UPDATE: Bradley Manning – WikiLeaks Suspect Formally Charged

UPDATE: WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning has been formally charged ahead of a court martial that could see the United States soldier sentenced to life in prison.

Manning was charged with 22 counts, the most serious of which is “aiding the enemy”, for allegedly turning over a trove of classified US documents to WikiLeaks in one of the most serious intelligence breaches in US history.

The 24-year-old is accused of passing hundreds of thousands of military field reports from Iraq and Afghanistan and US diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks between November 2009 and May 2010, when he was serving in Iraq.

The leak of the military documents shed light on civilian deaths, while the diplomatic cables sparked a firestorm by disclosing the private remarks of heads of state and candid observations by senior US officials.

The US government slammed the disclosure of the documents by WikiLeaks, saying it threatened national security and the lives of foreigners working with the military and US embassies.

WikiLeaks supporters view the site as a whistleblower that exposed US wrongdoing and see Manning as a political prisoner.

RELATED: www.sociallyengineered.com.au/julian-assange/

Bachelor Nations

Nature provides an unbending biological standard for the sex ratio at birth of 104-106 males to every 100 females.

As the global population hits seven billion, experts are warning that skewed gender ratios could fuel the emergence of volatile “bachelor nations” driven by an aggressive competition for brides. The precise consequences of what French population expert Christophe Guilmoto calls the “alarming demographic masculinisation” of countries such as India and China as the result of sex-selective abortion remain unclear. But many demographers believe the resulting shortage of adult women over the next 50 years will have as deep and pervasive an impact as climate change.

The statistics behind the warnings are grimly compelling. Nature provides an unbending biological standard for the sex ratio at birth of 104-106 males to every 100 females. Any significant divergence from that narrow range can only be explained by abnormal factors.

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Money Matters: Wikileaks Forced To Cease and Desist

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has announced the whistleblowing website is suspending publication of classified documents due to a funding crisis. Assange fronted the media at London’s Frontline media club to announce that the website would be forced to fold after Christmas unless it raised about $3.3 million in funds.

“An arbitrary and unlawful financial blockade has been imposed by Bank of America, Visa, MasterCard, PayPal and Western Union” said Assange “The attack has destroyed 95 per cent of our revenue”

Assange warned that WikiLeaks would take legal action against companies blocking funding in Australia, the US, Britain and several European countries.

“We are throwing all our own resources into this stand against the blockade because it will mean the elimination of WikiLeaks and potentially the elimination of any other group that gets on the wrong side of these unaccountable US finance companies,” he said. ”If we do not get the funds flowing again that is the end of WikiLeaks – that is the end” :: Read the full article »»»»

Cult of Elizabeth Olsen: Martha Marcy May Marlene

Olsens latest film is the first feature film from young writer/director Sean Durkin, Martha Marcy May Marlene is certainly a stylistically assured debut, mysterious, moody, unbearably tense…

One of the benefits of a large family is that, of several children, your more likely to turn out at least one normal adult. A point in case are the Olsen sisters. Elizabeth Olsen is a commandingly lovely actress, wistful, with soulful eyes and a gracefilled figure, Elizabeth cuts a fine figure on the screen.

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LiLo Breaches Probation

With Lindsay Lohan the news just seems to go round and round and round. Lindsay Lohan appeared in court today -  looking her usual mess -and had her probation revoked,  it’s now likely she will go back to jail.

A Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner, today and revoked Lindsay Lohan’s probation, saying the actress has blown off her court-ordered community service and even questioning the starlet’s commitments to her acting career.

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Revolute! OWS Citibank Protesters Arrested

Police arrested 24 protesters for trespassing at a Citibank branch, a New York Police Department spokesman said.

Citibank has always been a bit of a fumbling behemoth, barely - with bailout assistance from U.S. tax payers - scraping through the global financial crisis in tact, it now face an entirely new wave of trouble. Days after Citibank CEO Vikram Pandit talked about his sympathies with Occupy Wall Street and his willingness to engage with protesters. A Citibank branch in New York has locked the doors of their branch and arrested a group of Citibank account holders who wished to to close their accounts. It’s clear that Citibank are terrified that a few accounts closing will escalate to a run on the bank. “It would only take a small percentage of account holders to prove that Citibank is an economic hologram and like much of the financial sector, is desperately hiding how weak it is. The 99% are waking up and realise they’ve been duped, fleeced,conned and bullied for far too long” said Jeremy Bloom.  ”NOT even in the dark dark days of the 1930s great depression – when there was actual panic – did we see anything this stupid” Here’s how it went down at the Citibank branch at 555 La Guardia Place in New York. The demonstrators - all Citibank customers -  were asked to leave, and when they tried to comply Citibank’s security locked them in and wouldn’t let them leave! 24 were arrested. Clearly nothing is ever this simple!? Read the full article »»»»