UPA readies for life after Didi

UPA readies for life after Didi


The Congress-Trinamool divorce seems complete with the government ruling out any rollback of fuel hikes and FDI in retail and Mamata Banerjee insisting there was no room for negotiation.

Within minutes of finance minister P Chidambaram making an emphatic "no rollback" statement on Wednesday, Banerjee said TMC ministers at the Centre would quit on Friday. The CM's charge that the government was "distorting facts" in claiming that the PM tried to reach her only increased the acrimony. Her demand that the number of cheap cooking gas cylinders per family be hiked to 24 a year is clearly unacceptable to the government.

Chidambaram's remarks came after a meeting of the Congress core group where he argued that the diesel price hike and FDI initiatives were essential to fix the government's finances. Sonia Gandhi was informed that there was no scope for a rollback.

The FM pointed to the rupee hardening against the US dollar after last week's announcements, saying that for every Re 1 gained, the economy benefitted by around Rs 8,000 crore. The government couldn't afford to send a negative signal by undoing the reform measures.

Sources said the government is keen to send more reform signals and initiatives blocked by Mamata, like pension and insurance reform, could be back on the table. But some ministers cautioned the situation was fluid. The group of ministers on media, which met after the core committee, took note of the Congress leadership's resolve and decided to adopt an assertive strategy to counter the impression that UPA 2 might have lost stomach for reforms.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar's comments at a rally that he would support any party that helped Bihar get "special state" status created a flutter too. Although he was speaking in terms of the next national election and government formation thereafter, his remarks indicated he was not wedded to his alliance with BJP and could be a potential Congress ally. Both SP and BSP also made reassuring noises. Congress also backed the "no rollback" stance and to soften the cooking gas restrictions announced by the government, said all states ruled by it will increase the cap from six to nine. With the party and government on the same wavelength, UPA began to gear up for life after Mamata.

The assessment in government circles is that while survival in Parliament is not an immediate issue, the Centre will have to work hard to quell doubts that its dependence on fickle and demanding parties has increased . Parliament is due to meet only by late November, giving the government time to recover. Congress managers will need to build bridges with smaller parties and ensure BJP's cooperation on key reform

Bould adjusts to life in hot seat after Arsenal come from behind to snatch win

Bould adjusts to life in hot seat after Arsenal come from behind to snatch win


Assistant boss Steve Bould admitted he had 'a bit of a headache' after stepping into the Arsenal dugout for Tuesday's Champions League opener in Montpellier which saw the Gunners battle back to win 2-1.
Manager Arsene Wenger was serving the first of his three-game touchline UEFA ban on Tuesday - and would have been fuming from the stands when captain Thomas Vermaelen gave away an early penalty, although replays suggested the foul was probably just outside the box.
However, the Barclays Premier League club, unbeaten in the domestic campaign, responded magnificently and were soon level through a fine finish by German Lukas Podolski.

Before the French side, making their Champions League debut following last season's brilliant Ligue 1 campaign, could recover, Arsenal swept ahead in the 18th minute through Gervinho.
Although the hosts rallied after the break, with lively winger Remi Cabella hitting the crossbar and goalscorer Younes Belhanda missing a great chance late on when he fired straight at stand-in goalkeeper Vito Mannone, the Gunners closed out a battling victory.
Bould said afterwards: 'I am not sure I enjoyed it. I have got a headache and a half.
'It is tough, a different pressure than I have been used to taking the Under 18s - but we won and we had a great result.'
Bould felt it was another encouraging display from the squad.
'It was difficult. I thought we were excellent in the first half - we kept the ball and kept the crowd quiet,' he said.
'We looked a little bit tired in the second half, because it was very humid and the crowd got behind them.
'It is quite an intimidating place to come and play so we are glad to get the result.
'We have had a decent start to the season and we have kept the run going so it's important all round, for the whole season.
'We have got great team spirit and I think that was evident tonight. Everybody is digging in and things are looking okay.'
Podolski netted his third goal in as many games tonight, with a neat finish after quick passing on the edge of the penalty area.

Woman in anti-Islam film ‘fears for her life

Woman in anti-Islam film ‘fears for her life


Anna Gurji, 21, who plays Muhammad's child bride, has spoken of her fear of reprisals and how she was 'betrayed' by the film-maker Nakoula Basseley Nakoula.

'I was playing the youngest bride of a character named George,' she said. 'I had no idea George would be changed to Muhammad. I'm locked up in my house. I'm terrified people in the Middle East will blame me.

'I'm Catholic so they might think I have something against Muslims. I'm taking pills to sleep. I've been crying for days. I feel betrayed. My face is stuck on the movie clip. People see that awful film and they see me.'

Pictured above, this is the first image of the man - also known as Sam Bacile - who is understood to have made the movie that has triggered violence across the Middle East, and more recently in Sydney.

Nakoula was last week named by the FBI as the film-maker responsible for Innocence Of Muslims, which ridicules the prophet Muhammad.

The UK's 'Mail on Sunday' has obtained this on-set image of him with the film's star, who says she was duped by the 55-year-old director.

Nakoula is an Egyptian-born Coptic Christian. Now living in California, he is a convicted drug dealer and conman who was last released from jail in June last year.

The film has ignited anti-US clashes from Morocco to Australia. Seven people have been killed, and thousands injured.

Ms Gurji said she and her fellow actors believed they were making an action film called Desert Warrior and that Nakoula, or 'Sam' as she knew him, never discussed religion.
'I was told I was to be Hilary, the young bride of a character called George,' she said. 'The film was about a comet that falls to Earth in the ancient Middle East. There are different tribes who think the comet is somehow holy and fight over it.'

'There were supposed to be lots of special effects so a lot of the filming was in front of a green screen. It was super low-budget. I was getting US$75 a day and all my scenes were shot with George against the green screen. I had no idea how it would be twisted.'

'Maybe I'm naive but no warning bells went off. I auditioned, showed up and did my lines. None of us involved in it had any idea there was a secret agenda.'

