Six In The Morning

Don’t Worry The U.S. Government Will Never Take responsibility  



Research links rise in Falluja birth defects and cancers to US assault

A study examining the causes of a dramatic spike in birth defects in the Iraqi city of Falluja has for the first time concluded that genetic damage could have been caused by weaponry used in US assaults that took place six years ago.

The research, which will be published next week, confirms earlier estimates revealed by the Guardian of a major, unexplained rise in cancers and chronic neural-tube, cardiac and skeletal defects in newborns. The authors found that malformations are close to 11 times higher than normal rates, and rose to unprecedented levels in the first half of this year – a period that had not been surveyed in earlier reports.<

With The Show Trial Over  

 

Jailed Russian oil tycoon gets six more years  

Jailed Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky was sentenced to six more years in prison yesterday, following a trial seen as payback for his defiance of Vladimir Putin.

Judge Viktor Danilkin sentenced Khodorkovsky to 14 years after convicting him of stealing oil from his own company and laundering the proceeds. The 14-year sentence, which was what prosecutors had demanded, will be counted from his 2003 arrest and include a previous term in prison.

Who Needs A Real Job That Pays A Living Wage  



Get used to temporary: Contract hiring set to grow in 2011    

Welcome to the “adhocratic” work force.

Not familiar with that term?

It describes an evolution in the job market: As the economy recovers from the recession, more and more workers in the 2011 labor force will be hired on an ad hoc basis, teaming up in work groups created for a specific reason for a specific period of time.

“And we’ll see even more of this in the future simply because it’s enabled through technology and the kind of work we do,” says Brian Mennecke, a management information systems professor at Iowa State University.

Bond James Bond    



U.S. helps Ukraine send two bombs’ worth of uranium to Russia    

WASHINGTON – The United States has helped Ukraine send two atomic bombs’ worth of weapons grade uranium to Russia during a secret operation over the holidays, the Obama administration confirmed Thursday on msnbc’s The Rachel Maddow Show.

The removal of more than 111 pounds of highly enriched uranium followed a pledge by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to get rid of all of his country’s highly enriched uranium by April 2012.

“The Ukraine, they recognize they’re part of the international community, they recognize how dangerous this material is,” Thomas D’Agistino, head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, told Maddow.

Can we Throw TSA Under The Bus?  

 

As frustration grows, airports consider ditching TSA    

Every spring, private security officers at San Francisco International Airport compete in a workplace “March Madness”-style tournament for cash prizes, some as high as $1,500.

The games: finding illegal items and explosives in carry-on bags; successfully picking locks on difficult-to-open luggage; and spotting a would-be terrorist (in this case Covenant Aviation Security’s president, Gerald L. Berry) on security videos.

“The bonuses are pretty handsome,” Berry said. “We have to be good – equal or better than the feds. So we work at it, and we incentivize.”

Folded Spindled And Mutilated    



North Korea bends David Beckham film

Bend it like Beckham has become the first western-made film to be broadcast on television in North Korea – but the broadcast, monitored in Seoul on Boxing Day, was edited down to just an hour long, instead of the original 112 minutes.

The film, made in 2002 and starring Keira Knightley and Parminder Nagra, is about a soccer-mad teenage girl who outrages her traditional Indian family by idolising David Beckham and playing football in a local all-female team. North Korea’s TV programming more usually features news, documentaries and soap operas.

Although Bend it like Beckham is about a sport beloved among North Koreans, the film also tackles taboo topics, including interracial relationships, homosexuality and religion.