Peace Agreement for Eastern DRC in Works

Al Jazeera reported on Friday that a peace agreement was being finalized in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. However, the announcement came a day after the United Nations Security Council had given permission to peacekeepers to use drones for monitoring purposes, according to Reuters .

Additionally, the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders issued a warning on Friday that thousands of displaced citizens in southeastern DRC were at risk as they are being confused for combatants during conflict between the Congolese military and militia active in Katanga province.

Here's the latest information regarding the conflicts taking place in rural DRC.

U.N. peace plan to be signed Monday

The agreement is hoped to end insecurity in the east, a region that has been the source of rebellions and government overthrows since the country's independence.

However, there were concerns that the agreement is too short and doesn't include important specifics like how to wind down the rebel group M23.

A special envoy to the great lakes region, an area including neighboring Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi, would be used to implement the agreement.

Drones approved by U.N.

The 15-member Security Council approved aerial spy equipment use in eastern Congo after initial concerns voiced by Russia, China, and Rwanda.

The drones will be used for situational monitoring of the nine-month-old conflict in the region. Rwanda had opposed the use of drones, voicing concern that Africa would be used as a laboratory for intelligence gathering devices. Rwanda has been accused of backing the M23 rebel group, as noted by Al Jazeera, an accusation the country denies.

The U.N. has wanted surveillance drones to operate in the area since 2008.

Militia groups preventing movement of refugees

Doctors Without Borders indicated that Mai-Mai militia in Katanga, another large, mostly rural province in the southeast DRC, were putting civilians at risk in the region.

Christine Slagt, MSF project coordinator in Shamwana, DRC, warned that with thousands of displaced people on the move, they run the risk of being considered combatants and are unable to access treatment for malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, malnutrition, and other health care provided by the group.

In a statement, Slagt noted the group was "particularly concerned about the very vulnerable hiding in the bush who cannot access medical care. Severe malaria can be fatal in children if left untreated and pregnant women with complications during labor are in a life-threatening predicament."

Shawn Humphrey is a former contributor to The Flint Journal and an amateur Africanist, focusing his personal studies on human rights and political issues on the continent.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/peace-agreement-eastern-drc-works-225400046.html

Charles Durning Webster Ny Mcdonalds Restaurants Open on Christmas Day jessica simpson santa tracker happy holidays

Video: Rossen reports: Criminals use webcams for spying

>>> we will begin this half hour with a new rocking report, could predators be spying on you and your kids through a webcam ? here with eye hoping and kind of frightening details. good morning to you.

>> hi. it is kind of scary. the really scary thing is we all use our computer and get distracted with something and simply walk away . you forget the computer is still on. the criminals are counting on it. now, they can hack into your webcam remotely watching your most intimate moments live. the worst part is you never even know. we will show you how they do it and how to protect yourself right now.

>> reporter: these teenage girls don't know it but a stranger is spying on them inside their bedroom. and in their dining room , as the family either dinner. little do they know, thousands of miles away , this man has hacked into their laptop and turned on their webcam .

>> people who are victims generally have no idea they are victims.

>> reporter: that man is working with us, computer expert jim stake stakely.

>> they have pictures of you or someone else ?

>> they're all over the internet.

>> reporter: they are easy targets. criminals like this man. prosecutors say he was spying on over 200 women through their webcams, watching their most private moments, even blackmailing some of them. he's now serving six years in prison.

>> reporter: these are criminal, peeping toms?

>> niethese are predator, your worst nightmare.

>> they are watching you in your most intimate moment.

>> anywhere, your bathroom, anywhere you have your hap tlaptop open. with with this family's permission, we had him hack into their computer and how did he do it, sent this little e -card.

>> they can see a quacking duck and without their knowledge i also loaded a trojan during that time.

>> reporter: giving him access even when the computer is in sleep mode. you have no clue.

>> have a seat. thanks for doing it. wi

>> reporter: we told the mom and daughters we came to do a general story about online security.

>> reporter: ever have a problem with someone hacking into your home?

>> no.

>> reporter: they had no idea days before we had been spying on them through our computer webcam . our interview over, we told the girls to go upstairs and wait in their room. then, downstairs, we let mom in on the secret.

>> we actually recorded your family dinner the other night. no one was in your house except for you guys.

>> it's really creepy. i mean, my children are on their computers in the evening in their bedrooms. i'm a little frightened right now for their security.

>> reporter: oh we took it up a notch. having our expert hack into the webcam in hertaug daughter's upstairs bedroom.

>> reporter: we're watching them in their bedroom.

>> i am sick over this.

>> this time it was our computer expert and next time it could be a predator.

>> i'm glad to learn from this and try to avoid this from ever happening.

>> reporter: then we gave the girls a wake-up call.

>> we've been watching you from downstairs from your webcam . your expert was able to hack into your system and watch you in your room.

>> oh, my god.

>> it's scary. definitely scary. someone could be watching you anytime and this is where you feel the most comfortable.

>> so how can you protect yourself, the main question. number one, shut off your computer when you walk away or close your laptop. you can also put a piece of black tape across the lens of the webcam . here's another tip. don't open any e-mails from people you don't know. we hear it all the time. that includes those facebook links that say things like watch this incredible video. unless you trust the person, don't do it. those random links are exactly how the hackers get in.

>> would you have any idea how widespread something like this is?

>> it's hard for the fbi to know that because many victims don't even know they're victims unless you're blackmailed like the gentleman in that story did. and the problem is once he gets in, he can have hundreds of people he can watch at once.

>> thank you. i don't think i'll be opening any e-mails from you any time soon.

>> he's not the problem.