Joseph Anton: life after The Satanic Verses

Joseph Anton: life after The Satanic Verses


Salman Rushdie is ready for his next role. "I'll be Marlon Brando in a turban," he says. His friend Deepa Mehta, who has just directed the author's adaptation of the Booker-winning novel Midnight's Children, wants Rushdie to play an ageing godfather in her new movie, set among western Canada's feuding Sikh gangs.

"I really want to do it," he says. "It'll be Tarantino with brown people." It is not the first time Rushdie has been offered a menacing film role. Paul Auster asked him to play a sinister interrogator who gives Harvey Keitel the third degree in Lulu on the Bridge. Alain Robbe-Grillet urged Rushdie to play a suspicious doctor who tended to Jean-Louis Trintignant's crashed pilot in the Cambodian jungle. "Maybe they saw something evil in me," he laughs as we talk at the London offices of his literary agent.

Rushdie turned those film roles down, but did play an approximation of himself in the 2001 movie Bridget Jones's Diary at the suggestion of novelist Helen Fielding. He was never asked to play himself in the 1990 Pakistani film International Gorillay, about jihadists who vow to kill an author called "Salman Rushdie". At the end of the film, "Rushdie" is terminated, not by jihadists, but by three large Qurans hanging from the sky that reduce him to dust in punishment for slurring Islam in his novel The Satanic Verses. The real Salman Rushdie played a key role in ensuring that film's UK release: Britain's film censors were set to refuse it a certificate because it was inflammatory, but Rushdie assured them he wouldn't sue for libel and so it was released. "It was a piece of crap but banning it would only have glamourised it," he says.

I take a sidelong glance at Rushdie, looking for the devil in the 65-year-old writer. His goatee recalls venal drug kingpin Fernando Rey's in The French Connection. His eyelids still droop slightly despite an operation for ptosis a few years ago and his eyebrows point diagonally to the bridge of his nose. He could use these natural assets to make himself look diabolical, but not today.

The invisible role

We are meeting to discuss Rushdie's longest-running role, his 13-year performance as a character called Joseph Anton. This was the pseudonym he took after going into hiding following the fatwa declared upon him by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini on Valentine's Day 1989. His protection officers suggested he choose another name to increase his security when he turned up at a new home (though being flanked by four armed men in bulletproof Jaguars usually did the trick). "Probably better not to make it an Indian name," counselled his minder Stan. And so, Rushdie writes, he became "an invisible man in a whiteface mask". Joseph was Conrad's first name, Anton was Chekhov's. He was Mr Anton until March 27 2002, when the police Jaguars finally drove out of his life for the last time.

That pseudonym now supplies the title for his new 636-page memoir. Why would he want to revisit those years? During that time his first wife Clarissa died of cancer, his second and third marriages broke up, his fourth was shaky, his Japanese editor was murdered, his Norwegian publisher shot, his Italian translator stabbed, hundreds died in riots protesting against his novel, his books were burned from Bradford to Islamabad, he did things that still make him burn with shame and he found that writers he admired such as John Berger and John Le Carre attacked him for not withdrawing the novel.

"For a long time I didn't want to write this because I felt it would be too upsetting. But writing it actually wasn't." But why write it at all? Surely memoir is the basest of literary genres, where scores are unedifyingly settled. Rushdie demurs: "Well, I didn't want to write 600 pages of getting even. I thought I would try to be as understanding as possible to everybody else and as rough as possible on myself. I decided not to varnish stuff."

Rushdie isn't, to my mind, only rough on himself. His second wife, the novelist Marianne Wiggins, surely will not enjoy reading the passages in which Rushdie presents her as delusional. She becomes, if the memoir is to be believed, an undermining presence during Rushdie's adversity, giving an interview in which she calls him weak and vain. The couple divorced in 1993. It is hard not to read these passages in Joseph Anton as belate payback.

Did he show Marianne the manuscript? "No, she can buy a copy," he says.

By contrast, his third and fourth wives, Elizabeth West and Padma Lakshmi, were consulted about the book, as was his son Zafar whose mothe Clarissa (Rushdie's first wife) died during the fatwa years. "Elizabeth was

one of the first readers of the book and, after correcting some passages, she signed off on it." She signed off, presumably, on the delicious scene in a New York room in which she meets Padma Lakshmi, who would become Rushdie's next wife, and eviscerates the Indian supermodel, TV chef and actor in ripe language that her husband was surprised she could use so eloquently.

Lakshmi, from whom he was divorced in 2007 after three years of marriage said, according to Rushdie: "Just tell me what's in the book so I don't get blindsided." The fourth Mrs Rushdie will not like the passage in which he watches her "pose and pirouette" for the paparazzi outside a Vanity Fair dinner in Hollywood. "She's having sex," Rushdie writes, "sex with hundreds of men at the same time and they don't even get to touch her, there's no way an actual man can compete with that."

The blackest period

If he is rough on himself, it is for becoming briefly, as he puts it, " dentist's zombie". On Christmas Eve 1990, at the behest of six Muslim scholars whom he had agreed to meet at Paddington Green police station in

London, he signed a paper saying he had intended no offence to Islam and re-embraced the religion. The man who brokered this meeting, dentist Hesha el-Essawy sought to return Rushdie to the faith into which he had been born in Bombay in 1947.

Soon after that meeting he wrote an article called "Why I am a Muslim" for The Times. "I am certainly not a good Muslim," he wrote then. "But I am able now to say that I am Muslim; in fact it is a source of happiness to say that I am now inside, and a part of, the community whose values have always been closest to my heart."

"I was physically sick after that," he recalls. "I felt I had lost my mind. Reading through my journals of that time, I see it was the blackest period. I became the dentist's zombie, thinking he was giving me [spiritual] Novocain. But everybody who loved me told me I was insane." He remembers his sister, Sameen, ringing him from across London after she heard of her brother's abject and futile attempt to appease. "She said: 'I don't.....believe it. Have you lost your mind?' The problem was I had acted alone, without consulting my supportive friends and family."

