Newsweek 5/6/2016

Aleppo, Syria—Government-led airstrikes killed at least 18 civilians and wounded more than a dozen others in the rebel-held neighborhood of Hayy Aqyul on April 22, threatening an already fragile cease-fire. Since the partial cease-fire was enacted in February, sporadic clashes have broken out in Aleppo, prompting the opposition delegation to walk out of peace talks with the Syrian regime moderated by the U.N. in Geneva. The opposition has demanded that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad step down as part of a political transition, while Assad’s delegation insists on a government of national unity.…

Karachi, Pakistan—Policemen stand guard as a health worker administers polio drops to a child during a vaccination campaign on April 21, a day after eight gunmen on motorcycles shot dead seven policemen protecting vaccination workers. Islamist militants have repeatedly targeted such programs, claiming they are a Western conspiracy to sterilize Pakistani children. Nearly 80 health workers have been killed since December 2012. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the April 20 attack. Pakistan is one of only two countries, along with Afghanistan, where polio remains endemic.…

Los Angeles—Julya Baer couldn’t hold back tears at a vigil celebrating the life and music of Prince, hours after learning the pop superstar was found dead at his Paisley Park estate in Minnesota on April 21. Born Prince Rogers Nelson, the singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist had a momentous career that earned him pop icon status. He recorded 39 studio albums and sold more than 100 million records worldwide; received seven Gram-mys and an Academy Award; and, in 2004, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was 57.…

IN 1996, two young, ambitious women came to D.C. to work in the Clinton White House. One was assigned to the West Wing—the presidential wing—and became known for her stained blue Gap dress, a sordid manifestation of Bill Clinton’s baser appetites. The other served in the East Wing, where the first lady’s offices are situated. This is the story of the second one, whose selfless servility and uncanny knack for predicting what the boss wants have put her closer than almost anyone to the most powerful woman in American politics. For most of the past 20 years, Huma Mahmood Abedin, now a vice-chair of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, has served as Clinton’s “body-woman”— basically a glorified lady’s maid. But she has also expanded her role and now monitors all access to Clinton.…

ROCKET TRAVEL was supposed to zip us around the solar system like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, but that future never materialized. In fact, for most of the past few decades, space travel has been pretty blah: No one has even walked on the moon since 1972, and Mars seems as far off as it was for Galileo. Even the space shuttle is grounded. But there has been one huge leap: The declining cost of putting something in orbit. That is opening up space to the private sector and making it possible to put all sorts of new things up there. The shuttle promised to be able to put stuff in low Earth orbit, where most satellites live, for $1,000 per pound. It never got close—NASA’s numbers led to a calculation…

ADMIRAL HARRIS HAS CALLED THE ISLANDS “THE GREAT WALL OF SAND.” IT WAS NO coincidence that the leak came just a week before Defense Secretary Ashton Carter set forth in April on a high-profile trip to Asia, which would include a helicopter flight to a U.S. aircraft carrier sailing through disputed waters in the South China Sea. According to a detailed account in the Navy Times, the U.S. Pacific Command’s chief, headquartered in Honolulu, has become increasingly agitated not just by China’s boldness in installing military facilities on islands it has constructed in the South China Sea—in waters claimed by other countries—but also at what the commander perceives to be a wholly inadequate U.S. response to Beijing’s behavior. According to the piece—not denied by anyone subsequently—the commander, Admiral Harry Harris, has proposed…