOSSIER: -- The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer dove deep on Christopher Steele, the ex-MI6 officer and longtime Russia expert who tried — perhaps to his own detriment — to warn America about Trump's ties to Russia: THAD COCHRAN TO RESIGN: -- Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), 80, announced that he will retire April 1 because of his deteriorating health, ending a congressional career spanning four decades and that earned him the chairmanship of the chamber’s powerful appropriations panel. Sean Sullivan and Paul Kane report: “Beyond shaking up the


New Russia sanctions likely coming ‘within a week,’ spy chief says

at odds over the Trump administration’s refusal to implement additional sanctions against Russian officials and entities. Last year, Congress almost unanimously passed a law stepping up mandatory sanctions against Russia’s defense, energy and banking sectors, as well as intelligence, railways, metals and mining industries. But the White House never officially designated the targets of those sanctions, concluding in January that the threat of sanctions by itself was enough of a “deterrent.” Last month, Mnuchin said that he would consider applying sanctions against the 13 Russians and three companies Mueller named in an indictment of participants in a Russian-organized online influence campaign to spread discord in the U.S. electorate before the 2016 election. The indictment prompted a wave of partisan finger-pointing. Republicans accused the Obama administration of having been too soft on Russia, while Democrats excoriated the Trump administration for not taking decisive steps to punish or repudiate Moscow’s efforts at electoral interference. “Why on earth hasn’t the administration found anyone to sanction?” Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the Armed Services and Intelligence committees, asked Coats on Tuesday. Democrats also pressed Coats to explain why President Trump had not authorized the intelligence community to do more to prevent Russian aggression. Adm. Michael S. Rogers, National Security Agency director, told senators last week that the president had given him no new authority or capability for such actions ahead of the midterm elections. Coats said during Tuesday’s hearing that he had discussed the intelligence community’s cyberthreat response with Trump since Rogers’s testimony and that Trump’s response had been: “I assume you’re doing your job, all of you . . . but if you need me to say, direct you to do it, do it.” But when asked by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) to clarify his comments, Coats added that his discussions with the president had been “relative to the cyber issue and the direction to go forward on cyber.” “I did not understand it to be said in the context of Russian influence in the elections,” Coats said. Neither the Trump administration nor any of the three congressional committees looking into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections has yet publicly released recommendations, legislation or other policy instructions for how states ought to contend with the threat the intelligence community has warned Russia will pose to the 2018 midterms. The Senate Intelligence Committee is expected to release recommendations this month. karoun.demirjian@washpost.com


Don’t avoid all packaged foods as unhealthy; some are good for you

Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with any advertisers on this site. The words “convenience” and “processed” are usually shorthand for foods of less-than-ideal nutritional value. But not all packaged foods are highly refined, vitamin-stripped or loaded with saturated fat, sodium and added sugars. In fact, an elite group of healthy packaged foods takes good-for-you foods and makes them easier to use. “If choices are made wisely, the nutritional quality of some ‘processed’ foods can be equal to or may even be greater than the fresh,” says Alice Lichtenstein, the Gershoff Professor of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. That includes frozen foods that let you use only as much as you need and shelf-stable products that minimize the need for constant grocery runs. Here are six of our favorite healthy packaged foods. Canned or boxed tomatoes Tomatoes contain lycopene, an antioxidant found to reduce the risk of heart disease and some cancers, and possibly strokes. A study of more than 1,000 middle-aged men found that those with the highest blood levels of lycopene were 55 percent less likely to have a stroke than men with the lowest levels. Slicing a tomato is easy, but you’ll often get more lycopene from tomato products. And processed tomatoes can be lower in sodium than jarred tomato sauces. How to use them: Canned salmon Wild salmon is seasonal, and fisheries harvest more than they’re able to sell fresh. So much of it is funneled into frozen or shelf-stable forms. The benefit: Canned salmon costs less, and wild salmon is lower in calories and saturated fat than farmed salmon. How to use it: Prepared pesto With about 130 calories and 13 grams of fat per two-tablespoon serving, you might not think of pesto as a health food. But most of the fat comes from olive oil and pine nuts, so it’s the healthy unsaturated type. These star ingredients, along with the basil, cheese and garlic, pack a lot of rich flavor and disease-fighting power. And small amount of pesto goes a long way in terms of flavor. How to use it: Precooked packaged grains Having three servings of whole grains per day (instead of none) may decrease the risk of heart disease and stroke by about 20 and 12 percent, respectively, according to a 2016 BMJ study. But boiling them from a dry state takes time, and it’s difficult to prepare just the


The Chesapeake’s ‘secret garden’ is thriving again, but Trump could end that

23 percent. Over that span, submerged aquatic vegetation in the bay has increased by 316 percent. “Other regions have seen large resurgences in sea grass cover with improved water clarity, such as Tampa Bay, Fla., or improved sediment stability, as in the Wadden Sea [in Northern Europe], but the Chesapeake Bay has seen greater total and proportional recovery than any other submerged aquatic vegetation restoration project of which we are aware,” according to the study, which was published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The cleanup not only helped submerged vegetation but increased its biodiversity, said Jonathan Lefcheck, a researcher for the Center for Ocean Health at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Maine, who was the lead author. That’s important because some species are better than others at surviving catastrophic events such as tropical storms that can devastate vegetation and grass beds. Susquehanna Flats, an area of the bay near the Susquehanna River, was found to have up to 14 species. “If you get a bunch of species together, there may be a few species in that diverse community that can withstand that disturbance so it doesn’t wipe out everything,” Lefcheck said. “They make it hospitable for other species to come back and colonize. We can say beds that have more species are more deserving of our attention.” Anyone who scuba dives to the vegetation and quietly lies there will immediately realize its importance, said Bill Dennison, a researcher at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, who was an author of the study. “If you let them come to you, you see sea horses and clams and scallops and inchworms and snails crawling up and down the blades. I’ve come out of the water with thousands of these snails. It’s teeming with life.” Among those animals are blue crabs. “Most of us don’t appreciate the life cycle of the blue crab, how it comes from the bay to the plate,” said Robert Orth, a researcher at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at the College of William & Mary. “These little babies in the first 30 days of their life stay on the coast of Virginia near North Carolina.” Then they make a run into the bay and its tributaries toward shallow areas and grass beds. “It’s their home…. They support an incredible array of other animals that act as food for


Olympics Day 5: After Chloe Kim’s gold, the Games are set for another big night

Choi Min-Jeong was disqualified. “I feel sorry for the fans of Korea,” Choi said. In speedskating, neither American with a chance at a medal — Joey Mantia or Shani Davis — could make it happen in the men’s 1,500 meters. That left the Dutch to continue their dominance, in gold and silver position, with the host nation, South Korea, getting bronze. Luger Erin Hamlin, who carried the U.S. flag at the Opening Ceremonies, was sitting in fifth going into the final run, but a few mistakes cost her a shot at the podium. Hamlin’s run came shortly after teammate Emily Sweeney took a gut-wrenching crash in the course’s notorious Turn 9. Sweeney eventually left under her own power. The Germans claimed the top two spots, with Natalie Geisenberger defending her Sochi gold and Dajana Eitberger taking silver. Canadian Alex Gough got bronze. The snow fell hard on the cross-country course earlier this morning. The American women had a strong showing in the individual sprint — Jessie Diggins made it to the finals (Sophie Caldwell nearly did, too) but couldn’t quite get on the podium. Sweden’s Stina Nilsson was the victor. On the men’s side (also an individual sprint), American Simi Hamilton crashed out in the semifinals with YouTube sensation Johannes Hosflot Klaebo of Norway taking gold. Mixed doubles curling also wrapped up, with Canada defeating Switzerland, 10-3, to win gold. The Olympic Athletes from Russia got the bronze. TUESDAY NIGHT: Tonight’s prime-time trio includes Alpine skiing, snowboarding and figure skating. To get a sense of just how dominant Mikaela Shiffrin is as a skier, check out the “By the numbers” section below. Slalom is her best event, and she has owned the discipline for going on five years. Statistically speaking, it would be surprising if she didn’t win. But the pressure is extremely high and skiing is fickle. If the weather cooperates, the first run is at 8:15 p.m. The second would start at 11:45 p.m. Four years ago, Shaun White left Sochi without a gold three-peat. In fact, he didn’t get any medal. He’ll try to rectify that Tuesday night in men’s halfpipe. It helps that one of his top rivals, Switzerland’s Iouri Podladtchikov (nicknamed “I-pod”), withdrew from competition with lingering injuries from the X Games. White took advantage of that to win qualifying. But there are two riders right on his heels. Australian Scotty James qualified second. And


China’s 9½-ton space lab will soon crash to Earth. No one knows where it will hit.

