Yueosaurus tiantaiensis is believed to be an Ornithischian dinosaur (image: berkeley.edu)

The coffee’s freshly ground, there’s a variety of teas and the sticky buns are homemade.

  • “Standard & Poor’s, the credit ratings agency, has stripped Brussels’ main bailout fund of its AAA status and challenged eurozone countries to increase their financial support for a collective rescue package or risk a further downgrade. The move forced European leaders onto the back foot following the mass downgrade of nine eurozone countries by S&P last week. S&P said the loss of France’s AAA rating had forced it to conclude that the European Financial Stability Facility should be cut to AA+ from AAA, which could increase its borrowing costs.”
  • “An Argentine judge has opened a criminal investigation into human-rights violations committed in Spain during the 1936-1975 Franco dictatorship. Maria Servini de Cubria, a federal judge in Buenos Aires province, has launched the case based on a complaint lodged by lawyers from both countries representing several Spanish human-rights groups including the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory (ARMH by its Spanish initials).”
  • “The Natural History Museum is today accused by a coalition of prominent academics and cultural figures of helping to break international law by leading a research project which involves an Israeli cosmetics company based in an ‘illegal’ settlement in the occupied West Bank. In a letter to The Independent, leading scientists and the film directors Mike Leigh and Ken Loach, condemn the London museum – which is the fourth most visited in Britain – for its research collaboration with Ahava – Dead Sea Laboratories (DSL), which sells beauty products based on minerals extracted from the Dead Sea.”
  • “The Chinese village that rose up and kicked the government out is getting a new government. This time, according to several Chinese media reports, Lin Zulian, the man who represented Wukan’s angry villagers’ complaints to higher government officials will be the town’s Communist Party of China representative. And local elections will come.”
  • “Pakistan’s prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, has been threatened with jail for contempt of court and ordered to appear before the supreme court in person, raising the possibility that he could be disqualified from office. In the ongoing clash between the government and the courts, the judges went on the offensive on Monday, issuing a ‘show cause’ notice for contempt of court to Gilani demanding he appear in court on Thursday.”
  • “Sudden fuel shortages in Egypt have Egyptian drivers hoarding gasoline in anticipation of a rumored price increase, as panic around the country grows. Though the government has denied shortages of gas, which started to become noticeable to consumers over the weekend, many gas station owners said their supplies have been cut, The Los Angeles Times reported.”
  • “Scientists have identified a new species of dinosaur, Yueosaurus tiantaiensis or “Tiantai Yue Dinosaur,” from a fossilized skeleton found in eastern China. According to Xinhua news agency, the fossil was dug up 13 years ago, during the construction of a highway in Tiantai county in Zhejiang province.”
  • “Today, just fifteen per cent of US voters say that their country is “headed in the right direction”. Even fewer – 11 per cent, according to a Gallup poll – approve of the performance of Congress, almost all of whose members are either Democrats or Republicans. And a survey taken last year found that over half say a third party is needed in US politics. So why, as the 2012 presidential election approaches, haven’t candidates from smaller parties been able to gain traction? It has happened in the past: In 1992, billionaire businessman H Ross Perot, who ran as an independent, appeared at one point to have a shot at winning the race – and ended up with 18.9 per cent of the vote.”

Editorial cartoon

The truth will set you free but first it will piss you off.