Six In The Morning

I Wont Go! I’m Holding By Breathe Now I’m Stomping My Feet  

As protests build, the U.S. faces the difficult task of supporting reform while maintaining ties with an ally who has long blamed the U.S. for the theocracy in Iran and the chaos in Iraq.

Mubarak digs in against reform, as he always has

Reporting from Washington – Embattled yet unbending, President Hosni Mubarak is sending a message that he remains deeply suspicious of reform efforts in Egypt and resistant to the calls from Washington and his own populace for him to step aside.

But this is not just the face of a leader in crisis. This is the way Washington’s relationship has always been with Mubarak. Two years ago, a secret cable from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo described Mubarak as stubborn and stone-faced when pressed to make reform, and maintaining that he is the only barrier standing in the way of disaster.

Making sure The Messenger Is Shot

Members of international media and human rights groups arrested, attacked and beaten in intimidation campaign

Egypt cracks down on foreign journalists

Dozens of foreign journalists were arrested, attacked and beaten yesterday as the Egyptian government and its supporters embarked on what the US state department called a concerted campaign to intimidate the international media.

Human rights workers also fell victim to crowd violence, while police raided the offices of two groups in Cairo, the Hisham Mubarak Law Centre and the Centre for Economic and Social Rights, and arrested observers. Amnesty International said one of its staff was detained at the law centre, with a Human Rights Watch colleague.

Remember There Is No Climate Change Just Ask Fox News

Region set to outstrip US as CO2 emitter

Special report: Catastrophic drought in the Amazon

A widespread drought in the Amazon rainforest last year caused the “lungs of the world” to produce more carbon dioxide than they absorbed, potentially leading to a dangerous acceleration of global warming. Scientists have calculated that the 2010 drought was more intense than the “one-in-100-year” drought of 2005.

They are predicting it will result in some eight billion tonnes of carbon dioxide being expelled from the Amazon rainforest, which is more than the total annual carbon emissions of the United States. For the second time in less than a decade, the earth’s greatest rainforest released more carbon dioxide than it absorbed because many of its trees dried out and died.

Thieves Nothing But Thieves  

Artworks worth tens of millions of pounds registered as “disappeared” or “stolen” – including some by Degas and Manet – have been seized from a world renowned art institute run by one of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s closest friends.  

Artworks worth millions seized from Wildenstein Institute  

Guy Wildenstein faces an investigation after the heir of a wealthy private collector claimed the works belonged to him.

Among the 30 pieces seized from the Wildenstein Institute in Paris last month were an oil painting by the impressionist Berthe Morisot called Cottage in Normandy, valued at 800,000 euros (£675,000), and Café Concert Singer by the impressionist Edouard Manet, worth several million pounds.

The paintings are alleged to have belonged to Anne-Marie Rouart, a descendant of Manet. She was a friend of the late Daniel Wildenstein, Guy’s father and a celebrated dealer who amassed the world’s biggest private art collection.

Yes Were Cheaters And we Like Cheating

 

Match-fixing admission by sumo wrestlers exercises even Japan’s prime minister

FOR DECADES Japan’s ancient national sport of sumo has been dogged by claims of yaocho, or match fixing, but they have never been proved – until now.

Yesterday’s admission by two wrestlers that they took money to dive on to the dohyo (ring) is considered so serious even prime minister Naoto Kan commented.

“Sumo has a long history and a great number of fans,” he told parliament yesterday. “If match-fixing has occurred, it is a very serious betrayal of the people.”

The scandal surfaced this week after mobile phones confiscated by police revealed dozens of text messages from wrestlers suggesting they sold bouts for thousands of euro a pop.

How Much Do You Know?



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