Tips for Sparkling Eyes

Eyes are the most prominent feature of your face. It needs some special care for getting sparkling and beautiful eyes.

Take a chilled mixture of cucumber and potato juice and dip wads of cotton in it. Keep this on your eyelids for 20 minutes and gently wash it off. Apply a little baby oil.

Apply a thin coat of castor oil every night. It will cool your eyes and strengthens lashes.

Get rid off dark circles by messaging a few drops of coconut oil around
the eyes.

Grate and tie potato in a cloth and place the cloth over your eyes for about 15 minutes. It will reduce puffiness of your eyes.

Add a small pinch of salt in  water and wash for sparkling eyes.

Take equal quantity og tomato juice and lemon juice, mix them well and apply around the eyes for 30 minutes. Wash it off with cold and hot water alternatively.

Make a paste of sandal wood and nutmeg. Apply the paste around the eyes before sleeping and wash it off in the morning.

Take cucumber juice. Mix a little rose water in it and apply around the eyes and wash it after 30 minutes.

Meet Margot Robbie, Scene-Jacking Breakout Star of 'The Wolf of Wall Street'

If there's one more thing to know about "The Wolf of Wall Street" before its release next week, it's that you should be ready to remember scene-stealing, Australian-born newcomer Margot Robbie, who plays Jordan

Belfort's (Leonardo DiCaprio) manipulative second wife, Naomi (aka "The Duchess").
Robbie — who generated some buzz (and tabloid headlines) earlier this year while filming "Focus" with Will Smith — makes a very good impression upon Belfort and his pals when she walks into one of their outlandish parties in the Hamptons. Coincidentally, Robbie made a similarly striking impression upon DiCaprio and director Martin Scorsese during the "Wolf" audition process, due in part to her mastery of the Brooklyn accent, but more so because she was so into their scene she slapped DiCaprio.
Watch an exclusive clip from 'The Wolf of Wall Street':

Yahoo Movies recently caught up with Robbie to talk about all the trappings that come with portraying a Long Island housewife in the '80s (think big hair and spray tans), why she thought DiCaprio was a homeless person when they first met, and her big year in movies, which also included her role as the English-accented first love of leading man Tim (Domnhall Gleeson) in the era-hopping family rom-com "About Time."
[Related: The 25 Best Movies of 2013]
Was your first meeting with Mr. DiCaprio at all similar to your character's first meeting with Jordan Belfort?
Margot Robbie: Ha, no, it wasn't really like that at all. We weren't in the Hamptons, we weren't at a cocktail party, we were in a studio audition room in New York, and he still had his giant beard and long hair from "Django Unchained" because he had just wrapped filming. And I walked into the room and for a heartbeat I thought, "Who is that? Someone sort of homeless-looking in the corner?" And that was Mr. DiCaprio, and then a few minutes later we're doing our scene and I ended up getting carried away and hitting him in the face. So our first encounter was a little interesting but that definitely broke the ice and we've had a great working relationship ever since.
How did you master that Long Island accent?
M.R.: I did a lot of technical training a couple years ago when I was preparing to move to America, to prepare for the standard American accent. So I had all the technical training in place which, now when I start working other accents, I can adapt that knowledge and use it for whatever accent I need.Tim Monich was Leo and my dialect coach on set, he provided me with a lot of voice recordings of actual women from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, where my character was from, and I would just listen to them on my iPod and mimic them. Another thing that bizarrely helped: my acting coach told me when I was first putting my audition on tape, she said, "Pretend like you have acrylic nails on and they've just been painted and the paint is still wet." I said, How does that help my accent?" She said, "Just do it.So I put my hands out and thought, "OK, my fingernails are wet" and suddenly these hand gestures came out and I'm waving my hands around, I've got this attitude, it really worked. It was the perfect combination of the technical training and that bizarre little trick and the expertise of Tim Monich.
So you didn't have to watch any episodes of "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" or anything?
M.R.: No I have little to no patience for reality TV so thankfully I didn't have to resort to that.
One can't help but notice your lovely and very bronze skin in the film. What was the preferred method for achieving that? Spray tanning?
M.R.: Oh gosh, that was once a week on a Sunday night. I would get a spray tan and my acrylic nails put on and be ready to go for another week. It was so disgusting. The smell of the spray tan makes me want to gag now, but yeah, most of the cast would all get spray tans so that we would be overly bronze all the time. It was hilarious.And oddly authentic. It's crazy how certain stereotypes are true.
M.R.: Yeah we looked back at the photos, and they're all weirdly bronze all the time.
[Related: 2014 Golden Globe Nominations By the Numbers]
Speaking of showing off your bronzed skin, how easy or difficult was getting comfortable with those love scenes and skimpy outfits? How did DiCaprio and Scorsese help set you at ease?
M.R.: Everyone on set did their best to make it a comfortable environment to shoot those scenes, but it's still incredibly daunting and uncomfortable. You just have to grit your teeth and do it there is no other option. It's not like, "Will I or won't I?" It's that's what's in the scene, and we have to shoot that by this time tonight, and so you get on with it.
The sooner we get it done, the sooner you can put your clothes back on. So it really was like, "OK, be the character. She would do it, do it." It was weird, but by the end of the film everyone was so used to getting undressed that we didn't care. You took your robe off easily. But the first time? Definitely, I was petrified.

