Creationism stoush rocks Britain’s national academy of science. Michael Reiss, a professor of education at the Institute of Education in London and an ordained Church of England clergyman, agreed to step down from his position as director of education at the Royal Society, which claimed he had unintentionally caused damage to the organisation’s reputation. — The Guardian

Europe and Asia see US as no longer practicing what it preaches. In France, where the government has long supported the creation of national champions and worked actively to protect select companies from the threat of foreign takeover, politicians were quick to point out the paradox of what is essentially the nationalization of the largest American insurance company. — International Herald Tribune

Ahmadinejad… the blogger. To read or write, that is the question. As you know, the purpose of running this blog is to have a direct and mutual ‎contact and communication with the viewers and even though I have received many ‎messages from the viewers to update the blog and write new notes, I preferred to write ‎less and spend more time on reading the viewers’ messages – and not let this ‎communication tool become just a one-way medium.‎ — Ahmadinegad.ir [via 3 Quarks Daily]

Did the new media fail in Beijing? That’s not precisely the conclusion of this report from the Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change (thanks to Passport for the link), but it does seem to suggest that the Chinese authorities pulled the wool over the media’s eyes to a large extent. — The Interpreter