Husbands Who Share Housework Have Less Sex

Husbands who help out with household chores have less sex than men in so-called "traditional" marriages where housework is done exclusively by the wife, researchers from the USA and Spain reported in the journal American Sociological Review.

In faithful relationships, the wife whose husband is involved in housework obviously has less sex too, the authors added.

This latest study contradicts most previous ones, which tended to imply that married men generally have more sex in exchange for doing housework. However, those studies did not take into account which chores the husbands did.

The researchers, all sociologists, said that their study demonstrated that sex is not a bargaining chip in marriage. Rather, it is associated with the kinds of chores each partner completes.

Married couples reported greater sexual frequency if the women did the cooking, cleaning and shopping and the men did the gardening, electrics and plumbing, car maintenance and paid the bills.

Co-author Julie Brines, professor of sociology at the University of Washington, said:

"The results show that gender still organizes quite a bit of everyday life in marriage. In particular, it seems that the gender identities husbands and wives express through the chores they do also help structure sexual behavior."

Lead author, Sabino Kornrich, warned that men should not assume from these findings that they should not become involved in traditionally female household tasks, such as shopping, cleaning or cooking. "Men who refuse to help around the house could increase conflict in their marriage and lower their wives' marital satisfaction."

The researchers gathered and examined data from a national survey of approximately 4,500 heterosexual married couples in the USA who took part in the National Survey of Families and Households. The survey, the largest to measure sexual frequency among married couples, included data from 1992 to 1994.

Brines does not believe that the division of household chores - which in this study did not include child care - and sex have changed much since 1994.

"Traditional female tasks" include shopping, cleaning, looking after the kids, and cooking

According to the study, husbands and wives spent an average of 34 hours each week on traditionally female chores. The men's average age was 46, and the women's 44. The couples spent an extra 17 hours each week on "men's work".

On average, the males were involved in about one-fifth of traditionally female chores, and slightly more than half of male-type work. The researchers found that women tend to be more involved with helping out in traditionally male chores, than men do with female tasks.

The couples reported having sex approximately five times, on average, during the four weeks before the survey. In marriages where the woman carried out all the traditionally female tasks, the couples had sex 1.6 times as often, compared to couples where the man was involved in all the female chores.

Brines says she is not surprised that there was more sex among the traditional couples. "If anything surprised us, it was how robust the connection was between a traditional division of housework and sexual frequency." Brines is an expert in family and household dynamics.

The following possible explanations for their findings were ruled out by the researchers:

• Male coercive behavior played no role, because women reported similar satisfaction levels in their sex lives in both types of households (traditional or "modern")


• In two-income households, the difference in sexual frequency was still driven by male behavior regarding traditional female chores. Also, the wife's income had no impact on sexual frequency.


• The following had no impact on sexual frequency - gender ideology, religion, and happiness in marriage.

Brines said:

"Marriage today isn't what it was 30 or 40 years ago, but there are some things that remain important. Sex and housework are still key aspects of sharing a life, and both are related to marital satisfaction and how spouses express their gender identity."

Recovery from Workload Influenced by Housework and Leisure Activity Balance

How rapidly and effectively male and female spouses recover from the burdens of work is probably influenced by a balance of housework time and leisure time, a study by experts from the University of Southern California reported in the Journal of Family Psychology.

Over half of all married couples in the USA are two-income households. The authors wondered whether the winner was the one who had the most help with the housework.

They found that what seems to be good for the male partner was bad for the female, but what is good for the female does not have enough of an impact on the male.

In another study involving 17,000 people in 28 countries, researchers from George Mason University found that married men did less housework than live-in boyfriends. The study was published in the Journal of Family Issues.

Written by Joseph Nordqvist

Bras Make Breasts Sag, 15-Year Study Concludes

Wearing a bra does more harm than good - it does nothing to reduce back pain and weakens the muscles that hold up the breasts, resulting in greater breast sagging, Jean-Denis Rouillon, a sports science expert from the University of Besançon, France, reported after a 15-year study.

Rouillon says that the main conclusion from the preliminary results of his "marathon experiment" is that the bra is a false necessity.

In an interview with France Info (radio), Professor Rouillon said:

"Medically, physiologically, anatomically - breasts gain no benefit from being denied gravity. On the contrary, they get saggier with a bra."