Sometime within the next few months, the heavens will come crashing down. China's first space laboratory, Tiangong-1, which translates to “Heavenly Palace,” launched on Sept. 30, 2011, serving as a prototype for the permanent space station China aims to eventually build. But six years after it first went into orbit, the 9½-ton laboratory is expected to meet a fiery and uncontrolled end, hurtling to Earth and crashing somewhere — anywhere — on the planet. In September 2016, Chinese officials confirmed that they had lost control of the space lab and that it would crash into Earth sometime in the latter half of 2017. In May, China told the United Nations that the lab would reenter Earth between October and April 2018. This week, the Aerospace Corporation — a California-based research center — said Tiangong-1 “is predicted to reenter in mid-March ... ± 2 weeks.” Much of the space lab, which measures 34 feet in length and weighs more than 19,000 pounds (9½ tons, or about 8½ metric tons), is expected to burn up during its reentry. But Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist from Harvard University, told the Guardian that pieces weighing up to 220 pounds could make it to the Earth's surface. Where exactly the craft will fall is anyone's guess. Even slight changes in atmospheric conditions can alter the landing site “from one continent to the next,” McDowell told the Guardian. “You really can’t steer these things,” he said. “Even a couple of days before it reenters, we probably won’t know better than six or seven hours, plus or minus, when it’s going to come down. Not knowing when it’s going to come down translates as not knowing where it’s going to come down.” The Aerospace Corporation noted that “there is a chance that a small amount of Tiangong-1 debris may survive reentry and impact the ground. Should this happen, any surviving debris would fall within a region that is a few hundred kilometers in size and centered along a point on the Earth that the station passes over.” The nonprofit research center provided a map showing “the relative probabilities of debris landing within a given region.” From the center: “Yellow indicates locations that have a higher probability while green indicates areas of lower probability. Blue areas have zero probability of debris reentry since Tiangong-1 does not fly over these areas (north of 42.7° N latitude or south of 42.7°


The sudden collapse of coconut oil, 2015’s favorite superfood

metabolism. Meanwhile, manufacturers — sensing new demand for alternative oils — ramped up production of avocado oil, algae oil, animal fats and specialty butters. By the time the American Heart Association officially denounced coconut oil in June 2017 — the product has too much saturated fat, AHA said — sales were already beginning to fall, according to SPINS. Over the course of 2017, coconut oil retail sales dropped $52 million, or 24.3 percent. “There’s been a leveling off of sorts,” said Kimberly Kawa, a retail analyst at SPINS. “There was a coconut craze several years ago. Now we’re seeing [sales] come back down again.” The reversal has surprised some analysts, who believed coconut oil had all the makings of a pantry staple: It’s versatile, after all, and it fits the nutritional zeitgeist of an era when many consumers are rethinking the healthfulness of dietary fats. But that’s not enough to transform a superfood “craze” into a stable, long-term trend, said Charles Banks, the co-founder of TheFoodPeople, a global food trends consultancy based in Britain. Forecasting which health foods will make that leap has become a big business, particularly as more consumers prioritize nutrition. Among the foods that have made the jump from fad to staple: kale, blueberries, dark chocolate, avocados, green tea and ancient grains. Among the ones that have not: wheat germ, acai, pomegranate and goji berries. According to Banks, the staying power of a superfood depends not only on current buzz, but also on long-term, macro changes in eating patterns, the number of competing products on the market — and, most importantly, the quality of the science used to support the superfood’s purported benefits. While marketers still throw the term “superfood” around, consumers have grown skeptical, Banks said. “Products like coconut oil, which consumers don’t quite understand or trust when it comes to health credentials, are inevitably going to suffer in a ‘facts-first’ world,” he added, “at least until their health benefits are unequivocally proven.” Some analysts aren’t ruling out the possibility that coconut oil will experience just such a turnaround. Marie Molde, an analyst at the restaurant market research firm Datassential, said she expects sales will pick up again as researchers learn more about saturated fats. Her firm uses a model to predict food adoption trends, and it’s unusual for a food to get this far in the trend cycle and then fall back, she said. Until


China’s 9½-ton space lab will soon crash to Earth. Scientists think they know where — sort of.

locations to “anywhere between 43 degrees N and 43 degrees S (e.g. Spain, France, Portugal, Greece, etc.).” It is worth noting that the new predictions come with enough caveats (see: “etc.”) to make a cable appointment seem exacting. The current estimated window is “highly variable,” the European Space Agency cautioned. Areas outside the given latitudes could be excluded — but the forecast is still being updated weekly, it added. “At no time will a precise time/location prediction from ESA be possible,” the agency said. Popular Mechanics notes that, given the station's path of orbit, it could also reenter the atmosphere in the Southern Hemisphere near 43 degrees latitude. “Parts of the United States, the Iberian Peninsula, China, the Middle East, South America, Australia, and New Zealand are all potential reentry locations,” the magazine reported. Still, there are several reasons not to panic. First and foremost, much, if not all, of the roughly 19,000-pound laboratory is expected to disintegrate upon reentry. “In the history of spaceflight, no known person has ever been harmed by reentering space debris,” the Aerospace Corp. stated in January. “Only one person has ever been recorded as being hit by a piece of space debris and, fortunately, she was not injured.” The nonprofit included a map that illustrated zones where Tiangong-1 could fall, noting that even for people in the “worst-case location” (the yellow region), the chances of being struck by debris are “about one million times smaller than the odds of winning the Powerball jackpot.” But Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist from Harvard University, told the Guardian that pieces weighing up to 220 pounds could make it to Earth's surface. Even slight changes in atmospheric conditions can alter the landing site “from one continent to the next,” McDowell told the newspaper. “You really can’t steer these things,” he said. “Even a couple of days before it reenters, we probably won’t know better than six or seven hours, plus or minus, when it’s going to come down. Not knowing when it’s going to come down translates as not knowing where it’s going to come down.” Mary Hui and J. Freedom du Lac contributed to this report. Read more: With Putin’s ‘invincible’ missile taunt, some hear chilling echoes of Sputnik and the Cold War A NASA astronaut films his spacewalk — and a breathtaking view of Earth A flat-earther finally tried to fly away. His rocket didn’t even ignite.


“I’m missing a day of school because 17 are missing the rest of their lives”: Baltimore students walk out of school for gun safety

wants to see universal background checks for gun owners and the minimum age for purchasing a gun raised to 21 years old. “Something needs to change,” she said. “Guns just need to be stopped. People need to stop killing people. Period.” The Baltimore Sun sat down last week with seven students at Excel Academy in West Baltimore to talk about the impact gun violence has had on their lives. The students have lost seven of their classmates to gun violence over the last two school years. The Excel students, and those taking part in the march Tuesday, said they want lawmakers to heed their voices. Quinn Parker, 16, walked out of his Spanish class at Friends holding a sign that read, “We stand with Excel Academy.” “Our city, with its history of such high homicide rates, needs to do a better job of keeping its students safe — everywhere,” he said. Elizabeth Sacktor, a sophomore at Baltimore School for the Arts, said it’s important the city not grow numb to violence on its streets or in schools across the nation. “Everyone is just so used to the violence and gun threats and children fearing for their lives,” she said. “I’m participating to remind people in power that this is an issue,” she said. “Children should not fear for our lives while trying to get an education.” Elijah Eaton, an 18-year-old student at City College, set up a voter registration booth outside of City Hall. “Gen Z is going to vote staunchly against gun violence,” he said. Baltimore schools chief executive Sonja Santelises said in a statement that the district encourages students “to make themselves heard about an issue that affects them profoundly.” But she also said principals were encouraged to use time and space within their buildings for students to discuss gun violence and steps to prevent it. Charlotte Corcoran, 14, said she had no reservations about walking out of Roland Park Country School, regardless of the potential consequence for skipping class. She carried a sign that read: “I’m missing a day of school because 17 are missing the rest of their lives.” The students involved said they felt overwhelmed by how many people showed up. As they marched near the Johns Hopkins University campus, one girl turned around, looked at the massive line of students behind her and said to a friend: “Wow, that’s all us.” — Baltimore Sun


