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After ripping off five straight wins, the Mets have lost three of four, including two of the first three in this four-game set with the Diamondbacks. Consistency is a nice concept, but it has no practical application for the Mets.

Will 3D television be a hit?BSkyB is to launch Europe's first 3DTV channel next year, which will require viewers to buy a new 3D-ready set and special glasses. Is it a gimmick or will 3DTV take viewers by storm?John Zubrzycki, principal technologist, R&D, BBCIt gives stunning pictures, and when you look at 3D in a cinema it's a really good experience. When you look at it on a domestic screen it looks good but you've got to wear the glasses - it's not necessarily a done deal that it will be the next big thing. The issue is how 3D will perform in the shops - will the public pick up on it? I just don't know. Peter Bazalgette, media consultantSky's business has been very successfully built up with a number of technological additions to their package, Sky+, then HDTV and now 3DTV. What this enabled them to do is to continue to market Sky subscriptions with a fresh angle. It's an extraordinarily effective marketing machine and that machine has to be supplied with good stories. This is the th

There are 17 days before Afghans go to the polls to elect a leader the west hopes can stamp out widespread corruption, a ruthless Taliban insurgency and a booming narcotics industry. The Guardian's correspondent in Kabul, Jon Boone, spent a week with two men challenging the incumbent, Hamid Karzai, who think they have the answers and the popular support to save their country.The thousands of banner-wielding Afghans from the famously beautiful valley town of Bamiyan who had turned out to see their political hero were rewarded with eyes filled with dust, as the aged Russian transport helicopter carrying Dr Abdullah Abdullah touched down on the ragged airstrip.The country's former foreign minister, a man tipped as a real threat to Hamid Karzai's re-election chances, walked through the abating swirl toward the throng of people that had filled up the route running down to the small town in Afghanistan's central highlands.The short stretch of concrete road gave Abdullah his first cue for th

Harriet Harman says if hacker with Asperger's were sentenced to prison in US, UK would push for him to be moved to BritainThe government will push for Gary McKinnon, the computer hacker fighting extradition to the US, to serve his sentence in a British prison if he is found guilty, Labour's deputy leader said today. Seeking to defuse the growing political row over McKinnon's extradition, Harriet Harman said that if he were convicted by an american court, Britain would move quickly to arrange for him to serve any jail term in the UK.Harman, who is standing in for Gordon Brown this week while the prime minister is on holiday, also disclosed that the US had given assurances that if extradition took place, McKinnon's health needs would be taken care of. McKinnon has Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism, and his supporters fear his health would suffer in a maximum security jail in the US.'If he is found guilty, then obviously straight away we will seek for him to serve any prison sentence