Prof. Rouillon used a slide rule and a caliper (a device used to measure the distance between two opposite sides of an object) to carefully measure changes in breast features of hundreds of women over a 15-year period at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Besançon.

All his volunteers were between 18 and 35 years old. Rouillon emphasized that although his study spanned many years and included hundreds of women, he in no way claims his sample population is representative of the global population of women.

Rouillon found that women who never wore bras had nipples on average seven millimeters higher in relation to their shoulders each year than regular bra users.

In an interview with France Info, a 28-year old female called Capucine says she swears by Rouillon's findings.

Capucine, who was one of the volunteers in Rouillon's study, said:

"There are multiple benefits (to being without a bra): I breathe more easily, I carry myself better, and I have less back pain."

Rouillon warns that some women should not throw their bras away immediately. For example, older women (45 years or more) would derive no benefit from throwing away their bra. In an interview with Reuters, he said "But a middle-aged woman, overweight, with 2.4 children? I'm not at all sure she'd benefit from abandoning bras."

In an interview with The Local, an English-written newspaper in France, Rouillon stressed "These are preliminary results. The small sample of 320 young women is not representative of the entire population - that would require something like 300,000 subjects."

The study did confirm that, according to preliminary data, when young women stop wearing a bra:

• There is no deterioration in the orientation of their breasts
• There is widespread improvement in the orientation of their breasts

A previous study by the University of Portsmouth, England, revealed that some women are damaging their breasts because they are wearing the wrong bra size.

Rouillon acknowledged that women wear a bra for a number of reasons, apart from hoping to conserve the shape of their breasts and to prevent sagging. Some find them more comfortable, especially those who live far from the equator during wintertime.

In order for these "preliminary results" to become "definitive", Rouillon says he needs to recruit a much larger sample of women, and to conduct further research on the subject.

John Dixey, former CEO of bra-maker Playtex, explained in a Channel 4 (British TV channel) interview "We have no evidence that wearing a bra could prevent sagging, because the breast itself is not muscle, so keeping it toned up is an impossibility.... There's no permanent effect on the breast from wearing a particular bra. The bra will give you the shape the bra's been designed to give while you're wearing it."

Written by Sarah Glynn

Purported letter from Taliban to Malala Yousafzai: Why we shot you

In a letter to a Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head on her way home from school, a senior Taliban commander purportedly tells her that she was targeted not because she advocated education for all girls, but rather for her criticism of the militant group.

The letter attributed to Adnan Rashid was released just days after 16-year-old Malala Yousafzai took the stage at the United Nations, where she delivered an emotional plea for the right to go to school on behalf of all children.

Malala was 15 when gunmen jumped on her school bus and shouted her name, scaring other girls into identifying her, in the Swat Valley on October 9, 2012. The attack sparked massive protests in Pakistan and condemnation worldwide.

Malala: Taliban failed to silence us

"The Taliban believe you were intentionally writing against them and running a smear campaign to malign their effort to establish an Islamic system in (the) Swat Valley, and your writings were provocative," according to the letter, which was dated Monday and released to CNN by a Pakistan intelligence source.

"You have said in your speech ... that the pen is mightier than the sword. So they attacked you for your sword not your books or school."

CNN cannot confirm the authenticity of the letter, but its validity has been generally accepted by Pakistan intelligence officials.

Rashid made headlines last year after the Taliban broke him out of a Bannu prison, where he was serving a life sentence following his 2003 conviction for his role in the attempted murder of former President Pervez Musharraf. Nearly 400 prisoners were freed in the jailbreak, which authorities believe was staged to get Rashid out, a former Pakistani Air Force officer.

In the letter, Rashid said he was writing -- not as a Taliban leader -- to say he was shocked by the shooting, and to express his regret that he did not warn Malala ahead of time of the attack.

The letter went on to say that the Taliban supports the education of women, as long as it adheres to Islamic law.

He urged her, according to the letter, to return to Pakistan and "use your pen for Islam and the plight of the Muslim community."

Gordon Brown, the U.N. special envoy on global education, blasted Rashid's letter.

"Nobody will believe a word the Taliban say about the right of girls like Malala to go to school until they stop burning down schools and stop massacring pupils," he said in a statement released Wednesday.

This summer in Pakistan, a teacher was gunned down in front of her son as she drove into her all-girl school. A school principal was killed and his students severely injured when a bomb was tossed onto a school playground at an all-girl school in Karachi in March.

