According to the AP, Gillian Gibbons has been placed safely on a plane out of Sudan, bound for home. More as story develops. Update: Ms. Gibbons was appar­ently pardoned by Sudan President Omar al-​​​​Bashir after two Muslim members of the UK House of Lords flew to Sudan to negotiate on her behalf. She was pardoned and released to the British embassy in Khartoum, where­after she was booked on every possible flight out of Khartoum, for security purposes. She was taken to the airport in an unmarked car and flew to Dubai, where she boarded a flight to Heathrow. She is due to [ . . . ]

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According to this CNN​.com article, Gibbons had been charged under Article 125 of Sudan’s consti­tution, the law relating to insulting religion and inciting hatred. According to the Sudanese Embassy in Canada [pdf], Article 125 of the Constitution of the Republic of the Sudan (1998) reads: Article 125 Popular Defense Force The Republic of Sudan may establish a volunteer Popular Defense Force from among the Sudanese people for national defense, to maintain national security, or to assist any regular forces. The Popular Defense Force shall be under the command of the National Armed Forces or the Police and shall promote defense, security [ . . . ]

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According to this Washington Post Article, the Flying Imams’ lawsuit survived a motion to dismiss yesterday. But the article does not tell the whole story. In fact, the article misrep­re­sents Judge Montgomery’s decision as an unqual­ified victory for CAIR and the Flying Imams. I have read the ruling, and offer a brief summary of its effect on the suit. The decision rules on several motions: U.S. Airways’ Motion to Dismiss U.S. Airways’ Motion for Summary Judgment MAC’s Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs’ Rule 56(f) Motion Plaintiffs’ Motion to Strike I. MAC’s Motion to Dismiss MAC is the Metropolitan Airport Commission, a state actor. This is a FRCP [ . . . ]

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Fetus with Intent Whoever came up with the word “twin­sep­a­rable” needs medication and insti­tu­tion­al­ization. The most irri­tating part about this soft news piece (aside from being soft news, of course) is the reporter’s insis­tence on ascribing intent to a fetus: Mrs Jones decided to let doctors operate to terminate Gabriel’s life. Firstly they tried to sever his umbilical cord to cut off his blood supply, but the cord was too strong. They then cut Mrs Jones’s placenta in half so that when Gabriel died, it would not affect his twin brother. But after the operation which was meant to end his [ . . . ]

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