In the Hitchens camp

He doesn't entirely regret his temporary zombification. "It was hitting the bottom and one of the benefits of hitting bottom is you know where the bottom is." He would never succumb to such approaches again. Instead he repudiated his supposed faith, setting himself self-consciously in the tradition of writers such as Osip Mandelstam and Federico Garcia Lorca who stood up to tyrants. He describes himself today as "a profoundly irreligious man" and "of the Hitchens camp" (his late friend Christopher Hitchens, wrote the bestseller God is Not Great). In Joseph Anton, Rushdie argues that there is a need for blasphemy: "The writers of the French enlightenment had deliberately used blasphemy as a weapon, refusing to accept the power of the Church to set limiting points on thought." He stands in that tradition, though it is Muslim mullahs rather than Christian clerics whose power he contests.

At the start of Joseph Anton, Rushdie recalls what he said on US TV the day he received the Ayatollah's unfunny Valentine. "I wish I'd written a more critical book," he told CBS, adding that he did not feel his book was especially critical of Islam, but that a religion whose leaders behaved in this way could probably do with a little criticism.

"I'm proud of myself for saying that in deep shock," he says. So if you redrafted The Satanic Verses today, knowing the miseries the fatwa caused you, you'd have written something even more critical of Islam? "Definitely. Oh yes. But The Satanic Verses isn't - or is not only - about Islam. It deals with the origin story of religion, closely following Islam. It's about the nature of revelation, about the seeing of visions. There are close parallels between Joan of Arc and St John the Divine's revelations and Muhammad's descriptions of seeing the Angel Gabriel. It seems to me that's a subjective reality, not an objective one. If you'd been standing with Muhammad would you have seen this big angel? Probably not, but at the same time Muhammad was not making up what he saw. For him it's not a fiction. That's interesting to write about."

At the end of Joseph Anton, Rushdie writes that he is not sure if the battle over The Satanic Verses ended in victory or defeat. Why not? "Well, the book is still in print and the author wasn't suppressed so it was a victory in that sense. But the fear and menaces have grown."

Immigrant literature

Rushdie has lived for the past decade in New York, though he maintains a home in London. One thing that thrills him about living in the States is how immigrant writers are revivifying its literary culture, in a way that -

perhaps - he and others did in Britain a few decades ago. "American literature has always been immigrant." Now, he says, writers such as the Chinese-born Yiyun Li and Dominican-born Junot Diaz are making American literature unprecedentedly rich. "Its literature has never reached so far, into as many different worlds." So who does he admire among this rain-soaked dime of a country's writers? "David Mitchell. I think he's just such an extraordinary talent with the ability to write so many different novels. Zadie's new book looks like a return to White Teeth territory so I'm looking forward to reading it."

Are you writing? He points to the hulking tome Joseph Anton: "I've just written 600 pages. Give me a break." He prefers to talk about the film of Midnight's Children which opens at the London Film Festival next month. It has received lukewarm reviews, I say. "Including, a nasty piece in the Guardian," says Rushdie. Catherine Shoard's two-star review was, I submit, not nasty, though it did portray Rushdie, who adapted, executive produced and did the film's narrative voiceover, as quite controlling. Is he? "All I can say is that the Toronto audience gave it a standing ovation." It has been a long time coming: he once wrote a script for a BBC TV dramatization that was never made and the movie shoot was delayed for several days after the Iranian foreign minister appealed to Sri Lanka not to permit filming.

A free man

The last time I interviewed Rushdie was in Miami in 2008. He was 25 days into a 29-city US book tour to promote The Enchantress of Florence. In the parking lot outside there were three police cruisers. Just in case.

Today, as he steps out into London's evening sunshine to get a cab to his launch party, there are no cops, armed or otherwise, to be seen. It has been like that in Britain for 10 years, ever since his minders revoked his membership of the Level One Club. Before, that club had three members all of whom required 24/7 protection: the queen, the prime minister and a certain Mr Anton. "Then in 2002, I dropped to level three or four, and basically then you look after yourself." Tonight, he is a free man. He aims to play that part for the rest of his life.

Starved Alberta tot's parents appeal life-support ruling

Starved Alberta tot's parents appeal life-support ruling


An Alberta Court of Appeal judge has allowed the parents of a two-year-old girl — allegedly starved and neglected from birth — to appeal a ruling the child be removed from life support machines.

The girl, who can't be identified, will be kept on life support until the appeal is heard, which could be as soon as next Wednesday or Thursday.

"It is a difficult situation and there is no ideal solution to it," said Justice Jean Cote.

Cote told the lawyers in the case to clear off their calendars to accommodate the hearing.

"If there's something else, you can tell them it is a life and death matter," he said.

Just hours earlier, Court of Queen's Bench Justice June Ross ruled the child be removed from life support.

The ruling was brief as the parents asked the reasons not be read out, but rather given to them later in private.

Parents hang heads
As the judge read her conclusion, both parents, sitting about three metres apart, hung their heads.

Neither the father nor the mother made eye contact with each other.

In her 15-page decision, Ross sifted through two days of testimony from the child's doctors and legal precedents.

"In considering this submission, I keep in mind that my role is to consider only the best interests of [the child], not those of her parents or any other person," she wrote.

"[The parents'] position as stated indicates that their decision will not and cannot change: they state that as devout Muslims and loving parents, they find it 'unthinkable to agree to limit or withdraw medical treatment' and they ask that the court honour [their] beliefs," Ross wrote.

"The court cannot do so where their beliefs come into a fundamental conflict with [the child's] best interests."

Ross said it is society's general understanding, "a life without awareness and totally supported by machines is not in accord with the best interests of any patient."

Child's interest to stop treatment
She went on to write that in that context "it is in [the child's] best interests that life-sustaining treatment be stopped is clear and uncontradicted."

The girl was taken to hospital on May 25, after paramedics found her in her parents' home in cardiac arrest and in a state of starvation.

The girl suffered a profound and irreversible brain injury and remains deeply comatose relying on a ventilator and feeding tube to survive.

Doctors don't believe the girl's condition will ever improve.

Two other children were also removed from the home, the girl's twin sister — also found starving, but now recovering — and an older boy, who was unharmed and now in foster care.

A lawyer for Alberta Children and Youth Services, which did not take a stance on whether the girl should be kept alive, asked Ross to make a ruling.

The agency said the choice should not be left up to the girl's parents, who are in custody on charges of aggravated assault, criminal negligence causing bodily harm and failing to provide the necessities of life.

The parents are barred from communicating with one another.