In January, five teachers were killed near the town of Swabi in the volatile northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the United Nations says.

And, in June, a suicide bomber blew up a bus carrying 40 schoolgirls as it made its way to an all-girl campus in Quetta. Fourteen female students were killed.

Pakistan Taliban arrive in Syria, and more are to come, CNN told

Taliban fighters from Pakistan say they have united with al Qaeda forces in Syria to fight the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The commander of the Pakistan Taliban, Abdul Rashid Abbasi, has told CNN that the first batch of fighters has arrived in Syria and established a command and control center to launch operational activities alongside Syrian rebel fighters. Abbasi, a close associate of Pakistan Taliban head Hakeemullah Mehsud, told CNN that 120 fighters are already in Syria.

The Taliban commander went on to say that another batch of fighters made up of 150 men will arrive in Syria this week.

"We shall be sending more volunteers, but cannot give exact numbers at this moment, but we will provide whatever support is needed by our Syrian brothers," Abbasi told CNN.

CNN is unable to independently confirm that members of the Pakistan Taliban are inside Syria. CNN journalists have previously been inside Syria and seen foreign fighters participate in the country's civil war, which sprang from unrest sparked in the spring of 2011.

Abbasi said the fighters were sent after the Pakistan Taliban received a request from the al Qaeda operational commander in Syria, Abu Omar Baghdadi.

Pakistan Taliban fighters will be under the command and control structure of al Qaeda in Syria, as it is leading the operation, he said.

The Pakistan Taliban said it has also asked its local chapters in the Mohmand, Bajaur, Khyber, Orakzai and Waziristan agencies to recruit fresh fighters who are willing to go on their mission in Syria. The Pakistan Taliban says many young men are registering to go on their first foreign mission.

But the Pakistan Taliban said it will remain based in Pakistan.

"We have lots of fighters here and our central command will be operating from here, so there is no reason to stop operations in Pakistan," Abbasi said. "They will go on as usual."

North Korea to Panama: Release our ship, crew

North Korea has a message for Panamanian authorities who seized a cargo ship packed with sugar and weapons: Release the boat and let the crew go.

"The Panamanian investigation authorities rashly attacked and detained the captain and crewmen of the ship on the plea of 'drug investigation' and searched its cargo but did not discover any drug," a spokesman for North Korean's Foreign Ministry told state-run KCNA on Wednesday. "Yet, they are justifying their violent action, taking issue with other kind of cargo aboard the ship. This cargo is nothing but aging weapons which are to send back to Cuba after overhauling them according to a legitimate contract."

According to the state media report, the spokesman described the incident as an "abnormal case."

"The Panamanian authorities should take a step to let the apprehended crewmen and ship leave without delay," the spokesman said, according to KCNA.

But Panama showed no signs of stopping its investigation into what it said were undeclared military weapons hidden aboard the North Korean ship.

Ship seized

Cuba: Arms going to N. Korea for repair

Hidden weapons found on N. Korean ship

Cuban sugar hides North Korean secret

Panama has formally asked the United Nations for guidance on how to handle the case, and expects U.N. representatives to arrive soon in Panama to investigate, Foreign Minister Fernando Nuñez told CNN en Español.

Because it is pursuing nuclear weapons, North Korea is banned by the United Nations from importing and exporting most weapons.

A spokesman confirmed that Panama had filed a report with the U.N.'s North Korea sanctions committee. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "commends the action taken by Panama," a spokesman said.

In addition to reaching out to the United Nations, Panama also has asked the United States to help provide technical assistance.

The details of the dramatic case sound like a deleted scene from the Cold War: a violent confrontation on a detained ship, missiles hidden under sacks of brown sugar, an apparent heart attack and an attempted suicide.

The weapons were discovered Monday, and as of Wednesday, authorities were still searching the vessel.

The ship originated from Cuba, and Cuban officials admitted that the weapons on board were theirs. They described them as "240 metric tons of obsolete defensive weapons" sent to North Korea "to be repaired and returned to Cuba."

The equipment was manufactured in the mid-20th century and included two anti-aircraft missile systems, nine missiles in parts and spares, two MiG-21 jets and 15 motors for this type of airplane, the Cuban foreign ministry said.

The ship's captain -- who allegedly suffered a heart attack and then tried to commit suicide as the cargo was being searched -- and the 35 North Korean crew members have not been charged, but the attorney general's office said they could face charges of threatening national security.

