Congo rebels say peace talks at standstill

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) ? Peace talks between the Congolese government and rebels believed to be backed by Rwanda have reached a standstill and could fail if regional governments deploy a neutral international force in eastern Congo, a lawyer for the M23 rebel movement said Thursday.

The government and M23 rebels are reviewing the terms of a March 23, 2009 agreement that the rebels accuse Congo's government of failing to honor. In November the rebels took the eastern city of Goma before withdrawing under international pressure. The rebellion forced thousands of villagers in Congo's North Kivu province to flee their homes.

Jean Baptiste Rudaseswa, the legal adviser for the M23 delegation to the peace talks, said he sees no progress in the negotiations. He said their last meeting was on Jan. 18, and that the M23 representatives now spend more time relaxing at their hotel.

It was not immediately possible to get a comment from Crispus Kiyonga, the Ugandan government minister who is mediating the talks.

M23 representatives and the Congolese government have been meeting in Uganda since Dec. 9 under the banner of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, or ICGLR, a regional bloc of which Congo is a member. A meeting last year of the ICGLR urged the Congolese government to listen to M23's "legitimate grievances." The ICGLR has also proposed the creation of a neutral international force to police eastern Congo, but it remains unclear what its mandate will be or where the troops will come from.

The peace talks started tensely, with both delegations offering accusatory accounts of who is responsible for violence in eastern Congo's North Kivu province.

"We do not see any progress," Rudaseswa said. "We did not come here because we were in a position of weakness...We declared a unilateral ceasefire and we now what we are seeing is a standstill. We are telling the Congolese government that either you talk or you fight. You can't do both at the same time."

The rebels are opposed to the deployment of a neutral international force, proposed by the ICLR, to fight "negative forces" in eastern Congo, Rudaseswa said. He accused the Ugandan mediators of failing to discourage talk of such a force.

In his opening statement Raymond Tshibanda, Congo's foreign minister, said M23 was a criminal organization that must be "eradicated." The talks would only be considered successful if they ended with the disbandment of M23, Tshibanda said in December.

M23 is made up of hundreds of soldiers who deserted the Congolese army last April after accusing the government of failing to honor the terms of a 2009 peace deal that incorporated them into the national army.

A U.N. report published last year accused the Rwandan government of backing the rebels, a charge Rwanda denies. The report also said some Ugandan military officers were helping arm the rebels and that the rebels' political wing operates freely in Kampala. Uganda has said the claims are baseless.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/congo-rebels-peace-talks-standstill-120424345.html

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U.S. military building space robot to recycle satellites

A Pentagon project to harvest and reuse parts from dead satellites is gaining steam, and a new video shows how the far the military program has come in its first few months.

The new video serves as a progress report through last November for the?Phoenix program, a project by the?Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to recycle space junk back into valuable satellite parts, or even completely new spacecraft. DARPA scientists began the project in July and are working toward launching the first demonstration mission in two years or so.

"Today, satellites are not built to be modified or repaired in space," Phoenix program?manager Dave Barnhart said in a statement unveiling the video Tuesday (Jan. 22). "Therefore, to enable an architecture that can reuse or repurpose on-orbit components requires us to create new technologies and new capabilities. This progress report gives the community a better sense of how we are doing on the challenges we may face and the technologies needed to help us meet our goals."?

An animation of a Phoenix servicing spacecraft working on orbit runs in the background of the 2 1/2-minute video. The foreground, meanwhile, shows some of the progress that has been made in the lab to date.?[DARPA's Project Phoenix (Video)]

This progress includes the development and testing of prototype satellite-grappling technology and tele-operations control software, among other gear, according to the video.

The Phoenix program plans to use a robot mechanic to grab still-working antennas from the many retired and dead satellites in geosynchronous orbit, about 22,000 miles (35,406 kilometers) above Earth. These large, bulky antennas would then be attached to small "satlets," or nanosatellites, launched from Earth, creating new space systems on the cheap.

The goal is to demonstrate a way to turn part of the ever-expanding cloud of space junk around our planet into space resources, saving money in the process, DARPA officials have said. The first on-orbit demonstration mission is targeted for 2015.