Holocaust Museum rescinds Elie Wiesel Award to Nobel winner Aung San Suu Kyi

for your commitment to human dignity and universal human rights — would have done something to condemn and stop the military’s brutal campaign and to express solidarity with the targeted Rohingya population.” The letter continues, urging her to use her position to cooperate with international efforts “to establish the truth about the atrocities committed in Rakhine State and secure accountability for perpetrators” and to lead changes to Burmese law, which leaves most Rohingya stateless. “You can expand access for both local and international aid workers to administer life-saving assistance,” the letter states. “Finally, we urge you to condemn the hateful, dehumanizing language directed toward the Rohingya.” The letter was first reported by the New York Times. Suu Kyi, who endured 15 years of house arrest for taking on the military dictatorship in Burma, was given the award in 2012 — a year after it was created to honor famed Holocaust survivor Wiesel, who was the first recipient. The award is given annually to “internationally prominent individuals whose actions have advanced the Museum’s vision of a world where people confront hatred, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity,” the museum’s site says. Some 700,000 Rohingya have been driven across the border into Bangladesh, bringing with them scant possessions and countless tales of atrocities, including gang rapes, the murder of children and the destruction of entire villages, The Post reported recently. What makes the survivors’ accounts even more disturbing is the realization that many of the horrors they describe were coolly planned and premeditated, as documented in a recent report by Human Rights Watch. The museum does on-the-ground research into alleged genocide around the world. In its statement Wednesday, officials noted the museum has been focused in recent years on the military’s campaign against the Rohingya, an ethnic group that is mostly Muslim. It held a public event — called “Our Walls Bear Witness” — in 2013, made numerous visits to Burma (also known as Myanmar) and Bangladesh to gather evidence and do interviews, and published in 2015 a report “which documented the early warning signs of genocide.” Last fall, the museum released more findings “documenting crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and what we termed ‘mounting evidence of genocide’ committed by the Myanmar military against Rohingya civilians since October 2016. Regrettably over the last five years the situation has become progressively worse and today seems untenable for the Rohingya population,” the museum’s site


How 5G became a political football in a merger attempt involving two of the world’s biggest chip makers

It's easy to forget that many of the electronic devices we take for granted are actually made up of tiny components sourced from dozens of companies. But now a merger attempt involving two of the world's largest computer chip makers is drawing renewed attention to that vast commercial ecosystem — and raising big questions about America's future leadership in the technology sector. Broadcom's possible takeover of Qualcomm provoked a letter to both companies this week from U.S. officials, citing fears that the merger could make it easier for countries such as China to hack or spy on American businesses. Part of the concern stems from a fear that under Broadcom, which is incorporated in Singapore, U.S.-based Qualcomm could scale back its investments in developing 5G, a new mobile data standard that's designed to complement and succeed the 4G LTE that's common on mobile phones and tablets today. In response to the letter, Broadcom told U.S. officials Wednesday that, if its bid for Qualcomm succeeds, it's going to double down on 5G development. Promising to make United States "the global leader in 5G," Broadcom is also dangling a $1.5 billion education fund to sweeten the deal for American regulators. Why is the focus on 5G so important? Here's what this possible merger can teach us about the future of mobile data. Mobile data has become faster over time, and 5G is no different. Qualcomm's tests have shown that 5G can be as fast — or faster — than what many Americans get on their home broadband connections. During one of Qualcomm's recent demonstrations, for example, users saw download speeds on 5G data of 100 Mbps or more, compared with 8 Mbps on traditional LTE. Companies such as AT&T have said that their plans for 5G could theoretically support speeds of multiple gigabits per second. At those speeds, an HD movie could load virtually instantly. But experts say the real reason to get excited about 5G has hardly anything to do with the download speeds. The chief selling point, according to analysts, is the technology's reliability. It features much lower lag compared with other forms of mobile data, meaning any device that requires a constant connection can be assured that no data will be dropped or delayed in transit. This could be huge for self-driving cars, virtual surgery or other high-tech applications where losing a packet of information could mean the difference


The Capitals may be in first place, but they sit on a throne of lies

The Washington Capitals, fresh off an exhilarating win over the Toronto Maple Leafs Saturday at the 2018 Stadium Series game, laid an egg on the road in Anaheim Tuesday night, falling 4-0 to the Ducks. The Capitals still hold the top spot in the Metropolitan division, but that’s tenuous, at best. On Feb.1 they had a five-point lead on the New Jersey Devils, who were second in the division, and a six-point lead on the Pittsburgh Penguins, who were third. Heading into Wednesday night’s games, the Caps have a one-point lead over Pittsburgh and a two-point lead over the Philadelphia Flyers — two teams surging in recent weeks — giving Washington a 40 percent chance of holding on to the division lead once the postseason starts. Losing ground in the division is the result of two big problems. First, the team is benefiting from an inflated goal differential despite being outshot throughout the 2017-18 campaign. Second, their human goal-eraser, Braden Holtby, who helped wipe out some of the negative effects of the shot disparity, has been allowing goals at an alarming rate in recent weeks. But start with the shooting gallery that is the Caps’ end of the ice. Washington sees just 48 percent of all shot attempts and scoring chances in its favor at even strength, placing it 24th and 26th in the NHL this season, respectively. When you factor in their shot quality, or lack thereof, its actual even-strength goal differential of plus-9 drops to minus-21, the second-worst expected differential after the cellar-swelling Buffalo Sabres. Since 2007-08, the first year data is available, there have been 23 teams that have a Corsi rate of under 50 percent, a positive goal differential and a negative expected goal differential. Nine of those teams failed to make the postseason, seven were defeated in the first round and five others were bounced in the second round. Only the 2007-08 and 2008-09 Pittsburgh Penguins were able to venture as far as the Stanley Cup Final. If there is one thing the Capitals — and Coach Barry Trotz — can’t afford, it’s another first- or second-round flame out. Compounding Washington’s issues on the ice is the poor play of Holtby. Early in the season, Holtby’s goaltending helped Washington get some wins despite the lopsided shot totals against them. Now? Not so much. Pulled after allowing three goals on nine shots in Tuesday’s loss in


A growing number of companies are cutting back on their drug testing

Combine a growing economy, a tight labor market and an increasing number of states that are legalizing marijuana and what do you have? For one thing, you have fewer companies doing drug testing of new and current employees. “The benefits of at least reconsidering the drug policy on behalf of an employer would be pretty high,” Jeremy Kidd, a professor at Mercer Law School, who wrote a paper on the economics of workplace drug testing, told the Insurance Journal. “A blanket prohibition can’t possibly be the most economically efficient policy.” Not surprising, companies in states where marijuana has been legalized — whether for recreational or medicinal use — are leading this trend. For example, only two-thirds of 609 employers that were recently surveyed in Colorado said that they were conducting drug tests of their employees. That number is down from 77 percent the year before. A half-dozen large companies, according to one labor lawyer, have quietly changed their policies in response. Other well-known companies like AutoNation, Inc. and The Denver Post have also relaxed their rules. Of course, no one wants to give the impression that they’re soft on drugs. But circumstances have changed. The tight economy is making it hard to find and retain good people and drug testing further limits an employer’s options. In addition, recent studies have shown that Americans are more tolerant of certain drugs, particularly when compared to previous generations. Another factor is the rising costs of doing drug tests — which can be as much as $30 to $50 a pop. Many employers are finding that even incentives given from insurance companies for maintaining a “drug free” workplace and the anti-marijuana rumblings from Attorney General Jeff Sessions aren’t enough to outweigh the costs of drug testing. “We don’t care what people do in their free time,” Liam Meyer, a spokesman for Excellence Health, a 6,000-person company based in Las Vegas, said in the Insurance Journal report. “We want to help these people, instead of saying: ‘Hey, you can’t work for us because you used a substance.’ ”


