Russia And Qatar Triumph At World Cup Vote – Russia and the tiny Gulf state of Qatar were awarded the 2018 and 2022 Soccer World Cups on Thursday after an acrimonious bidding war marred by allegations of corruption and illegal deal-making. The bombshell conclusion to two years of frenzied lobbying saw world football supremo Sepp Blatter reveal the winners following a secret ballot of 22 Fifa executive committee members in Zurich. [mail&guardian]

England Team Blames FIFA ‘Lies’ – England’s World Cup bid leadership on Thursday night claimed they had been lied to by Fifa executive committee members after suffering a humiliating defeat in the race for the 2018 tournament that saw them poll just two votes, one of which came from bid chairman Geoff Thompson. Among the voters who abandoned England was Trinidad’s Jack Warner, who is understood to have told Prince William at a meeting in Zurich this week that England had secured his vote. [telegraph]

Sex Crimes Arrest Warrant Issued For Wikileaks Founder – Sweden’s highest court refused on Thursday to allow Julian Assange, the founder of the WikiLeaks whistle-blowing organization, to appeal a court order seeking his arrest to face questioning over alleged sex crimes, his lawyer and said. In a telephone interview, Mark Stephens, Mr. Assange’s lawyer in Britain, said the ruling by the Stockholm court exhausted his client’s legal options in trying to overturn the arrest order in Sweden, where the offenses are alleged to have taken place. [nytimes]

Qantas Begins Legal Action Against Rolls-Royce – Qantas has begun legal action against the engine supplier Rolls-Royce following the explosion of an engine on one of the airline’s Airbus A380s. It said the legal action was back-up in case a settlement could not be reached. Earlier, Australian air safety authorities said they had identified a serious manufacturing fault with some of Rolls-Royce’s Trent 900 engines. [bbc]

NASA Discovers New Life – All life on Earth – from microbes to elephants and us – is based on a single genetic model that requires the element phosphorus as one of its six essential components. But now researchers have uncovered a bacterium that has five of those essential elements but has, in effect, replaced phosphorus with its look-alike but toxic cousin arsenic. News of the discovery caused a scientific commotion, including calls to NASA from the White House [washingtonpost]

Grammy Nomination Snubs Aplenty – Eminem raked in the Grammy nominations last night, leading the ranks with 10 nods including Album of the Year, Best Rap Album, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year. Next up were Bruno Mars with seven, and Lady Gaga, Lady Antebellum, and Jay-Z with six each. Of course, there were also some snubs. Gaga didn’t get nominated for Song of the Year, Susan Boyle didn’t get nominated for Best New Artist, and Justin Bieber didn’t get nominated for Album of the Year. Suck on roots, Bieber. [newser]

Rare Bob Dylan Lyric Sheets Up For Auction – Sometime in late 1963 Bob Dylan jotted down the lyrics to “The Times They Are A-Changin'” on a long sheet of white paper. On the back he began penning “North Country Blues,” another song that begins with the lines “Come gather ’round…” The document has been seen by very few people for the past 47 years, but on December 10 it’s going to be auctioned by Sotheby’s. They estimate it will go for between $200,000 and $300,000. [rollingstone]

Australian Man Marries His Dog – A young Toowoomba man yesterday tied the knot with his best friend – a five-year-old labrador. In perhaps a first for the Garden City, Laurel Bank Park hosted the wedding of Joseph Guiso and Honey, a labrador he adopted five years ago. Thirty of the couple’s closest friends and family were in attendance for the emotional ceremony, held at dusk. “You’re my best friend and you make every part of my day better,” Mr Guiso’s vows read. Stunning. [thechronicle]

How To Be A Walking-Talking Capitalist Punk-Rock Star (Rule #1 – Have Fun) – Rule #2 – Make good money while you’re having fun. Richard Mulholland makes great public speaking look easy. But don’t hate him for it. When he’s not on stage making audiences think and laugh, he’s saving the world from those stodgy corporate PowerPoint addicts. One of the first things Rich Mulholland will tell you is that your business model is dead. Whether you’re a bank, in the porn business or own the Yellow Pages, he’ll tell you that your business model is, well, “fucked”. [dailymaverick]

SA Child Porn Ring Cracked – What is alleged to have been the biggest child pornography manufacturing ring in South African history was cracked yesterday with the arrest of eight members of a single family. Laid bare during early morning raids on four homes north of Pretoria were allegations of the bizarre and sordid sexual exploitation, by grandparents and parents, of children as young as four. Police and social workers gasped and held their breath as an overpowering stench of dog, cat, pig and human excrement emanated from the rooms. [timeslive]

News Trumps Celebrity Searches On The Net – News trumped celebrities in 2010 as the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and World Cup soccer in South Africa topped the list of most-searched items of 2010, according to Yahoo!It is the first time that news came up first since the technology company began publishing its yearly review a decade ago. Vera Chan, the company’s senior editor and web trend analyst, said the BP oil spill was the most searched topic for term for a variety of reasons. [reuters]

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