FLDS: When Warren Jeffs rules

Warren Jeffs becomes leader and prophet of the Fundamentalist of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS) in September 2002, after the death of his father. Years later, he is convicted in Utah on two counts of being an accomplice to rape. His extremism knows no boundaries.

•Warren Jeffs assumes leadership of the FLDS after the death of his father, Rulon Jeffs. •By 1995, Warren Jeffs is becoming a subtle, but more powerful presence. •He has rigid rules against women becoming obese. •Warren Jeffs is the son of deceased FLDS polygamist leader Rulon Jeffs. •Warren Jeffs bans the color red. It is reserved for Jesus Christ. •The obedience Warren Jeffs’ preaches is a woman’s complete submission to her husband. •Women are not to go into town without the company of a man. •Warren’s father, after he became the prophet, put a stop to higher education. •Television, radio and the Intranet are completely off-limits, except for business purposes. •Clothing is limited to only pastel colors in a few styles

Missing the point about the alpha wife

T he media is aflutter about a new study showing a growing number of women out-earning their husbands, a situation that has become more common in a recession in which men are losing jobs at a faster clip. There's even a catchy label to accompany the movement: alpha wives.

To which I say: Oh, boy, here we go again.

The story of breadwinning wives is the latest act in the work-family opera, an ongoing saga in which pundits perceive every morsel of news as a trend. Before alpha wives, we were consumed with women who were opting out of the job market. Never mind that this was a sliver of the female workforce. Never mind that most women have no choice but to earn a living. Headlines nonetheless trumpeted an exodus.

Afghan women make slow, fragile gains

L ast spring, I wrote from Kabul about the controversy over a law that would have restored Taliban-style restrictions on women and legalized marital rape. President Hamid Karzai remanded the law for further study after an international furor. But late last month, with an eye toward gaining conservative religious votes in Friday's presidential election, he quietly issued the law without resubmitting it to parliament. ``There was deliberate obfuscation by the government,'' said Rachel Reid, Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch, whom I reached by phone in Kabul. ``Compared to the earlier international outcry, there has been remarkable silence this time around.''

Indeed, the ongoing struggle over this law is a sobering reminder of the fragility of the gains made by Afghan women since the fall of the Taliban, and of how much those women need our support.

While some Afghan women now sit in parliament and hold jobs, and millions of girls attend primary school, those improvements are threatened

Andel Mickins | Retired school principal was church activist

Andel Mickins, an educator who spent 40 years in Miami-Dade County schools, was ``first lady'' of her husband's Memorial Temple Baptist Church and was a Florida Memorial University trustee, died Sept. 27. She was 85.

A grande dame of Miami's black community, Mickins had been afflicted with multiple myeloma and Alzheimer's disease, according to her sister, Theatrice Patterson of Atlanta. Her husband, the Rev. Isaac Mickins -- a successful builder -- founded his church in 1968 in Miami Gardens, where the couple lived. He died in 1993.

GROUP LEADER

For new Costa Rican leader, a lifetime of preparation

Laura Chinchilla has been called tough, intelligent, funny and honest.

Late Sunday, Costa Ricans added another description: first female president.

The 50-year-old Chinchilla -- who served as a legislator, public security minister and vice president -- handily defeated six other candidates to win the presidency.