A climber who survived a plunge of 1000 feet from one of Britain’s highest mountains still plans to scale Everest this year. Adam Potter, 36, of Glasgow, slipped on an icy patch off the summit of the 3589 foot mountain in Scotland on Saturday. (Jan. 31
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Biggest literary event in the Arab literary world pulled as Egypt convulsed by protests Literature has been caught up in the protests that have now entered their seventh day in Egypt. The annual Cairo book fair , due to have been held this week, has been abandoned, with many foreign exhibitors left stranded after failing to secure flights to take them out of the country. The fair – the largest and oldest in the Arab world, usually attracting two million visitors and a host of authors – was due to be opened on Saturday 28 January by President Hosni Mubarak, who has hitherto raised the curtain each year. But with protesters demonstrating on the streets against his rule, and curfews imposed across the city, the event was summarily abandoned. The guest of honour, China, withdrew its delegation on the eve of the scheduled opening. Salwa Gaspard, director of small independent publisher Saqi Books which has offices in both London and Beirut, said: “There was no official announcement by fair organisers that the event had been cancelled, but Mubarak did not come. Our representative from Beirut was lucky enough to find a plane home, but people are still there.” Many other international visitors, including representatives from the UK’s Publishers Association and the Frankfurt book fair, cancelled their flights or left ahead of time last week. While the political and humanitarian dimension is at the forefront of everyone’s minds, Gaspard noted in passing that some publishers would also take a major financial blow from the chaos. “Publishers send books ahead because, unlike at other fairs, at Cairo you sell directly to the public. It is a huge organisation and many people will have shipped big quantities … we are a bit pessimistic about getting the books back, and of course there is no insurance for this sort of situation.” In the past, the Cairo book fair has been marred by accusations that books critical to the government or books with explicitly sexual themes have been banned. A number of titles presented by foreign publishers are said to have been seized by the Egyptian authorities, including works by Milan Kundera, Ibrahim Badi, Hanan al-Sheikh and Elias Khoury, with some booksellers arrested at the 2005 event. With widespread disruption to internet and phone connections with Egypt, the Cairo book fair could not be reached for comment. Publishing Egypt Benedicte Page guardian.co.uk
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Thousands of Egyptians gathered in central Cairo on Monday, joining many who had spent the night sprawled on the grass or in colourful tents. (Jan. 31)
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ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – The African Union has named a panel of six African presidents to mediate Ivory Coast’s political crisis. The list announced Monday at the AU summit includes two leaders who came to power through elections – the presidents of South Africa and Tanzania. But the panel also includes three men who headed coups in their countries – the leaders of Mauritania, Chad and Burkina Faso. Nigeria’s president and the current chairman of the African Union also will serve on the panel, which is being given a month to try to resolve the crisis in Ivory Coast. The country’s incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo has refused to leave office two months after the international community said he…
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Images of the thousands of Egyptian protesters that defied a curfew in the capital Cairo and other cities taken throughout the day.
Continue reading …ABC News Publishes, Then Quickly Removes Lefty Mother Jones Article on GOP ‘Redefining Rape’
January 31, 2011 No Comment
ABCNews.com on Monday republished, then removed an article from Mother Jones magazine on Republicans “redefining rape.” The piece briefly appeared on the network's website with no explanation that it was by the editor of the liberal magazine. The article, by Nick Baumann, featured both the incendiary headline from Mother Jones, ” The House GOP's Plan to Redefine Rape ” and the nasty sub-headline: “Drugged, raped, and pregnant? Too bad. Republicans are pushing to limit rape and incest cases eligible for government abortion funding.” Unlike CBSNews.com, which has an opinion and analysis section, this article received no label. One could easily assume Baumann was simply an ABC News journalist. In the piece, Baumann, attacked the “anti-choice” Republicans: Rape is only really rape if it involves force. So says the new House Republican majority as it now moves to change abortion law. For years, federal laws restricting the use of government funds to pay for abortions have included exemptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. (Another exemption covers pregnancies that could endanger the life of the woman.) But the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” a bill with 173 mostly Republican co-sponsors that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has dubbed a top priority in the new Congress, contains a provision that would rewrite the rules to limit drastically the definition of rape and incest in these cases. The only experts cited in the article are those attacking congressional Republicans, including Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America. That would be fine, of course, had the article not been featured on ABCNews.com (or had it been identified as commentary). National Review's Kathryn Jean Lopez created a screenshot of the (now gone) ABC News article and the Mother Jones original: — Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter .
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Moto hasn’t been shying away from the Apple jabs this year, and it’s got another one in store for the Super Bowl this week with a commercial that’ll poke fun at Cupertino’s 1984 Macintosh ad, perhaps the most famous Super Bowl spot of all time. In it, the company says that “2011 looks a lot like 1984″ with “one authority, one design, one way to work” while showing Planet Earth wearing a pair of shiny white iPod / iPhone buds. Boom , here comes a new planet — a red, gaseous one with an “M” logo on it — that pimps a bunch of wild features we’ll be seeing in the Xoom like a dual-core processor, upgradeable 4G, and Honeycomb out of the box. In closing, Moto says “it’s time to live a free life.” We would’ve liked to have seen Motorola follow a format closer to that 1984 commercial, but it’s a pretty well-played jab nonetheless — and it’s conceivable that this is just a teaser for the actual ad that’ll air next weekend. Follow the break to check it out. Continue reading Motorola teases Xoom Super Bowl ad: ’2011 looks a lot like 1984′ Motorola teases Xoom Super Bowl ad: ’2011 looks a lot like 1984′ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Jan 2011 12:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …112th Congress: 28 Bills to Repeal Patient Protection Act in 11 Days, But Nothing to Create Jobs
January 31, 2011 No CommentI see our elected representatives are hard at work, representing their constituencies. Not that those constituencies even vaguely represent voters, you understand. No, they would like to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 28 times. In 11 days, no less. What busy little beavers they are! Here’s a list as of today, divided by House and Senate. House H.R. 105 Dan Burton, GOP – Indiana : To repeal the Patient Protection Act & enact in its place incentives for people to buy health insurance. H.R. 118 John Fleming, GOP – Louisiana : To permit a state to elect not to have an American Health Care Exchange. H.R. 119 John Fleming, GOP – Louisiana : To prohibit hiring of irs agent to implement or enforce health insurance reform. H.R. 127 John Graves, GOP – Georgia : To de-authorize funding of Patient Protection Act. H.R. 141 Steve King, GOP – Iowa : To repeal the Patient Protection Act. H.R. 145 Connie Mack, GOP – Florida : To repeal the Patient Protection Act. H.R. 154 Ted Poe, GOP Texas : To prohibit any federal funds to be used to enforce Patient Protection Act. H.R. 171 Cliff Stearns, GOP – Florida : H.R. 2 Eric Cantor, GOP – Virginia : Repeal of Patient Protection Act. H.R. 38 John Fleming, GOP – Louisiana : Rescind funds authorized for Patient Protection Act. H.R. 9 David Drier, GOP – California : Requires Committees to look into Patient Protection Act. H.R. 26 David Drier, GOP – California : Repeal Patient Protection Act. H.R. 215 Don Young, GOP – Alaksa : Repeal Patient Protection Act. H.R. 19 John Carter, GOP – Texas : Disapprove rules on MLR in Patient Protection Act. H.R. 299 John Carter, GOP – Texas : Repeal Patient Protection Act. H.R. 358 Joe Pitts, GOP – Penn : Remove abortion funding from Patient Protection Act (there is none) H.R. 360 Michael Burgess – Texas : Amend Patient Protection Act to include President in Health Care Exchanges. H.R. 364 Tom Latham, GOP – Iowa : To Repeal Patient Protection Act H.R. 371 Marsha Blackburn, GOP – Tennessee : Repeal Title I of Patient Protection Act. H.R. 5 Phil Gingrey, GOP – Georgia : Repeal Patient Protection Act. H.R. 397 Wally Herger, GOP – California :Repeal Patient Protection Act. H.R. 429 Darrell Issa, GOP, California – Repeal Patient Protection Act. H.R. 452 Phil Roe, GOP, Tennessee – A bill to repeal Patient Protection Act. H.R. 450 Dave Reichert, GOP, Washington – A bill to repeal Patient Protection Act. Senate S. 19 Orrin Hatch, GOP – Repeal Health Mandate & therefore repeal patient protections. S. 17 Orrin Hatch, GOP – Repeal Tax on Medical Devices S. 16 David Vitter, GOP – Repeal Patient Protection Act S. 196 Chuck Grassley, GOP, Iowa – A bill to to provide congressional staff gets to participate in Exchange. S. 192 Jim DeMint, GOP, South Carolina – A bill to repeal health care. I thought it might be interesting to see what Democrats did in their first 11 days after assuming control of the House in 2006. Well, lookee there. All sorts of interesting bills in those first days. Everything from gun show loophole closures (David Dreier’s baby) to First Amendment protections, to small business assistance to alternative energy. But for Republicans and their keepers, this Congress is all about sticking it to Obama. Nothing more, nothing less.
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Al Jazeera web producer reports that the army presence has decreased since Sunday. Thousands of protesters continue to demand the resignation of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, after 30 years of ruling the country.
Continue reading …9 People Who Have Lived with Animals, Changing Our View Forever (Slideshow)
January 31, 2011 No Comment
Photo: Afrika Expeditionary Force / Creative Commons Dreams about living with animals for many children, especially after reading The Jungle Book , are common. But for these nine people — it was no fiction. From John Ssabunnya, the feral child raised by African green monkeys to Jane Goodall (TreeHugger Person of the Year for 2010 ), … Read the full story on TreeHugger
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