Category: Face Of The Day

An Afghan boy covers his face as Dutch Soldiers of Regional Command-South with Joint Task Force-Uruzgan patrol through the streets of Tarin Kowt on January 17, 2010. The Netherlands Royal Army leads the NATO/ISAF joint task force in the southern province of Afghanistan. About 113,000 foreign troops under US and NATO command are based in Afghanistan, with about 40,000 more due to be deployed this year to try to turn around the costly war against the resurgent Taliban. By Deshakalyan Chowdhury/AFP/Getty Images.

People attend on January 16, 2010 in Paris, a gathering, called by French-Haitian associations, in solidarity for the victims of the Haiti earthquake. France will give $2.88 million dollars worth of food aid to earthquake-stricken Haiti, which would back the efforts of the UN World Food Program and provide high-protein biscuits for more than 18,000 children under five years old. By Fred Dufour/AFP/Getty.

Pakistani protesters from Lyari, an impoverished neighborhood of the city, shout anti-government slogans to protest against an operation led by security agencies in their areas in Karachi on January 11, 2010. Thousands of people poured into the streets of Pakistan's financial capital Karachi on January 11 to protest security crackdowns following the deaths of dozens of people in a wave of political violence. Security officials say up to 48 political party workers have been killed in Karachi beginning January 7, when the headless body of a worker from the city's main political party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), was discovered. By Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty Images.

Malaysian Christians attend a Sunday service inside a church in Petaling Jaya near Kuala Lumpur on January 10, 2010. Christians and Catholics in Malaysia have not been shaken by a series of firebomb attacks on churches that has heightened ethnic tensions, as they turned up in thousands to attend their Sunday service. Four churches have been targeted with firebombs for the last three days leaving one badly damaged, amid an escalating row over the use of the word 'Allah' as a translation for the Christian God by non-Muslims in the Muslim-majority nation. By Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty.

Gay activists celebrate with champagne in front of the Portuguese parliament in Lisbon on January 8, 2010 after Portugal's parliament today approved plans to legalize civil marriage for gay couples. Lawmakers rejected proposals to allow gay couples to adopt, but otherwise the bill passed with little public controversy in what has traditionally been one of Europe's most socially conservative countries. By Francisco Leong/AFP/Getty Images.

Perhaps because they understood that marriage equality is, in fact, a socially conservative reform.

Orthodox follower Ouzinos Panaiotis kisses the wooden cross thrown by Fener Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew in the Golden Horn after a mass as part of celebrations of the Epiphany day at the Church of Fener Orthodox Patriarchiate in Istanbul, on January 6, 2010.The Orthodox faith uses the old Julian calendar in which Christmas falls 13 days after its more widespread Gregorian calendar counterpart on December 25. By Mustafa Ozer/AFP/Getty.

Two-year-old Josh Furlong enjoys his first encounter with snow on the way to nursery school on January 5, 2010 in Knutsford, United Kingdom. The MET office confirmed that the Christmas period has been the coldest for 25 years with temperatures as low as -17C being recorded. Commuters and air passengers faced long delays today as the continued frigid temperatures grip the country. By Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

A gull's breath can be seen in the freezing air on January 4, 2010 in London, England. Much of the country is in the grip of freezing weather with snow and ice disrupting transport as people return to work after the Christmas break. The MET office confirmed that the Christmas period has been the coldest for 25 years with temperatures as low as -17C being recorded in Scotland. By Dan Kitwood/Getty Images.

 

A timeless tribute to David Levine by John Updike:

"Besides offering us the delight of recognition, his drawings comfort us, in an exacerbated and potentially desperate age, with the sense of a watching presence, an eye informed by an intelligence that has not panicked, a comic art ready to encapsulate the latest apparitions of publicity as well as those historical devils who haunt our unease. Levine is one of America's assets. In a confusing time, he bears witness. In a shoddy time, he does good work."

The full gallery is here. His sketch of yours truly and a couple others after the jump:

As before, the women of Iran have been deeply involved in this revolt, displaying astonishing courage and autonomy in the face of a regime which consigns them to subjugation. They are masked not to conceal their identities (the Baseej are mostly doing that) but to guard against the tear gas you see all around them. The Newest Deal adds:

The regime seems intent on continuing to dig its own grave. With at least 10 protesters killed — including the nephew of a former Prime Minsiter — on one of the holiest days in Shia Islam and by a supposed Shia theocracy, rage towards the Islamic Republic is understandably turning very raw. Past all the amazing things that were captured on the footage that leaked out of Iran today, perhaps what was most interesting is what was missing: any mention of Ahmadinejad. The abundance and veracity of anti-Khameini chants on Ashura should not be overlooked. The Supreme Leader (with the doctrine of velayat-eh faqih which vests him with power) has become public enemy number-one.

Cries of 'Allah Akbar' tonight are reported as being the loudest since June.

There appear to be increasing calls (and support) for a general strike, possibly beginning tomorrow. Dissident filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf has repeated these calls on BBC Persian, though he should by no means be considered a "roving ambassador" of the Green movement, as some would have him. Najafabad is rumored to be under martial law.