The Energy 202: Trump administration must decide whether to back the biggest nuclear fusion project ever

THE LIGHTBULB The House Science, Space and Technology Committee is known for its partisan bickering. But the panel showed a rare bit of bipartisanship The United States is collaborating with five nations and the European Union to conduct the largest fusion experiment ever, agreeing to pay for one-eleventh of the cost of a fusion reactor being built in southern France called theInternational Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. But the White House’s proposal of $75 million to fund the megaproject in fiscal 2019 falls far short of that pledge. The United States needs to spend at least $213 million in cash and equipment to maintain the scheduled contributions to ITER, Smith said Tuesday. ITER spokesman Laban Coblentz said by email that figure “corresponds to the projected needs.” “Reducing annual funding will only delay ITER instruments being built here in the U.S. and cause construction delays that increase overall project cost,” Smith said. Even with House backing, the fate of U.S. funding for ITER remains uncertain. While in years past House Republicans and the Obama administration supported funding ITER even as it faced cost overruns and schedule delays, Senate appropriators, led by Lamar Alexander (R–Tenn.), agitated to terminate funding. The difference now is President Trump Over the past half-century, the Energy Department has poured billions of dollars into nuclear fusion research, all without yet producing a reactor that put out more energy than it put in. The prospect sounds like it’s from science fiction: Yet the huge magnetic containers and superpowered lasers necessary to bring hydrogen to that state are expensive. Energy efforts at fusion research are littered with half-done studies and never-realized schemes, constrained by budget cuts during President Ronald Reagan’s tenure and former speaker Newt Gingrich’s (R-Ga.) time running the House. The upside, if the technology works: Or as Rep. Randy Weber (R-Tex.) put it Tuesday: “The potential benefits to society from a fusion reactor are beyond calculation.” Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California, the No. 2 Democrat on the committee, echoed that sentiment. “Given the huge potential benefits of developing a viable approach to fusion energy, I believe this is an area where we should strongly investing in,” Lofgren said. “Unfortunately, that’s not what we’re seeing in the Department of Energy’s recent budget request.” After the United States signed a pact to start ITER in 2006 under President George W. Bush, some members of Congress worried other countries would back out of


From Pooh to Ted, here’s a ranking of Hollywood’s computer-generated bears

The first trailer for Disney’s live-action “Christopher Robin,” released Wednesday afternoon, gave us a snippet of a scene in which a tense Ewan McGregor sits on a park bench, swivels around to discover an aging teddy bear standing behind him and exclaims in disbelief, “Pooh?!” That’s right, folks. Disney is bringing back Winnie the Pooh for a film in which McGregor, who plays a grown Christopher Robin grappling with the stresses of adulthood, reunites with the chubby bear we all know and love. The movie, set for an August release, will join several others that have featured a computer-generated bear in some capacity. Some cuddly like Pooh and others incredibly vicious, all of the bears contribute quite a bit to the stories being told and are therefore worth discussing. In the words of Pooh, what to do? Well, rank them from worst to best, of course. It’s 2018, and that’s what we do. 7. Snuggle from the fabric softener commercials Okay, so we’re starting off with a commercial, but Snuggle is too scary to omit. This bear has one of those cutesy voices that actually sound like a creepy adult with a head cold, and his eyes are so beady that they pierce your soul. In this Snuggle commercial from 2012, the bear wraps himself in someone else’s laundry and deeply inhales the scent of a child’s shirt, as if that’s not an odd thing to do. Snuggle then floats around in bubbles — which is kind of cool — but then asks viewers to snuggle with him. Um, no thanks. See you in our nightmares, weirdo. 6. Ted from “Ted” This foul-mouthed character feels like your favorite childhood toy grew up and binged all 16 seasons of “Family Guy” while chugging beer — and that’s kind of what happens in the movie, too. It makes sense, given that the series’s creator, Seth MacFarlane, directed the film and voiced the bear with a thick Boston accent. Ted is actually kind of cute, until he opens his mouth or interacts with women. This bear even does inappropriate things to a grocery store scanner, which is… disturbing. 5. That bear from “The Revenant” This infamous scene from “The Revenant” gave way to all kinds of absurd Internet theories, but it actually just features a bear who attacks Leonardo DiCaprio’s character when she thinks her cubs are in danger. Kudos to the mama


Senate advances plan to weaken Dodd-Frank banking rules on bipartisan vote

A plan to scale back post- financial-crisis banking rules cleared a key Senate hurdle Tuesday, with more than a third of the Senate Democratic caucus joining united Republicans to move the measure toward passage. The vote was 67 to 32, well over the 60 votes needed in the closely divided Senate, setting up debate and final passage in coming days. Days of contentious wrangling on the Senate floor lie ahead, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) pledging to deliver speeches in opposition. But the level of bipartisan support Tuesday, with 17 members of the Senate Democratic caucus voting “yes,” suggested the measure will ultimately get the chamber’s approval. The House would need to approve the legislation as well before it could become law. If passed, the measure would mark the most significant revision of banking rules since Congress passed a sweeping financial regulatory law in response to the 2008 economic crisis. It is also a rare instance of bipartisan legislating in the Senate, something that has occurred infrequently during the Trump presidency. Supporters argue that the legislation would bring needed relief to small and regional banks, which say they were treated unfairly under the 2010 financial reform law known as the Dodd-Frank Act. “This bill is mostly focused on community banks and credit unions. My state’s lost 30 percent” of such institutions, Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) said ahead of the vote. “That does not help grow the economy, particularly in smaller communities.” Opponents say the bill would weaken the oversight needed to stave off the type of dangerous lending and investing that brought the U.S. economy to its knees a decade ago. This bill is “extraordinarily dangerous” for the economy, Warren told reporters Tuesday. “It’s not as if the banks are suffering. They think they can juice their profits if they can get Congress to turn down the regulations.” The vote is a significant victory for the banking industry, which has seen its fortunes improve under President Trump. He repeatedly promised during the presidential campaign to do a “big number” on Dodd-Frank. The Senate legislation leaves the law’s major provisions intact, though with some parts significantly weakened. The bill would exempt about two dozen financial companies with assets between $50 billion and $250 billion, including American Express, Ally Financial and Barclays, from the toughest banking regulations. These banks would no longer be labeled “too big to fail” and automatically undergo


The 5 ways the Senate plans to roll back regulations on Wall Street

challenge may be to reconcile the House and Senate versions. “Get ready, folks — the moment we’ve been waiting for is about to arrive,” Camden Fine, head of the Independent Community Bankers of America, told members last week. Here are five of the most significant aspects of the Senate legislation: How big is big? Community and regional banks have long complained that the regulations are excessive and saddle them with extra compliance costs they don’t deserve. The change would give them more control over how much capital they keep, whether they issue dividends to shareholders or buy back stock. The Federal Reserve would retain the ability to apply extra scrutiny to some financial institutions, but overall the bill would reduce the number of banks considered “too big to fail” from 38 to 12. “Our banks do not threaten U.S. financial market stability, and we should not be subjected to the same regulatory regime as larger banks with more complex and interconnected business models,” more than a dozen banks, including American Express and Ally, said in a letter to Crapo and Sen. Sherrod Brown (Ohio), the Banking Committee’s ranking Democrat, on Monday. “Regional and traditional lenders and our communities have been disadvantaged by a regulatory model that lumps us together with the largest, most complex banks.” Democrats and consumer groups note that it wasn’t just the country’s biggest banks that needed taxpayer bailouts during the financial crisis. American Express and Ally Financial, which could be helped by the legislation, for example, received $3.4 billion and $17.2 billion in taxpayer bailouts, respectively. The failure of smaller banks also contributed to the economic turmoil that rocked the financial system, the critics say. Loosening regulatory oversight of these institutions could put taxpayers at risk again, they say. A Wall Street carve-out? The Senate bill would soften the capital requirements for such banks. While huge — State Street has more than $2 trillion in assets, and Bank of New York Mellon has more than $1.7 trillion — they do not pose the same level of risks as other banks, supporters of the bill say. But some Democrats and advocacy groups worry that big banks, such as Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase, could find a way to exploit the exemption for their benefit. Citigroup has been pressing lawmakers to expand the bill’s language so that other banks could take advantage of the provision, according to the Intercept.