The parents are scheduled to have a bail hearing on Sept. 21.

ife Changes: 10 Ways to Get Perspective

ife Changes: 10 Ways to Get Perspective


Have you ever woken up wondering what the hell is going on with your life? Lots of people do. It happens to all of us at some point in our lives, and often multiple times. Joseph Campbell assured us of this uncertainty, saying, "If the path before you is clear, you're probably on someone else's."

Between everyday life responsibilities and the daily upkeep of simply living life, it can seem like we don't have the time or space to examine the direction of our life -- that is, until we are forced to. We may be going about our business when suddenly we are struck with misfortune. We lose our job. Someone close to us gets sick or dies. We are faced with some kind of major loss that is often unexpected. Our lives aren't the same and now we are faced with making new choices. What can we do when life changes suddenly, or when we know it's time to change?

There are plenty of phrases for these occurrences in our lives. Call it mid-life crisis, a personal breakdown or a spiritual awakening. I believe major life changes are invitations to grow. They are times that require us to move beyond what we know, into the unknown, and to expand who we are. It makes us go deeper, wondering, "Who am I? What is my true purpose?"

During these times, we may be at a total loss as to what to do next. Life is uncertain. It can be uncomfortable, but it's not necessarily a bad place to be. Of course our ego likes to "know" everything and be in control. But when we realize this isn't true, we might find ourselves back at square one. When we're at a crossroads, transitioning into a new phase of our life, it's important to be totally honest with yourself, feel your true feelings, and let yourself unwind and let go. Life changes are a time of healing and self-introspection. Gaining perspective is key. It often makes the difference between resisting or accepting the new changes that are happening in your life.

FSA hands life ban to HBOS director Peter Cummings

FSA hands life ban to HBOS director Peter Cummings


The action against HBOS’s former head of corporate banking is the most draconian to be imposed against a senior figure at any of the banks that were bailed out during the financial crisis.
Mr Cummings has been widely held to be responsible for the lending that led to a multi-billion pound bailout of the bank and then it being taken over by Lloyds Banking Group.
In its report into HBOS’s near collapse, the Financial Services Authority concluded the bank was guilty of “very serious misconduct”. It also found the corporate division was the “highest risk part” of the bank.
The City watchdog decided to waive what could have been a £50m to £100m fine against the bank to save the taxpayer further expense. Following Lloyds’ takeover of HBOS the bank is 43pc owned by the taxpayer.
Tracey McDermott, director of enforcement and financial crime at the FSA, said: “Despite being aware of the weaknesses in his division and growing problems in the economy, Cummings presided over a culture of aggressive growth without the controls in place to manage the risks associated with that strategy. Instead of reacting to the worsening environment, he raised his targets as other banks pulled out of the same markets."

Mr Cummings' punishment puts him in a select position. He is one of the only bankers from one of the bailed out banks to have been fined in relation to misconduct leading up to the financial crisis. Only he and former RBS director Johnny Cameron have received bans. The FSA said the fine levied against Mr Cummings means all current investigations connected to the bank are concluded.
However, chief executive of the FSA, Hector Sants, has publicly stated that other prominent bankers from the period, such as former RBS chief executive Fred Goodwin, would not be allowed to work in regulated positions again.
Mr Cummings' punishment comes six months after the FSA published its intial report into failings at HBOS.
In it, the FSA said: “The corporate division pursued an aggressive growth strategy, the effect of which was to increase the risk profile of a business which was already focused on high-risk, sub-investment grade lending.
"Corporate did so despite known weaknesses in the control framework, which meant that it failed to provide robust oversight and challenge to the business.”
In a statement Mr Cummings said he rejected the FSA's findings but would not be appealing the fine.
He said: "Many people must bear collective responsibility for what happened, including governments and regulators as well as the boards of the banks themselves. But the fact that I am the only individual from HBOS to face investigation defies comprehension.
"The decision to single me out for investigation is even more grotesque given that even the FSA has to admit in its notice that other senior people were involved in the critical decisions for which I am taken to task. This is tokenism at its most sinister, and has made it feel throughout like institutional oppression."

Clinton Condemns Libya Protest That Claims U.S. Official’s Life

Clinton Condemns Libya Protest That Claims U.S. Official’s Life


U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is denouncing an attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, that was prompted by a film clip and claimed the life of an American official.
“I condemn in the strongest terms the attack on our mission,” Clinton said in a statement last night. “We are heartbroken by this terrible loss. There is never any justification for violent acts of this kind.”
Demonstrators attacked U.S. diplomatic missions in Cairo and the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi to protest a film being made in the U.S. that they called offensive to Muslims. An armed mob in Benghazi stormed the U.S. diplomatic office there and set fire to the building, the Associated Press reported, citing witnesses.
In Cairo, Egypt’s capital, Islamist demonstrators scaled the walls of the U.S. embassy, ripped down a U.S. flag and chanted “Obama, we are here to sacrifice for Osama.”
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said in a statement he is “outraged” by both attacks and accused President Barack Obama’s administration of initially siding with the protesters, based on a statement the U.S. embassy in Cairo issued before the violence erupted.
“It’s disgraceful that the Obama administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks,” Romney said in the statement last night.

‘Political Attack’

The U.S. Embassy in Cairo, prior to the attack on its compound, issued a statement denouncing the film clip being circulated on YouTube that sparked the attacks.
“The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims -- as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions,” the statement read.
Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for Obama’s reelection campaign, criticized Romney’s comments. “We are shocked that, at a time when the United States of America is confronting the tragic death of one of our diplomatic officers in Libya, Governor Romney would choose to launch a political attack.” LaBolt said early today in an e-mailed statement.
Clinton called President Mohammed Yussef Magariaf of Libya last night to coordinate additional support to protect Americans there, the State Department said in its statement.
Since the overthrow of former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi last year, a weak central government and security forces have allowed violent crime to rise. That violence has punctuated the lives of U.S. and other diplomats in Libya before yesterday’s attack.

