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By Bruce Schreiner,TheAssociated Press

LOUISVILLE, Ky. Kentuckys attorney general is urging people to pay attention to more than horses and parties during the springtime celebrations leading up to the Kentucky Derby.

Warning of the unsavory side of Derby season, authorities are asking for the publics help in cracking down on sex traffickers trying to cash in on the crowds expected for the worlds most famous horse race.

This is our Derby, which is supposed to be a celebration, Attorney General Andy Beshear said Thursday. And we should not allow criminals to mar it, especially through a crime that so victimizes our children and other vulnerable individuals. So be our eyes and ears.

More than 160,000 fans are expected to pack into Churchill Downs for the May 6 race, capping two weeks of festivities across Louisville that kick off Saturday night with a huge fireworks show.

Last Derby season, Beshears office worked with local law enforcement in trying to root out trafficking operations. He said that effort led to multiple arrests and the rescue of a 14-year-old girl.

Authorities can point to other successes in their efforts.

A Kalamazoo, Michigan, man ensnared in a prostitution sting operation during a prior Derby season was sentenced recently to nearly 20 years in prison. David Q. Givhan was convicted of one count of sex trafficking and three counts of interstate transportation for prostitution.

Givhan twice brought a woman to Louisville to perform commercial sex acts in the days leading up to the 2015 Derby because they had made a lot of money, court documents said.

Last year, Louisville metro police reported making 233 arrests for prostitution-related offenses, with 65 of them or more than a fourth occurring from April through Derby weekend. Forty-four of the arrests occurred in the first week of May.

Federal, state and local law enforcement agents plan another round of intensified efforts this Derby season to combat sex trafficking, U.S. Attorney John E. Kuhn Jr. said

Forcible sex trafficking is effectively a form of modern day slavery, and those responsible will face lengthy prison sentences if they operate here, he said in a statement.

Louisville Metro Police Lt. Chuck Mann said the strategy to combat trafficking includes undercover operations.

Most of our proactive efforts are focused around events such as the Kentucky Derby, which bring many visitors from outside the Louisville metro area, he said in a statement.

Amy Nace-DeGonda, a Catholic Charities case manager in Louisville who works with human trafficking victims, said she worries that for every arrest, many other traffickers go undetected.

What I always say is anytime you see any stats, you should probably just multiple it several times because its happening more than were even aware, she said after Beshears event.

Asked for the reasons behind the surge in sex trafficking during Derby season, she said: More people, less inhibition, more money coming in.

Beshears office was hosting a three-day training session this week for law enforcement, prosecutors and others to combat human trafficking.

He offered some common clues that can give away trafficking victims: signs of malnourishment or injuries, a lack of identification, inability to identify what state or community a person is in, avoidance of eye contact and scripted responses in social interactions.

Read more:
Kentucky Derby season draws warnings of human trafficking - The Denver Post

An Egyptian American charity worker who was imprisoned in Cairo for three years and became the global face of Egypts brutal crackdown on civil society returned home to the United States late Thursday after the Trump administration quietly negotiated her release.

President Trump and his aides worked for several weeks with Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi to secure the freedom of Aya Hijazi, 30, a U.S. citizen, as well as her husband, Mohamed Hassanein, who is Egyptian, and four other humanitarian workers. Trump dispatched a U.S. government aircraft to Cairo to bring Hijazi and her family to Washington.

Hijazi, who grew up in Falls Church, Va., and graduated from George Mason University, was working in Cairo with the Belady Foundation, which she and her husband established as a haven and rehabilitation center for street children in Cairo.

The couple and their co-workers had been incarcerated since May1, 2014, on child abuse and trafficking charges that were widely dismissed by human rights workers and U.S. officials as false. Virtually no evidence was ever presented against them, and for nearly three years they were held as hearings were inexplicably postponed and trial dates canceled. Human rights groups alleged that they were abused in detention.

The Obama administration unsuccessfully pressed Sissis government for their release. It was not until Trump moved to reset U.S. relations with Egypt by embracing Sissi at the White House on April3 he publicly hailed the autocrats leadership as fantastic and offered the U.S. governments strong backing that Egypts posture changed. Last Sunday, a court in Cairo dropped all charges against Hijazi and the others.

What the White House plans to celebrate as vindication of its early diplomacy comes at the end of a week in which the administration has combated charges of foreign policy confusion. Although the president received wide praise for his decision to punish Syria for its presumed chemical weapons attack with a barrage of cruise missiles, the administration has been criticized for contradictions over policy toward Syria and Turkey, and misstatements on the U.S. response to North Koreas weapons activity.

A senior administration official said that no quid pro quo had been offered for Hijazis release but that there had been assurance from the highest levels [of Sissis government] that whatever the verdict was, Egypt would use presidential authority to send her home. The official said the U.S. side interpreted that to mean that a guilty verdict and sentencing would be followed by a pardon from Sissi, but they were pleasantly surprised.