 Well you make her a lot of fun to watch in how she seduces Jordan.
M.R.: That is definitely her source of power, it was fun to wield that over him.
The movie is such a crazy ride. What do you think audiences take away from it?
M.R.: Gosh, I don't know. People keep asking that. I'm still obliged to think I hope they see a greedy lifestyle and in the end living in excess won't make you happy. But I don't think we made this movie to tell a moral story about what's right and wrong. People know what's right and wrong. I think it's a film to look closely at a bunch of crazy characters and this unique insane time of their lives and what they were doing. It's just an entertaining, close-up, uncensored, raw version of that. So I hope people don't look at it and think they want to live that way. But I hope they think it's entertaining three hours of film-watching.
What was your favorite Naomi moment, given all her ups and downs?
M.R.: I really love the last sequence when I ask for a divorce and it escalates into the giant fight scene where I get to smash the window in and scream and all those kinds of things. It was kind of a cathartic moment in the film when everything bubbles over the surface and you explode and then she's gone. That's the last time you see her, and I like that it was out of a drive to protect her kids. It was nice to have that motivating factor.
[Photos: 'The Wolf of Wall Street' New York City Premiere]
We've heard your English accent and now the Brooklyn one. What new accent will we hear from you next?
M.R.: I play a French peasant farm girl [in "Suite Francaise"], but I will be doing an English accent [playing] French. So you'll hear an English accent again, and then the film I just wrapped is "Focus" where I am doing a standard American accent. I play a New York girl, and I don't know what's going to be next. I hope I get another challenging accent to do because they are some of my favorite things to do, perfecting an accent. I'd like to do a Boston accent. I'd love to do a Southern accent next.
Nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Picture, Comedy or Musical, "The Wolf of Wall Street" opens nationwide on Christmas Day.

Salman Khurshid: It is my duty to bring back Khobragade and restore her dignity

India vowed on Wednesday to bring home a female diplomat who was arrested and strip-searched in New York last week at any cost amid rising anger against the United States over her treatment.
 It is my duty to bring the lady back and we have to restore her dignity and I will do it at any cost foreign minister Salman Khurshid told Parliament.

India upped the ante a

day after it withdrew a bunch of special privileges and security measures accorded to US diplomats and missions in India, even as the US on Tuesday confirmed Devyani Khobragade was strip-searched and kept
in a cell with other inmates, while hoping to prevent the episode from harming ties with India.
 We don’t want this to negatively impact our bilateral relationship and we’ll keep talking it with them said state department spokesperson Marie Harf.That may be somewhat difficult at this juncture, given the outrage felt in India at the “barbaric” manner in which the diplomat marched off handcuffed, and then strip-searched.The US is not backing down on the arrest or the manner in which it was carried out, though it did say the incident is being reviewed.There are no indications that anything but appropriate measures were followed Harf said.But we do know this is sensitive.We are looking into it for exactly that reason, to see exactly what transpired.In an email to colleagues, Khobragade said she repeatedly told arresting authorities that she had diplomatic immunity only to suffer repeated searches as well as being jailed with common criminals.I must admit that I broke down many times as the indignities of repeated handcuffing, stripping and cavity searches, swabbing, in a hold up with common criminals and drug addicts were all being imposed upon me despite my incessant assertions of immunity," she said in the email published on the Times of India's website on Wednesday.I got the strength to regain composure and remain dignified thinking that I must represent all of my colleagues and my country with confidence and pride she said.
In the email, Khobragade implored the Indian government to ensure her safety and that of her children and preserve the dignity of the Indian diplomatic service which was unquestionably under siege.
Khobragade, 39-year-old deputy consul general at the consulate in New York, was arrested last Thursday on charges of visa fraud. She was released on the same day on $250,000 bond.
The US Marshals Service (USMS) confirmed in a statement on Tuesday Khobragade was strip-searched in their custody. But, it insisted, so are all others.Yes, Devyani Khobragade was subject to the same search procedures as other USMS arrestees the USMC said in reply to a question if she was strip-searched.
The USMC also said the Indian diplomat was kept in a cell with other inmates awaiting court proceedings. They may have included drug-addicts, but it did not specify.Devyani Khobragade was placed in the available and appropriate cell. Absent of a special risk or separation order, prisoners are typically placed in general population.But Khobragade’s detention was on review found to have been in accordance with USMS Policy Directives and Protocols said the agency charged with housing federal prisoners.At the same time, the state department said it expected India to fulfill its obligations under the Vienna Convention regarding the security for its missions and diplomats there.