Why billionaires keep pouring money into the space industry

$1 billion each. By contrast, more investors put their money into space last year, the report said, and there was a 70 percent increase in the number of deals — another sign that space, once deemed too risky for the business community, has turned a corner. “It’s becoming more of a mainstream place for more financially focused” venture capitalists, said Carissa Christensen, Bryce’s founder and chief executive. “They are in it not because space is cool, but because they think this a place to generate serious return.” For years, the industry was fueled by the vast fortunes of a few billionaires. Musk invested $100 million of his own money into SpaceX before capturing several billions of dollars in government contracts. Last year, Jeffrey P. Bezos described the investment model for his space company, Blue Origin, this way: “I sell about $1 billion a year of Amazon stock, and I use it to invest in Blue Origin.” (Bezos owns The Washington Post.) Richard Branson has backed Virgin Galactic and a satellite company called OneWeb, while Paul Allen, the Microsoft co-founder, is building what would be the world’s largest airplane by wingspan to “air-launch” rockets. More recently, Mark Cuban invested $500,000 into a company called Relativity Space, which plans to 3-D print an entire rocket. Astranis, which intends to use small satellites to beam Internet to places off Earth's power grid, recently announced that it was being backed by Andreessen Horowitz, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm. The growing market has also captured the interest of the Trump administration, which has vowed to expand the partnerships with the private sector that began under former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. During Thursday’s Cabinet meeting, Trump lauded SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy and took a shot at NASA, saying that if the government built a similar rocket, it “would have cost probably 40 or 50 times” what SpaceX charges. Despite the dig, he later acknowledged that “NASA is making tremendous strides.” For all its hype and early success, the start-up space industry “has not yet definitively demonstrated business case success,” the Bryce report said, noting that it is now at a critical juncture. Over the next couple of years, investors will start to expect “some of these companies in their later stages generating returns in a meaningful way,” Christensen said. “If just a few of them do that, it will significantly affect investor confidence.”


Big banks still threaten the economy. But Congress is asleep at the wheel.

Neel Kashkari is the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Ten years after the financial crisis and Great Recession, it is now clear that the 2008 bailouts worked too well — for Wall Street, that is. The Dow Jones industrial average is far above its pre-recession highs. Bank earnings and share prices are setting records. The financial crisis is now just a fading memory. In hindsight, it wasn’t that bad, was it? When asked if we are likely to face another crisis in the near term, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates recently answered: “Yes . . . Fortunately we got through [the last] one reasonably well.” As Congress appears poised to pass the most significant banking legislation since Dodd-Frank, there is little political will to actually reduce the future risk of another taxpayer bailout. Instead, Congress is set to roll back regulations on small and midsize banks, with the largest banks hoping their rollback will soon follow. While reduced regulations may help small banks, the biggest banks remain a systemic threat to the economy. Wall Street has fully recovered, but Main Street hasn’t. The Great Recession pushed millions of working Americans out of the labor force, some of whom still haven’t returned. Although the headline unemployment rate has fallen from a peak of 10 percent during the recession to 4.1 percent this past January, that statistic ignores people who have given up looking for work. A different measure of people in their prime working years suggests that more than a million Americans are still on the sidelines. Having managed the Troubled Asset Relief Program , or TARP, for both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, I absolutely believe the bailouts were the right thing to do. They helped prevent the Great Recession from spiraling out of control and becoming another Great Depression, which would have cost millions more Americans their jobs and savings. It is clear, however, that an unintended side effect of the bailouts was the short-circuiting of the market’s own mechanisms to regulate excessive risk-taking. The free market should provide multiple layers of governance to force firms to learn from prior mistakes. Individual shareholders and their representatives on boards of directors are supposed to be the first line of defense. Their job is to hold management accountable. A second line of defense should be institutional investors, such as asset management firms, pension plans and endowments. These


Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon to impact traffic, parking Saturday

The District will host more than 25,000 runners for the annual Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon on Saturday, an event that is set to disrupt traffic, parking and transit in all four quadrants of the city. The marathon takes runners through many of the District’s neighborhoods between 7 a.m. and about 2 p.m., closing numerous streets and causing painful gridlock in the nation’s capital. This year, residents and visitors should anticipate even more challenges as D.C. police implement stricter parking restrictions along the route. The good news is Saturday now looks like a partly sunny and dry day. The Capital Weather Gang tells us to expect light winds and highs in the mid-40s to near 50. The marathon starts at 7 a.m. from a line on Constitution Avenue NW at 14th Street and finishes mid-afternoon at Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Stadium. In between, residents will feel trapped in their neighborhoods, while travelers will need to plan ahead to reach Reagan National Airport, Union Station and other destinations. Most of the street closings will be in effect from 6 a.m. to about 3 p.m. There are some earlier closures: Constitution Avenue will be closed from 2 a.m. to noon between 15th and Ninth Streets NW. East Capitol Street NE, from 22nd Street to 19th Street NE will be closed from 2 a.m. to 3 p.m. Here’s how the race will impact your neighborhood. The A complete list of street closures provided by D.C. police is here and by the marathon organizers here. If you live in the District and park on the street, watch for “No Parking” signs along the route. Streets generally reopen as the last runners pass by. D.C. police won’t allow vehicles to remain parked on the route, requiring hundreds of car owners to move their vehicles before the event. The parking restrictions are part of a new policy to keep vehicles away from special events such as parades and races to protect pedestrians and crowds from terror-inspired attacks where vehicles are used as weapons. “The public should expect parking restrictions along the entire marathon route and should be guided by the posted emergency no parking signage,” police said in a statement. “The public should also expect enforcement of these parking restrictions which may include ticketing and towing along the entire marathon route.” The event sponsors have a discount deal with SpotHero, so drivers can look for off-street parking


NFLPA chief says team that asked about prospect’s sexuality should be banned from the combine

When NFL prospects speak with team officials at the league’s draft combine in Indianapolis, they expect some unusual, and possibly even upsetting, questions — but they are not supposed to be asked about their sexuality. Yet one highly regarded running back said that was exactly what happened to him. LSU’s Derrius Guice said in a radio appearance this week that his team interviews at the recently concluded combine were “pretty crazy,” and that “some people are really trying to get in your head and test your reaction.” “I go in one room, and a team will ask me do I like men, just to see my reaction,” Guice said Wednesday on SiriusXM Radio (via USA Today). “I go in another room, they’ll try to bring up one of my family members or something and tell me, ‘Hey, I heard your mom sells herself. How do you feel about that?’ ” Pro Football Talk DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFL Players Association, said Thursday the as-yet unidentified team should be prohibited from attending the combine. “Find out what team did it and ban them from the combine,” Smith told “PFT Live.” “The question is inappropriate. Questions along these lines are always inappropriate.” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said the league was “looking into the matter.” In a statement provided to The Washington Post, he added, “A question such as that is completely inappropriate and wholly contrary to league workplace policies. The NFL and its clubs are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees in a manner that is consistent with our commitment to diversity and inclusion, state and federal laws and the [collective bargaining agreement]. … “The league annually reminds clubs of these workplace policies that prohibit personnel from seeking information concerning a player’s sexual orientation.” The NFL seems likely to investigate the matter, as it did in 2016, when Ohio State’s Eli Apple, who went on to become a first-round pick by the Giants, said he was asked the same question by a Falcons staffer. Falcons Coach Dan Quinn later said he was “disappointed in the question” and added, “I have spoken to the coach that interviewed Eli Apple and explained to him how inappropriate and unprofessional this was. I have reiterated this to the entire coaching staff and I want to apologize to Eli for this even coming up. This is not what the Atlanta Falcons are