The crew resisted arrest and engaged in a "violent" confrontation, Panama's security minister, Jose Raul Mulino, said Tuesday.

Panama's public ministry ordered the crew's detention, and authorities have since spoken with crew members about their travel plans. Crew members said the North Korean ship had left Cuba and headed toward Panama, aiming to arrive back in North Korea in 51 days.

The United States and Panama had been tracking the ship as it crossed the Panama Canal to Cuba and then back, two U.S. officials said.

And a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said Wednesday that the United States would help in the investigation.

The Panamanians asked the United States for imaging equipment and technicians to fully examine the boat and determine what is on board, according to a U.S. official who declined to be identified because the person was not authorized to speak publicly.

Speculation has surged since Panama announced its find, with some warning that it was a troubling sign of weapons deals between North Korea and Cuba, and others disputing whether any dangers lay within the antiquated haul.

Cuba says the weapons are "obsolete." And experts who identified early Cold War relics such as the Soviet-designed SA-2 air defense system among the ship's cargo say that's not far from the truth.

"Today there is no reason for any Western pilot to be hit by an SA-2 -- if you get caught by one of them, you've done something bloody stupid, or you've got very bad luck," said James O'Halloran, editor of Jane's Land Based Air Defence and Jane's Strategic Weapon Systems. "No modern country wants to be seen with those."

But others saw the weapons haul as a more ominous sign.

In a letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a frequent Cuban government critic, described the weapons shipment as a "flagrant violation of multiple United Nations Security Council Resolutions."

"I believe that this revelation, in addition to Cuba's failure to address its abysmal human rights record, should finally prompt the (Obama) administration to re-calibrate its misguided and naive Cuba policy," Rubio wrote. "The administration should immediately reverse its January 2011 decision easing restrictions on people-to-people travel and remittances sent to Cuba; as well as immediately halt granting visas to Cuban government officials."

Forbes.com columnist Gordon Chang told CNN's "Erin Burnett: OutFront" that the boat's cargo was a warning sign that North Korea could be supplying Cuba with weapons.

"This is a country which is just 90 miles away from American shores," he said. "Now, if they can smuggle missile radar into Cuba, you know, God knows what else they can put there. We do not need a replay of the Cuban missile crisis, this time with the North Koreans' fingers on the triggers instead of the Soviets."

The U.S. government's assessment is that Cuba might be trying to further its arms relationship with North Korea in the wake of Russia's not being interested in doing the upgrade work on the aging stockpile, a U.S. official said.

Cure For Gray Hair And Vitiligo Found

A modified pseudocatalase, a new compound that reverses oxidative stress may provide a cure for loss of skin or hair color, i.e. gray hair or vitiligo, researchers from the United Kingdom and Germany reported in The FASEB Journal.

The need to use hair dyes to cover up a classic sign of aging - gray hair - may soon be a thing of the past.

Scientists from the Institute for Pigmentary Disorders in association with E.M. Arndt University of Greifswald, Germany and the Centre for Skin Sciences, School of Life Sciences at the University of Bradford, United Kingdom, explained that people's hair goes gray because of massive oxidative stress caused by a build up of hydrogen peroxide in hair follicles. This causes hair to bleach itself from the inside out.

The researchers found that this massive build up of hydrogen peroxide can be reversed with a UVB-activated compound called PC-KUS, a modified pseudocatalase. The research team developed this new proprietary treatment.

PC-KUS restores skin color in patients with vitiligo

The authors added that PC-KUS treatment is also effective for patients with vitiligo. Vitiligo is a long-term skin problem that produces white depigmentation patches that develop and grow in certain sections of skin.

Study author, Karin U. Schallreuter, M.D., said:

"To date, it is beyond any doubt that the sudden loss of the inherited skin and localized hair color can affect those individuals in many fundamental ways. The improvement of quality of life after total and even partial successful repigmentation has been documented."

Schallreuter and team analyzed 2,411 patients from several countries with vitiligo. Fifty-seven (2.4%) of them were diagnosed with SSV (strictly segmental vitiligo) and 76 (3.2%) were diagnosed with mixed vitiligo, which is SSV plus NSV (non-segmental vitiligo).

They discovered that those with SSV with a specific nerval distribution involving eyelashes and skin showed the same oxidative stress found in the much more common general NSV. General NSV is associated with decreased antioxidant capacities, including thioredoxin reductase, catalase, and the repair mechanisms methionine sulfoxide reductases.