Stepped Up Security

In June, after a bomb exploded at a perimeter wall of the U.S. office in Benghazi, the U.S. asked Libya to step up security around American installations.
A week later, attackers targeted the British ambassador’s car with rocket-propelled grenades in Benghazi, injuring two of his guards, Britain’s Foreign Office said. And a day after that, the International Committee of the Red Cross reported that its offices in Misrata were hit by an explosion that seriously damaged the building.
In August, the U.S. State Department warned against all but essential travel to Libya and said violent crime, especially carjacking and robbery, had become serious problems. The State Department also said that political violence such as assassinations and car bombs had increased in Benghazi and the capitol of Tripoli.
The U.S. embassy in Tripoli opened again last September to offer after closing during the conflict.

The Traditionalist: Greek Life: there's much more to it than debauchery

The Traditionalist: Greek Life: there's much more to it than debauchery


Greeks can make it easy to dislike them, as their motives often seem to be pompously driven.

Although their constant fight against stereotypes of binge-drinking, affluence and autocratic, self-concerned socialites may be rightfully earned, Greek Life does contain a value in its existence and an irreplaceable role in collegiate society.

Behind the vendetta against cargo shorts and the affinity for debauchery, Greek Life’s more obvious and primary role as a support system is established through philanthropy and charity. Philanthropy is highly prioritized within Greek organizations, and the results are apparent.

Greek Life at LSU reports that more than 50,000 hours of community service and $250,000 were given in philanthropic efforts in the 2011-2012 school year. On the national scene, the Greek system represents the largest network of volunteers in the U.S., offering some 10 million hours of community service along with donating another $7 million a year.

That’s quite a contradiction to the public opinion’s vanity-stricken Greeks.

Other than just working on “chill-to-pull” ratios or hoping Reagan will resurrect to restore political and economical order in the country, Greeks learn to have pride in being a part of something greater than the individual. They learn not only to have pride in their letters, but also in their university’s letters — sometimes even greater pride.

Greeks are renowned for school spirit, exercising their patriotic support for their university just about as much as they do their livers and kidneys. That may have some correlation, though without Greek Life, I don’t find that our fall Saturdays would have evolved to be as exciting as they are today.

The Greek organizations on campus lead the participation in homecoming activities and are notorious tailgaters that frequently play host to independents.

And when sports other than football are in need of fan support, coaches and players typically go to the Greeks, who always enjoy an opportunity to get rowdy in the name of the University and prefer to travel in ensemble.

But, maybe Greek Life’s largest contribution isn’t so much tangible, but rather conceptual.

In such progressive times like today, Greek Life stands as a pillar of old tradition. Tradition is the core of fraternities and sororities, as they all were founded with a set of values that were keynoted with an objective. Through belief in the values their rituals hold and respect of their founders, Greek Life endorses respect for those who have gone before us — a trait seemingly absent today.

Not only does Greek Life support tradition, it has largely through the myths and legends of Animal House-type antics, become an American tradition. Kind of like the Wild West, though maybe not as romantic, Greek Life is an experience that is entirely American.

There are other undeniable facts that attest to the Greeks’ contributions to society other than vomit and Mrs. degrees.

Greeks largely comprise federal government. Fraternities have produced 40 of 47 U.S. Supreme Court Justices since 1910, along with 76 percent of all Senators and Congressman.

In addition, since the inception of the social fraternity in 1825, every U.S. president, save two, belonged to a fraternity.

As it may be that some see Greek Life as an evil, for them I sympathize with their headaches or sour sentiments that those frat-swooped, friend-purchasing conformists may have caused.

Call it evil if you will, but it’s necessary.

Life in a metro: Migrants cursed, used & abused

Life in a metro: Migrants cursed, used & abused


Every day, 48 trains come to Maharashtra from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand, says Raj Thackeray. Had Raj Thackeray been a travel writer like Paul Theroux, author of The Great Railway Bazar, we may have got an evocative tale of all the little adventures that happen in the course of such long train journeys. But since Thackeray is not Theroux, his focus is elsewhere. “Who are these people, where do they go? Then, you will blame police for not being able to control the crime in the state,’’ he said to Times Now during a recent interview.

It is an old familiar refrain. Thackeray, president of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, holds Mumbai’s migrants – especially those from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar – responsible for much of the city’s ills. I disagree with his arguments but if there is one silver lining to this highly polarising discourse, it is its potential to spark a wider debate that we typically sweep under the carpet.

It is nobody’s case that all migrants are angels or that there are no bad pennies among people from UP and Bihar who come to Mumbai and other metros in search of work. If someone has committed a crime, h/she should be punished. Let us discuss migration and what it means to a city’s ethos and infrastructure. But let it bean honest and full-throated discussion that takes on board the rural distress which is fuelling migration on such a large scale, and the costsand benefits ofmigrant labour so that people take informed and not merely emotional positions on the issues.

First, the legalities. India prides itself on its democracy as well as its diversity. The right to move around freely in most parts of the country is guaranteed by the Constitution. This means if a middle class educated person canmove to better his/her life chances, so can apoor person. People are on the move, and they will continue to be so in search of a better life, irrespective of how some others feel.

Second, there is need for context. Mumbai is a magnet for people from other cities and states but it is by no means the only one. The census considers any movement to be ‘migration’ if it involves change of residence from one village/town to another. Almost a third of Indians, or 321-325 million out of India’s population of 1,125-1,140 million, during the period of the survey in 2007-08 were migrants, according to The United Nations Development Programme-supported Human Development Research Paper on Migration and Human Development in India by Priya Deshingkar and Shaheen Akter (2009).According to the authors, migrant labourers contribute nearly 10% of India’s GDP.

Migrant labour can be found in many spheres: textiles, construction, stone quarries and mines, brick-kilns, diamond cutting, leather accessories, crop transplanting, harvesting, rickshaw pulling, food processing, domestic work, security services, hotels and roadside restaurants/tea shops, street vending and so on.

Zoom in on any one sector: For example, the construction industry. Deshingkar and Akter point to a 2008 estimate by trade unions which say there are at least 40 million migrant construction workers (both skilled and unskilled) in the country.

Why are migrant workers in such demand? Answer: they provide the ultimate flexible workforce to employers who can hire and fire them without any obligations whatsoever and extract cheap labour for very little. There are labour laws in place but failure to implement them is rampant. This is true of Mumbai; this is true of Delhi and every other major city in India.