The Finance 202: Wall Street can’t rely on Steven Mnuchin to buck Trump

have been excluded from a key provision relaxing oversight of small and mid-sized lenders under a modified version of a U.S. Senate bill that aims to ease rules introduced following the 2007-2009 global financial crisis. The amended version of the bill, released on Wednesday, includes a new section that explicitly preserves the Federal Reserve’s ability to strictly regulate the U.S. operations of large foreign banks like Deutsche Bank and Banco Santander alongside the country’s largest institutions. The last-minute change will likely fuel discontent among foreign banks operating in the United States, which have long complained they are not given equal treatment to their domestic peers in regulatory matters.” — House Rs come around. The Hill's Sylvan Lane: “House Republicans are warming up to a Senate bill that would loosen the banking rules put in place after the financial crisis. The Senate is poised this week to pass the most significant changes to the Dodd-Frank Act since it became law in 2010. The bill has the support of more than a dozen Democrats, making it one of the few measures with a chance to become law this year. With the GOP searching for accomplishments to tout ahead of the midterm elections, House conservatives who once derided the Senate bill are taking a second look, suggesting they may be open to compromise. ‘I want to do what’s good for Main Street. I’m a dealmaker, so maybe not everything’s in it, but maybe there’s something that we can be happy with in it,’ said Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas). He had called the Senate’s plan a ‘non-starter’ in December.” N.Y. Fed: TBTF not over. — Dems pitch infrastructure. WSJ's Richard Rubin: “Senate Democrats on Wednesday proposed repealing major pieces of the just-passed tax law, in a plan that would raise taxes on corporations, estates and high-income households to pay for $1 trillion in new infrastructure spending. The plan will almost certainly go nowhere with Republicans in charge of Congress and the White House. But it provides a first clear signal about Democratic priorities on tax policy after the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and establishes a clear contrast for the 2018 midterm elections. The proposal would set the corporate tax rate at 25%, up from today’s 21% but still well below the 35% that was in place until President Donald Trump signed the new tax law in December.” Businesses urge gax


Rescuing humanity from big tech

with their worries over what Singapore might have in mind with its deployment of sensors and cameras across the island. And the notion of e-citizenry, while fascinating, seems of questionable applicability to the United States. Still, I came away from Keen’s world travels grateful to him for enduring all those endless flights to far-flung places so we wouldn’t have to. Keen’s trip to Brussels makes more sense. There he meets with Margrethe Vestager, the European commissioner for competition, who is bravely standing up to the likes of Google and Apple. Vestager imposed a 13 billion-euro fine on Apple in back taxes for the company’s dodgy tax arrangements with Ireland. And she has set her antitrust sights on Google. Last year, she fined the company a record 2.42 billion euros for giving preferential treatment to Google Shopping, its price comparison service. “How to Fix the Future” has its share of annoyances. The phrase “you’ll remember,” to remind us of someone or something he has mentioned plenty of times already, sometimes quite recently, becomes a distracting literary tic. And there are mistakes. Some are easily forgiven. I can see getting Angela Merkel’s name wrong (which Keen does); after all, the German prime minister isn’t a constant presence in Keen’s Silicon Valley-centric world. But misspelling the first names of Sergey Brin and Marc Benioff is just plain inexcusable. And an Internet expert like Keen should know that science fiction writer William Gibson coined the word “cyberspace” not in his 1984 novel, “Neuromancer,” but two years earlier in his short story “Burning Chrome.” Eventually our Dorothy returns to Kansas, which in Keen’s case is his own back yard of Oakland, Calif. He describes with great admiration work being done by Freada Kapor Klein, a longtime tech activist. Together with her husband, Mitch Kapor, she has created a workspace in Oakland that blends high tech with humanism. Working to ensure that everyone gets a chance at a tech career, the couple invests in start-ups whose founders are women or people of color, and they’ve started a program that funnels underprivileged kids into math and science. All of this, as Keen puts it, is a “counterweight to Silicon Valley’s most corrosive indifference to the impact of its disruption on the world around it.” Well put, and a brave ambition for a scary new world. How to Fix the Future By Andrew Keen Atlantic. 330 pp. $26


Trump is Wile E. Coyote

BRUSSELS “Beep beep” was the subject line of an email message I received a few weeks ago from former CIA analyst Robert Carlin, as Kim Jong Un was accelerating his diplomatic charm offensive. “So typical,” wrote Carlin in his brief text. “The North Koreans as Road Runner, the U.S. as Wile E. Coyote.” Carlin makes a point that applies to many foreign policy problems around the world. When it comes to global diplomacy, America under President Trump has become something of a hapless cartoon villain, detonating bombs on itself and running into walls — while our nimbler adversaries dart away in a blur of dust. “Heavy-handed” is one word for Trump’s foreign policy. “Unsuccessful” is another. His strategy, if you can call it that, has been to disrupt America’s traditional economic and security relationships and commitments. He must imagine that this gives him new leverage, but mostly the result has been a series of self-inflicted wounds. Trade is the most obvious example of Trump’s clumsiness. While our economic competitors in China move to seize the commanding heights of technology, in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and robotics, Trump is trying to protect jobs in steel, coal and other industries that have been in decline for nearly 50 years. He seems determined to transform the United States into a lagging indicator, rather than a leading one. In the Korea drama, a slow-footed America will soon be paired with the diplomatic speedster. Certainly, Thursday night’s announcement of Trump-Kim direct talks is promising, and perhaps evidence that the president’s braggadocio and belligerence have produced results. But what I see is a North Korea that has become a nuclear-weapons state and now, from a position of strength, wants negotiations with America. Trump thinks Kim is “sincere” in his offer to discuss denuclearization, but few colleagues share that hope. We’ll probably be chasing Kim around a negotiating table for a while, which is better than “duck and cover.” But as Carlin says, “Beep beep.” Trump’s most untidy mess is the Middle East. He proclaims his willingness to walk away from the Iran nuclear deal. But strangely, he’s leaving the heavy lifting to European allies, which are drafting tougher provisions on Iranian ballistic missiles, on inspections of Iranian military sites and on the “sunset” of the agreement. Oh yes, they’re also lobbying Congress to support these moves. A tougher agreement would be better, certainly, but to achieve


Some patients are in pain. Some just want drugs. How do I tell them apart?

of a drug-seeker: “polysubstance abuse,” “heroin dependence,” “PTSD” — scarlet letters affixed to her chart. I worried about missing a potentially life-threatening disease, but I also didn’t want to be a sucker. I surreptitiously peeked into Brittany’s room to see if she remained immobilized by pain. If she were sitting comfortably now that no one was watching, I could discount her pain. But she lay there, moaning. I felt disgusted by my paranoid snooping. I ordered the nurse to administer an IV anti-inflammatory and nausea medication, gradually stepping up the strength of analgesia while hoping to use the minimum needed. The next step was an opioid, which I dreaded giving to her. I impatiently waited for Brittany’s lab results in the physicians’ cubby, still anticipating a quick discharge afterward. A nurse popped her head into the cubby. “Her white count is 18,” she said. My own abdomen suddenly burned. An elevated white-blood-cell count was extremely concerning, a possible sign of disease hidden in Brittany’s abdomen. And a blood test could not be faked. I returned to her bedside, to the moans I had been trying to ignore. I ordered a dose of IV morphine and a CT scan — the image showed clear signs of a gastric ulcer that had ripped through the wall of her stomach, releasing air into the abdomen. She needed a surgeon, in addition to intensive drug rehab. Opioids are a mixed blessing: Alongside their destructive potential I regularly witness their unbridled power. Kids with bones bent into question marks receive a quick squirt of aerosolized fentanyl in both nostrils upon entering my ER. Almost immediately, they sit comfortably in their hospital beds, despite broken bones, their pupils shrinking to poppy seeds. Sometimes only opioids will do. At such times, I marvel that molecules from the ovarian ooze of some plant should so precisely match our own pain receptors, alleviating the worst of our physical suffering. The healing power endowed by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration to physicians brings great responsibility but not much insight into discerning disease from drug-seeking. Opioids are the nuclear power of painkilling, and their misuse similarly brings death and destruction on a national scale. Physicians enabled this epidemic, and now we’re tasked with both saving the overdosed and prescribing rehab. In the prayerful words of addicts everywhere, may we have the serenity, courage and wisdom to help reverse what we’ve wrought.