Australia reclaim the Ashes with 150-run WACA win

Just three months after England wrapped up a third successive Ashes series triumph by a similarly dominant 3-0 margin back home, Australia wrested back the tiny urn they last held in August 2009. Ben Stokes made
the Australians sweat through the first session on the fifth and final day of the match with his maiden test hundred — England’s first of the series — as the tourists chased their improbable victory target of 504. Once the 22-year-old lefthander was dismissed for 120 in the third over after lunch to reduce the tourists to 336 for seven, though, Australia quickly ran through the England tail. Mitchell Johnson, whose fiery spells of pace bowling had turned the first two tests, finished with four for 78 after dismissing James Anderson to end England’s innings for 353, sparking wild celebrations from his team mates.
“I feel pretty good,” said Australia skipper Michael Clarke. “What an amazing performance not just throughout this test match but over the course of three test matches. I think we put a lot of work in over a long period of time and we got the Ashes back, So it’s a fantastic feeling.” Lefthander Stokes, who made his debut in the second test in Adelaide, showed great concentration and no little courage to help England to their biggest innings score of the series. England had resumed on 251 for five requiring another 253 runs for an extraordinary victory or more likely needing to bat through the final day to save the test. The yawning cracks that had opened up on the sunbaked wicket added an extra danger factor for the batsmen, with one Ryan Harris delivery to Stokes jagging off into the slips. It was Johnson who made the breakthrough when Matt Prior took a swipe at widish delivery and got a nick on it to be caught behind for 26. Two overs later and Stokes, who had edged his way nervously through the 90s, pulled Johnson to the long-leg for four to reach his hundred, pumping his fist in celebration of an impressive knock. England made it through to lunch at 332-6 but their task always looked too tough and when Stokes was caught behind off spinner Nathan Lyon the end was in sight. Graeme Swann (four) and Tim Bresnan (12) went in consecutive overs and there was just one more over of England’s innings before Johnson delivered the coup de grace with his 23rd wicket of the series. “It was pretty hard bowling. The emotions were flying and just trying to keep them in check. It’s an unbelievable feeling,” said Johnson. “I came back from injury and I had a lot of doubters I knew I did all the hard work and I had the opportunity and I took it with both hands. This team we have got here has moulded well as a unit. Everyone has done so well and we all deserve it. “It means a lot to finally win the Ashes after being part of a couple we lost, so it was very special.” Australia won the first test in Brisbane by 381 runs and the second in Adelaide by 218 runs and will now be targeting a 5-0 sweep in the final two tests in Melbourne and Sydney.

4 Reasons Running is Best for Weight Loss

Bikini image in sexy style of USA:Any exercise is good exercise, but when it comes to losing weight, it's hard to beat running. After all, running is one of the most efficient ways to burn calories and get fit without having to restrict your diet. If you're
already a runner, keep on keepin' on. If you're not a runner yet but interested in losing weight, here are four reasons running can be the best exercise for weight loss.MORE: 10 Golden Rules for Weight Loss That Lasts.1. Running works even when you're at rest. High-intensity exercise like running stimulates more "afterburn" than low-intensity exercise. That is, even when comparing running with walking the same distance, studies find that running will lead to greater weight loss, most likely because your resting energy expenditure stays elevated after you run. In a long-term comparison study of runners and walkers, calories burned through running led to 90% more weight loss than calories burned through walking.2. Running is time-efficient. Even if the myth that running a mile and walking a mile burn the same number of calories were true (find out the truth about calorie burn here), running is a considerably faster way to burn those calories. Most people can run two or three times as far as they can walk in a given amount of time. At the other end of the spectrum, super-intense but short workouts, such as the "Scientific 7-minute Workout" from the Human Performance Institute, may burn more calories per minute per running, but because they're so short, your total caloric burn isn't as great if you ran.PLUS: The Truth About Running vs. Walking for Weight Loss3. Running is convenient. Though many of us have accumulated a vast arsenal of GPS gadgets and tech tees over the years, little is actually required to go running. You can do it alone. You can do it almost anywhere. You don't need any equipment beyond a pair of running shoes. (And if you're careful about injury and build up slowly, you may not even need those. Check out the Benefits of Barefoot Running for more.) For this reason alone, running is the best workout for weight loss because it's cheap, it's accessible, and there are fewer barriers to maintaining a routine, even while traveling.4. Two words: runner's high. The first rule of exercising for weight loss is that if you don't enjoy it, you won't stick with it. Fortunately, studies support what many runners have experienced on an anecdotal level--running can actually get you high. Scientists have found links between moderate to intense exercise and morphine-like brain chemicals called endocannabinoids, which suggest endorphins alone aren't responsible for the occasional flood of euphoria that rushes over you during a hard run. That floaty, happy sensation you had after your last race--makes you want to go for another run, right?

Jessica Simpson Goes Makeup-Free For Date Night

Jessica Simpson looks stunning in a makeup-free photo she shared on Twitter this morning (Dec. 15).The 33-year-old singer-turned-fashion mogul was presumably out to dinner with fiance Eric Johnson when she
tweeted the snapshot, writing, "Aquaphor from the diaper bag…And a filter ;) Date night!" (Aquaphor is a cleansing cream that can be used on both adults and babies.)With nothing but the petrolatum-based healing ointment on, Simpson made a kissy face as she posed for the picture.