The dropping of charges set in motion the release of Hijazi and Hassanein from custody and their journey to the United States, which was personally overseen by Trump and detailed Thursday by the senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the national security sensitivities of the case.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and deputy national security adviser Dina Powell, who were already planning to visitEgypt this week, met with Sissi on a range of topics. Meanwhile, Trump also sent his military aide, Air Force Maj. Wes Spurlock, to escort Hijazi and her family on the plane home to Washington.

Hijazi and Hassanein reunited with the Hijazi family in Cairo this week, and as Mattis traveled on to Israel, Powell, who was born in Egypt and has helped smooth relations between the two countries, stayed behind to accompany the group, the senior administration official said.

The travelers touched down at Joint Base Andrews about 10 p.m. Thursday. Hijazi and her brother, Basel, are scheduled to visit the White House on Friday to meet with Trump and his daughter, Ivanka, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who had followed Hijazis plight, the senior administration official said.

Its been a roller coaster of emotions the past couple of days, Basel Hijazi said in a telephone interview Thursday from aboard the plane. Were crying with relief to have them out.

He added: Were very grateful that President Trump personally engaged with the issue. Working closely with the Trump administration was very important for my family at this critical time. It let us be reunited as a family. Were so grateful.

Since Sissi came to power in a 2013 coup, his authoritarian government has presided over a lurching economy, with massive debt, high unemployment and allegations of corruption. A $12billion loan last year from the International Monetary Fund and strict austerity measures have led to slow improvements, but Egypt still needs major outside investment and favorable financing.

During his U.S. visit, Sissi met with the heads of the IMF and the World Bank, along with the chief executives of Lockheed Martin and General Electric. Sissi has sought billions of dollars in financing from the U.S. Export- Import Bank for massive infrastructure investments.

During his campaign, Trump suggested that the United States could do well without the Ex-Im Bank. But last week, he reversed himself by nominating former Republican lawmakers Scott Garrett and Spencer Bachus to vacant positions on the banks board.

The senior Trump administration official said the agreement for Hijazis release was the product of Trumps discreet diplomacy meaning the presidents efforts to cultivate warm relations with strongmen such as Sissi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, in part by avoiding public pronouncements on human rights that might alienate the foreign governments.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who said he recently advocated for Hijazis release in his own talks with Sissi and was briefed on the latest negotiations, said Trump handled it the way things like this should be handled.

The United States can sometimes lead with things, and do it publicly, [in ways] that are offensive to people and likely not get the kind of result that wed like, whereas working it quietly and making it a priority, but doing so in a way that is not a public embarrassment to the other party, thats the way they worked this, Corker said in an interview Thursday.

Former Obama administration officials, who were at times criticized for not making a more public case out of Hijazis imprisonment, expressed skepticism that Sissi got nothing from Trump in exchange for Hijazis freedom.

The robust praise and support the president has given to Sissi, which stands in some contrast to what we did, had to have some price, and maybe this is it, said Antony J. Blinken, who worked on the Hijazi case as deputy secretary of state. At least its a positive development in which everyone can take some satisfaction.

At the same time, Blinken warned, such support could have the opposite effect of simply reinforcing [Sissis] crackdown at home, in a way I think someday is going to rebound against him, and probably rebound against us. ... You can try to repress your problems away, but at some point, they will explode.

During Sissis visit to Washington, Trump made no public mention of Hijazis imprisonment. Nor did he appear to pressure the Egyptian leader on his record of human rights abuses.

But the senior administration official said Trump had been following Hijazis case.

I want her to come home, Trump told his top aides and deputized them to work directly with the Egyptian government to secure her release, according to the senior administration official. Officials at the State Department and at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo helped facilitate Hijazis departure from Egypt, while attorney Wade McMullen and other leaders from Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, a nonprofit advocacy organization, also worked to free her.

Kerry Kennedy, the groups president, said in a statement that her team had worked with the administration, and we are deeply grateful to President Trump for his personal engagement in resolving Ayas case.

Sissi, a former army chief who led the coup that overthrew Egypts elected president, had been barred from the White House by the Obama administration for human rights abuses. Sissis post-coup crackdown has been particularly severe against civil society groups, especially those receiving money from abroad. They are frequently denounced by the government and pro-government media as trying to destabilize the country. Thousands of people remain imprisoned.

While President Barack Obama was uneasy with the elected government of Mohamed Morsi, whose political organization was tied to the Muslim Brotherhood, his administration rejected Sissis charges of terrorism ties. After the coup, Obama withheld aid from Egypt for decades, the second- largest recipient of U.S. military assistance, after Israel, at more than $1billion a year.

During his presidential campaign, Trump expressed admiration for authoritarian leaders he felt were tough on terrorism and derided what he called Obamas weak leadership.