Imagine what would happen if all the migrants working in various construction sites in Mumbai went back to where they came from? Mumbai’s population would indeed dip but how would the industry react?

Migrants often are forced into living in sordid conditions and are denied basic amenities. Sometimes, their habitat becomes the fertile ground for crime, impacting locals in the vicinity.

But if we are talking about the carrying capacity of a city, we should also turn the spotlight on employers, the industry which lives on migrant labour. Why can’t Thackeray and his defenders push contractors who hire migrant workers into limiting the numbers to those who can be provided proper accommodation, even if temporary, and basic facilities? If this is implemented rigorously, the flow of migrants will taper and the cost of construction will go up.

Are Mumbai and other Indian metros ready for that?Right now, the migration debate in the country is conveniently hypocritical, like the global debate on immigration and outsourcing. Many of those who want to see the backs of migrants have no qualms in enjoying the benefits of cheap migrant labour. You cannot have it both ways.

Basketball Hall of Fame: Don Nelson inducted

Basketball Hall of Fame: Don Nelson inducted


 Of all the people who were thrilled to see former Warriors coach Don Nelson get into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, it took a legend who had never played for him, or with him, to offer some perspective.
Bill Walton believes everybody is focusing on the wrong things that made Nelson the NBA's all-time winningest coach.
"Everybody says he invented small ball," Walton, the former center, said Friday night at the enshrinement ceremony. "But it wasn't small ball, it was skill ball. Put the best players on the court. Get the big stiffs out of there.
"I love Don Nelson. It's so well-deserved and tragically overdue. The game of basketball is lucky to have had so many years of Don Nelson."
Nelson, who coached the Warriors for 11 seasons over two stints, got the ultimate validation of his career when he and 11 others were officially welcomed to the Hall of Fame.
Also inducted were the late Don Barksdale, who attended Berkeley High and was the first black player on the U.S. Olympic team (1948) and in the NBA All-Star game (1953), former Warriors Ralph Sampson and Jamaal Wilkes, Reggie Miller, Chet Walker, Mel Daniels, Katrina McClain, Lidia Alexeeva, Hank Nichols, Phil Knight and the All American Redheads.
Nelson's induction speech spanned his career. He paid tribute to his valued assistants -- from K.C. Jones to Del Harris to Keith Smart, son Donnie Nelson and so many others.

aid several times during the night, he added: "What a lucky guy."
It was a night that, as Miller said, took place "with basketball royalty" in the house. NBA commissioner David Stern, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Julius Erving and so many others were there. Nelson either played against or coached against just about all of them.
"He was a game-changer," said Chris Mullin, who played for Nelson at Golden State and was one of his presenters, along with Bob Lanier and Satch Sanders. "You can't say that about many people. He was like having another great player who was on the bench and could help you win. He was a difference-maker. One of the best of all time."
Nelson said he felt unworthy in many respects, despite winning a record 1,335 games as an NBA coach.
"The Hall of Fame is about greatness," Nelson said. "I'm a lot of things, but none of them are great."
Yet he was as creative and innovative as any coach ever.
He stuck 7-foot-6 Manute Bol on the 3-point line. He sent 6-4 Mario Elie into the game as a center to guard 7-1 David Robinson.
He invented the notion of point forward, which is now a position embraced by the most talented player on the planet, LeBron James.
One of Nelson's best friends, Harris, told one of the best stories on Nelson just before the enshrinement, going back to the genesis of his coaching career.
"He had failed as a potential referee in the NBA," Harris said, alluding to a summer spent officiating summer league games after Nelson had retired as a player. "And he became assistant coach of the Milwaukee Bucks. They sent him to a preseason game in Memphis, and he sat next to me. We had never met. He said: 'You know, Coach, this is my first game to scout, can you help me out a little?'
"So I did, and then halfway through the season, they fired the coach (Larry Costello), and Nellie became the head coach at Milwaukee. I called him and he said: 'You know, I was just getting the hang of this scouting stuff and now I'm the head coach.' "
And from now on, he will be introduced as Hall of Famer Don Nelson.

Salman Khan is a friend for life, says Preity Zinta

Salman Khan is a friend for life, says Preity Zinta


In Bollywood where actors struggle at times to build friendly equations with colleagues, actress Preity Zinta insists that Salman Khan is her "friend for life" because he has always stood by her through thick and thin.

"It is unfair to praise a person only when he is doing well. I have seen Salman through all the phases of his life and my life. Even when I had the IPL cases, financial pressure, Salman was the only guy who stood by my side. It meant a lot to me," Preity said in an interview.

Salman Khan and Preity Zinta share a great camaraderie. The duo has worked in quite a few films together like Har Dil Jo Pyaar Karega, Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, Dil Ne Jise Apna Kaha, Heroes and Jaa-E-Mann.

"It was easy for people to speculate that we are part of a scam. At one point we had to pay Rs 100 crore in a week. He (Salman) was the only person who offered to be there and help me financially and whichever way possible," Preity said while appreciating the Tiger.

"Thank god I did it myself. The point is nobody else did. For me he is my friend for life. People who support you when you need the most, that is friendship and not when you are rocking," she said.

Both of them share a good chemistry on and off screen as well and Preity Zinta says it is because they are comfortable with each other.

"We are genuinely comfortable with each other. I have great chemistry with all my co-stars. If you don't have any kind of affairs with anyone, your chemistry is fabulous as you are doing your job," she said.

In 2009, Preity Zinta made a special appearance for Salman in his and Kareena Kapoor starrer Main Aur Mrs Khanna and now it's the 'Dabangg' Khan's turn to return the favour by doing a peppy Punjabi dance number in Preity's upcoming film Ishkq in Paris, which also marks her debut as a producer and writer.

"There is no hard and fast rule that because I did a song in his film so he did in mine. Out of all the actors, he has been closet and most supportive friend in whatever I have done. Our relation goes back ten years and he is a solid friend. Salman has a big heart. He is honest and straight forward guy," the bubbly actress said.

Salman's presence in the movie will make it more electrifying and is sure to rope in moolah for the movie.