China's first lunar probe to land on the moon this weekend

Hong Kong (CNN) -- China's first lunar rover is expected to land on the moon on Saturday, less than two weeks after it blasted off from Earth, according to Chinese media reports.The landing will make China one of
only three nations -- after the United States and the former Soviet Union -- to "soft-land" on the moon's surface, and the first to do so in more than three decades.Chang'e-3, the unmanned spacecraft carrying the rover, is due to touch down on a lava plain named Sinus Iridum, or Bay of Rainbows, shortly after 3 p.m. GMT (10 a.m. ET) on December 14, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.On landing, Chang'e-3 will release Jade Rabbit (called Yutu in Chinese) -- a six-wheeled lunar rover equipped with at least four cameras and two mechanical legs that can dig up soil samples to a depth of 30 meters. The solar-powered rover will patrol the moon's surface, studying the structure of the lunar crust as well as soil and rocks, for at least three months.The robot's name was decided by a public online poll and comes from a Chinese myth about the pet white rabbit of a goddess, Chang'e, who is said to live on the moon.Chopsticks and soup spoons: Inspiration behind China's space toolsWeighing 140 kilograms, the slow-moving rover carries an optical telescope for astronomical observations and a powerful ultraviolet camera that will monitor how solar activity affects the various layers -- troposphere, stratosphere and ionosphere -- that make up the Earth's atmosphere, China's information technology ministry said in a statement.The Jade Rabbit is also equipped with radioisotope heater units, allowing it to function during the cold lunar nights when temperatures plunge as low as -180°C (-292°F).China has rapidly built up its space program since it first sent an astronaut into space in 2003. In 2012, the country conducted 18 space launches, according to the Pentagon.The Chang'e-3 mission constitutes the second phase of China's moon exploration program, which includes orbiting, landing and returning to Earth.In 2010, China captured images of the landing site for the 2013 probe, the Bay of Rainbows, which is considered to be one of the most picturesque parts of the moon.Within the next decade, China expects to open a permanent space station in the Earth's orbit.
Timeline: China's race into spaceBut scientists in the United States have expressed concern that the Chang'e-3 mission could skew the results of a NASA study of the moon's dust environment. The spacecraft's descent is likely to create a noticeable plume on the moon's surface that could interfere with research already being carried out by NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE), Jeff Plescia, chair of NASA's Lunar Exploration Analysis Group told news site, Space.com in November.The Chang'e-3 spacecraft blasted off from a Long March 3B rocket in China's Sichuan province on December 2, and reached the moon's orbit at 100 kilometers (about 60 miles) from its surface less than five days laterOn Tuesday, it descended into an elliptical orbit with its lowest point just 15 kilometers off the lunar surface, a spokesperson for China's Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense told Xinhua.The Soviet Union's Luna 24 probe was the last space mission to land on the moon in August, 1976 -- four years after the United States launched the manned Apollo 17 mission.

'Attempted coup' defeated: South Sudan president

JUBA: South Sudan's president on Monday said that he had defeated a coup attempt by a political rival following a night of fighting in the capital Juba."This was an attempted coup," President Salva Kiir told
reporters. He also said in a statement that the "government is in full control of the security situation in Juba. The attackers fled and your forces are pursuing them."

Ashes 2013-14: England face battle to save series in Perth

The impressive Ben Stokes will resume on 72 and Matt Prior seven, but their task on a badly cracked pitch would appear futile after the failure once again of too many senior players.While Cook received a peach of a
delivery from Ryan Harris to be bowled first ball and Ian Bell played well for his 60, Kevin Pietersen was caught on the boundary trying to hit Nathan Lyon into the stands.
On a day that began with an all-out Australian assault on their dispirited bowlers and bottomed out with a golden duck for captain Alastair Cook, England closed on 251-5, still a mammoth 253 short of their nominal target of 504. Cook's wicket continued his miserable series, the weight of this failing team appearing heavy on his shoulders, while Pietersen is averaging 27 from his six underwhelming innings.Once again Australia were superior in every department, and if they seal the series to win back the Ashes for the first time in seven years as now seems inevitable, it will be entirely merited.
bruising to his right foot when being pinned lbw by Mitchell Johnson in the first innings, meaning after the not-out batsmen, only Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann and James Anderson realistically remain in Australia's way.Michael Clarke's confident, aggressive side hit new heights on Monday morning as they dismantled England's much-decorated attack in a brutal hour of sustained hitting.Shane Watson made a century off only 106 balls, with 11 fours and five sixes, as he smashed Swann out of the attack.In the first 13 balls he faced from the off-spinner he cracked 37 runs as he moved from his overnight 29 to his fourth Test century in a blistering 40 balls.England dropped one catch and let another fall between two hesitant fielders as they fell apart even more completely than they had during Sunday's hapless display.
 When Bresnan did take a fine catch on the boundary he tumbled over the ropes, although he could not be blamed for either that or the farcical way in which Watson eventually fell for 106.The number three top-edged an ugly pull only for Bell to spill the regulation catch, and when Bresnan picked up the loose ball to hurl down the stumps with Watson open-mouthed and leaden-footed mid-pitch, it was almost as much in anger as aim.Steve Smith was caught at mid-wicket by substitute fielder Jonny Bairstow off Stokes for 15, but it only heralded the next cavalry charge as George Bailey launched into Anderson to the roaring delight of the Gabba crowd.In one over he hit an extraordinary 28 runs, including three straight sixes and two fours, to equal the world record for the most runs scored off a Test over and humiliate England still further.In all 134 runs were added in 17 overs as Australia declared on 369-6. It was the first time in Test history that a team has been set a fourth innings target of 500-plus in three consecutive matches, and England began in the worst possible fashion.Harris produced a ball that swung in and then moved away to clip the off bail as Cook's 100th Test brought his first ever first-ball dismissal.Michael Carberry and Joe Root survived the first hour after lunch before the opener was trapped lbw for 31 by a full inswinging ball from Shane Watson, while Root failed with a review after being brilliantly caught behind by Brad Haddin for 19 off Mitchell Johnson.Pietersen and Bell then took the score to 121 before Pietersen, as so many times in this series, walked straight into the trap set by Clarke and his bowler.It was left to Stokes in only his second Test to provide the sole silver lining after Bell perished for a well-made 60 attempting to upper-cut Peter Siddle over Haddin.His 50 came up off 69 balls with nine fours as he showed exactly the application and discipline that has too often been missing from his far more experienced team-mates.But to expect him to salvage something from the wreckage of this England performance is both unrealistic and unfair, and at some stage on Tuesday, Australia will almost certainly once again be in possession of the famous old urn.

