Strategic exhaustion

Pakistan is currently faced with multifarious problems: the political problem of evolving a political system which corresponds to the genius of its people and their democratic aspirations, the problem of economic development and raising the standard of living of its people, the problem of good governance to provide essential services like basic nutrition, health, education, shelter, justice,...

US jobless rate hits 10.2pc

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US unemployment rate shot up to 10.2 percent in October as another 190,000 jobs were shed, the Labor Department said Friday.The report highlighted ongoing woes in the labor market in an economy struggling to emerge from recession: the jobless rate, up from 9.8 percent in September, was the highest since 1983 but the number of jobs lost narrowed to the lowest level...

US Consulate starts issuing visas to businessmen

KARACHI - The US Consulate Friday started issuing visa after a gap of 13 years and in this regard a Pakistani businessman was issued the first visa following the resumption of visa section in the city.On this occasion, US Consul General Stephen G Fakan held a reception for prominent businessmen at his residence to mark the re-opening of visa section.On this occasion, US Consul General said...

China outlook upgraded to 'positive': Moody’s

BEIJING (AFP) - Moody’s on Monday upgraded its ratings outlook for China to “positive” from “stable”, giving policymakers in Beijing the thumbs-up for how they have navigated the worst financial crisis in decades.Moody’s Investors Service said it had based its decision on the “resilient, robust and relatively stable macroeconomic performance during the turbulence of the past year”. “The...

Sandra doesn't chase film roles

SANDRA Bullock puts her family before film roles. The Hollywood superstar says she enjoys being a wife and step-mom more than being an actress.“I realise it when I’m staring at a stack of scripts and I can’t bear to open them,” she said. “I don’t want to step in that world right now, I want to enjoy where I am. I want to enjoy the ride instead of blasting forward and trying to fill a void...

Children with 'tough love' parents do better in life

CHILDREN who grow up with parents who take a ‘tough love’ approach to their upbringing are better prepared to do well in life.Experiencing a combination of warmth and discipline means children are more likely to develop skills such as application, self-regulation and empathy than those with disengaged or authoritarian parents. Those characteristics boosted children’s life chances, social...

Cough into your mobile phone for instant diagnosis

YOUR mobile phone may soon be able to diagnose respiratory illnesses in seconds when you cough into it.Software being developed by American and Australian scientists will hopefully allow patients simply to cough into their phone, and it will tell them whether they have cold, flu, pneumonia or other respiratory diseases.Whether a cough is dry or wet, or “productive” or “non-productive” (referring...

Rihanna to launch her own perfume

RIHANNA is all set to become the latest celeb to launch her own fragrance.The Umbrella singer has even tested her perfume. “I’ve been right there with a chemist mixing the formulas,” the Sun quoted Rihanna, as saying. “I wanted this to be the fragrance no man can resist - and it is!”Rihanna, who parted ways with Chris brown earlier this year, has no plans to date anyone anytime soon. “I’m...

Oil’s Well

Welcome to the oil slick! It helps your skin look great. Let’s look into the benefits of anti-ageing facial oils.So how high would you jump if you were told that there is yet another category of a beauty product that works to keep your face smooth and taut-skinned? The category is anti-ageing oils for the face.Yes, these oils are a fantastic find. Not only do they help prevent the formation...

HEALTH

Caring For Aching MusclesOur muscles bend and straighten our joints thousands of times a day, so it’s important to keep them in good working order.Muscles have an excellent blood supply, and usually work aerobically, fuelled by blood oxygen and glucose. But when they need to work hard, for example, during sport, they switch to anaerobic exercise. This provides a rapid supply of energy by...

Wellbeing

Try this:Light therapySpending half an hour to an hour under a 10,000-lux daylight lamp every day has been shown to really help lift your mood if you’re affected by the shorter days of winter or suffer from SAD (seasonal affective disorder). If you’re a “lark” use the light in the morning. “Owls” will find light therapy more helpful in the evening.ExerciseRegular exercise boosts serotonin...

