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WASHINGTON, Dec. 26, 2008 – American and Iraqi security forces found and seized a rocket-rail system during a combined operation conducted in Baghdad’s Rashid district Dec. 25. U.S. 4th Infantry Division soldiers and Iraqi police discovered the rocket-delivery system while performing a security sweep in the district’s Abu T’shir community, a U.S. military official said. “Combined operations account for many significant finds in the Rashid district,” said Army Maj. Dave Olson, a spokesman for the division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team. “The 1st ‘Raider’ Brigade continues to teach, coach and mentor the ISF as they provide a safe and secure environment...

(IsraelNN.com) Israel successfully fired the new RAFAEL-manufactured Blue Sparrow medium-range Ballistic Target system Tuesday morning. The system simulates trajectory thermal images and radar cross-section signatures of threats. Military sources said the system will be used in future Arrow Missile systems tests but did not release details as to when or in what context either would be deployed.

MicroSoft is making the Release Candidate for Windows Vista Operating System available to the public at the URL link above. I very recently purchased a new computer which came with Vista, there have been many "gliches" in using this new computer with Vista. I finished installing the Sevice Pack RC about 6 hours ago and I've found significant improvement in the performance and stability of the system. My personal tips: 1) The download is approximately 448MB in size so you you might want to consider your download speed when and if you choose to download this RC. 2) The install...

India's legal system is grinding to a halt By Rahul Bedi in New Delhi Last Updated: 3:00am GMT 06/12/2007 India's addiction to litigation has left its justice system at breaking point with almost 30 million cases pending. Figures published by justice officials revealed that it could take more than a decade to clear the backlog. Around 25 million civil and criminal cases await adjudication in overcrowded magisterial and sessions courts, as do another 3.7 million in 35 high courts across the country. As a consequence, tens of thousands of Indians facing trial are crammed into overcrowded prisons, the majority incarcerated...

FALLUJAH, Iraq, Nov. 26, 2007 – About 450 Iraqis are working to get Fallujah’s first sewer system operational by summer. Work is under way to provide Fallujah, Iraq, with its first wastewater treatment plant and collection system. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is overseeing this $85 million project, which should be operational in the summer. Some 450 Iraqis are on the construction crew, and that number will soon expand to 700. U.S. Army photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. That number is expected to grow soon to a construction force of 700 Iraqis. The $85 million project includes...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2007 – A veteran Air Force combat medic helped to transform the way wounded troops are treated and evacuated during a recent deployment to Afghanistan. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Mark A. DeCorte is participating in the Defense Department’s “Why We Serve” public-outreach program. Photo by Gerry J. Gilmore  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Tech Sgt. Mark A. DeCorte recalled the previous practice when unarmed battlefield medics were flown in to treat and evacuate injured servicemembers usually after an area had been cleared of the enemy. However, DeCorte emphasized, “When you have a wounded soldier on...

A plane TU-154 of the Moscow governmental air company Atlant-Soyuz has become the first passenger aircraft in the history of Russian aviation equipped with Global Navigation Satellite System.

Source: Society of Chemical Industry Date: June 25, 2007 Potato Salad May Help the Immune System Science Daily — It has long been known that eating potatoes is good for bowel health, but new research suggests that they may also have a beneficial effect on the whole immune system. Especially if eaten cold or in a potato salad, Anne Pichon reports in Chemistry & Industry. Spanish researchers found that growing pigs fed large quantities of raw potato starch (RPS) had a healthier bowel. Not a surprise, but they also found that RPS pigs had decreased levels of white blood cells,...

WASHINGTON, June 10 (UPI) -- Rising student loans offered by private lenders not only have frustrated U.S. lawmakers but left graduates buried under a mountain of debt.

KIRKUK— He downloaded chickens as a member of his high school’s Future Farmers of America club. Growing up, he worked the sun-drenched oil fields of southern Arkansas. He’s no stranger to rolling up his shirt sleeves to get a job done, a quality that is serving him well during his mission as a Soldier in northern Iraq. He’s Capt. Duane Kees, brigade judge advocate, 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, who is currently working to instill integrity and legitimacy into a legal system weathered by decades of neglect and distrust in Kirkuk, Iraq. Kees was born in Little...

Our solar system flies through space in the shape of a speeding bullet, according to data from NASA's two Voyager spacecraft. The sun and its planets are known to streak through the void of space at approximately 62,000 miles (100,000 kilometers) an hour. The system travels within a bubble of solar wind—made of charged particles from the sun—called the heliosphere. The edge of this bubble collides with the Milky Way galaxy's magnetic field at a distance some 200 times farther from the sun than Earth is. A research team led by Merav Opher at Virginia's George Mason University found that,...

