“A Thousand Splendid Suns,” an emotionally stirring stage adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s novel now at the Old Globe, brings old-fashioned narrative techniques to a story about a country that seems fated to remain forever in the headlines.
In “The Kite Runner,” Hosseini humanized the tumultuous history of modern Afghanistan in a novel centered on male characters buffeted by the strife of a society in constant upheaval. In “A Thousand Splendid Suns,” set in Kabul in roughly the same period, the violence and terror of the Soviet invasion followed by the rise of the Taliban are captured in the domestic saga of two women enduring the brutal tyranny of marriage to the same increasingly unhinged man.
This theatrical presentation, a collaboration between San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater and Canada’s Theatre Calgary, is in many ways more modern than the novel that inspired it. Directed with a sure hand by Carey Perloff, the production is more atmospherically suggestive than literal.
Perloff, who’s stepping down after a long and distinguished tenure as artistic director of A.C.T., where “Suns” had its premiere last year, has created a theatrical environment that’s agile enough to handle the novel’s sweep of history. The staging, buoyed by ethereal music composed and performed by David Coulter and the mood-shifting lighting of Robert Wierzel, employs minimal scenery.
There are just a few props and furnishings on a set by Ken MacDonald that keeps the country’s rugged and ever-more militarized landscape in view. Linda Cho’s costumes track the way the color drains from everyday life in Kabul.
The adaptation by Ursula Rani Sarma effectively telescopes the epic plot. The fluid structure, which allows the past to make brief explanatory returns, accommodates significant leaps in time. Yet the drama betrays some of the limitations of Hosseini’s writing.
For those not members of a bestseller book club, the narrative setup and introduction of characters can seem distinctly 19th century. Information is fed to us in convenient dollops. And the reliance on unbearable suspense as a narrative engine might seem excessive even by Charles Dickens standards.
The history that is covered is traumatic, but, as writers as varied as Primo Levi, Marguerite Duras and Toni Morrison have shown, historical atrocity doesn’t necessitate melodramatic formats. Hosseini’s cultural project, however, is intended for a wider audience. He wants to change hearts and minds, and if that means recycling cruder artistic methods, so be it.
The upside is that once the story of “A Thousand Splendid Suns” is underway, it’s hard not to be swept along by the emotional current. The barrage of terrible events is testing, to be sure. But the precious humanity of the female characters who persevere through the most heinous circumstances holds us captive. Theatergoers are rewarded for their vicarious pains not with a fairy tale ending but with a clarification of what redeems us as human beings.
Nadine Malouf plays Laila, whom we first meet as a bright teenager, the highly cultivated daughter of Babi, a poetry-loving university man (Joseph Kamal). As the family prepares to leave Kabul amid the chaotic hostilities of 1992, a shell strikes their home, killing Laila’s parents and leaving her seriously injured.
A neighbor, Rasheed (Haysam Kadri), rescues Laila from the rubble and brings her to his house, where she’s cared for by his wife, Mariam (Denmo Ibrahim), who quickly suspects her husband’s motivations. After Laila recovers her strength, Rasheed pressures her into becoming his second wife. As she happens to be already pregnant by her true love, Tariq (Antoine Yared), who she’s told is dead, she has no choice but to accept the offer.
Mariam, forced by her husband to serve his new wife, naturally resents Laila. But her helpless affection for Laila’s baby combined with Rasheed’s worsening domestic tyranny help establish a bond between the women that will prove to be a bulwark against male despotism and brutality, both of which become the law of the land once the Taliban takes over.
The precious humanity of the female characters who persevere through the most heinous circumstances holds us captive.
“A Thousand Splendid Suns” is written to acquaint a Western audience with the burka-clad women who long for education, professional opportunities and a society that doesn’t restrict their every move. Laila and Mariam are casualties not just of war but of the misogynistic regime that has exploited Afghanistan’s unending political chaos.
Laila, Mariam and Aziza (Nikita Tewani), Laila’s daughter who grows up in a society rapidly foreclosing her options, have one overwhelming challenge — to outlast the assault on their freedom and dignity. “Endure,” the advice of Nana, Mariam’s stony mother (Lanna Joffrey), becomes their common goal. It is the least — and, for now, the most — they can hope for.
The strained dialogue leads to some wooden acting, especially in the early going. But Malouf and Ibrahim grow in complexity and pathos as their characters tap into hidden resources to survive their plight.
As Kadri’s Rasheed, an ambiguously avuncular figure at first, becomes more flagrantly villainous, the women lean on each other for sustenance. Their stoicism and stealthy support sustain not only their spirits but also the morale of theatergoers, who crave some moral light in the harrowing darkness.
“A Thousand Splendid Suns” doesn’t let anyone off the hook. The artistic shortcomings have more to do with storytelling style than with romantic resolutions. But the narrative casts a potent spell. So invested was the audience in Laila and Mariam’s predicament that when the climactic household confrontation finally arrived, a few spectators at the Saturday matinee I attended boisterously cheered the women on.
A photo with a New York Times story on Monday serves to remind why books and plays about the human toll of this war-ravaged nation are so essential. A young boy who lost his legs when a leftover bomb exploded in his neighborhood stares out at us, demanding to be seen in all his irreducible humanity. Taking in such stories isn’t easy, but turning a blind eye won’t make them go away.


At least 15 people have been killed and 16 others injured in a passenger bus accident in northeastern Kenya.
Authorities say the bus was traveling near the town of Modagashe late Saturday, about 300 kilometers north of the capital, Nairobi when it rolled over.
The Associated Press quotes police as saying the vehicle was possibly overcrowded.


NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Lenders to India’s troubled Jet Airways Ltd may have to wait a little longer to sell a stake in the carrier, as they need more clarity from the country’s central bank, the Business Standard newspaper reported on Sunday.
Jet, India’s oldest private carrier, is saddled with more than $1 billion in debt, compounding its financial woes and forcing it to ground most of its fleet.
After Jet failed to convince potential investors, including its largest shareholder Etihad Airways, to bail it out, Indian banks decided to take a majority stake in the carrier.
Last month, Jet’s lenders, led by State Bank of India agreed to bailout the airline in a complex deal that involved the banks taking a majority stake, while seeking out an investor to help revive the company’s fortunes.
Jet’s lenders on Thursday said they plan to seek expressions of interest in the airline from potential investors from April 6 and that all submissions from interested parties are expected to be completed by April 9.
But this process may be delayed as the Reserve Bank of India is yet to examine the issue of debt to equity conversion, the paper said, citing a source.
In February, Jet said its shareholders had approved a plan to convert its existing debt to equity.


Nicki Minaj Flaunts A Diamond Ring From Meek Mill And Admits They Live Together!
She’s flawless! And we’re not just talking about the bling. Nicki Minaj showed off a gorgeous new diamond gifted to her by her boyfriend Meek Mill in honor of her birthday, and she flaunted it on that finger.
The beautiful stone looked like it weighed a ton and cost even more, and the petite rapper was happy to show it off to her fans. “Now this is what I’m talking about baby. Lol. Love u” along with a lot of kissy face emojis.
Nicki Minaj and Meek Mill at the Sprite Celebrity Basketball game during the 2015 BET Experience in Los Angeles, California.
So is she getting married? This is not the first time Meek Mill has bedazzled his girlfriend’s finger with diamonds.
Back in April, he gave Nicki a diamond stunner that reportedly cost $500,000! So what’s going on with these two? They have been dating since last December, after Nicki ended her decade-long relationship with Safaree Samuels.
And Nicki recently admitted the two are living together!
“I don’t know what going to happen with he and I. I just know right now we are really, really enjoying each other’s company. So, shout out to everybody in the world that’s just trying to find love or be happy. Everybody should have someone to hold at night…It’s just, like, something about love. You transfer it. It’s infectious,” she told Billboard magazine.
What are your thoughts on Meek Mill’s birthday present? Let us know in the comments section below.
PHOTOS: Why Did Safaree Samuels And Nicki Minaj Split?


Despite all the measures you take to avoid a disaster, you must assume that a disaster will happen. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Let this eBook guide your thinking from understanding the risks to preventing and recovering from a disaster.


Talented young rugby players from West Cork are a plentiful commodity these days with the Wycherley brothers and the Coombes’ cousins among those making a mark at Munster. And that trend is set to continue with a new crop, many of them attending Bandon Grammar School, on the horizon.
All are following the trail set by Darren Sweetnam, who turned his back on Cork hurling so as to concentrate on a career in rugby — though he admits his introduction to the game as a child was memorable for all the wrong reasons.
“It all began for me in Dunmanway where my dad Leslie was the head coach,” recalled the 25-year-old. “Only three turned up for the first session, me, my brother and my next door neighbour! After that, I moved on to Bandon Grammar and that’s when the rugby really started for me. I went on from there to Munster underage and the academy while also trying to manage all the other sports, hockey, hurling. I was a bit of an all-rounder.
‘Sweets’, as he is known to all in the Munster camp, quickly made his mark on the rugby field, representing Ireland at schools, U18, U19 and U20 levels, joining the provincial Academy in 2012 before graduating to a full contract which has been extended until at least 2021.
He has some well-recognised attributes in his game that have kept him pushing toward the highest levels in Irish rugby.
“I suppose the high ball has always been a high point of my game,” he said. “I don’t know whether that’s from my GAA background or what but it’s a part of my game I’ve always felt I was strong at. That’s an integral part of the Munster and Ireland game with Conor Murray there. He’s one of the best box kickers in the world. It’s all about transferring pressure. A big part of it also is our chase. Conway is massive at it, Earlsy as well, it’s important to get those kicks back in swing games. It’s something we practice a lot.
“Then there are my feet — I think I’m good in around the tight area. And I’m fast, you just have to be quick on the wing. Who’s the fastest in the squad? That’s a tough one. I’d say it’s still Earlsy... he seems to be getting faster”.