"We have a long way to go, but we are laying the foundation for improving how we build space systems, with the goal of changing the economic model for space operations," Barnhart said.

Phoenix isn't the only satellite-servicing effort currently underway. NASA's?Robotic Refueling Mission?(RRM), which was delivered to the International Space Station in July 2011, is testing out the technology necessary to repair and refuel satellites on orbit.

The latest round of RRM experiments is going on right now, with the space station's two-armed Dextre robot attempting to snip wires, unscrew caps and pump simulated fuel using the RRM test module, NASA officials have said.

Follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall?or SPACE.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook?and?Google+.?

Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-military-building-space-robot-recycle-satellites-video-213731095.html

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Afghan bombing helped shape Panetta's views on women in war

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three years before he lifted the U.S. military's ban on females in front-line combat, Leon Panetta grew acutely aware that women in senior positions were already risking - and losing - their lives when a would-be informant blew himself up at a CIA base in Afghanistan.

Panetta was CIA director at the time of the December 2009 attack in Khost, Afghanistan, and two women -- including one who headed the CIA base -- were among the seven Americans killed.

A senior aide cited it among the experiences that helped shaped Panetta's thinking about women in war even before he took over the Pentagon in 2011, and inherited the difficult job of writing condolence notes to the families of fallen troops - men and women.

More than 150 women have died in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001, and nearly 1,000 have been wounded.

"Every time I visited the war zone ... I've been impressed with the fact that everyone -- everyone, men and women alike -- everyone is committed to doing the job," Panetta told reporters on Thursday.

"They're fighting and they're dying together. And the time has come for our policies to recognize that reality."

So, with perhaps just weeks before he steps down as defense secretary and retires to private life, Panetta on Thursday was able to seal his legacy as the man who lifted the 1994 ban on women in front-line combat roles. It came after he helped finish the job of integrating openly serving gay and lesbian service members in 2011, with the elimination of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

Panetta took an important step toward making more opportunities available to women last year, with an initial move to open around 14,000 additional jobs to women but leaving more than 230,000 off-limits. At the time, the aide recalled Panetta being unsatisfied, asking privately "why can't we do more?"

Panetta on Thursday credited the military's top brass for putting forward the proposal this month to lift the ban on women in front-line combat roles. An OK from the generals and admirals was crucial buy-in that would be necessary for the proposal to work. The integration will be gradual, through 2016, and it's unclear which roles may remain off-limits.

"I was very pleased when I got that recommendation, because it was a fulfillment of what we had talked about and what we wanted to achieve," Panetta said.

OBAMA STAYED OUT OF PENTAGON DELIBERATIONS

Aides described regular meetings over the past year with service chiefs on the issue, sometimes in the ultra-secure Pentagon briefing room known as "The Tank."

Panetta said he also regularly spoke with President Barack Obama on his efforts to provide more opportunities to women.

A senior administration official said Obama had privately encouraged Panetta to take the step but had stayed out of internal Pentagon deliberations.

Panetta also had an ally in General Martin Dempsey, the top U.S. military officer, who, as commander of the 1st Armored Division in Iraq in 2003 came to learn how the role of women in the military had changed over the years.

On his first foray out of the forward operating base, Dempsey jumped into an armored vehicle and slapped the soldier manning the turret gunner around the leg, and said, "Who are you?"

"And she leaned down and said, 'I'm Amanda,'" Dempsey recalled. "So, female turret-gunner protecting (me, the) division commander. And it's from that point on that I realized something had changed, and it was time to do something about it."

Panetta described a similar experience when he came face-to-face with a military that had changed tremendously in the near half-century since he joined the Army as an intelligence officer in 1964.

"It's been almost 50 years since I served in the military and to go out now and to see women performing the roles that they are performing and doing a great job at it, I think it ... encouraged me," Panetta told reporters.

He noted that he had six grandchildren, half of them women and the other half men.

"I want each of them to have the same chance to succeed at whatever they want to do," he said.

"In life, as we all know, there are no guarantees of success. Not everyone is going to be able to be a combat soldier. But everyone is entitled to a chance."