Food

FoodJust like the rest of your body, your brain benefits from the right diet and exercise. Here are some tricks to keep you sharp.Scientists can’t say for sure whether certain foods can definitely ward off problems such as Alzheimer’s, but research play a role in our mood, our memory, and concentration. Try these top “brain foods” – they’re worth tucking into.LecithinLecithin is a super-nutrient...

Jessica Loves Men

Jessica Simpson has revealed that she loves spiritual, artistic and intellectual men.The singer who parted ways with the football player Tony Romo in July, apparently wants her partner to inspire her in many ways."I definitely love a spiritual man – somebody who is going to always inspire me."She added: "I don’t want to get bored. I can bore out pretty easily, so I love intellectual men......

Lindsay’s Burglar ‘Was A Friend’

According to sources, the teenager who was arrested on suspicion of burglarising Lindsay Lohan, was a friend of hers who often hung out with her on movie sets!Eighteen-year-old Nick Prugo, who was arrested after allegedly being caught on CCTV breaking into and robbing Lindsay’s house, regularly visited Lilo on the sets of her recent flick, Labour Pains, according to set sources. Lindsay...

NASA Bombing The Moon In Search Of Hidden Water

Just weeks after the Indian Space Research Organisation and National Aeronautics and Space Agency announced discovery of evidence of water on the lunar surface, the US Space agency is all set to 'bomb' the moon in search for hidden water in a controversial mission.Amateur astronomers in parts of the world may be able to view the impact through a telescope; for everyone else, the crash will...

Pain, Pain Go Away

HealthHeadaches, leg and back pain, all have us reaching for the painkillers. But before you crack open that bottle, try a more natural way to tackle chronic pain.If you’re plagued by a constant nagging pain or illness, it drains the spirit. Sympathy from others quickly wanes, but the problem is, the pain doesn’t. Your only option seems to be to grin, bear it and take a painkiller. One in...

Cherry and Coconut Brownies

INGREDIENTS* 100g unsalted butter* 250g caster sugar* 75g golden syrup* 275g dark chocolate, broken into pieces* 4 medium eggs* 70g plain flour* 50g unsweetened desiccated coconut* 100g dried cherriesMETHODPreheat the oven to 160oC gas mark 3. In a large saucepan, melt the butter, sugar and syrup until smooth. Remove from the heat, add the chocolate...

Wedding Dates Finalised For Shilpa & Raj

Shilpa Shetty says that her wedding date has been finalised, but she will announce it only when her sister Shamita is by her side. "I know everyone's eager to know about the wedding date. All I can say is, yes it's been finalised and I will make an official announcement as soon as I know when Shamita's coming out," said Shilpa, who got engaged to London-based Raj Kundra recently after a...

Younis May Return To Twenty20 Cricket

Pakistan skipper Younus Khan is ready to come out of retirement from Twenty20 cricket and play the two Twenty20 Internationals in Dubai.“If the team needs me and since the matches are to be held in Dubai, it will be nice to play,” Younus remarked.Younus, 31, retired from Twenty20 cricket after leading Pakistan to victory in the World Twenty20 in June in England. He is not the part of the...

‘Women deprived of health care’

GENEVA: Women are often deprived of health care in the crucial years of adolescence and old age due to social inequalities and neglect in male dominated decision-making, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday.“It’s time to pay girls and women back, to make sure that they get the care and support they need to enjoy a fundamental human right at every moment of their lives, that...

Top five spending priorities for hard times

By Tom SullivanNo company is immune from the economy's ebb and flow. So it's no surprise that, in the face of a fearsome downturn, IT shops are scrambling to figure out where they should cut.The big three analyst firms; Forrester, Gartner, and IDC are busily slashing their IT spending projections. Just last week IDC predicted that in the United States, IT spending will decline to 0.9 percent,...

Compulsive gamers 'not addicts'

By Paddy MaguireNinety percent of the young people who seek treatment for compulsive computer gaming are not addicted, research says.The Smith and Jones Centre in Amsterdam, has treated hundreds of young gamers since 2006. But the clinic is changing its treatment as it realises that compulsive gaming is a social rather than a psychological problem.The clinic has had very high success rate...