They found that PC-KUS treatment led to successful patient outcomes - patients' pigmentation in their skin and eyelashes was restored - i.e. they recovered their original skin and hair color.

Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal, said:

"For generations, numerous remedies have been concocted to hide gray hair. but now, for the first time, an actual treatment that gets to the root of the problem has been developed.

While this is exciting news, what's even more exciting is that this also works for vitiligo. This condition, while technically cosmetic, can have serious socio-emotional effects of people. Developing an effective treatment for this condition has the potential to radically improve many people's lives."

Gray hair is caused by a massive accumulation of hydrogen peroxide in the hair follicles.

This report is a follow-up on a 2009 study that explained why our hair turns gray. Scientists from the Universities of Bradford, England, and Mainz and Luebeck, Germany, explained in The FASEB Journal (March 2009 issue) that graying hair has absolutely nothing to do with wisdom. They wrote that "Going gray is caused by a massive build up of hydrogen peroxide due to wear and tear of our hair follicles."

Hydrogen peroxide eventually blocks the normal production of melanin, the natural pigment responsible for hair color, as well as skin and eye color.

Patience Jonathan Blames Elders For Fuelling Rivers Crisis

Wife of the President, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, on Monday faulted the contributions of some unnamed persons she referred to as “otherwise respected elders” who, by their views, had been contributing to the crisis in Rivers State.

While describing their utterances as unfortunate, she called on all feuding parties in the state to sheathe their swords in the interest of innocent women and children, who, she said, would naturally be victims of the mayhem.
The president’s wife’s position was contained in a statement by  her spokesman, Mr. Ayo Osinlu.
The statement read, “We therefore call on elders of the state to position themselves appropriately in the circumstances, and continue to seek the highest good of Rivers State and its people, by stone-walling the activities of the few, who would rather fan little embers into a consuming inferno.
“Recent experience whereby certain otherwise respected elders of the country, both from within and outside Rivers State, were canvassing views that seemed to intensify the heat in Rivers State, is certainly unfortunate.”
Mrs. Jonathan, who has been roundly criticised as one of the masterminds of the crisis alongside her husband, called on warring politicians in the state to spare a thought for the social, political and economic costs of the crisis, and consider an urgent way to resolve all political differences.
She warned all stakeholders to ensure that the situation in the state did not degenerate to a level that could be hijacked by miscreants and hoodlums, thus exposing everyone to insecurity from which there might be no easy escape.

RIVERS CRISIS: Amaechi, 4 Northern Governors Held Hostage At Port Harcourt Airport

Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi and the governors of Jigawa, Kano, Niger and Adamawa earlier this morning were held hostage in the airport by protestors allegedly loyal to Goodluck Jonathan blocked off the airport.
Amaechi had earlier arrived in a different flight from the Nation's capital Abuja around 9a.m could not move out of the VIP lounge of the airport till the four other governors arrived as he was worried that his convey might be targeted by the crowd.
Eyewitnesses say that the protesters came to the airport as early as 7am and by 8 the crowd was already double its earlier size and had almost taken over the airport with the police giving them protection.
Aides to the governor said they are worried that a bloody confrontation could arise should the governors leave the airport as several of the protesters appear armed.
Opposition parties earlier revealed that Mr. Jonathan wants to foment a violent confrontation between supporters of the governor, and those opposed to him so as to give room to declare a state of emergency in the state,
Last week, five lawmakers led by an Evans Bipi, who is a close relative of Mr. Jonathan's wife tried unsuccessfully to hijack the leadership of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

Wellington pub Green Man puts stag semen on menu

A WELLINGTON pub is offering syringes loaded with stag semen, kiwifruit liqueur and yoghurt, as part of its entry into a wild food challenge. 