THE people of Arbroath reveled in the success of Tartan Day success, after eight days of special events across Angus, which celebrated Scotland and its people.
THIS year’s Tartan Day celebrations in Scotland drew to a close on Sunday following eight days of special events across Angus.
The programme of events, which celebrated Scotland and its people, kicked off on 5 April.
Over 1600 people enjoyed visiting Arbroath Abbey for the first time, while street performers and live music led festival goers from the historic building to the Harbour as the celebrations continued.
Arbroath resident Natalie Cargill said: “My children had lots of fun at the Abbey’s medieval encampment.
Shop windows in the town’s main street were specially decorated for the Tartan Shop Window competition as members of Heritage Arts Auchmithie Residents performed a short musical play about life in the fishing village in the late 19th century.
Official visitor figures revealed that 3,301 people had travelled from far and near to visit Arbroath Abbey, which led to a mini-tourist boom on Arbroath High Street.
Caroline Packman, Homecoming Scotland Director 2014 said: “There truly was something for everyone in this year’s Tartan Day Scotland Festival.


More than 1 billion people around the world were expected to watch Sydney's fireworks display on television.
Cities around the world prepared to welcome the New Year on Monday, from traditional ceremonies in Japan to fireworks displays in Sydney, Dubai, London, Edinburgh and Rio de Janeiro.
At 6 a.m. ET, Auckland, New Zealand, became the first major city to ring in 2019 with fireworks erupting from Auckland's Sky Tower. Thousands of revelers on the waterfront cheered as they watched brightly colored fireworks and laser lighting shoot into the sky over the city's harbor.
Celebrations followed in Sydney two hours later with rain-drenched crowds counting down to midnight. Fireworks launched from buildings across the city lit up the night and reflected in the harbor.
Police estimated that more than 1 million people would crowd Sydney Harbor to watch the spectacular display. More than 1 billion people around the world were expected to watch the display on television.
Tokyo also rung in 2019 at 10 a.m. ET, Hong Kong at 11 a.m. ET and Bangkok at noon ET.
While many celebrate New Year's Eve with fireworks and revelry, hundreds of Thais traveled to Takien Temple in a suburb of Bangkok to lie inside coffins for traditional funeral rituals. Participants believe the ceremony symbolizing death and rebirth helps rid them of bad luck and paves the way for rebirth in the new year.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's annual New Year message was transmitted in the Moscow subway system at midnight — 4 p.m. ET — for the first time. The video message will be seen on almost 9,000 screens in 1,820 train cars.
In the Vatican, Pope Francis led the "Te Deum" to thank God for 2018.
Hours ahead of midnight on the East Coast of the U.S., President Donald Trump tweeted an 11-second video saying, "While I'm at the White House working, you're out there partying tonight. But I don't blame you. Enjoy yourselves. We're going to have a great year. Have a really, really happy new year."
Not all was set to be a celebration, however. Across Europe, security has been stepped up.
In Paris, "yellow vest" protesters were calling for more demonstrations on the famed Champs-Elysees, where fireworks, lights and sound show was planned. President Emmanuel Macron was to deliver a televised message.
In London, about 110,000 revelers were expected to gather in official viewing areas for a fireworks display.
But the revelry was being accompanied by a dollop of politics, with the British capital's fireworks celebrating London's “relationship with Europe,” according to the office of Mayor Sadiq Khan.
“The mayor of London’s sold-out event will mark the New Year with a spectacular firework display and soundtrack inspired by the continent,” according to a statement, reflecting Khan’s strongly pro-Europe stance in the run-up to Britain leaving the European Union on March 29.


CIUSSS de l'Ouest-de-l'Île-de-Montréal is in desperate need of English-speaking foster homes.
Every child deserves a warm bed and the love and support of a family. Unfortunately, there are English-speaking children in the larger Montreal community who are going without.
These children have suffered abuse, be it negligent parenting, rejection or physical or sexual abuse. They have been removed from their families and are in need of fostering, which is why the health authority CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal has launched a call for English-speaking foster homes.
“What we expect from a foster family is energy, time and love,” Marie Pierre Ulysse said.
Ulysse has been working with children in crisis for over 30 years. For the last seven years, she has been working as head of the CIUSSS de l’Ouest –de-l’Île –de-Montréal program which overseas matching children with foster families.
She said they are especially in need of foster homes in the English-speaking indigenous, black, southeast asian and Muslim communities in both the West Island and the eastern part of the island.
Fostering can last as briefly as two days or the entire childhood.
There are three different types of foster homes.
A proximity foster home is one where a family member such as a grandmother, or perhaps a close family friend, is willing to take the child in. This type of intake can be organized quickly, with a preliminary assessment. A more thorough assessment of the living situation follows.
The regular fostering process involves an information session for the potential foster family, a pre-selection assessment and a full-fledged assessment. Only then is a contract signed.
Ulysse said every effort is made to match a family with a parenting environment within which the child will thrive.
The third type of foster care is called “mixed bank”. The goal in this scenario is to give the child a forever home. Although there is a permanency to the plan, it remains a fostering situation, with an option to adopt well down the line.
In the mixed-bank scenario, a contract is only signed if the foster family agrees to such a plan.
Depending on the needs of the child, a foster family is paid somewhere between $1,500 and $1,800 per month, per child.
If the child is in need of specialized services, such as therapy for trauma or speech therapy, the CIUSSS makes sure the service is readily available through conventional avenues or, if the wait time is too long, it will pay for the service.
One of the biggest challenges Ulysse faces is keeping siblings together. At times it is necessary to separate the siblings in the short-term until a family becomes available with the necessary room and energy. Separating siblings is wrenching. They are already dealing with the stress of being removed from what is familiar.
Each child is assigned a social worker and each family is assigned a social worker. The two workers offer support throughout the process, with frequent follow-ups on the early months to make sure the child’s needs are being met.
Over the decades Ulysse has experienced both the highs and lows of the foster system.
The other side of the coin happens when the CIUSSS brings a child into the fold who has been traumatized for years, without support.
If it becomes clear that a child is not able to adapt to the fostering, he or she will be removed from the home and placed in a residence.
To find out more about fostering a child, call 514-989-1885, ext. 1139.


The wounds are multiple in the wake of Boston's bewildering 13-6 loss to the Cleveland Indians in 11 innings last night at Fenway Park. The obvious and most damaging byproduct is the Red Sox have suddenly coughed up home-field advantage in the American League Championship Series by letting this game slip through their grasp.
It goes beyond that, naturally. The locals thought they had survived a shaky outing from their usually redoubtable playoff pitcher, Curt Schilling. They hoped they would be able to keep the Indians at bay with their deep, reliable bullpen, and they did that through four scoreless innings.
But as Saturday night droned into Sunday morning, the Red Sox ran out of time, pitchers, and options, leaving the fate of this ballgame in the hands of Eric Gagné and Javier Lopez.
The results were nothing short of devastating. Gagné set the table for the loss by giving up a single and a walk, then Lopez spectacularly imploded by getting whacked for three runs. Francona gave him the hook and went to Jon Lester, but he, too, proved to be a disaster, serving up a three-run home run to Franklin Gutierrez, who had not come close to scratching out a hit in the game to that point.
With all the twists and turns that had tormented the patient, yet frigid crowd of 37,051, certainly one of the more sobering was the 11th-inning appearance of Gagné, who has been consistently inconsistent throughout his brief tenure with the Red Sox.
Nearly everyone in the park was expecting the worst, and they got it. Gagné had been called upon for mop-up duty in Game 1 and promptly loaded the bases before eventually striking out the side and escaping unscathed. It was assumed he would not be used at any pivotal point in this series unless it was absolutely necessary.
Unfortunately for Boston, the situation in the 11th fit the bill.
Manager Terry Francona had already shot his wad of reliable bullpen arms by using Manny Delcarmen, Hideki Okajima, Mike Timlin, and closer Jonathan Papelbon (for scoreless innings in the ninth and 10th). That left him Lopez, Lester, Wakefield, and Gagné as candidates to pitch the 11th with the score knotted 6-6.
He went with the bearded one, and Gagné momentarily rewarded Francona by punching out Casey Blake. But then Grady Sizemore singled and Asdrubal Cabrera walked. You could hear the collective moans from Athol to Yarmouth as Gagné, his head down, left the mound.
Francona turned to Lopez to face pinch hitter Trot Nixon, the same Nixon who was Boston's lovable right fielder for 10 seasons. Nixon fell out of favor here in part because he could not hit lefties. His regular-season average with Cleveland was .224 against lefthanded pitching, but it only took him one pitch before he found the one he wanted. He knocked a single to center field and drove in what turned out to be the winning run.
While the 11th-inning collapse was a collaborative effort, the blame will land squarely on the shoulders of Gagné, whose acquisition July 31 was met with great anticipation. The former lights-out closer was brought in to help bolster an already strong bullpen that included Papelbon and Okajima, but Gagné never earned the confidence of his new team. He could not get batters out and had too few clean innings to be relied on in crucial situations.
And yet Boston found itself doing just that - relying on an ineffective reliever who could not get the job done.
He wasn't the only one last night. It would be impossible to ask more from David Ortiz and Manny Ramírez up to this point, but they were unable to keep the magic alive in the late innings, when their club desperately needed one of their customary clutch hits.
It was the kind of game that was incredibly demoralizing to let slip away, particularly since the Red Sox had already endured an uncharacteristically spotty performance from Schilling, who never found his groove. The big righty, whose calling card has been postseason excellence, epitomized a night in which both sides had no choice but to grind it out.
Boston surmised it had seized the reins of this game with a three-run third in which hot-shot starter Fausto Carmona was forced to throw 39 pitches. But Boston's 3-1 lead evaporated an inning later when Jhonny Peralta teed off on a Schilling fastball for a three-run shot and a 4-3 Cleveland edge.
That momentum was negated in the fifth when back-to-back homers by Ramírez (a two-run shot) and Mike Lowell again gave the home team the upper hand by the slimmest of margins, 6-5.
It was shaping up to be a game of epic proportions until it all came crashing down in the 11th.
"It's kind of stating the obvious we didn't win tonight, we'll go have our workout in 10 hours," said Francona. "Again, I don't think it's realistic to run through the postseason without losing."
Francona said that until that final inning, this game was one of the most exciting and compelling he had ever been involved in.
"If this one does us in, then we're not as good as we thought we were," he said.
He's right. But forgive Red Sox Nation if they hope their team doesn't have to reach this far back in their bullpen again in this series.
Jackie MacMullan is a Globe columnist. Her e-mail is macmullan@globe.com.