This month, as Sissi smiled beside him in the Oval Office, Trump said warmly: We agree on so many things. I just want to let everybody know, in case there was any doubt, that we are very much behind President al-Sissi.

Original post:
Freed Egyptian American prisoner returns home following Trump intervention - Washington Post

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Originally posted here:
Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post | The ...

Every week, some of Voxs writers will gather to discuss the latest episode of FXs spy drama The Americans. This week, deputy culture editor Genevieve Koski and staff writers Caroline Framke and Alissa Wilkinson talk about The Committee on Human Rights, the seventh episode of season five.

Caroline Framke: Halfway through watching The Committee on Human Rights, I realized I was annoyed.

Throughout its run, The Americans has always had its characters stop to debrief each other on the particulars of one mission or another, or even just a slightly strange interaction that could, with a stroke of bad luck, mean disaster. And maybe season five isnt worse than any other on this front, but I sure have felt the drag of these scenes more than ever. Getting renewed for two seasons at once might have made The Americans feel like it could afford to take its sweet time, even this deep into the season. And there were plenty of moments where The Committee on Human Rights seemed especially slow.

Not a whole lot actually happens in the episode (directed by none other than Matthew Rhys), unless you count Paige finally breaking up with Matthew Beeman. But there were thankfully still a few key scenes that made me second-guess where we actually are at this point in The Americans.

There were the times when both Philip and Elizabeth realized neither of them had gotten an accurate read on their respective honeytrap marks in their ongoing wheat investigation. There was Stan having his closest shave yet with getting fired. There was Gabriel insisting he knows nothing about Stans new girlfriend Rene being a Russian spy (but shes been featured so frequently in otherwise innocuous scenes that there has to be another shoe to drop, right?).

And as for Gabriel himself, he left me with more questions than answers on his way out of the country. For example: Why did he tell Elizabeth that Paige would be fine, before turning around and telling Philip the exact opposite?

What did you both think about this episode, which felt pretty quiet to me, all things considered?

Genevieve Koski: Ooh, I disagree pretty strongly with you there, Caroline. True, there wasnt a lot of suspense or action in The Committee on Human Rights, but the episodes endless discussions were packed with thematic import and consequence, particularly those involving Paige.

Whats been so interesting to me about Philip and Elizabeths conversations with their daughter has been how they reveal the Jennings parents mounting awareness of the extent to which theyve misled her. Paige has seemingly transferred much of her church-bred idealism to her parents work, expressing more and more interest in what theyre doing and chagrin that America is engaged in such an evil plot. Of course, we, along with Philip and Elizabeth, now know that no such plot exists, and that Directorate Ss revised mission to steal Bens superwheat is actually the more nefarious mission.

Its also become increasingly evident through looks, not words, as is this shows wont that Philip in particular is uncomfortable with the honeypot element of their mission, something Paige really cant know about for a variety of reasons. Paige has fully bought into the version of the truth that her parents have sold her, and welded her own budding ideology onto it. And thats thrown into sharp focus for Philip and Elizabeth, and us how divorced from an ideology Directorate Ss work has become.

This season has spent a fair amount of energy poking holes in the idea that the Soviet Union is something worth defending at all costs, and The Committee on Human Rights goes all in on that idea, through both Olegs investigation into his mothers imprisonment in the 1950s and Gabriels final goodbyes to Philip and Elizabeth, wherein he openly mourns the things hes done in his countrys name. It adds up, he tells Elizabeth, and the moral burden hes accumulated is evident in his face.

And then come his parting words to Philip, accompanied by a pointed musical sting: You were right about Paige. She should be left out of all of this. Its an understated moment, but it was quite a gut punch for me.

Alissa Wilkinson: I felt like Philip's face right before the credits rolled along with knowing Rhys directed this episode was where The Committee on Human Rights really landed its sucker punch. Philip is loyal to his homeland, but it's always felt as if that loyalty was propped up by people around him, like Elizabeth and, clearly, Gabriel. That moment falls somewhere between an admission of truth and a betrayal, and I didn't see it coming. That Gabriel says it and then just walks out of Philip's life isn't just the country betraying him, but something very deep and personal for Philip. I wonder if we'll find this moment to be a catalyst moving toward The Americans last big act.

I've been continually surprised by the sly way this season has been inverting, blurring, and repositioning lines that have always felt relatively set (between Soviets and Americans, usually). I laughed aloud early on when Pastor Tim handed Marx to Paige, but of course! Much of Marx's ideology is actually in line with Tim's, and Paige's, progressive Christianity. The fact that the book keeps surfacing (and that Elizabeth seems surprised when she spots it) is a reminder that politics, religion, and ideology have always mixed uncomfortably and strangely in America.

But as you point out, Genevieve, its been illuminating to see how, in introducing the family business to their American-reared, socially conscious daughter (who still wears her cross around her neck but is starting to reconsider, I think), Elizabeth and Philip have grown more uncomfortable with their own work. It's one thing to think you can transgress on behalf of your cause, a greater good. It's another thing to realize you wouldn't tell your own daughter what you'd been up to, and then feel the need to lie about it.