WASHINGTON - The current market-based system is the best way to regulate the trillion-dollar hedge fund industry although improvements can be made, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday. Bernanke, speaking to a conference on global economics in New York City, said that the current system is superior to increased government regulation. That view is at odds with critics who say large failures in recent years highlight the need for greater supervision. "Thus far, the market-based approach to the regulation of hedge funds seems to have worked well, although many improvements can be made," Bernanke said in remarks prepared for...

Diabetics appear to have been cured with a one-off treatment that rebuilds their immune system, according to a new study. The technique, which uses patients' own bone marrow cells, has freed 14 of 15 patients with type 1 diabetes from their dependence on insulin medication. So far, participants in the trial have gone 18 months without insulin therapy following the procedure, on average. One patient has lasted three years without needing such injections. In patients with type 1 diabetes, which typically strikes in early childhood or adolescence, the immune system appears to erroneously attack cells in the pancreas that produce...

HONOLULU - The military shot down a Scud-type missile in this year's second successful test of a new technology meant to knock down ballistic missiles in their final minute of flight, the Missile Defense Agency said Friday. A ship off Kauai fired a target missile before 9 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time Thursday. Three minutes later, soldiers with the U.S. Army's 6th Air Defense Artillery Brigade launched an interceptor missile from Kauai that destroyed the target over the Pacific, according to the agency. The military says it already can shoot down missiles in their last stage of flight by using Patriot...

WASHINGTON, April 3, 2007 – Virtual reality made its way into the operating room last week when an Army doctor performed the military’s first three-dimensional minimally invasive surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center here. Armed with a state-of-the-art helmet, Col. (Dr.) Ernest Lockrow, director of the Telerobotics and Minimally Invasive Surgery Center, used the 3-D capabilities to perform a hysterectomy. Minimally invasive surgery, also known as laparoscopy, uses tiny incisions to operate and typically involves a telescopic lens that is connected to a video camera. The operation last week was the first time the military has used the...

Paratroopers, riggers, jumpmasters will make more than 3,200 test jumps. FORT BELVOIR, Va., March 26, 2007 – The Program Executive Office Soldier is testing a new parachute system that the Army plans to use to replace the system in use since the 1950s. The new parachutes address increased weight requirements and provide additional safety benefits. Beginning in 2008, all T-10 parachutes in the Army inventory for more than 50 years will be replaced with the Advanced Tactical Parachute System T-11. Although the T-10 is a proven system, today's paratroopers face increased requirements beyond the T-10's design. Paratroopers are required to...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2006 – The Afghan government is implementing a new national security system designed to strengthen the country’s security apparatus, U.S. officials reported. The entire National Security Coordination System is to be fully operational by the end of 2008, officials said. The system will improve coordination among Afghan military and law enforcement agencies and enhance regional stability. The system will consist of a National Coordination Center, five Joint Regional Coordination Centers and 34 Joint Provincial Coordination Centers. The centers will provide Afghan army and police leaders with operational information they can use to better-allocate security forces. Current and...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2006 -- The same global positioning technology that helps fighter and bomber pilots deliver smart bombs with pinpoint accuracy now allows bundles dropped from cargo planes to steer themselves to drop zones. A new GPS-guided “Screamer” bundle from the Joint Precision Air Drop System falls out the back of a C-130 Hercules over Afghanistan Aug. 26. The drop was made from 17,500 feet above mean sea level and was the first joint Air Force-Army operational drop of JPADS in the Central Command area of responsibility. Four bundles were dropped from the Alaska Air National Guard C-130....

Pessin report (Real Media) - Download 212k Listen to Pessin report (Real Media) The U.S. Defense Department says it conducted a successful test of its land-based ballistic missile defense system on Friday.Officials say a missile launched from California intercepted a target missile from Alaska 23 minutes after it was launched on Friday, in outer space somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. Before the test, officials said the goal was not necessarily to intercept the Alaska missile, but rather was to gather data about the system's performance. The director of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency, Lieutenant General Henry Obering, says the exercise...

Education Minister (Labor) Yuli Tamir announced her decision on Monday to fund long school days at kindergartens in public schools – but not in the hareidi preschool system. Tamir told the Knesset Education Committee that the public school system would take priority over non-governmental education associations, most of which are hareidi Orthodox schools. United Torah Judaism (UTJ) Knesset member Rabbi Moshe Gafne responded angrily to the decision, accusing Tamir of declaring “war against the hareidi Orthodox education system.” “The former education minister didn’t do this, [Meretz education ministers Shulamit] Aloni and [Yossi] Sarid didn’t do this,” noted Gafne. He asked...