"For me my first film as a producer has been an uphill task because you have to work hard in whatever you do. But he being there has made a huge difference to me, for him in small way, for me in a large way," she said.

The song, titled Kudiye di Kurti, will see Salman dance with Preity at a wedding function in the movie.

Elaborating on the song, the actress said, "Nothing in my life is last minute addition. This song was always part of the film. It is situational and an integral part. The only actor I approached for it was Salman and he agreed. Why not, he is a dear friend of mine. I am happy he did it. He looks awesome and hot," Preity Zinta claimed.

Apart from doing this special song, Preity revealed that Salman gave her lessons in music.

"For me he is so awesome not just for this song but for music. When I was sitting for the music of my film, he taught me how to do a music sitting. He called up Sajid-Wajid one night, we did music sitting, he has great ear for music and he helped us with the music of the film," she said.

Releasing on October 5, Ishkq in Paris, directed by Prem Raj, stars Preity in the lead opposite debutant Rhehan Malliek along with French actress Isabelle Adjani and filmmaker Shekhar Kapur.

Life sentence for Jessie Cate killer

Life sentence for Jessie Cate killer


: A 20-year-old man will spend at least 18 years behind bars for the "ferocious" and "unprovoked" murder of Dawesville teenager Jessie Cate.

Kyle Rohan Garth, of Pinjarra, was sentenced to a life jail term in the Supreme Court today, with a non-parole period of 18 years. This means Garth will still be aged in his 30s when he becomes eligible for release.

Details of how and why Garth murdered his ex-girlfriend's 15-year-old sister were revealed in court for the first time today, including how Garth strangled Jessie twice in his car - the second time with an intention to kill her to avoid being caught.

He told police he and Jessie were fighting in his car, after he picked her up from her part-time job at Woolworths in Falcon on December 12 last year, when within minutes he pulled the car over, lost his temper and lashed out.

Justice Jenkins said Garth had no real motive and this murder had not only devastated Jessie's family, but had also disturbed and impacted the wider community.

She told Garth he abused the trust Jessie and her family had in him in a "gross and awful way".

The judge described the attacks on Jessie as "ferocious", "unprovoked" and selfish.

Wearing prison greens, Garth spent his time in the dock mainly hunched over with his head bowed as Jessie's family saw him in person for the first time since he killed the high school student.

After strangling her, Garth, who had previously dated Jessie's older sister Emma for a couple of months, buried Jessie in a shallow grave in Bouvard.

In sentencing submissions today, prosecutor Carmel Barbagallo said Garth, a window tinter who used to work with the victim at Woolworths, offered to pick Jessie up from work telling her he had something to tell her alone. Those who overheard their conversation said the pair were smiling and it appeared their exchange was friendly.

Garth misled police for more than seven hours the next day when he concocted a story that he had dropped Jessie off at an oval to see friends.

Many inconsistencies were found in his story and Garth eventually confessed to murdering Jessie, saying they were arguing about his break-up with Emma, his current relationship and the fact he was no longer around as a male role model for Jessie's younger siblings when he pulled his car over and lost his temper. "I ended up suffocating her, I choked her with my hands, I don't know what came over me," he said.

When asked what was going through his mind when he was choking Jessie, Garth told detectives: "That's what disturbed me most - I was sorry and angry and that I love my partner, as that's all that was going through my head."

As he was blocking the road, another driver pulled up, prompting Garth to get out and speak to the other driver before driving off.

The court was told Garth then heard Jessie murmur and mumble and realised she was still alive.

Garth choked her with one hand whilst still driving - a position he held for more than 10km until he reached the site where he would bury her body.

Garth hid Jessie's body under logs and branches, returned home to Pinjarra to get a shovel and then went back to bury the teenager's body.

He told detectives he strangled her the second time out of fear of getting caught and when asked what his intention was at that time he replied: "kill her and I did".

The court was told Garth had spent a lot of time with Jessie's family while he was dating Emma and still remained on friendly terms with them after the break-up.

Jessie's family were in court today and saw Garth in person for the first time since he killed Jessie.

Ms Barbagallo said the impact of this senseless loss of life on Jessie's family and the wider Mandurah community was immeasurable.

Garth had no criminal record and no mention was made during sentencing submissions today of any major mental illness.

Defence lawyer Brian Mahon said his client wanted to apologise to everyone affected by his crime and he was fully aware that he shattered many lives that night.

He said his client bitterly regretted his actions and accepted he had a price to pay for ending Jessie's life. Mr Mahon said Garth conceded that during the second choking episode he intended to kill Jessie, but that the first attack was spontaneous with no planning.

"He's aware what he faces will only be a fraction of the suffering (that the Cate family will have to endure)," he said.

The murder of the popular teenager prompted a tidal wave of grief in the Mandurah community, but Mr Mahon said before this tragedy his client was also well-liked and respected in the community.

Garth had scratches on his face from Jessie during the first attack, but Ms Barbagallo said when Garth strangled her the second time "he effectively killed a girl who couldn't defend herself".

She said Garth had time to reevaluate his actions and choose a different path, but did not.

She said when Garth called Jessie's mother the morning after the murder, pretending not to know what had happened, it showed "callousness and coldness". Ms Barbagallo said Garth had also committed a breach of trust because Jessie and her family had no reason to think her life would be in danger in his company.

Justice Jenkins said while there was no pre-planning or weapon involved in this murder, it also involved a "terribly violent death" of a young person.

She said Garth still had the support of his mother, stepfather and his partner, who is 16 years his senior and who was his girlfriend at the time he murdered Jessie.

Outside court, Jessie's family welcomed the sentence, which was higher than they hoped, but showed Garth some compassion.

"It's more years that he's going to spend in prison than our gorgeous Jessie spent alive," Jessie's uncle Ric Troode said.

"Nothing is going to bring Jessie back, her memory will outlive Kyle's name forever and a day, she's never, ever going to be forgotten.

"I'm not going to be angry and say I hope he rots in hell ... I feel for him, he is a young man, we hope that he comes out of this a better person. They said that he had an unblemished character, that he was of good standing, but people of unblemished characters and good standing don't murder 15-year-olds ... there's no excuse."

Mr Troode said Garth's apology in court today provided them no solace.