Postmortem report of Nasir Abbas complete

According to the postmortem report conducted at Jinnah Hospital, the bullet wounds to Allama Abbas’s head and neck were the cause of death. Allama Abbas was shot in the back of the head, near the heart and
in his neck and shoulder.The TNFJ Multan leader was on his way to Jauhar Town when he was gunned down by unknown assailants riding motorcycles near the FC College. Allama Nasir Abbas was killed in the attack; however his companion Ghulam Abbas and driver Munawwar escaped unhurt.
A sit-in is taking place outside the Governor House in Lahore against the killing of Allama Nasir Abbas.
Allama Nasir Abbas’s murder case has been registered against two unidentified motorcycle riders in the Garden Town police station. The case under terrorism and murder sections was registered on the compliant of Allama Nasir Abbas’s driver.

IHC reinstates PEMRA chairman, issues stay order against removal

Last night, the government had dismissed the chairman, but the court declared this dismissal null and void, issuing a stay order against his removal.A notice has been issued to the acting chairman of Pemra, as well as the information secretary and the establishment.

Chaudhry Rashid had been appointed chairman of the government’s media watchdog on January 28, 2013 by former president Asif Ali Zardari under Section 6 of Pemra Rules after a ruling of the apex court barred the then acting chairman of Pemra, Dr Abdul Jabbar, from holding office.
The appointment had been made for four years on conditions that the incumbent must be a 22-grade retired  officer, who could be removed after serving one month notice only if he resigned himself, or contracted some mental or physical ailment or was disabled by some accident.Ahmad’s appointment was, however, challenged by the incumbent federal minister for water and power, Khawaja Asif, in the Supreme Court.
Asif had argued that the appointment was not carried out in accordance with the January 15 order of the Supreme Court regarding the vacant Pemra chairman’s office.
Ahmad, a former principal information officer, has also been accused of corruption in the past, with cases pending in the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
Problematic appointment
According to sources in an earlier report, the summary of the appointment of Pemra chairman was initiated after the January 15 order of the Supreme Court. However, the date stated on the summary was January 8, prior to the apex court’s orders, and Ahmad was appointed to the post on January 26.
At the time of his appointment, Ahmad was a serving government official working as information and broadcasting secretary and was due to retire on May 26, 2013. Therefore, according to rules and regulations, the office of Pemra chairman fell vacant on May 26, 2013. However, Ahmad continued to serve as Pemra chairman and was not given a fresh contract on MP-1 scale.
Sources also revealed that the government wanted Ahmad to continue working as the media watchdog’s chairman. However, the Supreme Court has barred re-employment of public servants after retirement.
In a civil application filed before the Supreme Court in August, Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) had stated: “The criteria of the Pemra Ordinance were bypassed, no advertisements were placed in the national press and the fact that he was supposed to retire in a few months was not disclosed. This illegal
It added that there was a conflict of interest in Rashid’s appointment as well.“How can a candidate prepare the summary for his own appointment for a four-year tenure post… if this procedure is allowed by the apex court, the TIP fears that every retiring secretary will prepare summaries for their post-retirement appointment as ombudsmen, members of Public Service Commission, etc.”
According to the TIP, Rashid’s summary also violated the Rules of Business which stipulate that the summary must contain the dates of birth of the candidates recommended, among other relevant details, to indicate whether any of them would attain the age of superannuation before the tenure of the post expires.
Federal Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid has said that the sacked Pemra chairman, Chaudhry Rashid, was accused of financial irregularities. He has been sacked according to a procedure laid down in the Constitution.The summary sent to the President House also mentions financial irregularities as one of the reasons for his removal. “Chaudhry Rashid has no justification to challenge his sacking in the court of law,” added the minister.appointment was done a month and a half before the interim government took over.”

Bomb disposal officer among three killed in Pakistan blast

Peshawar — A roadside bomb on Monday killed a senior bomb disposal officer along with two other policemen in Pakistan's troubled northwest, police said.
Abdul Haq, 43, who had defused more than 60 bombs in his career, was headed to the suburb of Badhaber
in the city of Peshawar after being called out to deal with a device.He was on his way to defuse a bomb when his vehicle was hit by another bomb. Abdul Haq and a police driver were killed on spot Najeebur Rehman, a senior police official, told AFP, adding that a police constable wounded in the attack later died in hospital. TV channels later showed other bomb disposal officers defusing the device.
Shafqat Malik, bomb disposal chief for the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, praised Haq as one of his best and most professional operatives.We are losing our best officers. More than 10 officers of BDS (bomb disposal squad) have lost their lives while serving their motherland," Malik said.
Haq was made bomb disposal chief for Peshawar after his predecessor Hukam Khan was killed while defusing two bombs in the same area in September 2012.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and Al-Qaeda-linked militants have led a bloody campaign against the Pakistani state in recent years.They have carried out hundreds of attacks on security forces and government targets, mainly in the northwest.