And frankly, this season's honeypot plots are far from The Americans most squeamish uses of the tactic. I mean, Philip seduced Kimberly, a teenager, and there's always poor Martha. In comparison, Ben and Deirdre are pretty vanilla. Nobody's really getting hurt. The fact that Philip and Elizabeth both feel so uncomfortable (and seem to both be off their game) is a subtle but clear indication of character development, on both of their parts.

I think the episode's relative quietness, though, is interesting, because The Americans is one of those shows where events from earlier episodes that didn't seem all that important at the time come back in a big way later on. I think The Committee on Human Rights just threw a bunch of Chekhov's guns onto a variety of mantels, and I'm curious about which one is going to go off first. What do you think?

Caroline: I think you both just blew my opening argument to pieces. Damn you, smart co-workers!

On second thought, I see your point, Alissa. Even when things seem fairly manageable on this show, theres usually a moment when everything blows up in everyones faces and that final moment with Philip sure felt like one of those. The difference between Gabriels relationship with Elizabeth and his relationship with Philip has maybe never been so stark as in his respective goodbyes to them. Elizabeth, Gabriels stalwart soldier, sat with him in the streaming daylight and held his hands in her own. Philip, Gabriels troubled prodigal proxy son, didnt say goodbye so much as confront him, grimly staring him down in the shadows.

As far as strewing Chekhovs guns goes, I have to think that Mischa will come back into the picture by the end of the season. It cant be a coincidence that Gabriel finally met and evaluated Paige almost immediately after doing the same with Mischa. And if/when Mischa does return, it will be ... messy.

Another moment from that final scene that struck me particularly hard came when Philip used his remaining minute with Gabriel to ask point blank if Rene is one of ours and Gabriel responded that Philip must be losing [his] mind. Gabriel doesnt tend to speak like that, but his patience for Philips questions had clearly reached its limit. It also seems to me that Philip didnt buy it much like hes not exactly buying that the Soviet Union has the moral high ground in this mission theyre pursuing.

What do you both think is up with Rene? And, uh, how much longer can Stan possibly keep his job in counterintelligence, given all the feathers hes ruffled?

Genevieve: I admit, Ive never really bought into the Rene is a secret spy theory, and I still think its a big red herring but one this episode made an effort to dangle in front of our faces.

Gabriels response to Philips question was interesting on both a textual and technical level by which I mean I suspect it was altered after the fact to keep us wondering. Notice that when Gabriel follows up his denial about Rene with, Its possible the Center didnt tell me because they knew youd ask this question, the camera is on Philip, and the audio has a distinct ADR quality to it that is, it sounds like it was recorded in and edited in later. I cant say for certain, but I suspect this scene was originally written as a flat-out denial, with the equivocation added in afterward to keep us guessing about something Im pretty certain is not worth guessing about.

Alissa: I almost feel like Rene is TOO obvious of a secret spy girlfriend by now. They've been signaling it so hard! But then I'm lost when I try to imagine what else she could be. A private investigator? CIA? A grifter? Or just ... maybe just Stan's girlfriend? I find her fascinating and I keep looking for clues, which I think may be The Americans' way of distracting me from what's obviously in front of my face.

There have been two other clear moments I can recall when Elizabeth and Philip suspected something that turned out to be totally wrong: once with the real reason the United States is developing grain, and way back in an early episode when there was an assassination attempt on President Reagan and they thought a coup was on. Both times I bought into it, and both times the show twisted me into coming back to my senses. I wonder if this is another similar moment.

Either way, I agree that Mischa is certainly coming back. That aborted journey is too much to throw away, especially coupled with Philip's persistent recurring memories of his father, a father who is always bringing him things in those memories.

Genevieve: Going back to the idea of Chekovs guns, though, I do think were facing a big upheaval with Stan, though I dont think itll come through Rene. Hes obviously on very thin ice at the FBI after his fun little blackmail adventure with the CIA, and his work with Agent Aderholt doesnt seem to be progressing in a manner destined to save his ass.

I found that scene with Aderholt and Stan questioning a potential Soviet defector enlightening as far as Stans mindset goes; the whole time he was frankly telling their mark about the potential for danger if she works as an informant, I was seeing the word Nina flash over and over behind his eyes. If were looking at this whole season as a story about questioning loyalties, which I am, I cant help but wonder if Stans time with the FBI is coming to an end not by force but by choice. His growing disillusionment is clear, and he seems to have no real ideological stake left in counterintelligence work. Hes a man going through the motions and maybe Rene is nothing more than someone who presents the possibility of a happy life outside the FBI (which, remember, was a huge contributing factor to his divorce).