Jessie's mother Judy Cate said outside court she and her family would never recover from her daughter's violent murder, saying they had lost the best thing they ever had.

"It happened so quickly, she didn't have a chance to defend herself or have a chance to get away, he took the intention to kill her without any thought towards Jessie herself and us as a family," she said.

"If he was remorseful, he should have let her live the first time."

Ms Cate said her daughter was "perfect" and "everything a parent could hope for in a child".

K Rudd's lessons for life

K Rudd's lessons for life


While Julia Gillard is selling her education crusade, Kevin Rudd is doing his own round of schools, reminding people of his record — and musing on what to do when you run into a brick wall.
All the time, he's been keeping the Twitter world abreast of where he's going.
''Spoke to 1400 lads at Iona College in Brisbane this morning on faith, values and politics,'' he tweeted yesterday.

Then, directing his followers to a YouTube video, ''Have a listen to what the kids at one of the schools in the Tweed have to say about their new school facilities.''

And today: ''Spent some time early this morning  with the teachers and little ones at the Stones Corner Children's Develop.''
''As the [Rudd]  government said way back in 2008, early childhood education to ensure our kids are wired for learning.''
''Fantastic morning at St Ita's at Dutton Park. St Ita's has used Oz Govt school funding [initiated by the Rudd government] to build a fantastic new library.''
''Also spoke to years 6 & 7 at St Ita's about China, the importance of family and most other things under the sun. Great kids.''
One thing has been missing from the stream of tweets so far - any reference to the Gonski report on school funding, which the Prime Minister and her government have now formally embraced.
When he spoke at  Iona College yesterday about various things under the sun, Mr Rudd delivered a homily to the many young people who say they would like to go into politics one day and ask him ''what should I do?''
''My answer to them is as follows.
''Tell me, young man, young woman, what do you believe in and why?
''And the second question I ask them: well, if you know what you believe in  and why, then ask yourself this question - what can I do about it?
''And the third question I put to them is: okay, what are you now going to do about it? Yourself, in your life, where are you?''
Too often, Mr Rudd lamented, ''I run into folk in political life, of all political parties including my own, who can't answer that question properly. And it's a very basic question.
''If you've looked at my own political career, it's been full of a few ups, and a few downs — mainly downs in recent times,'' he observed, drawing some laughs.
''Have you ever been - not too much laughter up the back there - a member of your college football team when you've come in first, and it's premiers in one season, and you've dropped to the bottom of the table the next season?
''Life's like that. I can here a few murmurs of agreement. Life's like that.
''It's not just one even smooth trajectory to the top of whatever you're doing. So when you run into brick walls in life, things that get in your road, things that go wrong, things that happen which you're not planning on, the really important thing is to go back to those basics of  'what do I believe in and why? and therefore, what should I do about it?'''

Life Insurance: Lose weight, save premium

Life Insurance: Lose weight, save premium


Our weight is an indication of how healthy we are and is one of the significant criteria that a life insurance company keeps in consideration while deciding the insurance premium that one has to pay. If one is overweight, the insurance company charges a loading, which is an extra charge over and above the basic premium. The reason why insurance companies apply loadings or charges extra premium due to being overweight is because of—

The increased risk of health complications such as diabetes, hypertension or high blood pressure that comes with being overweight.

They classify or categorise people into underweight, normal, overweight and obese. Medical research over the years have shown that obesity is a precursor to a plethora of diseases and this means that you are a higher insurance risk for life insurers to underwrite and that they will charge you more to make sure that they can cover their expenses when they have to pay a claim made by you.

The higher premium in other words is to allow for the fact that you are more likely to die young than a rightly built person

Even though your overall health is perfect but if you are overweight, you will have a difficult time getting affordable life insurance. Being overweight does not only affect your way of life and health, but it can also influence your policy approval rate and insurance premium.

Let us evaluate that how does your weight affects your life insurance premium. Your physical built is directly proportional to your life insurance premium. In order to be considered for preferred life insurance rates it is important to keep your BMI i.e your height to weight ratio under check. Losing that extra 20 kilos can considerably lower your life insurance premium. If you are considering to buy life insurance policy for yourself then the advise would be to lose the extra weight. Life insurance companies use different health ratios to determine rates, therefore, shopping around may uncover both potential savings and better coverage. In order to save on your life insurance premium and get the best possible rate for term life insurance when purchasing it on your own, you need to fall under the “preferred” category. The preferred category is someone who is low risk, basically healthy, and a non-smoker. Most life insurers in India today have preferred rates. Once the premium is set, that’s what you pay for the rest of your term.

Life after Paterno at Penn State

Life after Paterno at Penn State


Joe Paterno's grave is about halfway between Mount Nittany and Beaver Stadium. In nearby Bellefonte, Jerry Sandusky is inmate No. 12-0529 at the Centre County Jail. Penn State is set to begin a season like no other in its storied football history.

Saturday's game (noon ET, ESPN) against Ohio University once would have been viewed as simply a matchup with that other Ohio school — not Ohio State. But this is no typical year in "Happy Valley," where roars of "We Are … Penn State!" have echoed through past falls, a distinct, unified and thundering voice known across the college football landscape.

"We know what we're going through is tough … but we also know the power football has to bring people together," says senior fullback Michael Zordich, whose father played for Penn State in the 1980s. "We know that it can't heal everything, but we know that it can help."

The healing Zordich speaks of will continue this weekend in a stadium packed with roughly 100,000 fans — die-hards who have witnessed the Penn State football program's stunning and swift fall from grace after a child sexual abuse scandal, and alleged coverup, that dominated the nation's headlines for months.

In interviews with dozens of students, merchants, business people, faculty and alumni, USA Today encountered common themes: displeasure with stiff NCAA sanctions, fatigue over news media coverage of the scandal, disgust with the crimes committed — and enduring support for Paterno and the football program that he built.

"I hope it's a year in which we can demonstrate to everyone how important it is for all of us to be respectful of one another … and to reflect the best of the university and the community as we move forward together," university President Rodney Erickson said Monday before an event to build relationships between students and local residents.

In the company of the Nittany Lions mascot, Erickson joined in the fifth annual Lion Walk, visiting homes to chat with students and locals.