While Trump fights over aluminum and steel, Silicon Valley braces for a real trade war

Chinese partner to which they are required to transfer technology, as well as requirements that data must be stored locally on Chinese servers. (Many countries, including Russia, Brazil and Germany, have such laws requiring local data storage.) Apple recently announced it would move iCloud accounts registered in mainland China to state-run Chinese servers, along with the digital encryption keys needed to unlock them, as a concession to the Chinese government. U.S. lawmakers and officials have become increasingly concerned about the security risks of Chinese investment. Last year, the Pentagon warned in an official report that the U.S. government needed to impose stricter controls over Chinese investment because it was leading to the transfer of promising military technologies to China. Legislation that would increase scrutiny over such deals is pending in Congress. The legislation would expand the powers of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, the government body that reviews foreign mergers for potential threats to national security. CFIUS’s greater scope would allow for review of foreign deals beyond the military sphere and include a broader array of cutting-edge technologies. Last year, President Trump made the rare move of blocking the purchase of chipmaker Lattice Semiconductor by a Chinese-backed investor. And last week, CFIUS held up the acquisition of U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm by Singapore-based Broadcom, citing security concerns related to China’s influence over the creation of a 5G cellular network. In restarting negotiations over the North American Free Trade Agreement, Wallach said, the administration has also taken issue with laws requiring localized data storage. She said that data storage and other technology issues are the new frontier for global trade battles. Wessel said that one challenge for the investigation is that tech companies are hesitant to come forward to share information about technology transfers, out of concerns that a new disclosure could prompt shareholder lawsuits. Carmen Chang, chairman and head for Asia investments at the venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates, said she watched Trump’s move closely this week with an eye toward what might come next for Silicon Valley. The mounting tensions risk doing damage to a relationship that is critical for both sides, she said. “Everyone in Silicon Valley is thinking about what this might be a precursor to,” Chang said. “It’s a serious problem, but we are concerned that the reaction from Washington will be like taking a meat cleaver to it.” elizabeth.dwoskin@washpost.com


Senate bill could allow 2 top banks to hold billions less in reserves, reducing buffers against collapse

next week. Proponents say the bill reduces regulatory burdens for midsize banks that don’t pose a risk to the financial system, but liberal Democrats, the Congressional Budget Office and some banking experts have said it could expose two of the biggest financial firms to new risks. That’s because it contains language that would allow regulators to reduce how much capital some banks are required to hold. Banking experts widely agree that by holding substantial amount of capital in recent years, banks have been less vulnerable to the type of crisis that nearly toppled the world financial system a decade ago. But there’s disagreement on Capitol Hill and among experts about whether the Senate legislation could free JPMorgan and Citigroup to hold less capital. Defenders of the bill, and even some of its opponents, say JPMorgan and Citigroup would not be subject to lower capital requirements even if the bill passes. At issue is a special capital surcharge imposed by regulators on banks holding more than $250 billion in assets. For every dollar of assets they have on their balance sheet, these banks are required to keep an offsetting percentage in capital. The Senate bill would allow banks to not count certain safe assets in that ratio if the bank was determined to be “predominantly engaged” in custodian banking. Three banks — Bank of New York Mellon, State Street and the Northern Trust Corporation — would be mainly affected by this provision. These banks play a special role in the financial system, where they primarily hold on to assets on behalf of financial institutions and do not engage in either trading activities of their own or provide services to ordinary consumers. Some experts believe that they can be subject to less rigorous rules. JPMorgan and Citigroup, though they have much broader businesses, also take part in custodial banking activities and, as a result, could also argue that they should benefit from the new rules, as critics of the bill fear. Ultimately, the decision on how to enforce the new law is expected to fall to the nation’s banking regulators — the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the FDIC. Earlier this week, the Congressional Budget Office gave the two Wall Street giants even-odds of getting regulatory approval to reduce their capital if the legislation passes. Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) proposed an amendment to the bill on


Trump official said scientists went ‘beyond their wheelhouse’ by writing climate change ‘dramatically’ shrank Montana glaciers

just one instance of Interior’s political appointees keeping a watchful eye on the work of climate scientists within the sprawling department that manages 1 in 5 acres of land in the United States. Clement was reassigned from his post in June and later resigned: He and a Bureau of Land Management official, Matthew Allen, have filed records requests in connection with their involuntary reassignments. Katherine Atkinson, a partner at Wilkenfeld, Herendeen & Atkinson who represents Clement and Allen, said in an interview Tuesday that the email exchange highlights the extent to which Trump administration appointees have overruled federal officials with expertise in climate science. “To my knowledge, Mr. Domenech has no scientific background,” Atkinson said. “It concerns me that someone without that kind of background is questioning the work of scientists in putting together this press release on glaciers.” Domenech has a bachelor’s of science in forestry and wildlife management from Virginia Tech University. USGS officials referred questions on the matter to Interior, which did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. In a status report filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia last month, lawyers for Interior said that they have produced 1,986 pages in response to Clement’s FOIA request and that there are “approximately 40,000 pages of records potentially responsive to the request.” Interior proposed to process 1,000 pages a month; Atkinson is seeking a faster production rate. “Interior puts up roadblocks to seeing these documents at every turn,” she said. President Trump, who has described himself as “not a big believer in man-made climate change,” has installed across the federal government, including at Interior, deputies who are skeptical of the connection between human activity and atmospheric warming. Since taking office, the Trump appointees have scrutinized — and occasionally worked to curtail — climate change communication to the public. Interior officials asked for a line attributing rising sea levels to climate change to be removed from a news release for a study published in late May in the Nature journal Scientific Reports, for example, and took reports chronicling the impact of climate change on the American Southwest offline. The study in Scientific Reports, like the one on Montana glaciers, was a collaboration between researchers at USGS and academics outside the federal government. According to the study’s non-federal contributors, the deleted line read, “Global climate change drives sea-level rise, increasing the frequency of coastal


As U.S. allies, Japan and South Korea feel particularly wounded over steel tariffs

TOKYO — No world leader has tried harder to get onto President Trump’s good side than Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. From racing to New York the day after the 2016 election and presenting Trump with a $3,755 gold-plated golf driver to taking him out on the golf course and serving hamburgers for lunch, Abe has cultivated a close personal relationship with his American counterpart. And on a policy front, Abe has been an enthusiastic supporter of almost everything Trump has said, especially when it comes to putting “maximum pressure” on North Korea. But now, Japan, which is not just led by a friendly politician but is a key security ally of the United States, looks likely to be slapped with tariffs on its steel exports to the United States. “The U.S. is suddenly treating Japan as a target,” said Tsuyoshi Kawase, a professor of international trade policy at Sophia University in Tokyo. Things had been looking up for Japan on the trade front. Trump had been talking about returning to the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Japan had helped conclude even after the United States withdrew, and high-level trade talks had been taking place. “The Japanese side is bewildered and confused, wondering if the U.S. will really impose these tariffs on Japanese steel,” Kawase said. Trump delayed making a final decision on imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, although he has intimated that Canada and Mexico will get an exception. Other countries will be considered on national security grounds, the White House has said. Japan and South Korea, another close security ally that is also set to be hit with tariffs, are now furiously lobbying the Trump administration to be exempted. South Korea is the third-largest exporter of steel to the United States, after Canada and Brazil. It sold 3.5 million tons of steel products to the United States last year. Japan exported 1.9 million tons of steel to the United States last year and 33,000 tons of aluminum. Trump has proposed tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum. South Korea’s trade minister, Kim Hyun-chong, is now on his second trip to Washington in two weeks, meeting with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer, as well as key lawmakers such as Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah). That is in addition to the campaign being waged in Washington


Leadership at Fed’s regional banks is getting more diverse. But there’s still work to do, report argues.

