Mexican emperor overthrown Schubert hits wrong note

Less than 18 months after leading his army into Mexico City in triumph after securing independence from Spain, Emperor Agustin de Iturbide has abdicated.

Agustin, 39, fell foul of the strong republican group in the country’s Congress after being crowned as Emperor Agustin I last July, and dismissed the parliament in October. Cricket in the Arctic? Has England’s increasingly popular summer sport ever been played in a colder and more hostile environment?

Mexico has struggled as an independent country, faced with the hostility of Spain’s king, and a lack of diplomatic recognition and economic ties with other states. Agustin’s record was marred by allegations of extravagance and a 40% property tax. His fate was sealed when army officer Antonio López de Santa Anna led a revolt against his former ally in December 1822.

Snow didn’t stop play for Arctic cricketers

One of the rising stars of European music, composer Franz Schubert, 26 (pictured) has been forced to rename his new one-act opera.

Censors in Vienna working for the conservative Austrian Chancellor Prince Klemens von Metternich vetoed the title of Die Verschworenen (The Conspirators) for political reasons. It was then changed to Der hausliche Krieg (Domestic Warfare).

This picture shows members of the crews of HMS Fury and HMS Hecla playing cricket on the ice near the Inuit settlement of Igloolik, where they have spent the winter.

The ships will stay ice-bound until conditions improve to let them carry on their search for the Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to Pacific Oceans. The cricket must have been a welcome break from the tedium of winter.