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The White House has shelved its missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic according to the Wall Street Journal.

The U.S. will base its decision on Iran’s long-range missile system not having progressed as rapidly as estimated. The decision will be seen as a victory for the Kremlin which argued the European-based system would counter its own strategic defences. Many say this is in fact a gesture to Russia in order to win cooperation for economic sanctions against Iran if Teheran doesn’t abandon its nuclear program.

How will this be problematic? First of all the US will have to really work hard so this doesn’t look like case of bowing down to Russian pressure.

Secondly, Poland and the Czech Republic will feel let down by this. “The Poles are nervous,” one senior US military official told the Wall Street Journal. The US is considering offering the two countries alternative programs – notably against short and medium range missiles - to reassure them that the US remains committed to their defence.

“Toxic Shame,” reads the headline in today’s Independent. The British trading giant, Trafigura, has agreed to pay millions to victims maimed and scarred by dumping of polluted sludge in Africa. 30,000 people in the Ivory Coast had brought a case against the company. The company is now settling with the victims. It is estimated that as many as 100,000 flooded into hospitals in Abidjan in 2006 after the Ivory Coast after the dumping.

The Guardian also runs the Trafigura story on its front page. The paper reveals what it calls a “massive cover up” of one of the “worst pollution disasters in recent history.” For three years the company has been insisting the waste was routine and harmless. It forced the Guardian to delete articles; it threatened BBC Newsnight with a libel case and insisted a correction be printed in the Times. According to the Guardian, internal emails now reveal Trafigura knew in advance that its planned chemical operation called ‘caustic washing’ generated such dangerous wastes that it was outlawed in the West.

The German elections are nearing and both Merkel and her main challenger Franz-Walter Steinmeier have been accused of running a dull campaign. The same can’t be said of Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg from Bavaria, says the New York Times. The 37 year old aristocrat is known as the “rocking baron”. His favourite band is AC DC and he even took the stage as a DJ this month in Deuburg an der Donau. He’s winning fans with his direct style and calls for freer markets.

His family has been involved in politics since the 12th century he says. Under the Nazis, they joined the resistance and one was assassinated in 1944 for being involved in a lot to assassinate Hitler.

Le Monde also runs a feature on zu Guttenberg or « monsieur plus que parfait » (Mister More Than Perfect). The paper prints his full name - Karl-Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester zu Guttenberg!

Finally, the International Herald Tribune runs a feature on a new Dutch sport: lock picking. An organisation called Toool, The Open Organisation of Lockpicker, is gaining in popularity. However it is just a sport, members insist. Burglars have tried to attend meetings on occasion but Toool insists that “these are people we don’t feel comfortable with.”