Sarah Wood, function manager at the Green Man in the CBD, says she has tried the drink after her curiosity got the better of her.
"Once you get past the fact that there is stag semen in it, it is actually quite a nice wee concoction," she said.
She said a couple of customers had already tried the drink, but she was expecting more on Friday, traditionally their busiest night.
"We are waiting for some game punters to come in and give it a go."
Overall feedback so far was that the drink was really "not that bad," she said.
For its 2011 entry into the national wild food competition, the Green Man offered diners apple-infused horse semen shots, but ran short before being able to compete.
"We actually sold out of the horse semen before the judges came in."
Ms Wood said she was expecting this year's shots to be particularly popular with men out on pre-wedding stag nights.
The stag semen, which contains around 4000 sperm per serving, is stored in liquid nitrogen at -196C, and made into the "stag's roar" drink each morning.
The pub designed the drink to be swallowed alongside a dish of venison, which can also be washed down with a glass of dark porter beer for the less adventurous.
The semen is sourced from Hannibal, a seven-year-old stag with impeccable credentials, Ms Wood said.
"You would call him a perfect stag really, he is healthy, his semen is export quality."
She said she did not expect Hannibal, from South Canterbury, to have any trouble keeping up with demand.
"Obviously he doesn't do it just for us, but I'm sure he would be totally supportive of what we are doing."

Rebel-fighters-cross-border-from-rwanda-to-congo-disguised-as-women

FRESH fighting has erupted in eastern Congo, after more than 100 armed men disguised in women's clothing entered the country from Rwanda.

At least 130 people were killed, including 10 soldiers, in the deadliest clashes in months between troops and rebels in the restive eastern region.
The heavy fighting between the Congo army and M23 rebels resumed on Monday morning after starting on Sunday following the arrival of the armed men in women's clothes.
"They were wearing kikwembe'' - a Congolese shawl worn by women - "over their uniforms, and women's headscarves,'' said Bifumbu Ruhira, a farmer at the village of Kanyarucinya on the front line between the Congolese army and the M23 rebels, who started fighting the government last year.
Ruhira told the Associated Press he saw the oddly dressed combatants get off two trucks on the Rwandan side and run across the border. "They were wearing kikwembe to confuse us, to conceal the fact they were soldiers,'' he said.
"The whole village was afraid and I said to my wife, 'Get to Goma,''' he said, naming the nearby provincial capital which he thought she would be safe from the fighting.
Fierce fighting broke out on Sunday outside Goma between the Congolese army and the M23 rebels, an armed group launched by Tutsi former soldiers who mutinied in April 2012.
Loud blasts rang out north of the city on Monday afternoon, and hundreds of people were seen fleeing towards Goma in a cloud of dust, an AFP photographer reported.
"Our forces have inflicted very heavy losses on the M23 fighters, 120 have been killed and 12 captured,'' government spokesman Lambert Mende said.
Mende said that 10 soldiers had also died in the ongoing clashes in the volatile east, an area rich in minerals including gold and coltan, which is used in cell phones and other electronic equipment.
He said that the M23 rebels, who briefly seized Goma late last year before withdrawing under international pressure, attacked army positions "with the support of Rwandan troops.''
"For several weeks the M23 rebels and their Rwandan allies have been reinforcing their positions,'' Mende said.
Both Rwanda and Uganda have been accused of supporting the M23, and US President Barack Obama early this month urged the DRC's neighbours "to stop supporting armed groups''.
Both countries have denied the charges.
"The toll from these skirmishes is not yet definitive but until now the army forces have responded with bravery and efficiency to this attack,'' Mende said.
UN soldiers did not intervene, Mende stressed.
Army forces also managed to recapture previously rebel-held positions as they fled, the spokesman said.
Some 2,000 soldiers were reportedly deployed during the fighting but Mende declined to confirm this figure.
The fighting outside Goma comes as a separate rebel attack in the town of Kamango in the northernmost part of North Kivu province sent 55,000 people fleeing to neighbouring Uganda, according to the Red Cross.
Kamango was attacked and briefly occupied on Thursday by a Ugandan-led rebel group, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).
The ADF was formed in the mid-1990s in the Rwenzori mountains in western Uganda, close to the DR Congo border. It has been relatively quiet in recent years, but attacks have increased in recent weeks, according to a Western military source.
A heavily armed brigade of some 3000 UN troops with more power to fight renegade forces than ever before began arriving in the region in May.
The troops, drawn in equal numbers from Malawi, South Africa and Tanzania, are joining about 17,000 UN soldiers already deployed in the area with a limited mandate to protect civilians and themselves only.
In all, about 30 armed groups are active in the region, where they have lucrative stakes in the illegal mining of diamonds, gold and coltan. These minerals are then exported around the world via neighbouring Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/world-news/rebel-fighters-cross-border-from-rwanda-to-congo-disguised-as-women/story-fndir2ev-1226679867870#ixzz2ZDr1pXvD