Widespread flu activity has hit 35 states, according to the CDC, and it appears to be targeting young people who haven't been vaccinated.
Don't worry -- this isn't just a "millennials" problem. "Young," as defined by the report, includes everyone between the ages of 18 and 65: the folks who aren't typically hit as hard as children and seniors. But this season, H1N1 -- better known as "swine flu" -- is back on the scene, upping the risk for otherwise healthy people in that middle range.
Last year, 90 percent of the children who died from the flu hadn’t received their vaccinations.
In Northern California, 16 flu-related deaths have already been reported in people under 65, the youngest being a 23-year-old man with no underlying health problems. It's not too late to get vaccinated, but the shot does take two weeks to become effective, so officials suggest you get on that.


UPDATED: Thu., Aug. 30, 2018, 2:10 p.m.
Cost: $49.50 and more. Tickets available through Ticketmaster.
Note: Saturday’s concert will be livestreamed at http://dmblivestream.com at 8 p.m.
Traditions become traditions for a reason.
For one, they typically mark a special occasion or experience. For another, they’re, usually, just plain fun.
Which perhaps explains why Dave Matthews Band has made performing at the Gorge Amphitheatre during Labor Day weekend a long standing tradition since its 1996 debut at the outdoor venue overlooking the Columbia River.
After taking a break from the road last year, Dave Matthews Band is back at the Gorge, Friday through Sunday.
According to live music website JamBase, this weekend’s trio of shows will bring the band’s Gorge show count to 58.
Fans of the band mirror Phish fans and Deadheads in their dedication, with many taking in all three shows year after year.
“We only have like 35,000 fans, and they just go to every show,” Matthews joked with iHeartRadio’s Nicole Mastrogiannis in June.
During live shows, the band – drummer Carter Beauford, saxophonist Jeff Coffin, bassist Stefan Lessard, singer/guitarist Matthews, guitarist Tim Reynolds, trumpeter Rashawn Ross and keyboardist Buddy Strong – is known to play both crowd favorites and deep cuts from the band’s catalog.
The band recorded the album, which was released in June, in studios in Seattle, Los Angeles and Charlottesville, Virginia, with producers John Alagia, Mark Batson, Rob Cavallo and Rob Evans.
Though most of the tracks are new, a few, “Samurai Cop (Oh Joy Begin),” “Can’t Stop” and “Idea of You,” have been in rotation for more than a decade.
And in “Samurai Cop (Oh Joy Begin),” Matthews and crew celebrate the birth of a child.
“Yeah, as far as I can see/We should let the children lead the way,” they sing.
While the album includes moments both dark and light, Matthews said “Come Tomorrow,” overall, is about love.
Judging from reviews of the band’s summer tour, these new tunes are fitting along nicely with the band’s older material.
“The joy continued throughout the set list, which featured Matthews’ smooth vocals in songs like ‘She’ and ‘Samurai Cop (Oh Joy Begin)’ from the band’s newest album ‘Come Tomorrow,’ alongside ‘Ants Marching’ and ‘Satellite,’ songs from its earliest albums,” The Sun Chronicle’s Jessica Zandan wrote in a review of the band’s Mansfield, Massachusetts show earlier this summer.
And the band, known for never playing songs exactly the same way twice, seems to understand that onstage, facing a crowd of dedicated fans, is where the magic truly happens.
But Matthews and the band have nothing to worry about; as per tradition, the fans will keeping coming back.
Published: Aug. 30, 2018, 1:33 p.m. Updated: Aug. 30, 2018, 2:10 p.m.


Kuala Lumpur: The Malaysia International Halal Showcase (MIHAS) 2019, scheduled to be held on 3-6 April 2019, is expected to attract the biggest number of exhibitors in the event's history.
Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) Wan Latiff Wan Musa said that around 1,000 companies are expected to participate in the 16th edition of MIHAS, dubbed the world's largest halal trade fair.
“MIHAS 2018 attracted over 778 exhibitors from 32 countries and 21,000 visitors globally. It proved to be successful by generating over RM1.52 billion in sales, an increase of 50.49 percent compared with MIHAS 2017,” he told BERNAMA in an interview.
He pointed out that MIHAS 2019 would serve as a platform for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to showcase their halal brands and services to the global visitors.
The exhibition, to be held under the theme of "Delivering the Halal Market", would showcase technologies related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), Wan Latiff said.
MIHAS 2019 will continue to feature International Sourcing Program — an effective business-matching initiative which was introduced in 2005 and has recorded over $4.4 billion in cumulative trade for its participants. Other programs include seminars and conferences to be held concurrently, such as Trade Talk and Halal Trade Finance Conference.
“MIHAS has proven to be a successful platform for Malaysian companies, especially SMEs, to discover global opportunities and at the same time to learn about the global halal industry from other international participants,” the deputy CEO added.


BRUGELETTE, Belgium (Reuters) - Belgian researchers are examining the excrement of giant pandas to try to understand how they can digest tough bamboo, hoping for clues on how to develop new generations of biofuel.
The genetic make-up of endangered pandas is that of a carnivore but the animals have adapted to a diet consisting almost exclusively of bamboo.
While a few scientific studies have looked into the digestive tract of the panda, the researchers say their study is the first to focus on the microorganisms in the animal’s gut.
“We can look for new enzymes which could be used to degrade tough biomass,” said Korneel Rabaey, professor for biochemical and microbial technology at Ghent University, standing outside the giant panda enclosure at the Pairi Daiza zoo in Belgium.
The results of the study may point to new, cheaper, ways to produce so-called second generation biofuels made from plants and biomass not destined for consumption such as corn stalks.
Six-year-old panda Xing Hui, whose name means sparkling star, and his female partner Hao Hao, meaning kind, paid little attention to the scientists collecting their droppings on Monday, instead soaking up the sun and chewing through the first stems of their daily 10-kg (22-lb) portion of bamboo.
The research may also help the pandas. “We can also go back to the animal and understand why it is eating only certain kinds and parts of the bamboo,” Rabaey said.


COLUMBUS, Ohio—The leader of the country's largest university thinks it's time to re-examine how professors are awarded tenure, a type of job-for-life protection virtually unknown outside academia.
Ohio State University President Gordon Gee says the traditional formula that rewards publishing in scholarly journals over excellence in teaching and other contributions is outdated and too often favors the quantity of a professor's output over quality.
"Someone should gain recognition at the university for writing the great American novel or for discovering the cure for cancer," he told The Associated Press. "In a very complex world, you can no longer expect everyone to be great at everything."
Plenty of people have raised the issue over the years, but Gee is one of the few American college presidents with the reputation and political prowess -- not to mention the golden touch at fundraising -- who might be able to begin the transformation.
Still, some professors are already skeptical.
"The idea of awarding tenure based on teaching makes me anxious," said Jennifer Higginbotham, an English professor at Ohio State who's up for tenure in three years. By then, she will need to publish a book she's writing about conceptions of girlhood in the Middle Ages to have any chance at the promotion.
"There's a feeling, I think, that good teachers are a dime a dozen," said Higginbotham, 32. "I'm not sure what you'd have to do to distinguish yourself enough as a teacher to get tenure."
Tenure, which makes firing and other discipline difficult if not impossible, can seem ridiculously generous to outsiders. But the job protection gives professors the freedom to express ideas and conduct studies without fear of reprisal.
Tenure review, which took its current form in the 1940s, typically emphasizes publications over teaching and sometimes weighs whether a professor brings in research grants. Besides job protection, tenure also figures into salaries. A full professor with tenure at Ohio State earns about $126,000 annually.
The late Ernest Boyer, a former chancellor of New York's state university system, raised some of same issues in his groundbreaking 1990 book, "Reconsidering Scholarship."
A few universities have taken steps towards Boyer's model, including Portland State University and Western Carolina University.
At California State University at Monterey Bay, professors are graded on their teaching, research, service to the community and service to the university. Their teaching must be rated at least "commendable" -- the second highest rating.
"We're asking faculty to look at their teaching really as an area of scholarship, just like they would their research," said Marsha Moroh, dean of the school's college of science, media arts and technology.
Gee is not yet giving specific examples of how a reformed tenure system would work. In order to make sweeping changes, he would need cooperation from faculty and administrators across the university system.
Taking on tenure will be the third big academic undertaking for Gee, who was hired away from Vanderbilt University in 2007 for his second stint at Ohio State after a term in the 1990s. Time magazine last year named him the country's best college president.
The 65-year-old is seemingly omnipresent on campus, striding from event to event in his trademark bow tie and horn-rimmed glasses at a pace that exhausts younger aides. He's up daily at 4:30 a.m. to exercise and stays busy into the evenings, popping into student parties or attending athletic events.
Gee earlier reorganized Ohio State's arts-and-sciences division and switched the school from a calendar based on quarters to one arranged by semester. Both changes ruffled plenty of feathers.
He raised a record $1.2 billion at Vanderbilt and is aiming for a record $2.5 billion at Ohio State.
Then there's the little matter of keeping tabs on one of the nation's biggest athletic departments and its outsized football program at a school with a total statewide enrollment of more than 63,000.
Gee said a new approach to tenure is needed to ensure the university stays relevant to students and the outside world. The recession has helped highlight the importance of higher education to the economy, he said, so now is the right time to make big changes.
"The universities of the 21st century are going to be the smokestacks of the century," Gee said, referring to the heavy industry that once dominated the American economy. "The notion of the large, massive public university that can exist in isolated splendor is dead."
One challenge is the complexity of big universities, which have numerous divisions accustomed to doing things their own way. Ohio State has more than 100 academic units capable of granting tenure.
"In effect, there are a hundred different sets of criteria for granting promotion or evaluating an individual faculty member's case," said Tim Gerber, a longtime music professor and chairman of the university's faculty council.
The pressure to get tenure is also greater as universities rely more on part-time faculty and non-tenure track professors. While the number of tenure track positions grew by 7 percent between 1975 and 2007, the number of non-tenure track jobs more than tripled, according to the American Association of University Professors.
"There are many ways faculty members spend their time that may have been very important five years ago but may not be as important now," said Molly Corbett Broad, president of the American Council on Education. "Maybe we need to free them up so their time can be directed in ways that have an impact on students."
Gee is the country's highest-paid public university president with an annual income of more than $1.5 million, including salary, retirement and deferred compensation.
His office is crammed with Ohio State memorabilia that includes a Gordon Gee bobblehead toy, but the first thing that grabs a visitor's attention is the framed poster of John Belushi from the 1978 college party film "Animal House."
The next poster to grab the eye is a quotation: "If you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevance even less."