The act establishing the Federal Reserve required that the organization’s leadership “represent the public” and represent the interests of “agriculture, commerce, industry, services, labor, and consumers.” But diversity within the Federal Reserve’s regional banks hardly measures up, according to a new report compiled by Fed Up, a campaign of the Center for Popular Democracy, a left-leaning advocacy group. The report highlights the lag in gender, racial and occupational diversity among the presidents and boards of directors of the regional reserve banks. Researchers say this serves to further isolate already marginalized groups such as women and communities of color from monetary policy. Of the regional banks’ 107 board directors, 77 percent are white and 67 percent are male. Some 78 percent come from banking or business sectors, according to the report. There has been some progress in addressing that disparity. Among the 14 new directors appointed to the regional bank boards in 2018, 57 percent are men, 43 percent are women and 50 percent are people of color, the report found. Still, 79 percent of those incoming directors come from business and banking backgrounds. “Representation matters because in our economy, the people who are on the margins of the Federal Reserve’s decisions are the ones who get cut out of the economy,” said Shawn Sebastian, a director of the Fed Up campaign. “The Federal Reserve has a legal mandate to represent the public, and as it is composed now, it does not represent the public.” The report focuses on the leadership of the Fed’s regional banks, which consist of 12 districts nationwide and are distinct from the central authority — the Fed Board of Governors — based in the nation’s capital. The regional banks operate in their districts and report on activity in their areas to the Board of Governors and the Federal Open Market Committee, another entity of the Fed that drives monetary policy decisions. Each of the 12 regional banks is supervised by a nine-member board, and slots are designated to represent certain groups. Fed member banks elect six directors at each regional bank. Three of those directorships are supposed to represent member banks, and three positions are meant to represent the public. The remaining openings are appointed by the Board of Governors. Fed members have periodically discussed the need to improve diversity over the years. At his November confirmation hearing, Jerome H. Powell was asked what he would


Lamiat: The holistic pursuit of perfection

its hops and malted barley from the United States, Europe and Australia, its selection process largely dependent on the quality and character of the beer. The yeast fermenting the beer is meticulously chosen for its full body and unique aroma. Refreshment is ensured by the fact that only the purest water is used to brew Chang Beer. ThaiBev extracts water from over 200 meters below the ground, guaranteeing that water is not only low in mineral content, but also completely free of contaminants. Finally, the Thai values of respect and harmony are reflected in the integrity with which the traditional brewing process is upheld, resulting in the balance and clarity of flavors Chang Beer is known for. “Perfection lies within such details, and this perfection then becomes evident in every sip of Chang Beer,” says Ronnie Teo, Marketing Director, Global Marketing. Beyond the brewing process, lamiat is effectively portrayed in Chang Beer’s latest advertising campaign, where the brand’s journey from tradition into modernity is captured using the intricate art of illustration. The spirit of lamiat is evident in the ad, which was meticulously crafted by two of Thailand’s top artists: Satit Kalawantavanich, an award-winning director renowned for his attention to detail, and Chatchanok Wongvachara, an up-and-coming illustrator with a flair for naturalistic form and structural illustrations. Together, the two created a short film that reflects Thai culture and the embodiment of lamiat. In the two years that Chang Beer worked to elevate its branding and brewing process, the application of lamiat has successfully delivered results. The most prominent example of this has been the international recognition the brand has garnered for the quality and excellence of its brew—Chang Beer was Thailand’s Country Winner of the 2017 World Beer Awards. Perhaps an even more noteworthy achievement is that many Thais now see Chang as the best modern Thai beer brand. According to IPSOS Monthly Tracking, Chang Beer has consistently achieved top scores in the “Top of Mind” and “Brand Used Most Often” categories, affirming its leadership position among consumers. From its stunning temples and sun-kissed beaches, to the warmth of its people, Thailand has always exuded a golden hue. By applying the centuries-old Thai wisdom of lamiat to continuously enhance the different aspects of its brewing business, Chang Beer is bringing that same vibrant light to the Thai beer industry, creating a product the Thais are proud to call their own.


When flying with your pet, going the proper route can come with a steep cost

web of regulations, requirements and fees, enforced by the government or the airlines themselves, is nearly inscrutable. With American Airlines, United and Delta Cargo, passengers’ ability to ship their pets can depend on factors as wide-ranging as species and breed, weight, age, snout shape, weather and temperature at the departure and destination airports, the arrival nation’s customs policies, length of the flight, and the make and model of the aircraft. Once the air carrier accepts a pet as cargo, the next steps are — complicated. Typically, owners must obtain a health certificate for their pet within 10 days of the travel date. They also need certification of a rabies vaccination and, in some cases, a “certificate of acclimation” to travel in cold weather. Some destinations require a letter requesting “direct airport release” if someone other than the owner will pick up the animal. The animal’s crate must meet standards set by the Agriculture Department and the International Air Transport Association, or IATA. (Many of the crates sold in pet stores do not.) Some carriers require pet travel to be booked through a third-party company — you can see the fees racking up here — which helps ensure all requirements are met before the animal arrives at the airport. Things get even more complicated for international travel or flights to Hawaii. There could be a pet import form, which must be notarized. The animal may need to be quarantined before the flight — for example, up to 120 days for Hawaii — at the owner’s expense. The animal may require a microchip, with documents proving that the microchip was implanted before the date of the most recent rabies vaccination. In most cases of international travel, the animal’s health certification must be conducted by a veterinarian approved by the USDA, and the certificate must then be delivered by mail or in person to one of several USDA offices to be endorsed, stamped and returned to the pet owner (at a cost of somewhere between $100 and $200). That’s in addition to the health certificate issued upon arrival, which may require hiring an approved veterinarian to come to an overseas airport to conduct an inspection once the animal is removed from the plane. The price for each of these steps can be anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand. “It’s very cumbersome and bureaucratic,” said Andrea Gruber, head of special


Colombia looks to become the world’s supplier of legal pot

from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency showed Colombia as the source of 92 percent of cocaine seized on U.S. soil. And after 18 years and $10 billion spent on Plan Colombia, the U.S.-funded effort to counter cartels and coca farmers, cocaine production here is at all-time highs. Yet when it comes to marijuana, Colombia is taking a new tack: If you can’t beat ’em, regulate ’em. Two years ago, the country passed a landmark law legalizing medical marijuana for both domestic use and export, laying the groundwork for the new industry. The government started handing out the first licenses to grow, process and export medicinal cannabis in September and has approved 33 companies so far. Legal growers such as Canadian-owned PharmaCielo are now raising test crops for upcoming product lines, with the first commercial sales and exports slated for the coming weeks and months. Becoming the world’s supplier of legal cannabis won’t be easy. The biggest potential market, the United States, remains closed off, with even states that have legalized use banning cannabis imports. Yet an increasing number of other countries, including Germany, Peru, Italy and Croatia, are seen as fast-developing export markets for medical marijuana. Canada and the Netherlands, on the cutting edge of the legal pot business, have started to meet that demand, with several companies already exporting domestically cultivated crops. But Colombia, officials here say, is the logical place for the industry’s future. With a climate well suited to the surprisingly fragile cannabis plant, the country supplied most of the illicit marijuana consumed in the United States during the 1970s and ’80s — a dubious crown it later lost to Mexico. As more countries approve some form of legalization, Colombia is bent on recapturing its global dominance, albeit through export licenses and customs procedures instead of clandestine shipments in the night. It amounts to a sea change in thinking. Rather than part of the problem, marijuana is being viewed as one solution to Colombia’s struggle against illicit narcotics — particularly coca leaf, the building block of cocaine. Perhaps it is time, authorities say, for coca farmers to start seeing legal marijuana as a potentially lucrative substitute crop. “The message is, go the legal route with marijuana,” said Andrés López Velasco, head of Colombia’s National Narcotics Fund, the government agency overseeing legal cannabis. “You can keep your know-how, your knowledge of how to cultivate. But do it legally.”