Giant 3-D Printer to Make An Entire House in 20 Hours

3-D Printing Concrete Houses Contour Crafting
3-D printers can make airplanes and their parts, food and more why not entire buildings? A professor at the University of Southern California aims to print out whole houses using layers of concrete and adding
plumbing, electrical wiring and other guts as it moves upward.Professor Behrokh Khoshnevis at USC created a layered fabrication method he calls Contour Crafting, which he says can be used to build a single house or a colony of houses.It could be used with concrete or adobe he says. Khoshnevis has been developing the system for several years and hosted a presentation about it at a recent TEDx even It would use a movable gantry taller than the house you want to build. Concrete pours out and is set down layer by layer, like a typical 3-D printer would sinter plastic together. It could be ideal for emergency housing, commercial or low-income structures, but it could also be used to print out customized luxury homes, according to Khoshnevis. Or, he adds, it might be ideal for the moon or Mars. “Contour Crafting technology has the potential to build safe, reliable, and affordable lunar and Martian structures, habitats, laboratories, and other facilities before the arrival of human beings his website reads. Khoshnevis is hardly the only 3-D printing expert advocating this Enrico Dini the Italian inventor of the D-Shape 3-D printer, wants to 3-D print moon buildings out of lunar regolith.On Earth, the automated system could prevent delays, injuries and other labor issues related to human workers. With this system, maybe a 3-D printer could beat the Chinese attempt to construct the world’s tallest building in three months.

New Pakistan Army chief visits troops on LoC

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's new army chief Gen Raheel Sharif today visited troops deployed at forward locations along the Line of Control (LoC), which has witnessed tensions and fierce exchanges of fire in the recent past.This was his first visit to the region since taking over late last month, and part of a series of trips to army bases around the country.Sharif was briefed by the local formation commander on the prevailing security situation along the LoC. Rawalpindi Corps Com.

New Pakistan Army chief visits troops on LoC

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PM expresses concern over continuing US drone strikes

Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on Monday expressed deep concern over the continuing drone strikes by the United States in the country.
Talking to US Secretary Defence Chuck Hagel who called on him here, the Prime Minister stressed that
drone strikes were counter-productive to the government’s efforts to combat terrorism and extremism on an enduring basis. The US Defence Secretary held in-depth exchange on the whole range of issues of mutual interest between the two countries. “The two leaders agreed to work together to strengthen Pakistan-US relations and advance the shared interest of a stable, secure and prosperous Pakistan and the region,” a Foreign Office press release said.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif stressed the importance Pakistan attached to a peaceful, stable and united Afghanistan and reaffirmed Pakistan’s support for the Afghan peace and reconciliation process.
Secretary Hagel acknowledged Pakistan’s efforts to support an inclusive reconciliation process in Afghanistan.
The two leaders reaffirmed the importance of Pakistan-US strategic partnership for peace and stability in the region.
They noted the substantial progress made in the bilateral relationship in recent months and acknowledged that the recent high-level exchanges including the Prime Minister’s visit to Washington, meetings of the Working Groups on energy, defence and security, non-proliferation and disarmament had greatly helped in building trust and strengthening the relationship.
The two leaders also reviewed the current state of bilateral defence and security cooperation and explored ways of further expanding cooperation in this important area of the relationship.
The Prime Minister stressed the importance of establishing a long-term and broad-based defence cooperation with the United States on the basis of mutual interest.
The two leaders also discussed the situation in Afghanistan.
Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Minister for Defence, Sartaj Aziz,
Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs, Syed Tariq Fatemi, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Jalil Abbas Jilani, Foreign Secretary and Lt.  Gen. Asif Yasin Malik, Secretary Defence also attended the meeting.

Fifteen illegal occupants arrested in PU hostel raid

LAHORE: Fifteen illegal occupants were arrested by the Lahore police during an operation conducted in Punjab University with help of the university administration in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, DawnNews
reported.According to a Punjab University spokesperson, the Lahore police, along with the university administration, raided Hostels No 15 and 18 and arrested 15 illegal occupants.The spokesman added that four illegal occupants were arrested from Islami Jamiat Tulaba’s (IJT) nazim Azeem Khushi's room in Hostel No 18.Earlier in December, 21 IJT illegal occupants were arrested during a police clampdown on a hostel of the university.Following the raid, IJT activists resorted to violent protest, causing massive traffic jams for several hours on Lahore’s major roads as well as damaging and burning of public transport.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel talks drones with Pakistan PM amid tensions

