Six In The Morning

Gulf currents aided breakdown of oil after BP spill, study says
Rather than moving steadily away from the wellhead, oil-laced water often circled back, returning hydrocarbon-consuming bacteria to the plume repeatedly, authors say.

By Bettina Boxall, Los Angeles Times
The geography and water circulation patterns of the northern Gulf of Mexico promoted the breakdown of oil and gas spewing from a busted wellhead during the BP oil disaster, according to a new study. Using computer models and Navy data on gulf currents, the authors concluded that rather than moving away from the deep-sea wellhead in a linear fashion, oil-laced water often looped back, returning hydrocarbon-munching bacterial blooms to the rising oil plume for repeated feasts.

The US schools with their own police
More and more US schools have police patrolling the corridors. Pupils are being arrested for throwing paper planes and failing to pick up crumbs from the canteen floor. Why is the state criminalising normal childhood behaviour?

Chris McGreal guardian.co.uk
The charge on the police docket was "disrupting class". But that's not how 12-year-old Sarah Bustamantes saw her arrest for spraying two bursts of perfume on her neck in class because other children were bullying her with taunts of "you smell". "I'm weird. Other kids don't like me," said Sarah, who has been diagnosed with attention-deficit and bipolar disorders and who is conscious of being overweight. "They were saying a lot of rude things to me. Just picking on me. So I sprayed myself with perfume. Then they said: 'Put that away, that's the most terrible smell I've ever smelled.' Then the teacher called the police."

Sexism and the state of Israel
Driven by a theology that refuses to grant women equal rights, ultraorthodox Jews have begun to flex their misogynist muscles.

CATRINA STEWART TUESDAY 10 JANUARY 2012
As dusk falls in Mea Shearim, Jerusalem's most pious neighbourhood, black-clad and hatted Jewish men hurry home along the narrow streets lined by medieval-style houses where lights burn dimly in darkened windows. Less than half a mile away, young Israelis mix in bustling bars in central Jerusalem, anathema to this religious ultraorthodox community that has tried its hardest to hide itself away from the temptations of secular life, and ensure a rigorous separation between men and women.

North Korea announces prisoner amnesty
North Korea says it will grant an amnesty for prisoners to mark the birthdays of two late leaders.

The BBC 10 January 2012
State news agency KCNA said that the amnesty would begin from 1 February, in honour of Kim Jong-il, who died last month, and his father Kim Il-sung. No information was given as to how many prisoners would be released or who. Amnesty International estimates as many as 200,000 people are being held in political prison camps around the country. KCNA said that the amnesty embodied the "noble, benevolent and all-embracing politics of President Kim Il-sung and leader Kim Jong-il".

Protests peaceful in C’River, Imo, Oyo, Osun, flops in Enugu, aborted in Bayelsa


TUESDAY, 10 JANUARY 2012 00:00 BY OUR REPORTERS
THE strike embarked upon yesterday by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) over fuel subsidy removal was peaceful in Cross River, Imo State while it was aborted in Bayelsa State. Early in the morning, business activities went on as usual in Calabar as the markets opened while commercial drivers plied the roads. Also , petrol stations, government offices were open, while banks however did not do business with their customers.

The war dance is in full swing
Middle East

By Victor Kotsev
If the most recent wave of escalations in the Middle East is a bluff, it is a very convincing one. Russian analysts speculate that a military intervention against either Syria or Iran (or both) could start by the end of the month; the latter is still hard to imagine, but the time frame seems to correspond to the nature of the developments and the rate at which they are being announced. Barring a full-scale war in the Middle East in the next few weeks, we could think of what is happening on both sides as a modern version of a war dance, a dress rehearsal for a showdown and a spectacle for domestic consumption, for the enemy and for the international community alike.