Caroline: That makes sense to me. Its easy to forget five seasons in that Stan was already exhausted with the FBI when The Americans debuted, after years of undercover work, and that all his time since has been spent struggling with the demands of his job and the possible damage it can do to the people he loves. This season, weve seen him prioritize a new relationship, take an interest in a good girl like Paige influencing his son, and joke ever more fondly with Henry as if the boy is part of his own family. I dont think Stan can be in this for much longer, especially since hes now taken a moral stand that was the counterintelligence equivalent of pulling the pin out of a grenade. It cant be long before he drops it, whether on purpose or not.

Alissa: And that's interesting, because I think Paige, Philip, and even maybe rock-solid Elizabeth are moving ever so slowly in the same direction that Stan is with their own loyalties. Paige is going to feel betrayed by her parents. Philip already feels betrayed by his country, for sure. Even Elizabeth feels like her resolve is getting slightly shaky. It would be a fitting final act for The Americans if the Jennings family left the 1980s and ended up as disillusioned institution haters in the 90s, wouldn't it?

The Americans airs Tuesdays at 10 pm on FX. You can keep up with our coverage of this season here.

View original post here:
The Americans season 5, episode 7: The Committee on Human Rights gets personal - Vox

Dogs apologize better than some humans New York Post Dogs know when they've screwed up and their tail-between-the-legs pose is actually a highly evolved apology bow, according to CUNY researchers. Naughty pooches hang their heads and tuck their tails to appear submissive to their owners a ... and more »

Read the original:
Dogs apologize better than some humans - New York Post

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Army of Robots: Inside a Post-Human Chinese Factory - Sputnik International

It is the India of the 1970s, Green Revolution is on its mind.

The government sets its eyes on Kasaragod district of Kerala with extensive cashew plantations, and decides to rid it of tea-mosquitoes. In its pursuit to make the area cash-rich, it sprays the deadly pesticide endolsulfan on the plantations year after year, killing the region's biodiversity and crippling its human population.

The result of this brutal war on tea mosquitoes is a seven-year-old child who looks no more than a three-month-old infant. This baby monkey can't laugh or cry, its body is full of sores, its hair grey, its lip cut, and when it does produce a sound it is of someone writhing in agony.

After taking care of it for seven years, its parents have killed themselves. The doctors or the vaids have no cure for its disease. The villagers believe that the curse of the Jadadhari Bhoota has engulfed it. And them.

The child finds a reluctant home and parents in Deviyani and Neelakantan, who had shut out the human world to spend the rest of their lives anonymously in the deep jungles as Man and Woman - in what they believe is Swarga.

They wake up to what's happening to humans when the child comes to them, the child for whose sake they reluctantly reconnect with the world. The world that treated them unkindly, the world that left the Woman with just one breast. Man and Woman have to make peace with that world, for the sake of the child. For the sake of humanity.

The child opens their eyes to the misery around them, to the poison that is hanging in the air, laced with water and seeped into the soil, the poison that is killing all forms - except tea mosquitoes whose existence on the cashew plantations is as mythical as the Jaladhari Bhoot in the mythical hills where the book is set.

This was no Swarga heaven but hell Naraka. The land must have yielded gold before endosulfans entry. The soil was so rich, so well endowed with water sources. Maybe thats why it was named heaven, a villager tells the protagonist.

But now this land is Naraka hell where a brown powder has been sprayed over a period of 25 years from helicopters. That powder has affected the population in a radius of 4 km leading to an increase in incidence of cancer, epilepsy, mental aberrations, low intelligence, deformed limbs and skin diseases.

...It is a brown powder. If it falls on your body, that part becomes swollen and reddish. If it falls on an open wound, the person will become unconscious. It is like DDT an organochloride pesticide... they sell it under some fifty retail names.

There is enough data to show that compared with the venom that human beings manufacture, how harmless snake poison is - but nobody cares.

Th er re fifty mental patients i the small numbe o ouses just aroun ere. Lots o abortion, cancer. My personal opinion is tha some terrible poison ha sprea all oer the soil and wate ere. Jus can make ou wha tha is. The little boy you saw befor, Abhilash? He wa jus like a monkey when he wa small, now somewha human in form... wha is that forc thats reversing evolution? I ave no clue, says the 200-year-old vaid who has stopped by to check on the monkey-child.

The journey turns out to be not as easy as Man would have thought when he decided to slip into shirts once again to spearhead ESPAC - Endosulfan Spray Protest Action Committee.

The powers-that-be go for the kill.

The story moves from myth to history to myth again because it is difficult to take on Naraka. In this case, vile politicians, because they would rather care about making money off the government plantations than worry about a human population being erased.

Ambikasutan Mangad was actively engaged in the anti-endosulfan struggle in North Kerala. He decided to write the book when he visited a village to study the extent of the poisoning between 1976 and 2001 on plantations owned by the Plantation Corporation of Kerala.

