News: Shot US congresswoman resigns

Shot US Congresswoman will step down this week

Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head by on January 8 last year while conducting a street meeting, announced she would resign from Congress this week to focus on her own recovery. Ms Giffords was not expected to live after the shooting, in which six members of the public were killed and 13 were wounded. The year since has seen a rousing reception at Congress after she left hospital and welcoming her husband Mark Kelly, an astronaut, home from space. But Ms Giffords said she could not continue and her resignation was in the best interests of both Arizona and her health. Her video is moving. Watch it here:

Apple’s education revolution

Have you heard about Apple’s next ‘big thing’? iTunes University launched last week. If it all sounds Greek to you, here’s a quick explanation. You can download the app from the Apple store and gain access to the coursework, videos, lectures and questions from the world’s major universities across a huge range of topics from astrophysics to biology to law. Or, even Greek, as the case may be. Gizmodo Australia reported: “Six universities including Duke, Stanford, Yale, MIT, The Open University and HACC have already adopted this, and K through 12 can now sign up as well, which is huge. iTunes U currently has over 100 complete courses already, and it would be prudent to expect that number to skyrocket in the very near future as adoption grows. On the downside, playing sick now means you still have to go to school.” Even if you’re not enrolled you can grab the app for absolutely zero and get stuck into a course for a little personal development. Critics have labelled the move as cynical because, they say, it’s just ‘another way to woo users on to its closed systems’. But when you think of the money parents spend on textbooks and learning resources, maybe it’s worth it? What are your thoughts?

Prime Minister’s pokie backdown

It was rumoured, now it’s out in the open. The Prime Minister Julia Gillard has reversed her pact with independent Andrew Wilkie to push through poker machine reform legislation before the 2013 election. Instead, the mandatory per-commitment technology will be trialled in Canberra from next year and any decision deferred until 2016. It wasn’t what she promised and Andrew Wilkie has announced he has withdrawn his support from the Federal Government. He won’t support the Opposition either. Ms Gillard will still hold Government after picking up an extra vote when Liberal MP Peter Slipper defected to become Speaker of the House, freeing up Labor’s Harry Jenkins to vote again. Wilkie said of the drama: “Frankly, a deal’s a deal and it must be honoured. Our democracy is simply too precious to trash with broken promises and backroom compromises.” Ms Gillard said she did not have the support of Parliament to get the initial legislation through. The new deal offers: $250 ATM withdrawal limits in all venues except Casinos from 2013, all machines built after 2013 to include capacity for bet limits and all existing machines to upgrade to support from 2016.

Couple reveal sex of child they raised ‘neutral’

A British couple who raised their child as ‘gender-neautral’ for five years have revealed he is a boy after it became difficult to conceal who he was. Beck Laxton, 46, and partner Kieran Cooper, 44 spent five years letting the child they called ‘The infant’ play only with gender neutral toys and dress alternately in both girl’s and boy’s clothes, to keep friends guessing. Speaking of her decision over the weekend, Beck said: “I wanted to avoid all that stereotyping. Stereotypes seem fundamentally stupid. Why would you want to slot people into boxes? It’s like horoscopes: what could be stupider than thinking there are 12 types of personality that depend on when you were born? It’s so idiotic. Gender affects what children wear and what they can play with, and that shapes the kind of person they become.”

The Klum/Seal rumour mill continues to turn

But a little grist has been added by way of Seal tweeting ‘The end’. It’s a vague allusion, it would seem, to unconfirmed reports that supermodel Heidi Klum and singer Seal are headed for divorce. If that is the case, it will come as a surprise to many. The couple were known for their yearly vow renewals and ‘public displays of affection’. Not to mention their multiple Halloween parties. Here’s a reminder of some of that:

Labor for Life: moral pact in the party

The socially conservative forces in the Australian Labor Party are mobilising – reportedly on the back of the platform change to support gay marriage – in an attempt to cement pro-life values and support candidates who are anti-abortion and euthanasia. The group even has a Facebook page which states: “For the record Labor for Life is about all life, from conception to natural death, we are against the death penalty, we want to close the indigenous gap, we want good mental health resources, dental care, we oppose euthanasia, we oppose abortion, we oppose unjust war.. We support rights at work, as stable work would reduce the amount of family breakdown, anxiety, depression, suicide and abortion. We want people to know about real choices as women deserve so much better then abortion.” The group includes members like Senator Helen Polley and Environment Minister Tony Burke.

What else news-wise is on your mind?