Abu Dhabi: The Ministry of Interior has launched a new service for issuing “entry visa” permissions to residents of GCC countries and companions of GCC countries’ citizens in all UAE check points and ports for categories mentioned in decree No 377 for the year 2014.
The service will be available through the Fawri (immediate) gate and applications can be done through the website www.moi.gov.ae in accordance with the conditions and procedures required.
Major General Khalifa Hareb Al Khaili, Ministry of Interior’s Assistant Undersecretary for Naturalisation and Residency Affairs, pointed out that the new service is part of the Interior Ministry’s keenness to keep abreast of technological development.
Al Khaili said that it is meant to facilitate and simplify procedures for everyone before their arrival in the country, thus saving time and effort in these ports.


Continental Resources (CLR) is up as the energy sector gets a boost from the Talisman Energy (TLM) acquisition and the rise in oil prices.
The shares of the young company have tanked this year on mounting fears about its future in a down market, but investors might have underestimated this oil producer.
Continental Resources (CLR) hit a 52-week low Friday as oil prices continue to fall after the International Energy Agency lowered its consumption forecast for 2015.
Am I being overly negative on some players? I don't think so.
Continental Resources (CLR) stock is down this afternoon as oil prices decline after OPEC cut its forecast for global demand for its oil next year.
The company is in a strong position to weather the downturn in the industry, thanks to these advantages.
These names are trading at multi-year lows. Let's check the charts.
Continental Resources (CLR) hit a 52-week low Monday after oil prices fell to five-year lows.
Crashes, sneaky things they are, often occur without headlines.
Three things must happen before getting bullish.
I expect that to continue next week.
Which Oil Stocks to Grab?
Which ones are likely to survive low oil prices?
EOG Resources, unlike its competitors, is not cutting back despite falling crude prices.
There's too much good that happens with energy prices going lower.
Shares of petroleum liquids producer Continental Resources (CLR) fell more than 6% to a 52-week low in morning trading Monday as oil prices sank to a five-year low.
If oil stays under $70, there are many names in big trouble.
Oil prices are prompting a rash of estimate changes. But remember, this is good for 87% of the market.
Will the OPEC Meeting Finally Mark a Bottom in Crude Prices?
The CNBC "Fast Money Halftime" trading panel took a look at oil stocks ahead of OPEC's meeting on Thursday, as well as which retail stocks to stay long.
Concho Resources, not a bargain in terms of enterprise value to EBITDA ratio, could still post 30% production growth in 2015 as it moves ahead on its ambitious three-year plan.
The energy players we favor have good outlooks despite pullback.
The company aims to grow its production by 50% this year, but things could change next year if the price of a barrel of crude averages less than $80.
TheStreet's Dan Dicker talks to Jim Cramer about how investment banks are no longer propping up oil prices.
The energy sector will inevitably rebound.
The Canadian company is not delaying its long-term growth plans. Here’s why.
Denbury Resources' above-average yield of 4% might not be enough to lure investors. Here’s why.
Continental Resources removed its commodity price hedges at a time when crude oil is tanking. Was it an insightful move, a fool's move, or one of guts with no glory?
We need a kind of "Oil Darwinism" to begin to play out.


WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - President Donald Trump is considering significantly drawing down troops from Afghanistan, two United States officials told Reuters on Thursday (Dec 20), in the latest sign that his patience is thinning both with America's longest war and overseas military interventions generally.
Shortly after the officials spoke, Defence Secretary James Mattis said he was quitting so that Mr Trump could have a Pentagon chief more aligned with the President's views.
Mr Mattis has argued for maintaining a strong US military presence in Afghanistan to bolster diplomatic peace efforts. He also opposed the US troop withdrawal from Syria that Mr Trump announced on Wednesday, a move that has bewildered allies and triggered harsh reaction from Republican allies in Congress.
Mr Garrett Marquis, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said the White House would not comment "on future strategic developments".
The US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said thousands of the 14,000 troops could be sent home as a result of the deliberations, the disclosure of which could undermine peace efforts with the Taleban.
Mr Trump privately has been grousing about US military involvement in Afghanistan, telling an ally as recently as Wednesday, words to the effect of: "What are we doing there. We've been there all these years."
The source, who asked to remain unidentified, said it appeared the President "has lost all patience" with the US military presence in Afghanistan.
More than 2,400 US forces have died in the 17-year-old war in Afghanistan, and Pentagon officials have repeatedly warned that a precipitous exit would allow militants to develop new plots on America like the Sept 11, 2001 attacks that plunged the US into an era of open-ended warfare.
It is unclear how the United States with less than 9,000 forces in Afghanistan will be able to fulfill the full set of missions now underway, including training Afghan forces, advising them in the field, and waging an air campaign against the Taleban and other militant groups.
Instead, the United States almost certainly would have to curtail its missions, something that could provide an opportunity for a resurgent Taleban to expand their offensives across Afghanistan.
Mr Mattis had argued for maintaining a strong US military presence in Afghanistan to bolster diplomatic peace efforts. He resigned shortly after US officials raised the possibility that Mr Trump would order the drawdown.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, often a vocal Trump ally, warned of possible danger to the US if the drawdown goes through.
"The conditions in Afghanistan - at the present moment - make American troop withdrawals a high risk strategy. If we continue on our present course, we are setting in motion the loss of all our gains and paving the way toward a second 9/11," Mr Graham said in a statement.
Mr Trump last year approved an increase in US troops but acknowledged that he did so reluctantly. US officials have told Reuters that Mr Trump has been keen to bring the Afghan conflict to a close.
The Taleban insurgency has strengthened its grip over the past three years, with the government in Kabul controlling just 56 per cent of Afghanistan, down from 72 per cent in 2015, a US government report showed.
Late last month, at least 22 Afghan police were killed in a Taleban ambush in Afghanistan's western province of Farah, adding to the growing casualty toll on Afghan security forces.
Earlier this week, US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and Taleban representatives held talks in Abu Dhabi on a deal that would end the war. Officials from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also took part.
The Saudi ambassador to Washington, Mr Khalid bin Salman, tweeted on Thursday that the discussions had been productive and would bring "very positive results by the beginning of next year".
But a former senior State Department official familiar with the issue said that the Taleban representatives rejected a proposal by Mr Khalilzad for a ceasefire and demanded that the talks focus on a US withdrawal. The news that a drawdown was under consideration could be intended as a gesture to the insurgents, the official said.


Gov. David A. Paterson has continually said he plans to run next year to keep the job he assumed after Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s resignation. But first he will have to improve his standing with the public.
A Marist poll released Wednesday showed his approval rating at a dismal 20 percent. That is basically unchanged from a survey conducted by Marist in June, which had Mr. Paterson’s approval rating at 21 percent.
Seventy percent of those polled said Mr. Paterson should not even run next year.
Poll numbers continue to show Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo’s popularity as almost the opposite of Mr. Paterson’s, as expectations continue to rise that Mr. Cuomo will enter the governor’s race. Rudolph W. Giuliani, who is considering a gubernatorial bid, also has robust support; 58 percent of those surveyed believe he should run for governor.
Marist surveyed 805 registered voters across the state as part of the poll, which has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.
with #’s like that,he’s done.
dave you tried but you are in way over your head. bow out gracefully,endorse your fellow democrat cuomo and history will be kinder to you in the end.
Well, on the plus side, he’s given Spitzer new life in the media just by hanging around. Makes the ex look like a genius.
Wow, Paterson loses to Cuomo 70-23. Moreover, he gets destroyed by Giuliani 60-34 in a heavily democratic state.
You will be seeing more and more state democrats distancing themselves and abandoning David Paterson in the near term. As for the long term, well Paterson will be out of the picture in the long run.
If David Paterson believes it is racism that is driving these abysmal poll numbers, he is simply delusional.
David Paterson should do the right thing and announce he will not be seeking the democratic nominee in 2010.
I wonder how David Paterson and his advisors will be spinning these numbers.
Paterson will say it’s a tough economy and he’s making tough decisions – that’s why no one likes him.
Weak excuses, but better (more credible?) than playing the racism card.
Paterson just needs to be eased into a do nothing state job until he can collect his pension.
Guess David Paterson didn’t “see” this one coming. He’s a governor only in name. He has no real power, a weak politician. Cuomo is just too popular.
The SNL skit should come in handy for whoever runs against him. They can create some public controversy so that it will be picked up and shown as a “news” item over and over without having them to be overtly associated with playing it, or even paying for it.
It was funny because it was so on the spot to be laser targeted at him and not on blind people in general.
Stick a fork in him. He is done.
A political hack is a political hack.
The blind and handicapped needed a spokesperson and he has disappointed so far.
Playing “footsy” with public on many issues just left me with the sense the poor fellow didn’t have a clue other then he thought he was a politican and this was how to act.
This poor guy is so in over his head. Really, for the sake of the state, he should step down now. Too bad we don’t have a Lt. Governor to replace him. Ah, that’s right, Patterson failed with that, too.
Has former Pres. Carter or Maureen Dowd weighed in yet on the possible racism of the poll’s respondents?
Resign, it’s not your thing!
The Marist poll also showed that Comptroller DiNapoli has an approval of 35% – about the same as in June. Not that great. Maybe this is due, at least in part, to the fact that neither was elected to the post each holds. Also, both are from the legislature, which is also held in low esteem.
He Lies!!! – How appropriate.
“He lies!/You lie” is the new rallying cry of the loyal opposition. And anyone who ever disagreed with the administration (in DC or Albany) and who’s been called a ‘racist’ for it.
Paterson lost his biggest battle and his chance for remaining in office after this term when he failed to capitalize on the State Senate’s dysfunction last Spring. Rather than showing leadership during that crisis, he was weak and vacillating.
There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that can occur now that can pull Paterson out of his tailspin. He is perceived as weak and incompetent by the electorate and population at-large. People have given up on him and simply want to move on to someone (anyone) else.
What is truly worrisome is that we have a politically-crippled and essentially lame duck governor who will be going into budget negotiations shortly with a dysfunctional legislature.
The State Senate is a joke. The Democrats are now nominally in charge but dependent for control on an ethically-challenged “leader” and another about to undergo a criminal trial. And while Silver has firm control of the Assembly – he cannot advance anything unilaterally and so is essentially neutralized.
At present in New York, we no longer have a political crisis, we have a governmental crisis. This will apparently plague us for another eighteen to twenty-four months until a new Governor is elected, takes control and then begins to assert authority.
In the interim, expect corruption to flourish in a chaotic atmosphere where there’s no one really “in charge”.
Sorry to inform you, I did not post the comment you attribute to me. It was Rick, one comment earlier than mine. After all, I wouldn’t want you to be accused of lying!
earlier this evening, it was reported that president obama has requested that paterson not run for re-election.
dave,its over.its time to pack your bags and bow out gracefully-and clear the way for cuomo.