On that visit he met a child just like the monkey-child Pareekshit in Swarga. That memory found its way into the book when it was published in Malayalam as Enmakaje in 2009.

Drawing on the myth of Keralas beloved king Bali, reminiscent of tales from the Panchatantra and the Mahabharata, Mangad tells the heart-breaking story of a peoples struggle against endosulfan-spraying.

Aswatthama was cursed with a hellish life because he had committed an unspeakable sin. But this child who suffers like him, with sores all over, oozing pus, what sin did he commit to suffer this living death? Who is sending Brahmastras against so many children in Enmakaje?

Mangad's book was translated as part of an initiative of the Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University a project to unlock the creative power of Malayalam, enhance its reach, and enrich world literature, through translation. The Malayalam title, currently in its 14th edition, is studied as a textbook in several universities.

(Swarga by Ambikasutan Mangad, translated by J Devika is available in bookstores and on http://www.juggernaut.in)

Read more here:
Swarga: A Posthuman Tale marks a people's struggle against endosulfan-spraying - Catch News

You want to try acting a whole show with your feet chained to the floor? Chris Genebach accomplishes it with flair as South Africas notorious Eugene de Kock, the apartheid-era Death Squad officer widely known as Prime Evil. The white de Kock wisecracks about a Hannibal Lecter vibe as he sits on the other side of a prison cell interrogation table from a black woman, Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, but the 80-minute A Human Being Died That Night is anything but a psycho-thriller. Its an unflinching face-to-face dialogue about how people and countries become utterly unglued.

Nicholas Wrights script is based on the 2003 book by Gobodo-Madikizela, a research professor who worked with South Africas Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the 1990s. The theatrical challenge is to make compelling drama of interviews stuck in one room, but Logan Vaughns composed production for the Districts Mosaic Theater Company makes no bones about its source of electricity. Its de Kock. How did he show up for work each day ready to murder?

In Genebachs riveting performance, information gushes forth in torrents. Erica Chamblees diplomatic but dogged Gobodo-Madikizela presses de Kock for details: Who was targeted by the squads? What were the methods of torture and execution? The facts are harsh, and as Genebachs de Kock zips through the complicated incidents you begin to see him as a single, efficient piece of a vast, warped cultural-political machine.

[Athol Fugards Blood Knot, also now at Mosaic]

Yet hes weirdly personable, and this is where Vaughns production rises to the artistic level of its repertory mate this month at Mosaic, Joy Zinomans exemplary staging of Athol Fugards 1961 Blood Knot (like A Human Being, it is acted with rich South African pronunciations). Blood Knot watches brothers ripped apart by the social convention of race; Gobodo-Madikizelas project, on the other hand, examines whether forgiveness is possible under such extreme conditions as those South Africa suffered, which is why she sought out no less a monster than de Kock for her interviews. There is a moment when her hand grazes de Kocks on the table, and its a fleeting shocker. Chamblee and Genebach measure such rare displays expertly: the tone of Vaughns production is never remotely sensationalistic or sentimental.

Its clinical, and grippingly inquisitive. The show opens with slides projected behind the bars of Debra Booths constricted set (the design team is the same as for the similarly focused Blood Knot), and though Michael Giannittis lights subtly bump up and down as the interviews unspool, the dynamics are almost entirely in the hands of the actors.

Chamblee deftly keeps reframing the discussion as the empathetic, rigorous Gobodo-Madikizela, but naturally the bulk of the interest falls on de Kock. Chained in place and garbed in an orange prison jump suit, Genebach still finds plenty to work with in de Kocks grim tales, which he tells vividly but without undue embellishment. As Genebach plays de Kock quick mind, impulsive responses that seems guileless the man seems direct, frank, on the level. You wonder: Is he for real? Can you trust him?

The dialogue is loaded with grotesque incident, murky motivation and, eventually, sincere emotion. This would be wrecked by overplaying, yet the performance never stumbles. Simply from an acting point of view, this South Africa: Then & Now rep establishes a new high bar for Mosaic. And deep into the troupes second season, you can feel the dividends accumulating as this social-justice-oriented company finds lens after lens, from local to international, magnifying humanitys sharp sociopolitical divisions . . . and maybe, as the persistent Gobodo-Madikizela hopes, somehow softening even unforgivable crimes and the failures that seem most profoundly irresolvable.

Read more:

The Posts report on de Kocks 1996 testimony

A Human Being Died That Night, by Nicholas Wright, based on the book by Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela. Directed by Logan Vaughn. With Jason B. McIntosh. Costumes, Brandee Mathies; composer, Mongezi Ntaka; sound design, David Lamont Wilson; projections, Patrick Lord. About 80 minutes. Through April30 at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. Tickets $40-$60. Call 202-399-7993 or visit mosaictheater.org.

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South African truth and reconciliation in 'A Human Being Died That Night' - Washington Post

A team of scientists on Mondaydocumentedwhat theyre describing as the first case of large-scale river reorganizationas a result of human-caused climate change.