Online fraudsters steal billions

All the criminals are happy to work together to steal money from credit cards and bank accounts. This is because card numbers stolen in one country can only be 'cashed out' in their home nation - necessitating contact across bordersHi-tech thieves who specialise in card fraud have a credit line in excess of $5bn, research suggests.Security firm Symantec calculated the figure to quantify...

IBM and academia work on human brain simulation

Boffins at IBM have teamed up with five universities to use the human brain as a template to build faster, smaller computer systems that benefit decision making. Working with experts at Columbia University Medical Centre, Cornell University, Stanford University, the University of California-Merced and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, IBM Research plans to design and develop computers...

Facebook looking to buy Twitter – FT

Social networking company Facebook recently held acquisition talks with Twitter, the micro-blogging company. The negotiations put a valuation of as much as dollar 500 million on Twitter, which has become one of Silicon Valley's most closely watched start-ups. Facebook offered to pay for the acquisition in stock. Putting a value on Twitter's shares proved controversial. If it used the dollar...

Digital book, newspaper, and magazine reading

One of the promises of computers has been that they will replace paper. We're not there yet, but the Tablet PC is definitely bringing that closer to reality. My Tablet PC works really well for reading books, magazines, and newspapers in digital format. I'm able to read a novel, the latest edition of a travel guide, a newspaper such as the New York Times, or catch up on the latest geeky news...

Magic, Maths and Computer Science

Pulling a rabbit out of a hat or making the Statue of Liberty vanish are impressive feats of magic. Magicians are in many ways like computer scientists: a magician must find a method to solve a problem, that problem being, say, making the rabbit appear or the Statue vanish, but without the audience realizing how it's done. A good magic trick is a combination of method and presentation, in...

Catch a Cheater: trace digital footsteps

By Minucheher ZilliCheating is an act of lying, deception, fraud, trickery, imposture, or imposition. Cheating characteristically is employed to create an unfair advantage, usually in one's own interest, and often at the expense of others. The term 'cheating' is less applicable to the breaking of laws, as illegal activities are referred to by specific legal terminology such as fraud or corruption....

Online Gadgets to keep Health Track

Intel has taken a somewhat shocking step away from its roots in the chip industry with its new Health Guide, a small tabletop gadget that Intel will build, sell, and manage through a suite of backend services.Intel will develop pilot programs with several healthcare organizations, including Aetna, to assess how the Health Guide works in the home. The chip giant is also working with the American...

Kerry-Lugar Bill

Kerry-Lugar Bill –The lesser of two evils? By Salman LatifThere has been a lot of hue and cry over the Kerry-Lugar Bill passed by the US Congress. It's about the 7.5 billion dollar aid package to be given to Pakistan and the terms and conditions associated with this bill. As usual, as soon as the bill was passed and brought into national stream of debate, many people started to cash in on...

The cookie diet can entice dieters!

Being hungry and craving sweets are two of the main reasons people fall off their diets.But what if eating cookies and not being hungry was part of your diet plan? By Kathleen M ZelmanThe cookie diet: What it isBeing hungry and craving sweets are two of the main reasons people fall off their diets. But what if eating cookies and not being hungry was part of your diet plan? The cookie diet...

Colombia

Colombia's economic freedom score is 62.3, making its economy the 72nd freest in the 2009 Index. Its overall score is 0.2 point higher than last year, primarily reflecting improved trade freedom and business freedom scores. Colombia is ranked 15th out of 29 countries in the South and Central America/Caribbean region, and its overall score is higher than the regional average.Colombia is now...

Economic aid and developing countries

By Caroline Boin and Julian HarrisAid activists Oxfam complained recently that “it is time for G20 leaders to stand up and deliver the money needed to protect poor people,” as heads of the world's biggest economies met in Pittsburgh in September. The real problem is that aid is actually rising but much of it never reaches poor countries and, when it does, it causes economic, social and political...