ROANOKE, VIRGINIA // Campaign historians might look back to last Friday as the day Barack Obama sealed his presidential bid when he addressed a rally in Roanoke, a town surrounded by some of the most conservative hill country in the United States.
Since 1948, Virginia has voted only once for a Democratic president and that was in 1964. But widespread anger and disaffection with Republican rule amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression has sparked a surge in support for Mr Obama, even among white, working-class voters who fled the Democratic Party in recent decades.
If Mr Obama's latest personal appearance swung Virginia for him, then the White House is almost certainly his.
Long before Mr Obama became a serious contender in Virginia, a young Arab-American decided to take on this Republican stronghold of small farmers and miners, many of whom are of Scots-Irish descent and who believed the Democrats had abandoned them.
At 27, Sam Rasoul is the youngest congressional candidate in next month's elections. He hopes to represent the Democratic Party in Virginia's sixth district, which spans urban Roanoke and mostly rural farmland nestled between the Blue Ridge and Appalachian mountains.
"We didn't get a lot of attention until only recently when Obama and the national party started extensive interactions in the district. This will help us almost by default," said Mr Rasoul at his campaign headquarters in Roanoke soon after attending the Obama rally.
Obama strategists have spoken of creating a new electoral realignment and bringing back into the Democratic fold the blue-collar base, although Mr Rasoul said it is enough to win a majority of "50 plus one".
Mr Obama has repeatedly been obliged to assert his Christian faith in the face of claims he is Muslim. Mr Rasoul, however, is a Muslim and takes pride in his background as the US-born child of Palestinian parents. He presents his story as the latest incarnation of the American dream and said he has suffered little racism or bigotry.
His parents fled the occupied territories as refugees after the 1967 war. Like them, Mr Rasoul became a small-business owner and now owns a shopping mall. He said this experience led him to decide in 2006 to "help the forgotten middle class" by standing against Robert Goodlatte, who has been the district's Republican representative for 16 years, unchallenged for the past decade.
If elected, Mr Rasoul has vowed to swear on a copy of the US Constitution, not the Quran. Conventional wisdom has Mr Rasoul facing a very tough battle before that happens.
Some polls show the Democrats could win up to twice as many seats as was anticipated just two weeks ago. All 435 House seats are up for grabs, and the Democrats hope to expand their current 235-199 majority. (There is one vacant seat.) The party could be poised also to win a 60-seat majority in the 100-member Senate for the first time in 30 years.
Mr Rasoul appeared exhilarated by the national attention focused on Virginia, but also a little bemused. He sat in the VIP section at the Obama rally but did not meet the presidential candidate, saying he did not want to "push myself forward".
He was also outspoken about not wanting to make promises that he could not keep and asserted his independence from the national Democratic leadership. "I'm very proud. I don't take money from lobbyists or the party itself, only from individuals," he said. "Even if the party offered me money, I wouldn't take it."
He pointed to a leaflet being distributed by the national Democratic campaign in Virginia, showing pictures of Mr Rasoul, Mr Obama and Mark Warner, the former governor, who is running for Senate. One of the Democratic pledges includes lowering gas prices, which he said he had never made.
"My business approach has distanced me from a lot of typical politicians in that I don't make a bunch of promises I can't keep," he said. "I tell people we're not going to have a lot of money to invest in, for example, rail and that can be hard for people to swallow."
His stance on foreign policy, including Iraq or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, differs little from Mr Obama, who promises a US troop withdrawal and a two-state solution.
Mr Rasoul used the Obama rally to shake the hands of at least 1,000 local supporters in the hope they would spread the word about him. His hand was temporarily crippled by pain as a result but he said "that's the price you pay".
He had rushed back to his campaign headquarters after the rally because Mr Obama's advance planners had scheduled a possible step-in at the hairdresser's next door. When Mr Rasoul entered the salon to check on preparations, the handful of stylists and clients inside turned sharply to the door.
"You thought it was someone else, but it's only me," he announced. The handful of people inside cheered nonetheless. One man shouted: "You are the big gun!"
Laverne Tiggle, a retired African-American educator, said: "It would be beautiful to turn Virginia [Democratic] blue."
"It went light blue two days ago," Mr Rasoul replied, referring to opinion polls showing Mr Obama had gained a double-digit lead in the state.
After Mr Obama failed to turn up, Mr Rasoul went to the Central Market, and as he introduced himself to passers-by, he said: "Everyone is so polite, sometimes annoyingly so. People don't like to tell me if they're not going to vote for me, but I like to find out who are the independents so I can try to persuade them."
He said he and his wife, Layaly, had knocked on thousands of doors across his district. He said his campaign, which had raised about $250,000 (Dh920,000) from individual donations, chose to use TV, radio and press advertisements only sparingly but has achieved a high rate of name recognition thanks to his personal canvassing.
If people believe the Democrats are headed towards overwhelming victory, Mr Rasoul could face the challenge of split ballots. Sometimes voters opt for one person as president but choose a candidate from the opposite party for the House or Senate.
But Mr Rasoul seemed quietly confident even if it was just a politician's guise. "Our burden begins after November 4," he said. "We can't let special interests take over. The average guy wants us to put our partisan caps aside to get done what's got to be done."
sdevi@thenational.ae
Company%20Profile
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Brief scoreline:
Liverpool 5
Keita 1', Mane 23', 66', Salah 45' 1, 83'
Huddersfield 0
Slow loris biog
From: Lonely Loris is a Sunda slow loris, one of nine species of the animal native to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore
Status: Critically endangered, and listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list due to growing demand in the global exotic pet trade. It is one of the most popular primate species found at Indonesian pet markets
Likes: Sleeping, which they do for up to 18 hours a day. When they are awake, they like to eat fruit, insects, small birds and reptiles and some types of vegetation
Dislikes: Sunlight. Being a nocturnal animal, the slow loris wakes around sunset and is active throughout the night
Superpowers: His dangerous elbows. The slow loris’s doe eyes may make it look cute, but it is also deadly. The only known venomous primate, it hisses and clasps its paws and can produce a venom from its elbow that can cause anaphylactic shock and even death in humans
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates, Etihad and Swiss fly direct from the UAE to Zurich from Dh2,855 return, including taxes.
The chalet
Chalet N is currently open in winter only, between now and April 21. During the ski season, starting on December 11, a week’s rental costs from €210,000 (Dh898,431) per week for the whole property, which has 22 beds in total, across six suites, three double rooms and a children’s suite. The price includes all scheduled meals, a week’s ski pass, Wi-Fi, parking, transfers between Munich, Innsbruck or Zurich airports and one 50-minute massage per person. Private ski lessons cost from €360 (Dh1,541) per day. Halal food is available on request.
The specs: 2018 Mazda CX-5
Price, base / as tested: Dh89,000 / Dh130,000
Engine: 2.5-litre four-cylinder
Power: 188hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 251Nm @ 4,000rpm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.1L / 100km
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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About Takalam
Date started: early 2020
Founders: Khawla Hammad and Inas Abu Shashieh
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: HealthTech and wellness
Number of staff: 4
Funding to date: Bootstrapped
General%20Classification
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
More on animal trafficking
SQUADS
India
Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur
New Zealand
Kane Williamson (captain), Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Ross Taylor, Tom Latham (wicketkeeper), Henry Nicholls, Ish Sodhi, George Worker, Glenn Phillips, Matt Henry, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Adam Milne, Trent Boult
