Today's news

Official warning of another A-level fiasco
The education secretary, Charles Clarke, has been warned that the government could face a repeat of last year’s A-level debacle after a parliamentary select committee threw out its official explanation of its role in the affair as “unsatisfactory”. The Commons education and skills committee says it is “not confident” that the government has learned the lessons of last year. (Guardian)

Durham scraps courses to gain subsidy
A leading university is closing two departments and a degree subject in what is seen as the start of a nationwide process of reducing choice and diversity in a bid to attract more government money. The University of Durham plans to do away with East Asian studies, linguistics and European studies to create more places in subjects such as English, history, philosophy and law. (Daily Telegraph)

Jupiter lookalike could belong to solar system like ours
British astronomers are hoping that the discovery of a planet similar to Jupiter that orbits a star in the southern constellation of Puppis, some 90 light years away, could point to the existence of a solar system similar to ours. (Guardian, Times, Independent)

First British Ice Age cave art revealed
The first Ice Age cave art to be found in Britain was unveiled yesterday, more than 12,000 years after it was carved into the rock face of a limestone gorge. The art was discovered three months ago at Cresswell Crags, in Nottinghamshire. (Guardian, Times, Daily Telegraph, Independent)

Looted Iraq museum opens after amnesty to thieves
Visitors were allowed back into the Iraq museum yesterday to admire treasures from its collection of Mesopotamian art that escaped looters who ransacked the building when Saddam Hussein’s regime collapsed.   A few priceless items on display had been returned by looters under a “no questions asked” amnesty. (Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Independent, Financial Times)

Wittgenstein’s successor dies
George Henrik von Wright, the philosopher who succeeded Wittgenstein at Cambridge University, has died aged 87. He made original contributions to great themes from inductive reasoning to deontic logic. (Guardian)