The role of flavors has become increasingly scrutinized as adolescents and teenagers have adopted e-cigs with fruity variations.
The flavor controversy has heightened within the past year as JUUL, a popular e-cigarette, has become popular among adolescents and teenagers.
The days of menthol cigarettes and strawberry-flavored e-cigs may be numbered.
The Food and Drug Administration is taking the first step toward implementing a rule about the role that flavors, including menthol, play in attracting users to certain tobacco products. On one hand, fun e-cig flavors like creme brulee might be enticing teenagers and young adults, but the FDA is trying to balance that with the flavors helping some adults to quit smoking traditional cigarettes.
The agency is considering banning or restricting menthol and other flavors from tobacco products. One of the questions it's seeking comment on is which types of products should fall under the rule: traditional combustible cigarettes, alternatives like e-cigarettes, or both.
"No child should use any tobacco products, including e-cigarette," FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said, in a statement. "At the same time, we're aware that certain flavors may help currently addicted adult smokers switch to potentially less harmful forms of nicotine-containing tobacco products."
The FDA will also weigh the idea of restricting advertising and promotion of flavored products. It does not currently impose any such rules on e-cigarettes, whereas heavy regulations are imposed on traditional cigarettes.
Flavored products may also be required to offer warnings or disclosure statements on labels and packaging. The only warning statement e-cigarettes are currently required to include is one that states the product contains nicotine and that it's an addictive chemical.
The FDA banned certain flavors in cigarettes in 2009, but menthol was excluded from those new rules, as were other tobacco products. E-cigarettes have come under fire for their fruity flavors serving as a gateway for kids.
The controversy has heightened within the past year as JUUL, a popular e-cigarette, has become popular among adolescents and teenagers. Local news reports document kids bringing the devices, which look like USB drives, to school.
A JUUL spokeswoman did not immediately have comment, but the company has told CNBC in the past that it's ramping up enforcement efforts in response to adolescents using its products.
The FDA, under Gottlieb, adopted the idea that tobacco products exist on a continuum of risk, with cigarettes being the most deadly on the spectrum and e-cigs being seen as potentially less risky.
"The thought of any child starting down a path of a lifelong addiction to tobacco, which could ultimately lead to their death, is unacceptable," Gottlieb said, in a statement. "We need to take every effort to prevent kids from getting hooked on nicotine."
This is the latest action from the FDA, which introduced a sweeping tobacco initiative over the summer. Last week, the agency took the first step toward lowering the level of nicotine in cigarettes to minimally addictive or nonaddictive levels.
Public health advocates applauded the move to explore flavors. American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown called the action "long overdue progress" and encouraged the FDA to move quickly to develop a "strong flavoring product standard."
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids President Matthew Myers called for the agency to ban flavors in all tobacco products unless manufacturers provide scientific evidence that allowing a specific one benefits public health.
"While a limited availability of flavors in reduced harm products such as e-cigarettes may play a role in encouraging smokers to quit, there is no role for products with youth appealing names such as unicorn vomit, fruit loops or peanut butter and jelly," said Robin Koval, CEO of the Truth Initiative.
Tobacco companies have said they welcome the FDA's approach. Menthol, however, may be prove to be more contentious.
Murray Garnick, General Counsel for Altria Group, said the company's "encouraged that FDA is recognizing the important role flavors may play in smokers choosing to transition to potentially less harmful products." A spokesman for Philip Morris International said the company's still in the process of reviewing the advanced notice of proposed rulemaking, but it has previously expressed support for Gottlieb's comprehensive plan.
Reynolds, which was acquired by British American Tobacco last year, has poured money into fighting a ban on flavored tobacco in San Francisco. It makes Newport, the most popular menthol cigarette and the second most popular cigarette, representing about 14 percent of the overall market in 2016, according to Euromonitor International.
Reynolds also makes the next two best-selling brands: Camel and Pall Mall, both of which offer menthol variations.
"We support responsible approaches to regulating flavors and balancing the growing evidence that flavors play an important role in helping adult smokers switch to alternatives that potentially present less risk than cigarettes," Dr. James Figlar, executive vice president of RAI Services Company, an indirect subsidiary of Reynolds American Inc., and executive vice president of research and development for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, said in a statement.
The FDA's public comment period will be open for 90 days.
Download the full text of the FDA's advance notice of proposed rulemaking.


Woods's indefinite departure from golf is changing the sports landscape of the coming year, both for sports editors and for the golf industry.
Dave Zirin, The Nation‘s sports correspondent, appears on Countdown with Keith Olbermann to discuss the fallout from the Tiger Woods scandal. Woods’s indefinite departure from golf, Zirin argues, is changing the sports landscape of the coming year, both for sports editors and for the golf industry. The golf industry will be the hardest hit, since the coming year was set to be a year when Woods could break his biggest record yet, and the audience for golf is already dwindling due to the economic crisis. “The scandal is so out of tune with the brand,” Zirin explains, pointing out, half-jokingly, that Woods’s only option may be to go rogue and become a bad-boy golfer.


Wall Street Journal reports that marketing companies are specifically targeting social media as a means of gathering information about us for advertisers. We knew this was happening, right?
Most users of popular photo-sharing sites like Instagram, Flickr and Pinterest know that anyone can view their vacation pictures if shared publicly.
But they may be surprised to learn that a new crop of digital marketing companies are searching, scanning, storing and repurposing these images to draw insights for big-brand advertisers.
Some companies, such as Ditto Labs Inc., use software to scan photos—the image of someone holding a Coca-Cola can, for example—to identify logos, whether the person in the image is smiling, and the scene's context. The data allow marketers to send targeted ads or conduct market research.
Privacy watchdogs contend these sites aren't clearly communicating to users that their images could be scanned in bulk or downloaded for marketing purposes. Many users may not intend to promote, say, a pair of jeans they are wearing in a photo or a bottle of beer on the table next to them, the privacy experts say.
WSJ has an infographic that breaks down how your photo looks to a marketing person. Because if you're going to sell Fanta anyway, you might as well know how good a job you're doing.


Hurricane Isaac damaged nearly 59,000 homes as the slow-moving storm crawled across southeast Louisiana, according to the latest damage estimates released Friday. The Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness said the most severe damage hit houses and rental units in St. John the Baptist and Plaquemines parishes, where flooding swamped some homes with several feet of water. The latest estimates -- 46,663 owner-occupied houses and 12,289 rental units damaged by the storm -- were more than four times the preliminary figures released a week after Isaac made landfall Aug. 28.
after people registered for federal aid.
"The majority of housing inspections have been completed," state homeland security Director Kevin Davis said in a statement. "We'll continue to support parish leaders in their efforts to help communities recover from this devastating storm and will continue to advocate for residents who find themselves without homes as a result of Isaac."
Isaac came ashore in Louisiana near the mouth of the Mississippi River as a Category 1 storm, relatively weak compared to other named storms that remain fresh in residents' memories. But its damage, particularly flooding, was significant in several parishes where water inundated homes.
By comparison, the devastation was less than one-third of the housing damage caused by the back-to-back blows of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which hammered Louisiana seven years ago. The combined storms damaged more than 200,000 homes across southern parishes, according to data from the Louisiana Recovery Authority.
Source: Louisiana's Long Term Housing Task Force and the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.
Isaac's damage stretched across homes in 21 parishes, with the largest number of hit properties in Jefferson, Orleans and St. John the Baptist parishes. Isaac harmed nearly 13,000 homes in Jefferson Parish, about 9,800 homes in New Orleans and 6,900 homes in St. John.
But the storm's harm was harshest in St. John the Baptist Parish, where nearly one in four of the owner-occupied houses hit by Isaac had damage topping $20,000, according to the parish-by-parish data released by the state emergency preparedness office.
Around southeast Louisiana, nearly 5,600 houses and apartments were deemed to have severe damage, including 2,055 houses with damage estimates tallying above $20,000, according to the agency's figures.
The state emergency preparedness office cautioned that the data might not include every home damaged by Isaac, because some homeowners chose not to register for FEMA aid and didn't receive home inspections.


