Diversity

Egypt is now set to enter arguably its first period of Islamist rule. How long that period lasts and what form it takes is far from determined, a situation highlighted by the protests and violence in Cairo last week. If all goes according to plan - a big "if" in Egypt - Egyptians who believe in a democratic, civil state theoretically have the remainder of President Mohamed Morsi's term of office to get their collective act together. But practically speaking, the short-term political calendar will not allow them such a lengthy reprieve, with the likelihood of new parliamentary elections in the coming months and the current debate over a new constitution.

The latest snapshot of the U.S. employment picture is sparking conversation among Americans worried about the current economic climate and how it might affect the presidential race. The disappointing jobs report is one of the last three to be released before November's presidential election, and the findings usually shape political speeches and reinforce platforms. People taking a break from their busy Friday in downtown Los Angeles had diverse opinions about the data, but many agreed a turnaround would take longer than a couple of months.

Fishing trawlers that scrape the seafloor with nets are altering the submarine landscape and may affect sensitive marine ecosystems, according to researchers. Likening the effect of bottom trawling to agriculture plowing or forest clear-cutting on land, marine scientists say the practice has flattened undersea slopes across the globe. In the process, the fishing equipment threatens the diversity of sea life by altering their habitat. The study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, listed 24 coastal areas that had probably been altered by trawling, including fisheries off Northern California and in Morro Bay. The areas measured between 1,200 and 4,500 feet deep.

Re "Affirmative action - not required," Opinion, Aug. 26 The University of California's amicus brief in the Texas affirmative action case pending before the Supreme Court is a pointed example of the need for affirmative action. As Peter Schrag notes, the UC system adopted policies that eliminated affirmative action tools in 1995, before Proposition 209 passed. But the Board of Regents rescinded those policies in 2001. Thus, absent Proposition 209, UC could (and in all likelihood would)

TAMPA, Fla. - Earl Phillip is a North Carolina delegate to the Republican National Convention, a member of the party since he was 18 and a passionate believer in its ideals. He is also African American, which made him stand out this week in a sea of white faces on the floor of the convention hall. The day he arrived, Phillip said, "I walked out there, I looked around, and I couldn't count any black folks. " There were some, eventually, but not a lot. Nor, if he had tried, would he have counted many Latinos or other ethnic and racial minorities - except on the podium, where Republicans showcased their diversity with speakers who reflected the party's aspirations more than its reality.

TAMPA, Fla. - Nearly 32 years have passed since a Republican ousted a Democratic president. Now Mitt Romney is trying to pull it off in much the same way that Ronald Reagan did. The newly anointed Republican nominee, echoing Reagan, says his presidency would bring not just a revival of America's moribund economy, but also a repair of its self-image, "the feeling we'll have that our country's back," as one Romney TV ad puts it. Romney also on...

Five years ago, Julie Delpy wrote, directed and starred in the amiably shaggy romantic comedy "2 Days in Paris," in which she and Adam Goldberg's young lovers went to France for a visit. Although the movie gods were not exactly crying out for a sequel, superfluousness is one of the virtues of the new follow-up, "2 Days in New York," a giddy and largely consequence-free romp that sends a group of out-of-place Frenchmen and woman into the maelstrom of Manhattan. Delpy's harried artist Marion is now raising the child she had with her ex-boyfriend (Goldberg's "Paris" character)

With about 350,000 residents, Anaheim is by far the largest city in California that still holds citywide votes to elect every member of its governing body. One result is that Mayor Tom Tait and three of the four other members of the City Council hail from the Anaheim Hills neighborhood on the east side of town, miles - and worlds, seemingly - from most of the people they represent. On Wednesday, Tait proposed a way to guarantee that the council's power be spread more evenly across the city: a ballot initiative in November that would divide Anaheim into six districts, each electing its own representative.

"First," he says, "we're going to float. " Float? Doesn't he know I'm terrified? I've never been able to float; I sink in water like a bag full of barbells. The tall, tattooed black man standing before me in his swimming pool has no patience for excuses. Our bodies, he says, are remarkably light. Our lungs are like life jackets. He lies back. Sure enough, he floats. "Your turn," he says. I hesitate. The hair stands on the back of my neck. Trying to keep calm, I lie back - but the next few seconds feel like forever.

LONDON - The last time this city hosted the Olympics, in 1948, the French team was so skeptical of what war-weary, cuisine-challenged Britain had to offer that it brought its own wine. Now more than a quarter-million French people call London home, making it the largest French city outside France, and bottles of Bordeaux line supermarket shelves. Muslim competitors who wanted to pray together in '48 had few places to do so. Today, the British capital probably has more mosques than any other city in the West.