 U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, right, meets with Afghan military leaders in Kandahar on Sunday.
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan -- Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel discussed the use of U.S. drones against militants in remote areas of Pakistan on Monday during the first visit by a Pentagon chief to the South Asian ally in almost four years.
The United States has a complicated relationship with Pakistan and ties have been further soured by a dispute over unmanned military aircraft the United States uses to target militants in Pakistan's tribal areas on the Afghan border.
Islamabad says drone strikes kill too many civilians and violate its sovereignty. Protests by anti-drone activists prompted the United States to suspend ground shipments of NATO cargo leaving Afghanistan via Pakistan last week.
During his visit, Hagel met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and other senior officials including the newly appointed army chief, Raheel Sharif. Both sides were tight-lipped on the details of the talks. The prime minister ... conveyed Pakistan's deep concern over continuing U.S. drone strikes, stressing that drone strikes were counter-productive to our efforts to combat terrorism and extremism on an enduring basis the foreign ministry said in a statement.
A senior U.S. defense official said Hagel hoped to work with Pakistan to deepen the security partnership and reassure it of continued U.S. assistance in building its military capacity.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States believed peace and stability in the region would be enhanced by improved Afghan-Pakistan relations, "because of the unique nature of its porous border and the presence of a variety of militant groups in the AfPak border region.
Pakistan is one of the largest recipients of U.S. foreign assistance and has received more than $16 billion in security aid since 2002, a defense official said. The Obama administration has sought $305 million in military aid for 2014 and $858 million in a range of civilian assistance for Pakistan.
Before his arrival in Pakistan, Hagel visited troops in Afghanistan and met senior Afghan officials. He said a NATO meeting in February could serve as a new deadline for approval of a security pact between Kabul and Washington -- an accord Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been reluctant to sign.
Hagel is the first defense minister to visit Pakistan since the U.S. raid in the city of Abbottabad that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2011. Pakistan was embarrassed and angered by the surprise raid.
At the same time, Pakistan has served as a supply route for equipment flowing into Afghanistan to support the international coalition that is fighting Taliban militants.The routes, known as the Pakistani Ground Lines of Communication (GLOC), are important for withdrawing U.S. and coalition equipment as they draw down foreign forces in Afghanistan and hand over security control to Afghan forces. Prior to the talks, the defense official said Hagel would express appreciation that ... the government of Pakistan has made it a priority to keep the GLOCs open.He praised operations by Pakistani forces in a dangerous region this year to break up militants who posed a threat to the Torkham-Peshawar road that serves as part of the route between Afghanistan and the Pakistani port city of Karachi. That's an example of the kind of effort that the Pakistan government as a whole has taken to ensure that the GLOCs stay open the official said.

Hayden Panetierre and Other Stars Are Moving to Nashville

The stars are packing up and moving to Nashville! Hayden Panettiere may have been born in New York but now she's a bonafide country girl! The 24-year-old has filmed two seasons of her hit ABC show Nashville in
Tennessee, but was reluctant to set up residency there — until now. The starlet revealed to People magazine that she and her fiancé, boxer Wladimir Klitschko, are ready to buy a home in Nashville, and her hesitation has passed. Hayden told the mag, "After a year and a half of living here, I felt that I had enough personal investment here, that I want to have a grounding here, even if something happens to the show. Knock on wood it won't! But I have amazing friends here and this just feels good as a home base.But Hayden isn't the only star making a home in Nashville. In November, Justin Timberlake opened up to The Tennessean about his love of the city, saying I spend way more time in Nashville than people realize. The singer, who was born just outside of Memphis, added I admire this town a lot. They take care of their own. There are not a lot of places in the world, much less America, that do that. It's just a great place.So could Nashville be a permanent home for the 32-year-old? He told the paper, "I think there could be a place for me here in the future for sure. Absolutely I will work in Nashville. That's probably the next move for me. The next move for me is to sink some teeth in here.Nicole Kidman traded Los Angeles for Nashville when she married Keith Urban, and she couldn't be happier about the move. The Oscar winner told Ladies Home Journal I love living here. It's a long way from New York and Los Angeles, but that's part of the attraction. I feel protected here.

Sleet, ice, deep-freeze hit large swath of US

A powerful storm system that spread hazardous snow, sleet and freezing rain widely across the nation's midsection rumbled toward the densely populated Eastern seaboard on Sunday, promising more of the same.
Forecasters said the potent system already blamed for numerous power outages and thousands of weekend
flight cancellations elsewhere, has Virginia and other Mid-Atlantic states in its icy sights before the Northeast is up next.Icy conditions were expected to last through the rest of the weekend from Texas to Ohio to Tennessee. And officials warned a major ice storm was possible in Virginia's Appalachian region along the busy Interstate 81 corridor.In Virginia, state Emergency Management spokeswoman Laura Southard said the storm had the potential to be a "historic ice event.This forecast is very concerning to us," Southard said. "I've worked multiple disasters, but I've never worked an ice storm with a forecast like this. It's just really important for everybody to take extra precautions.Forecasters said the storm caused freezing rain and icy conditions in parts of Tennessee as it surged across that state late Saturday and early Sunday. It also has been blamed for plunging temperatures as a cold front sweeps down from the North on the jet stream.

Bob Nations Jr., director of the emergency operations command center for the Memphis area, said early Sunday that ice coating roads, bridges and overpasses caused several multi-vehicle crashes. He issued a statement urging drivers to use extreme caution, particularly on bridges and overpasses.
Police in Memphis, meanwhile, urged motorists to stay home altogether if they could avoid travel early Sunday.Ice had built up on the windshields and roofs of parked cars throughout Memphis during the day Saturday. Law enforcement reported an increase in traffic crashes, and scattered power outages affected more than 3,000 people, emergency and utility officials said.
"It looks like we're going to be stuck with this for one, two, maybe three days said Memphis attorney Sam Chafetz, who tried to get off the roads before the worst of the storm hit.I'm not afraid of the ice and snow, I'm afraid of the other drivers who don't know how to drive in it.Forecasters said motorists traveling Interstate 81 between Roanoke, Va., and Hagerstown, Md., should be on the lookout Sunday for any deterioration in conditions like that in Texas when the storm crossed parts of that state Friday and Saturday.