Plans are moving forward for James Franco, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by five women, to remain with the HBO series “The Deuce” as it readies to begin filming its second season in a few weeks, Variety reports….
Moonves Attorney Says Conclusions of CBS Investigation Are ‘Baseless.’ Will Moonves Fight Decision Depriving Him of $120 Million?
Veteran TV Exec Named Chief Creative Officer for CBS Corp.
Who Could Replace Leslie Moonves at CBS?
Cover of New York Daily News Summarizes How Many U.S. Liberals Are Feeling Today — Did the Daily News Go Too Far?
Charlie Rose Reportedly Asked to Host a Show About … Whaaat?
Can ABC’s Hit Freshman Drama Lead the Network Out of Fourth Place?
When Will We See Apple’s Original TV Programming?
What’s Behind the ‘Massive Shortage’ of Snacks in New York City?
The Most Outrageous Experiment Ever Conducted in Hollywood. Would Those Working in the Movies Recognize a Classic Screenplay if They Read One? Should They?
Trouble Behind the Scenes at ‘Megyn Kelly Today’?
Bombshell Lawsuit Filed Against Weinstein Company by New York Attorney General. Will It Kill the Sale of the Company?
In the Age of Trump, Has Journalism Passed the Point of No Return?
The Five Best Ads in the Super Bowl, as Ranked by USA Today’s Ad Meter — Did the Best Ad of the Day Come in Second?
What’s the No. 1 Original Movie on Cable So Far in 2018?
Can You Name the No. 1 Entertainment Network in Cable Among Millennial Males?
Copyright © 2018 Dexter Canfield Media Inc.


The 12 inch x 12 inch books arrived at our office this week looking sharp.
The 12 inch x 12 inch books arrived at our office this week looking sharp. They are looking great. (Thanks MWM again for the cover design).


By Don Edwards Don Edwards, US representative from California, is chairman of the House Subcommitte on Civil and Constitutional Rights. He was the floor leader for House passage of extension of the Voting Rights Act.
If President Reagan and a handful of conservative senators succeed in their scheme to require plaintiffs in Voting Rights Act cases to prove ''intent'' to discriminate, the results will be tragic for minority Americans. A key provision of the bill passed by the House of Representatives on Oct. 5, 1981, by the overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 389-24 will be struck down before it has become law.
Section 2, which was designed in 1965 to remedy voting discrimination patterns wherever they might exist, authorizes the government or private individuals to ask the federal courts to stop discriminatory practices whether they occur in Mississippi, Alaska, California, or anywhere in the US. If President Reagan is successful in imposing his will, scores of blatantly discriminatory laws and pratices will be unreachable through lawsuits.
When it approved the Voting Rights Act in 1965, it was Congress's intention that in lawsuits to enforce Section 2 the burden of proof on the complaining party not be limited to proof of intent or bad purpose. If discriminatory results were shown, a violation could be found. The House overwhelmingly restated this principle in extending the Voting Rights Act in 1981.
Section 2 worked very well for the first 15 years of the Voting Rights Act. Suits were filed in jurisdictions where laws enacted many years ago had resulted in black citizens having little or no chance of being elected to local or state offices. These suits were not easy--they required a showing that an aggregate of factors were present in a particular jurisdiction.
To make this showing, substantial statistical and other evidence proving the discriminatory impact of voting and election practices and procedures in the local jurisdiction was needed. But important suits were won, and the 1965 intent of Congress in enacting Section 2 was being fulfilled.
Then in April 1980 the US Supreme Court in a plurality, not a majority, decision overruled the lower court decisions and said that insofar as the City of Mobile, Ala. was concerned, Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act could not be used to mandate single-member districts unless the officials who wrote the law back in 1911 had the intent to discriminate against blacks. The Court specifically said that it was not enough to prove the existence of an aggregate of factors, such as a history of segregation, discrimination in registration and voting, disproportionately low numbers of minorities elected to office, racial bloc voting, lack of responsiveness by local officials to minorities, and the lack of access to the political process.
The impact of the Mobile decision has been devastating. The US Justice Department abandoned its suit against South Carolina, 30 percent black, the sole remaining state in the Deep South with an all-white legislative body - the state senate. Indeed, a black has not been elected to the South Carolina state senate in this century. The Justice Department dismissed three additional suits, and dropped from consideration other possible suits in cities where black citizens have for decades been discriminated against in the electoral process.
In one case, a court, citing the Mobile decision, upheld an election system in Moultrie, Ga., where exclusion of blacks has gone so far that the town actually delegated the running of elections to an all-white social club.
Since the Mobile decision in April 1980 the Justice Department has not inititated a single lawsuit under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
Mobile has made Section 2 virtually irrelevant. Old laws obviously designed to prevent the election to public office of black Americans can no longer be reached in courts of law. Section 2 must be reinstated by Congress, so that plaintiffs are not given the impossible job of proving to a judge what was in the minds of the members of a city council when, 50 or 100 years ago, they enacted a particular ordinance that resulted in the effective disenfranchisement of the city's black citizens.
President Reagan's demand that the House-passed extension of the Voting Rights Act be changed in the Senate to require intent to discriminate must be resisted by all fair-minded Americans. In creating the Voting Rights Act in 1965 Congress intended that proof or effect, results, was enough, and that to require proof of intent would be a nearly impossible burden. Without the House version of Section 2, the Voting Rights extension will be substantially weaker than the 1965 law. The Reagan amendment would be a giant step backward in America's commitment to the elimination of a hundred years of blatant racial discrimination in voting practices. The President must not be allowed to win this one.
Voting Rights Act: Is major portion outdated? Supreme Court to hear arguments.


Mexico has leapfrogged other auto producing nations. In 2009, Mexico was the world’s 10thlargest auto producer. But it’s soared past Spain and France, and earlier this year it surged by Brazil to become the world’s No. 7 automaker and the fourth largest exporter. Experts say Mexico is one of the most dynamic hubs of the global auto industry.
“In 2013, we had procurement of about $4.4 billion. By 2016, we plan to triple that to almost $13 billion,” Morfin said.
As auto plants spring up across Mexico in cities like Celaya, San Luis Potosi, Monterrey, Salamanca and Saltillo, factories making electronics, tires and other automotive components are popping up, lining highways in central Mexico.
“It’s just a brutal knock-on effect. If you pass by Queretaro, it’s one factory after another. And it’s all auto parts,” said PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Lozano, who noted that some 550,000 people now work in some aspect of the nation’s auto industry.
About a third of all Japanese investment in Mexico now concentrates in the state of Aguascalientes, whose capital city of the same name has a population of about 1 million people. Garza de Vega, the state’s head of economic development, said 70 Japanese companies have set up in the state, some in logistics, services and spare parts for machinery.
A few billboards for real estate developments carry Japanese lettering. City officials estimate a Japanese population of about 1,100 people, enough families to fill the Japanese School of Aguascalientes, which goes through ninth grade. As Japanese kids sat on the floor eating their box lunches with chopsticks, a school employee, Jaime Gomez, said nearly everyone feels prosperity from the boom.
“There’s no unemployment in Aguascalientes. If you look for work, you will find it,” Gomez said. Engineering departments at local universities “are saturated” with local students hoping to get some of the higher paying jobs at the auto plants.
Mexico’s automotive industry is spread out, and analysts say that is a good thing. Ford has plants in Chihuahua and Sonora in the north as well as Morelos state near the capital. Puebla, near Mexico City, is hub of Germany’s Volkswagen. Honda produces vehicles in Guanajuato state and near Guadalajara, both in central Mexico. Toyota builds Tacoma pickups in Tijuana at the border. General Motors makes pickups and the Cadillac Escalade in Silao in Guanajuato state as well as sedans in Coahuila state abutting Texas.
“Car plants have definitely brought some of these cities onto the map. If you look at Hermosillo and the role of the Ford plant, or the Nissan plant in Aguascalientes, it’s made a big difference in those cities,” said Guido Vildozo, who oversees Latin America for HIS Automotive, a consultancy.
When Kia announced its new plant, which will begin making up to 300,000 cars a year in 2016, it chose a suburb of Monterrey, the northeastern industrial hub. In July, BMW said it would build a $1 billion plant in San Luis Potosi to produce up to 150,000 units a year of an unspecified luxury model, starting in 2019.
“The more the plants are spread out, the better off you are,” said Vildozo, adding that transportation systems don’t get overtaxed in any one area and employment benefits are shared among regions.
Overall production is soaring. Mexico built 2.93 million vehicles last year, the vast majority for export, and it is expected to speed past 4 million vehicles by 2017. As production soars and plants hire new workers, different Mexican states pull out the stops to draw automakers to their areas, trying to induce them to invest.
States cater in other ways to the German and Asian automakers coming in the current wave of investment.
Garza de Vega, Aguascalientes’ economic development director, said he got his job partly because he lived in Japan for 11 years, where he attended high school, later returning for an investment job.


All GMGA summer 4ball pennant matches were put back by 30 minutes last Sunday due to the expected high temperature, meaning an early hit off time of 7.15am for the Rochester players at the Hill Top Country Club in Tatura against Shepparton.
Although Rochester had won their first two matches, a heavy defeat against Numurkah last round saw them slip to equal third on the ladder and playing against a strong club like Shepparton, getting back into the top two wasn’t going to be easy.
Rochester’s number one team of James Walsh and Jake Wright played some good golf but were unable to hold off the longer handicappers and were beaten on the 18th.
Leigh Hicks and Robert Vise lost on the 16th as did Richard Feuk and Bruce Bryant.
Frank Severino and Steve Malley lost 2/1.
Peter Anderson and partner Steven Bubb came back from two down to win their 13th, 14th and 16th holes, going 1up, only to lose on the short par three to finish square at the end of the game.
Rochester now play bottom side Rich River next week at Mooroopna. Hit off is scheduled for 7.45am.
As several players are unavailable, please contact captain Richard Feuk if you are available to play in the last round next Sunday.
The Niners had a great roll up last Monday.
It was a pleasant day for a game of golf and Ray Peake claimed the win of the day with (52-161/2-351/2), just pipping Shane Wolfe who had (50-14-36).
NTP 5th Laurie Radley, Laurie also had the straightest drive 9th. NTP 7th Frank Broucek.
Ray had the least putts 13 and today there was a lucky card due to the size of the field. This was won by Tony Murray.
The Wednesday Ladies are still missing out, too hot.