They found that in mid-2016, the retreat of a very large glacier in Canadas Yukon territory led to the rerouting of its vast stream of meltwater from one river system to another cutting down flow to the Yukons largest lake, and channeling freshwater to the Pacific Ocean south of Alaska, rather than to the Bering Sea.

The researchers dubbed the reorganization an act of rapid river piracy, saying that such events had often occurred in the Earths geologic past, but never before, to their knowledge, as a sudden present-day event. They also calledit geologically instantaneous.

The river wasnt what we had seen a few years ago. It was a faded version of its former self, lead study author Daniel Shugar of the University of Washington at Tacoma said of the Slims River, which lost much of its flow because of the glacial change. It was barely flowing at all. Literally, every day, we could see the water level dropping, we could see sandbars popping out in the river.

The study was published in Nature Geoscience. Shugar conducted the study with researchers from six Canadian and U.S. universities.

The study found that the choking of the Slims River in turn deprived Kluane Lake, the largest body of water in the Yukon Territory. The lake level was at a record low in August, and two small communities that live on the lake may now have to adjust to the lower water levels.

The Kluane lake level dropped last year and is likely to continue dropping, Shugar said. If it drops enough that the lake level is below its other outlet, at the north end, it becomes what is called a closed basin. That will have changes to the chemistry, the structure of the lake, the biology.

The precipitating event for all of this happened in summer 2016, when meltwater fromthe retreating Kaskawulsh glacier burst through a channel of ice, suddenly draining a glacial lake that had fed Slims river and directing waters into a different river that ultimately heads south toward the Gulf of Alaska. Previously, these waters had ultimately fed into the vast Yukon river, which empties on Alaskas west coast.

The researchers found only a minuscule probability that the retreat of Kaskawulsh glacier which retracted by nearly half a milefrom 1956 to 2007 could have occurred in what they called a constant climate. They therefore inferred that the events in question could be attributed to human-caused climate change.

The beneficiary of the change, in hydrologic terms, is the Alsek River, known for its whitewater rafting. It saw far higher flows than normal as a consequence and empties eventually into the Gulf of Alaska, which should now be seeing a new infusion of freshwater.

Its important to underscore the scale of the changes this represents: The Kaskawulsh glacier is about three miles wide at its front, or toe. The river it used to fuel, the Slims River, had a floodplain a mile wide and a flow that ranged from .2 to .4 miles in width. The lake that it fed Kluane Lake is 45 miles long and more than 250 feetdeep in places. Now, all of this is changing.

These events have occurredin a relatively sparsely populated wilderness area, and so will not have ramifications for large human populations but they give a sense of just how dramatic and sudden climate-linked changes can be. Similarly, recently mountain glacier changes in the Bolivian Andes havecreated the riskof dangerous outburst floods that could imperil communities below them.

The current study represents a great example of a threshold response to warming over the last century-and-a-half, said Ken Tape, an Arctic ecologist at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, who was not involved in the research. The glacier has been retreating gradually, but at a threshold encountered in summer 2016, the drainage abruptly changed in a matter of weeks and completely reorganized downstream ecosystems.

Tape cautioned that most glaciers, when they retreat, do not have downstream consequences as dramatic as in the case presented here. Flows increase or decrease commensurate with glacier mass balance, but rivers are not usually lost or gained in the process, and change is more gradual.

TheKaskawulsh glacier, at only 60 degrees north latitude, is in a relatively temperate region well below the Arctic circle, helping to make it particularly susceptible to climate change. The researchers provided measurements suggesting that just before the river reorganization, the glacier was experiencing quite warm temperatures for the springtime, which seems to have triggered a large burst of meltwater.

Shugar said that the researchers do not expect the glacier and the river system that depends on it to flip back rather, it has entered a new state.

We did some preliminary estimates of what it would take for the Slims River to be reestablished, he said, and it seems unlikely to occur in the current climate.

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For the first time on record, human-caused climate change has rerouted an entire river - Washington Post

WASHINGTON If Tom Ward had to die from his work, hed rather fall off a scaffold than endure the slow death his father did from the debilitating lung disease silicosis.

I would choose to go much quicker, he said, rather than to have my family watch me suffer.

Ward fears that other workers will face the same suffocating illness as his father, thanks to the regulatory rollback underway by the Trump administration.

Wards father spent several years working as a sandblaster in Michigan. It was most likely on that job that he breathed a lethal amount of crystalline silica, a carcinogenic dust that comes from sand and granite. Excessive silica has been ruining workers lungs for as long as rock and concrete have been cut. Frances Perkins, U.S. labor secretary under Franklin D. Roosevelt, spoke publicly of the dangers of silica back in the late 1930s.

