Back but still jet-lagged. So, here are some short takes:

Therefore, expect post election fireworks

Why China is wooing the Jihadis, and what India should do Clearly, India is more vulnerable to Islamist mayhem than China.

To avoid wearing a headscarf, Obama may skip Golden Temple visit

Poor, petrified Obama - Americans may think he really follows the religion of his father.

Unfortunately, he has little to fear from those hurt worse by his disastrous economic policies - They will continue to vote for him. Soledad O’Brien: Bad Economy is ‘devestating for the Black Community’

This is the topic mostly ignored by MSM. Good work, Soledad.

Within three years, an Israeli scientist and his American research partner plan to develop a cost-effective self-sustaining nuclear reactor. Let's hope so.

The Israeli Negev may contain oil fields after all. But will it end up being a blessing or a curse?!

Bilingual children are less easily confused and are less likely to develop Alzheimer's when they grow up.

I have always always argued that multilingual education is inherently beneficial since knowing at least two ways of saying something inherently leads to assume they are many way to achieve a particular goal. In other words, it opens the mind. This logic has now been affirmed scientifically.

I am less sure about the delayed dementia. Five languages failed to protect my mother from its horror during the last couple of years. Of course, it may be argued that it delayed the onset to her late eighties. Be that as it may, it is difficult to point out the downside of multilingualism.