Manila: Motor-tricycles and motorbikes have eclipsed the jeepney as the ‘King’ of Philippine roads and now contribute a large percentage of harmful emissions that Filipinos breathe in every day.
A study conducted by the National Centre for Transportation Studies (NCTS) of the University of the Philippines said these two types of motorised personal and public conveyances are responsible for much of the dirty air in urban and rural areas of the country.
Tricycles and motorcycles are responsible for 45 per cent of all volatile organic compound emissions that destroy the ozone layer and worsen the greenhouse effect, the NCTS said.
“The tricycle sector represents the biggest number of public transportation mode in the Philippines,” said the NCTS in a study on intermodal transport.
In the provinces as well as the city, there are more people who rely on tricycles for public conveyance compared to public utility jeeps or “jeepneys”.
One of the reasons is that tricycles are cheaper to acquire and has minimal “cost of ownership” compared to jeepneys.
As of 2012, there are over 650,000 public tricycles operating in the country, accounting for nearly 68 per cent of the total for-hire vehicle population.
“The growth of tricycle organisations/associations in every LGU (city or municipality) area has contributed to air and noise pollution, traffic congestions, road accidents and undisciplined drivers,” the NCTS said.
The NCTS said there is a need to regulate the acquisition and operation of tricycles to strike a balance between the need for short haul, intracity public transport and drawbacks such as air and noise pollution as well as cut throat competition.
Quezon City Representative Alfred Vargas said he has filed House Bill 6237 or the “Tricycle Driver Safety Act” to protect Filipinos from the negative effects of oversupply of tricycles and provide safety to tricycle drivers, passengers and pedestrians.
Vargas said a serious issue that the tricycle sector faces is safety.
Tricycles are perceived to be more accident prone than four-wheeled vehicles which are more stable.
“The instability of the sidecar attached to the motorcycles, which serve as passengers’ seat, is among the leading cause of accidents. In Metro Manila, passenger tricycle injury ranks fourth in causing motor vehicle injuries,” Vargas stressed.
Under the proposed “Tricycle Driver Safety Act,” the Land Transportation Office and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority are developing and implementing a nationwide tricycle drivers’ safety programme in coordination with tricycle regulation offices of local government units.
Vargas said the local roads would be safer for the riding public and air quality would improve for the people in general if such a law would be passed.


Police in Pakistan say a methane gas explosion in a coal mine has killed at least four miners and trapped 13 others.
Local police official Wajeet Khan says the blast happened Sunday in the village of Sanjdi, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Quetta.
He says rescuers have retrieved four bodies and that 13 other miners are missing and feared dead, with rescue operations hindered by the gas leak.
Cave-ins and other mining accidents in Pakistan are often attributed to the poor enforcement of safety regulations.


The new law focuses on anti-discrimination in the workplace.
Utah businesses will now be required to provide sufficient time during the workday for mothers to breast feed and take care of pregnancy-related matters.
Senate Bill 59, signed by Gov. Gary Herbert on March 28, mandates employers with 15 or more employees provide accommodations for workers who are pregnant, breastfeeding or in "any related condition."
Through this new anti-discriminatory law, employers for at least one year must provide a reasonable amount of time for breaks when employees need to breastfeed or express milk.
The law does not make it a requirement for businesses to permit employees to bring their children to work to accommodate pregnancy or breastfeeding needs.
According to the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods, employers can ask for a doctor’s note to avoid any pregnancy-related guessing.
Weiler said for 25 years the U.S. has already set up similar standards for disabled employees under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
This law puts into place provisions for businesses to allow employees with disabilities to fully participate in their work environment by making needed accommodations, which could include larger computer monitors or wider desks to fit a wheelchair.
House Bill 105 was passed in 2015, which modified the Utah Antidiscrimination Act by addressing breastfeeding and medical conditions related to breastfeeding.
According to a 2014 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 40.7 percent of mothers were still breastfeeding when their child was at 12 months.
Women's Leadership Institute CEO Patricia Jones said the bill is a much-needed change for businesses that do not offer a designated space for pregnant or breastfeeding women.
Said after she gave birth and went back to work she was forced to sit in restrooms to breastfeed because there was no other place to go.
Weiler said he had previously been approached by both employees and employers to discuss their concerns related to breastfeeding at work.
A women’s legislative coalition and female workers spoke with him about finding a way to create breaks for female employees during the work day.
Employers also told Weiler how they wanted to find a way to allocate the breaks for pregnant or nursing women but were afraid of other employees believing they were not being treated fairly.
Weiler said this new bill will help alleviate that concern among employers while providing the accommodations female employees need.
Follow Nichole Osinski on Twitter, @nrosinski, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/osinskireporter. Call her at 435-674-6231.


Image caption PM Abbott: "The delicate balance between freedom and security may have to shift"
Australian PM Tony Abbott says certain freedoms may have to be forfeited in the name of security, after major anti-terror raids last week.
His government would seek broad powers to fight the rising threat of militant Islamists, he told parliament.
New laws would criminalise travel to conflict areas declared off limits.
Australian authorities believe at least 60 Australians are in the Middle East fighting with Islamic State (also known as Isil) and other militant groups.
Mr Abbott gave the example of an off-limit area as the city of Raqqa in northern Syria.
That is where a photograph was taken earlier this year and posted to social media of a young boy holding the severed head of a Syrian soldier. The boy is believed to be the son of an Australian jihadist.
"My unambiguous message to all Australians who fight with terrorist groups is that you will be arrested, prosecuted and jailed for a very long time; and that our laws are being changed to make it easier to keep potential terrorists off our streets," Mr Abbott said.
Laws to create new terrorism offences and to extend powers to monitor or detain suspects would be introduced to parliament this week, he said.
Legislation that would require telecommunication companies to provide data to police and security agencies would also be introduced soon.
"Regrettably for some time to come, the delicate balance between freedom and security may have to shift," he said.
"There may be more restrictions on some, so that there can be more protection for others."
Last week, police forces in Sydney and Brisbane conducted raids to disrupt alleged plans to publicly behead a randomly-selected Australian.
"An Australian Isil operative instructed his followers to pluck people from the street to demonstrate that they could, in his words, 'kill kaffirs'," Mr Abbott told parliament.
"All that would be needed to conduct such an attack is a knife, a camera-phone and a victim," he said.
One man has been charged with terrorism offences and several others arrested.
Last week, Australia sent 600 troops to join a US-led coalition to combat IS.
Mr Abbott will travel to New York later this week for a UN Security Council meeting where US President Barack Obama is expected to call for more countries to join the coalition.
Meanwhile, in a separate development, the Australian government has agreed to add torture to a list of specific prohibitions on secret service officers when detaining terror suspects.
It came after critics said officers should not be exempt from legal liability for torturing suspected terrorists.
Duncan Lewis, secretary general at Australia's top spy agency ASIO, said the organisation has never practiced torture and it never would.


IPL auctions: Are teams spending lesser now?
The IPL auction for the 2019 season has concluded with its usual set of surprises. But how have IPL franchises been spending over the years?
A look at the average spending at the IPL auctions since 2008 shows that after the high stakes of the first five seasons, the amounts have been coming down, with the exception of 2017.
The average of the total amount spent by all teams was above Rs 2 crore till 2012 after which it has largely been lower.
This graph shows how teams have been spending over the years. Hover over a team to see how they spent for a season or been spending or click on a team to see how they spent over the years. For eg: In 2013, Chennai splurged on international players in its biggest spending at the IPL auctions .
Here are the players who have been the highest paid in each auction. The graph shows the base price and the final price of the players in the auction.
Who was the highest paid player at each IPL Auction?
What's also interesting is how much teams are willing to spend on particular players because they see value in them. The next graph shows which players teams were willing to spend the most on despite a relatively low base price. Not all players who benefit from the bidding wars at the IPL have a great season though.
For example - in 2016, Rising Pune Supergiant paid Rs 4.5 crore for Murugan Ashwin when his base price was just Rs 10 lakh. He took 7 wickets at an average economy rate of 8 runs.


About 8:15 p.m. Wednesday, officers were called to a market on Olive Highway where a man in the parking lot was reported to have held a bow with an arrow pointed in the direction of customers and market employees.
By the time officers arrived, the archer had left the area.
About 2 a.m. Friday, an Oroville police officer saw what looked like a Plymouth minivan at a gas station on Oroville Dam Road. Wilkeson, who was at the wheel of the van, was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, brandishing a deadly weapon and violation of probation.
A compound bow, which uses cables and pulleys, was found in the van, according to police.