After numerous efforts under other presidents failed, the Obama administration finally tightened the regulations covering silica last year, further restricting the amount of dust that employers can legally expose workers to. The tougher standards were 45 years in the making, the subject of in-depth scientific research and intense lobbying by business groups and safety experts. When the rules were finalized in March 2016, occupational health experts hailed themas a life-saving milestone.

But now the enforcement of the rules has been delayed and the rules themselves could be in jeopardy.

Last week, the Trump administration announced that it was pushing back the implementation of the new silica regulations. For now, the delay is just three months from late June to late September, since additional guidance is necessary due to the unique nature of the requirements, as the Labor Department put it. A spokeswoman said the agency wouldnt comment beyond that.

But to occupational health experts whove waited years for the tighter rules, the new delay casts a cloud of uncertainty over their future. The leading home-building trade group and other business lobbying groups have sued to halt the regulations, saying they are too costly for employers. Defending the silica rule would now be the responsibility of the Trump administration, which has eagerly dismantled one Obama-era regulation after another at the urging of corporations. (The rule could also be subject to an appropriations rider by the GOP-controlled Congress.)

While the administration has not signaled that it intends to reverse the silica rule, it has issued an executive order directing all agencies to review the regulations currently on their books, presumably for potential watering down or scrapping. Trumps own labor nominee, Alexander Acosta, cited that order during his confirmation hearing as one reason he would not yet commit to enforcing the silica rule if he becomes labor secretary.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) noted the huge public health implications at stake. You cant tell me whether or not, high on your list of priorities, would be to protect a rule that keeps people from being poisoned, she told Acosta.

The delay of the new silica regulations was not a surprise to Ward, given the Trump administrations promises to deregulate businesses in order to boost hiring. But it was nevertheless painful to see. Ward now leads training at the Michigan Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Union, a personal mission given that his father died at age 39 after an awful few years of suffering from silicosis.

Knowing it was 100 percent preventable is the part that really hurts, he said.

Silica has been called the silent killer. Its not visible to the naked eye particles can be one hundred times smaller than a grain of sand and the effects on the lungs are cumulative. But there are clear ways to curb exposureto silica, like wetting down rock thats being cut, installing ventilation or dust-collecting equipment on the worksite, and wearing respiratory equipment designed to filter out the dust.

When the proper precautions arent taken, the results can be debilitating. Railroad worker Leonard Serafin shared the story of his own battle with silicosis in a letter his family provided to The Huffington Post in 2012.

At the time, the Obama White House was sitting on the silica rule, and advocates worried that the reforms might not be finished before Obama left office. Serafin had worked as a trackman on a railroad for 32 years, laying out the crushed rock and gravel in which the tracks were laid. He said the work led to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and a litany of other lung maladies.

I never dreamed I would have to spend my retirement years in this debilitating manner, Serafin wrote. I find it difficult to attend social events such as concerts and plays with my family because of my chronic cough. Even coughing while standing at a cash register line at a retail store causes people to distance themselves from me. ... When I exert myself, my daily coughing becomes a spastic type of cough, which leaves me exhausted, breathless with chest pain.

Although U.S. regulators had been aware of silicas dangers for decades, it wasnt until 1971 that the federal government imposed legal limits on workers exposure to it: 100 micrograms per cubic meter for laborers in most industries, and 250 micrograms for those working in construction and shipyards. Many experts believed those limits were too meager, however. The caps werent lowered to the 50 micrograms recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention until Obamas presidency.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has estimated that the new rules would cut down silica exposure for roughly 2.3 million workers, preventing an estimated 600 deaths annually. Extrapolating on that data, the AFL-CIO labor federation says even the three-month delay in enforcement will lead to an additional 160 worker deaths.

David Michaels, the head of OSHA under Obama, called the reform the most important health standard OSHA has issued in decades.

But in the eyes of the construction industry, its one of the most expensive. OSHA says that instituting the new controls would cost businesses an estimated $511 million annually. Meanwhile, industry lobbies say the real cost to them would be in the billions each year most of it due to additional equipment and labor.

While praising the Trump administrations decision, a consortium of construction industry trade groups urged Trump to extend the delay well beyond the original three months, saying it remains concerned about the overall feasibility of the standard in construction and has requested that the agency delay enforcement for a year.

Supporters of the rule note that those upfront costs dont take into account the long-term financial benefits to workers and society. Preventing disability and death saves money, after all.

OSHA estimated that the reforms would have a net benefit of $7.7 billion each year, largely due to savings on health care and lost productivity. The Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, calls the silica rule a case study in how seemingly expensive safety regulations can have economic benefits over the long term.

Ward thought the debate over the rules financial costs had finally been put to rest. For years, he heard dollars and cents being weighed against lives lost or saved. Now that hes hearing it again, hes worried about the bricklayers who will come up after him.

The rule really was to prevent future illnesses, said Ward. It may be too late for me and my generation. This is about the future generation of craft workers.

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The Human Cost Of Trump's Rollback On Regulations | The ... - Huffington Post