>> i know. a check of

Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50572646/

old navy

How to Create Unique Wedding Invitations

Creating unique budget wedding invitations is a good method to showcase the bride and groom's personality and magnificence from the wedding. Small personal touches such as pictures, hand-painted wording and designs and theme-based materials and decorations might make memorable wedding invites that will have people talking and excited for your upcoming wedding.

1Think in regards to the image you intend to portray on your guest. Determine if you would like your spring wedding invitations being traditional or modern.2Incorporate the theme or location of your respective wedding into the invitation. For the destination, beach wedding incorporate a sandal strap ribbon. For any wedding in Nevada, contain dice and cash inside the design of the invite. Utilize invitation to deliver a message and hang the scene on your dream wedding.3Coordinate the color, season and appear of the wedding and invitation. You can use color for the tissue insert, lettering, paper and ribbon. Leaves, flowers and also the style of invitation paper also can allude towards the look with the wedding.4Add an engagement picture on the invitation or being a fun insert for instance a magnet your guests can continue. This permits each side of the bride and groom's family an opportunity to feel included and informed about you being a couple. Include a connection to a private website where guests will get engagement photos and wedding information.5Use calligraphy to make a unique look. Handwritten, designer invitations are truly unusal. Letterpress printing, raised type stamped onto the paper, can also add a classic feel in your

summer wedding invites

, while calligraphy can produce a softer, more romantic look.6Find a wonderful wording on your invitation. Should you be writing your vows, you may add a section of them within your wedding invites.7Make a statement. Live green with recycled paper to indicate your views and allow your invitations a distinct appear and feel. You can also find a do-it-yourself budget wedding invitations kit to create a unique, personal design.

Source: http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/13816036-how-to-create-unique-wedding-invitations

UFC 150 Caster Semenya Medal Count 2012 Olympics victoria beckham London 2012 rhythmic gymnastics Meteor Shower August 2012 jessie j

Over 80 killed in Aleppo university carnage

BEIRUT: Two explosions tore through one of Syria?s biggest universities on the first day of student exams Tuesday, killing more than 80 people and wounding dozens, according to the government and an activist group.

Each side in the 22-month-old conflict blamed the other for the blasts at the University of Aleppo, located in a government-held area of Syria?s most populous city.

Some activists in Aleppo said a government attack caused the explosions, while state television accused ?terrorists? ? a term it uses to describe the rebels ? of firing two rockets at the school. A rebel fighter said the blasts appeared to have been caused by ?ground-to-ground? missiles.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based anti-regime activist group, said 83 people were killed and dozens wounded, but it could not identify the source of the blasts.

?Dozens are in critical condition,? the Observatory said in a statement, citing doctors and students.

State television showed a body lying on the street and several cars burning. One of the university buildings was damaged.

Video footage showed students carrying books out of the university after one of the explosions, walking quickly away from rising smoke. The camera then shakes to the sound of another explosion and people begin to run.

?A cowardly terrorist act targeted the students of Aleppo University as they sat for their mid-term examinations,? Syria?s United Nations ambassador, Bashar Jaafari, told the U.N. Security Council in New York.

He said 82 students had died and 162 more were wounded. If confirmed, the regime?s report of a rocket attack would suggest rebels in the area had been able to obtain and deploy more powerful weapons than before. The nearest rebel-controlled area, Bustan al-Qasr, is nearly 2 km from the university.

Activists rejected the suggestion that insurgents were behind the attack, however, and instead blamed the government.

?The warplanes of this criminal regime do not respect a mosque, a church or a university,? said a student who gave his name as Abu Taym.

The rebels have been trying to take Aleppo since the summer, but have been unable to uproot Assad?s better-armed and more organized forces.

After the blasts, Russia said it had suspended operations at its consulate in Aleppo and advised anyone with consular issues to contact the relevant section of the Russian Embassy in the capital, Damascus.

Elsewhere, an artillery attack in the central province of Homs killed at least 10 people, according to the Observatory, which added that warplanes launched airstrikes on multiple rebel bastions across Syria.

The Observatory said five women were among those killed in the shelling of Houla in Homs province.

?Houla sees daily shelling and daily fighting,? said Observatory director Rami Abdel-Rahman.

The Syrian Revolution General Commission, a grassroots network of activists, described the killings in Houla as a ?massacre? and added that dozens more were wounded in the shelling.

In northern Syria, an air raid in the early hours on the rebel-held town of Al-Bab killed at least eight people, half of them women, said the Observatory.

Air raids struck the rebel-held districts of Jobar and Sultanieh in Homs city, several of whose districts have been under a suffocating army siege for more than six months, the Observatory said.

?They have launched an assault on districts under siege,? an anti-regime activist in the besieged Old City neighborhood of Homs city, who identified himself as Abu Bilal, told AFP via the Internet. ?The army is trying to take back Homs.?

The violence came one day after 57 countries asked the U.N. Security Council to refer the conflict in Syria to the International Criminal Court, a move that Russia?s Foreign Ministry called ?ill-timed and counterproductive.?

Russia, which like China and the United States is not an ICC member, said the referral would not help end the war.

?We believe this initiative is ill-timed and counterproductive to resolving the main task at this moment: an immediate end to the bloodshed in Syria,? the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Russia?s deputy foreign minister, Mikhail Bogdanov, said Monday that the Security Council would discuss the Syria crisis before the end of the month, in a meeting that would likely gather deputy ministers.

Bogdanov also indicated that the U.N. was looking at ways of sending a new observer mission to Syria.

?It seems as if the need will emerge to send a solid team of international observers there. I think several options are being discussed,? he said.

Source: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Jan-16/202437-over-80-killed-in-aleppo-university-carnage.ashx

denver post Beasts of the Southern Wild Scandal denver broncos new england patriots Zayn Malik finish line