A "vegetarian" gene may have evolved amongst groups of people who have historically eaten less meat.
A team at Cornell University describes the genetic variation in a study published inMolecular Biology and Evolution -- a variation that they say has "evolved in populations that have eaten a plant-based diet over hundreds of generations". That includes areas of India, Africa and East Asia, with a different variation adapted to a seafood diet found in Greenland.
The adaptation, the team says, allows those with the gene to "more efficiently process omega-3 and omega-6 acids and convert them into compounds essential for early brain development and controlling inflammation". The downside is that it might be linked to some types of cancer and other health problems.
The team looked at frequencies of particular alleles in 234 vegetarian people from India and 311 from the US, finding it in 68 percent of Indians and 18 percent of Americans. This is likely, they say, because Northern Europeans are more likely to eat meat and have "a long history of drinking milk".
Adaptations between vegetarian and seafood diets is most striking -- the vegetarian allele has an insertion of 22 bases, something that's missing entirely from the seafood allele.
"The opposite allele is likely driving adaptation in the Inuit population," said Kaixiong Ye, co-lead author of the paper. "Our study is the first to connect an insertion allele with vegetarian diets, and the deletion allele with a marine diet." "Several studies have pointed to adaptation in this region of the genome. Our analyses combine to show that the adaptation is driven by an insertion of a small piece of DNA that we know its function. Moreover, when it reached the Greenlandic Inuit, with their marine-based diet rich in omega-3, it might have become detrimental," she said.
The team are "unsure" when the adaptation first occurred, as similar analysis of chimpanzee genomes offered no discovery of the vegetarian allele. "It is possible that in the history of human evolution, when people migrated to different environments, sometimes they ate a plant-based diet and sometimes they ate a marine-based diet, and in different time periods these different alleles were adaptive, meaning the alleles have a tendency to evolve under dietary pressures," said Ye.
A recent study from Oxford University found that global adoption of a vegan diet could save more than eight million lives by 2050. Vegetarian diets could save up to 7.3 million, and greenhouse gases could be reduced by nearly 70 percent.


We don't need a Putin!
Hindutva is now playing for broke: all or nothing! In Gujarat, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad has launched a vicious confrontation with the Election Commission. It has defiantly announced a series of inflammatory meetings to be addressed by Pravin Togadia after the Commission banned its Hindu Patpadshahi (supremacy) Yatra. Its allies on the extreme right, like Bal Thackeray have unleashed a hysterical campaign maligning the BJP's national leaders, including L K Advani, no less, as 'pseudo-secular traitors' to Hindutva. All these moves, like Narendra Milosevic Modi's Gaurav Yatra, are calculated to further inflame communal passions during India's most sectarian election campaign ever. For the Sangh Parivar, the coming election in Gujarat has a 'make or break' character. That's why both Vajpayee and Advani have decided to campaign for the BJP -- despite the attacks on them.
This time around, the Gujarat BJP has made no effort whatever to distance itself from the VHP's incendiary and openly anti-Constitutional, anti-secular politics. Being critically dependent on the VHP to garner votes, the BJP doesn't have much of a choice. It too has attacked the Commission in intemperate language and in ways which put a big question mark over its state government's willingness to comply with the Commission's directives. Legally, the Commission is supreme as regards the conduct of all election-related matters once the poll process is formally put in place. Politically, however, the state government can play mischief with the code of conduct and the Commission's directions -- if it chooses to be bloody-minded.
In Gujarat, the next two weeks will see an ugly tussle between Constitutional legality, the politics of consensus, decency and sanity, on the one hand, and crass sectarianism, and self-serving, partisan and intimidatory politics and hysterical communalism, on the other. A lot will depend on the integrity of the state's civil servants. If they capitulate to the dictates of their political bosses, as many of them did during the pogrom of March to June, they will disgrace themselves, and bring further ignominy upon their state, which has already acquired a vile reputation. If they stand up for the rule of law and act impartially following the Commission's statutory authority, they could still redeem themselves. The Commission is going to have to monitor the whole election canvassing process in Gujarat very, very closely to ensure that it is not hijacked by inflamed passions and crude partisanship.
The contest in Gujarat is totally bipolar: between the Congress, and a BJP which has metamorphosed into a virulent adjunct of the VHP, itself nourished by the poison of the post-Godhra violence. The VHP, which has branches in more than one-half of Gujarat's 18,600 villages, more or less controls the BJP at the grassroots level. The second most important minister in the Modi cabinet is the VHP's Gordhan Zadaphia, with the home portfolio. Without the VHP, the BJP's election campaign would be lifeless. The VHP behaves like a movement, a neofascist form of mass mobilisation, much in the way the precursors to the Nazis did in Germany, spreading hatred against the Jews, stoking intensely militarist and national-supremacist ideas, and building up the cult of authority.
It is not an accident that Milosevic Modi consciously fashions himself as 'Chhote Sardar,' a pitiful, super-communalised caricature of Vallabhbhai Patel, in order to consciously create the image of the Fuehrer. It is around Modi's authoritarian and despotic personality, his politics of outright confrontation and communal extremism, and his vicious, violent, stormtrooper tactics, that the BJP is being radically reshaped in Gujarat. Modi has firmly refused to moderate his style despite legal reprimands and injunctions. He maintains a steady outflow of venomous rhetoric about 'Italian dogs' and 'Mian Musharraf's progeny' even as he attacks the very notions of reconciliation, inter-religious tolerance and social harmony. Modi believes himself to be a messianic figure who is about to capture the hearts of the Hindu masses, and not just in Gujarat. Should Modi lead the BJP to electoral victory in Gujarat, he will have a profound impact on the party nationally.
As things stand, and contrary to propaganda, the BJP will not find it easy to win the election -- despite Gujarat's communal polarisation and its own all-out efforts to whip up Hindu-supremacist sentiments and play on the issue of asmita and gaurav (self-esteem), a revolting form of identity politics. If the 1998 pattern repeats itself -- a big if, this -- the Congress' vote (35 percent) combined with Shankarsinh Vaghela's (13 per cent) will easily outweigh the BJP's 45 per cent. But then, the pogrom had not happened. However, equally, the Patels -- fully one-fourth of the population, and economically and socially, upwardly mobilised -- were solidly behind the BJP in 1998, thanks to Keshubhai. Today, Keshubhai is a bitter man, unreconciled to Modi's takeover and wholesale transformation of the party.
Going by all available reports, the Gaurav Yatra was not a major crowd-puller. It probably did a lot for the RSS-VHP-BJP cadre, but little for the masses. All recent local elections have seen the BJP lose heavily. Following the pogrom, there is reportedly an 11.6 percent vote swing against it. This may have intensified somewhat after the Akshardham episode: despite its boasts, the BJP could not protect people against terrorism. Many of the party's leaders feel shaky. More than 20 MLAs, including 11 ministers, are changing their seats. Modi himself has moved from Rajkot-2 to Maninagar (Ahmedabad). Opposing the BJP is the combative Vaghela with his energetic campaign emphasising shanti, salamati and samriddhi (peace, security and prosperity).
The Gujarat election is a contest not just between two parties, but between two rival agendas: governance and development-related issues vs issues of identity and insecurity. The BJP is focused exclusively, obsessively, on the second, while the Congress is struggling with the first, as well as with OBC mobilisation. Logically, in a 'normal' election, governance issues should count significantly. If the BJP loses in Gujarat, after raising the stakes sky high, it will experience the rudest shock of its political life after the 1999 Lok Sabha election in Uttar Pradesh. Indeed, that loss will be even more damaging.
The BJP's defeat in Gujarat will continue and accelerate its downturn nationally. It has lost every single state, municipal and panchayat election in the past 4� years (barring, with qualifications, Goa, where too it failed to win a clear majority). This will prove to the Indian public that the party is unfit to rule, that it is utterly bankrupt on policy, organisational qualities and governance. Its claim to be a 'party with a difference' stands badly exposed -- witness the obscene show, with splits and naked struggles for ministerial berths in Uttar Pradesh. Also exposed are its empty boasts about safeguarding national security. Following a Gujarat defeat, the BJP will lose heavily everywhere and probably shrink in the next Lok Sabha to well under 100 seats.
However, if the BJP wins in Gujarat -- not necessarily on the Hindutva identity platform, but because of its relatively large social base and a long history of communal and caste polarisation -- it will see this as the triumph of its hate-based politics at the core of which lies the original programme of the RSS' most important ideologue, Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar. The Golwalkar programme consists in unleashing a frontal attack on all modern-liberal ideas and institutions, and using coercion to politically disenfranchise the religious minorities and to turn them into second-class citizens without rights. This will create a situation of a permanent near-civil war. In this enterprise, Modi is backed by apex-level leaders, including L K Advani, and also young, super-ambitious men without a base, like Messrs Venkaiah Naidu and Arun Jaitley.
If Modi triumphs in Gujarat, it is a safe bet that he will ride on the Golwalkar programme to make a bid for the BJP's national leadership and the top job in its central government, nothing less. The new Fuehrer will not allow 'effete,' aged, 'spent' leaders like Vajpayee to obstruct the programme's implementation. One immediate gainer from Modi's ascendancy will be Advani, who has linked his own upward career movement to Gujarat: in fact, it is almost inconceivable that he would have been promoted to deputy prime minister in the absence of a power struggle in the Goa conclave, focused on Gujarat. But Advani too will probably have to play second fiddle to the Fuehrer.
A Modi victory could thus unleash an intense, furious inner-party power struggle. This can have one of two consequences. The Vajpayee leadership, already dispirited and compromised, could collapse under the extreme-right's onslaught, yielding to a new, aggressively communal, adventurist and ultra-sectarian dispensation -- a kind of Hindu Taliban, which will push India back towards the Middle Ages. This will be a social and political nightmare. Or, alternatively, the BJP, and with it, the NDA, will come tumbling down like a house of cards, leading to a mid-term general election. We must all devoutly hope for the second outcome -- in the interests of secularism, democracy, political decency and social sanity.


If you thought the Oculus Rift was only for PCs and not consoles, then you should think again. During TechCrunch Disrupt, Oculus VR officials noted there have been discussions to one day bring VR to the Sony PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Xbox One game consoles.
"We've talked to everyone," said Nate Mitchell, VP of Oculus VR, when asked if his company has spoken with Microsoft or Sony regarding the VR headset for game consoles. "There's a lot of people right now interested in the VR space. And we've said many times that we're interested in bringing the Rift to as many consoles or platforms as possible. Ultimately, we haven't announced any sorts of partnerships to date. But it's something we're always exploring."
Microsoft is developing HoloLens and Sony has its Project Morpheus, so it's unknown how receptive either company would be to Oculus VR. However, the Oculus Rift remains the best known VR headset, so it may not be a wise decision to shut it out completely in the future.