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland and David Alexander; Editing by Warren Strobel and Doina Chiacu)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/afghan-bombing-helped-shape-panettas-views-women-war-002155367.html

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Folkerson Communications: For Affordable Business Phone Systems

Austin, Texas, January 2013: Folkerson Communications, LTD is an ace telecommunication service provider in the areas of Austin, Belton, Copperas Cove, Coupland, Gatesville, Georgetown, Harker Heights, Killeen, Lampasas, Nolanville, Round Rock, Moody, Temple, Troy, Waco and many other areas of Texas. With extensive knowledge on products and technology, they have been supplying telephone services of highest quality since past thirty years. Their services include providing consultation on business telephone systems, telephone call plans, planning and installation of structured cabling, network systems, designing communication set-up and setting up VoIP phone systems.

Gregory B. Folkerson, who established Folkerson Communications Ltd, has been working in the area of communication services since 1979. The founder began his career as a technician at Centel Telephone Company in Texas and later on progressed to head operations and developments at Dallas Regional Service Center. Mr. Folkerson received series of promotions to gain management expertise along with remarkable technical understanding of all areas of telecommunication which are channeled through Folkerson Communications Ltd making it a telecommunication service specialist.

The company understands that technical equipments and arrangements may require assistance and upgradation from time to time. So, whether you want to shift your communication set-up because of house/office relocation or want to upgrade any phone system equipments or calling plans, company`s skilled technicians are always a phone call away. The company strongly believes in long term professional client association and keeps the need of customers as the top priority.

To know more about the services provided by Folkerson Communications, LTD, you can visit them at 6448 E Hwy 290, Austin, TX 78723 or call them at Austin: (512) 977-0055, Temple: (254) 742-0064, Killeen: (254) 698-0016 and Waco: (254) 662-2255. You can also visit their website http://www.folkersoncom.com/ for more details.

Source: http://www.briefingwire.com/pr/folkerson-communications-for-affordable-business-phone-systems

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A shot at the truth about gun violence

The best ways to prevent gun-related crime have never been properly investigated. It is time for the scientific evidence to trump ideology

LOVE it or loathe it, there is no denying that the US National Rifle Association (NRA) has been stunningly successful in its efforts to fight gun control. In the 1990s, it even managed to largely shut down US government research into gun violence as a public-health problem - an unbelievable situation that still stands today.

This is why President Obama's clear instruction to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to initiate research into reducing gun violence is important and necessary (see "Obama to scientists: Tell us how to calm gun violence").

But it is only the first step. Deciding whether to fund the research will be down to Congress, where the NRA's influence still holds strong.

If the NRA succeeds in blocking this attempt to bring science to bear on America's gun problem, it will be another demoralising example of the power of money over evidence-based politics.

The NRA presents itself as a civil rights group dedicated to upholding and defending the Second Amendment to the US Constitution - the one about the right to "keep and bear arms". The gun lobby interprets this as an inalienable individual right to own guns.

Although the NRA was founded on this platform, it is important to recognise that it has strong links to the firearms industry, which supplies it with millions of dollars in funding.

Viewed from this perspective, the NRA's strangling of research is utterly reprehensible. Imagine if a group associated with food manufacturers were able to curtail research on obesity, or if tobacco interests had nixed the science that tied smoking to lung cancer.

Hopefully we will now get some fresh answers on the best approaches to preventing gun violence. But if this knowledge is to be acted on, politicians and the public on both sides will need to abandon entrenched positions.

Liberal opponents of the gun lobby often assume that the answer lies in tougher restrictions on ownership - but that isn't necessarily where the biggest gains could be made.

Advocates for gun rights must accept that public-health researchers aren't the stooges of a sinister bureaucracy intent on seizing their guns. They are professionals trying to use the scientific method to save lives. They should be set free to do this work, and then listened to.

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Apple?s iCloud Has Grown To 250M Users

Apple announced today that there are now 250 million users on its iCloud service. That's a big increase from the 190 million users that it reported back in October, which itself was up from 150 million in July. The numbers were revealed during this afternoon's conference call discussing Apple's earnings for the first quarter of the fiscal year.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/2DOkg2MuG4U/

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