In Texas earlier, icy and treacherous sections of Interstate 35 north of Dallas were closed for hours at a time after tractor-trailers had trouble climbing hills, wrecks occurred and vehicles stalled, authorities said.
Tina Pacheco, her husband and two friends were traveling through Texas on their way to Mexico when the ice-laden interstate became so treacherous that traffic came to a standstill. They were forced to spend Friday night in their pickup truck, which they kept running for heat.
We couldn't go anywhere," she said, adding, "It's a good thing we had gas.Ice up to 4 inches thick was reported on one interstate in Texas at the height of the storm there. And about 75,000 customers in the Dallas area went without power for a time Saturday, down from a peak of more than 270,000 earlier. Oklahoma utilities reported more than 7,500 power outages across the state and western Arkansas.
The weather forced the cancellation of countless events, including Sunday's Dallas Marathon, which was expected to draw 25,000 runners, some of whom had trained for months, and the St. Jude Marathon in Memphis, expected to include 20,000.
Around 7 inches of snow fell in northeast Arkansas and the Missouri boot heel, according to the National Weather Service in Memphis, and 8 to 9 inches fell in parts of southern Indiana. The storm dumped a foot of snow and more in some areas of Illinois, with police scrambling to respond to dozens of accidents and forced scores of schools to remain closed.
Residents were told to prepare for a few days without power, prompting them to rush to stores to stock up on groceries, buy electricity generators and gas up their cars. Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell reminded residents to check on family and friends who are elderly, disabled or live alone.

Few heirs apparent to Mandela's symbol of freedom

The passing of Nelson Mandela leaves a waning number of global figures representing freedom and resilience against oppression — and a changing world that makes it harder for anyone to approach Mandela's iconic
power.There are a few whose trials have made them symbols of freedom, including the former political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar the Dalai Lama and, more recently, Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl turned women's rights activist.But Mandela, the black revolutionary who emerged from 27 years in prison to embrace his white oppressors and lead a new South Africa, may be one of the last of a breed for all sorts of reasons — including the circumstances of his heroism, his extraordinary success and the onset of an age when heroes' foibles are often exposed.He lived and worked in a context and historical period where his extraordinary individual qualities could help make change in his country and ripple throughout the world," said Daniel Calengaret, executive vice president of the Freedom House, a watchdog group working to expand freedom around the world.It's hard to think of someone who was both an iconic dissident figure and was actually central to building a new system Calengaret said.Mandela is often mentioned in the same breath as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. who also changed nations through nonviolence.Yet Gandhi and King were killed before their dreams were realized.Suu Kyi, the Myanmar pro-democracy leader, was imprisoned by the military regime for 15 years before she was released and won a parliamentary seat. Yet she battles in a political arena lacking the stark racism of South African apartheid, which deprived the black majority of equal rights.She stands for the end of a dictatorship, not the end of a racial system," said Dores Cruz, a University of Denver anthropology professor.Cruz said that the dismantling of communism by the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev is comparable to Mandela ending apartheid. But Gorbachev did not suffer personal persecution to do it.She noted that Mandela's image was carefully constructed for political purposes in pre-Internet South Africa, then burnished over the years by international media, musicians and Hollywood.
The impact that has had on the historical imagination, you probably won't find that in anybody," Cruz said. No one has the same iconic image or same historical status.The Dalai Lama, a Buddhist figure seeking the nonviolent restoration of Tibet's independence from China, has lived in exile for more than 60 years. And there is an ethnic or racial aspect to the Tibetan struggle, as China seeks to wipe out its traditional culture and replace it with that of the Han Chinese.Like Mandela, the Dalai Lama represents the decades-long suffering of his people. And he articulates a peaceful possibility in response to violence and aggression," said William Edelglass, a Marlboro College philosophy professor.Like Mandela, he inspires us to the better angels of our nature Edelglass said. "He reminds us of how we really want to be.But at age 78, with China firmly in control, the Dalai Lama is unlikely to see a free Tibet. And his Buddhist religion sets him apart from Mandela, who enjoyed a type of secular sainthood that transcended religious divides.Malala, the 16-year-old Pakistani girl, achieved global prominence last year when the Taliban tried to kill her for advocating the equality and education of women. After Mandela's death, she called him my leader.
In the past, other politicians suffered to reform oppressive regimes — Lech Walesa in Poland or Vaclav Havel in Czechoslovakia. But the peak of their careers came at the moment when the old regime crumbled, Calingaret observed.In a sense Mandela's greatest achievements were as president he said.He was on top, he could do anything he wanted, and he chose to push for reconciliation and inclusiveness.Mandela's rise might have been complicated had it happened during the Internet age. Mandela had his share of flaws including infidelity and a past embrace of violence, but they were overlooked. The volume and speed of the information traveling around the world today makes it impossible for a leader to climb without his or her every weakness being magnified.One of the things about Mandela that makes him unique, all those years in prison, he couldn't be really doing bad things during that time. And he lived prior to universal access said Edelglass.He sees the potential for another Mandela in the fight for democracy in China, but we would know everything about that person, everything they had ever done wrong.I wouldn't want to say there are no more (figures like Mandela) coming.I hope there are more coming Edelglass said.But it's a much more complicated world.Roger Levine who grew up in South Africa and now teaches courses on it as a history professor at the Sewanee: The University of the South, said Mandela became such a potent symbol because he experienced all the tribulations of South Africa itself. But the world no longer builds up politicians as the very embodiments of their nations' struggles, he said.Mandela was a product of a Cold War world: good vs. evil, us vs. them, black vs. white.Now Levine sai it's a whole lot harder to say who is the us and who is the them.No one is going to suggest that there aren't instances around the world where we have conflict between good and evil," Levine said. "But there are fewer opportunities to say you're on the right side, because it's a little bit less obvious what the right side of something might be.