Monday, February 4, 2013

news today

In the news...

-- In an almost-fershur announcement, researchers claim to have unearthed the bones of England's King Richard III. 

The skeletal remains were found under a parking lot in Leicester and will be removed to Leicester Cathedral.

The hunched Richard, who died in battle in 1485, did not have a sterling reputation, but he was, after all, the king and kings need thrones, even after death.

-- On the pollution front, The Guardian reports that U.S. carbon emissions have fallen to their lowest levels since 1994. Of course, things were not precisely hunky-dory in 1994, but still, those of us who have to breathe the air our economies see fit to provide may be a bit heartened. Simultaneously, Reuters reports that China is exercising techniques long-perfected in the United States and blaming the oil companies for the smog in Beijing and elsewhere -- smog that the government has been incapable of reining in with an environmental ministry kept toothless as the money rolled in.

-- In Vietnam, a country in which the U.S. could not make its values or its military might prevail, a court has sentenced 22 people to terms between 10 years and life for subversion.
State-appointed defence lawyer Nguyen Huong Que said the 22 men convicted in Phu Yen had "admitted their crime of aiming to overthrow the people's administration"....
The defendants were accused of writing documents critical of the government.
Rights groups say the charges laid against the activists are routinely used by the Vietnamese government to silence dissent.
--  Soccer (football) in Europe and elsewhere has received a black eye as a Europol investigation announced that 680 matches worldwide had been fixed. Europol is the European Union's law enforcement agency.
This is the work of a suspected organised crime syndicate based in Asia and operated with criminal networks around Europe.
It is clear to us this is the biggest-ever investigation into suspected match-fixing in Europe. It has yielded major results which we think have uncovered a big problem for the integrity of football in Europe.
And here you thought you were watching an athletic event.

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