Shahrukh Khan Is The Best

DC CORRESPONDENT

Actor Shahrukh Khan

 Mumbai:He has thrived on his image of being the most immodest actor in the industry. Not only does Shah Rukh Khan symbolise the term self-absorbed, he also lives it up to the fullest. Ajay is in news for Singham Returns and Aamir for his controversial poster of PK.

Since his rivals are hogging the limelight at the moment, SRK is aware that if not for his films, his statements have managed to keep him in the limelight. Full marks to King Khan for pulling off the most pompous and arrogant statement with confidence and elan. He sure has mastered the art of claiming his stardom and ensuring a spot in the limelight.

Maryam Mirzakhani the first woman to receive top maths prize the Fields Medal

 Photo: AFP /The Seoul ICM 2014

An Iranian mathematician is the first woman ever to receive a Fields Medal, often considered to be mathematics’ equivalent of the Nobel prize.

The recipient, Maryam Mirzakhani, a professor at Stanford, was one of four winners honoured Wednesday at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Seoul, South Korea.

The Fields Medal is given every four years, and several can be awarded at once.

The other recipients this year were Artur Avila of the National Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics in Brazil and the National Centre r for Scientific Research in France; Manjul Bhargava of Princeton University; and Martin Hairer of the University of Warwick in England.

The 52 medallists from previous years were all men.

‘‘This is a great honour. I will be happy if it encourages young female scientists and mathematicians,’’ Mirzakhani was quoted as saying in a Stanford news release on Tuesday.

‘‘I am sure there will be many more women winning this kind of award in coming years.’’

Ingrid Daubechies, a professor of mathematics at Duke and president of the International Mathematical Union, called the news ‘‘a great joy’’.

‘‘All researchers in mathematics will tell you that there is no difference between the math done by a woman or a man, and of course the decision of the Fields Medal committee is based only on the results of each candidate,’’ Daubechies said in an email.
South Korean President Park Geun-Hye gives a medal to Manjul Bhargava.

South Korean President Park Geun-Hye gives a medal to Manjul Bhargava. Photo: AFP/The Seoul ICM 2014

‘‘That said, I bet the vast majority of the mathematicians in the world will be happy that it will no longer be possible to say that ‘the Fields Medal has always been awarded only to men.’’’

Much of the research by Mirzakhani, who was born in Tehran in 1977, has involved the behaviour of dynamical systems. There are no exact mathematical solutions for many dynamical systems, even simple ones.

‘‘What Maryam discovered is that in another regime, the dynamical orbits are tightly constrained to follow algebraic laws,’’ said Curtis T. McMullen, a professor at Harvard who was Mirzakhani’s doctoral adviser.
South Korean President Park Geun-Hye gives a medal to Martin Hairer.


‘‘These dynamical systems describe surfaces with many handles, like pretzels, whose shape is evolving over time by twisting and stretching in a precise way. They are related to billiards on tables that are not rectangular but still polygonal, like the regular octagon.’’ Read More

Five conversations you should have on a first date

Photo: Getty Images

Livia Gamble
Reporter

First dates are nerve-racking, but small talk can be worse. When an awkward silence hits, it’s either head for the nearest exit or mention the weather.

For those that weren’t born with the gift of the gab, unlike the weather, there are some topics you should reach for when you start to feel the pressure of a first date.

What you should talk about

Talk about travel, not movies

A study by Richard Wiseman found that talking about movies gives you a less than 9 per cent chance of a second date. But talking about travel gave participants an 18 per cent chance of wanting to meet again. Wiseman says the reason for this is that men and women typically had very different movie tastes.

Throw the ball back in their court

Talking about yourself the entire date isn’t ideal but staying quiet is just as bad. When your date asks you a question, give your two cents and redirect the conversation back to them. This should set up the foundations of a smooth conversation.

Share secrets

New York psychologist Arthur Aron came up with a set of questions to speed up the ''getting to you know you'' process. Questions include: Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you are going to say? Why? Would you like to be famous? In what way? When did you last cry in front of another person? By yourself? More questions are here.

When in doubt, go for the controversial topic
Don’t worry about rocking the boat. Instead of talking about the news, behavioural researcher Dan Ariely says dive straight in and ask something personally revealing, such as: how many relationships have they had?

Do you like beer?

According to OK Cupid’s research, asking your date if they like the taste of beer will give you a good indication about whether they will have sex with you on the first date. Alternatively, asking if they like horror movies can reveal if they are looking for a long-term relationship.

 
What not to talk about

Don’t over-compliment your date

''Why would someone like you be interested in someone like me when you can have anyone you want?''

Asking questions like this sends a message that you think very little of yourself. Therapist and life coach John D. Moore says: ''If you are continuously complimenting your first date about their personal appearance, it may come off that you are fishing for a compliment.''.. Read More

5 Top Home Remedies to Prevent Premature Graying of Hair

Posted by: Sara in Hair Care, Home Remedies

No matter from which part of the world you belong, your hair can suffer premature graying. Now the age when it can be said to have gone gray prematurely, may differ. So, if you are a white person in your mid 20s and your hair turn gray that will definitely be a premature graying. If you were in mid 30s, it would have been normal age for graying of hair. If you are an Asian, your hair should start graying in mid 30s and if you are an African-American, the standard age for you to get gray hair is mid 40s. Now you know whether your’s is a premature graying of hair or not! And if the answer is yes, you don’t have to worry a lot because there are certain very effective home remedies to prevent such early graying of your hair.
Home Remedies for Gray of Hair.

1.Make Hair Tonic with Coconut Oil-Curry Leaves 

Curry leaves not only grant great aroma and taste to your dishes but also brings back lost pigments to your hair. These leaves are nature’s gift having certain pigment that can retain your original hair color. So include curry leaves in your diet. Use them to temper your gravies, boil them in water and have as tea, grind them to mix with buttermilk or curd and have tasty treats. Here is one recipe to make an excellent hair tonic with curry leaves. Make it and store for daily use.
You will need:

• Coconut Oil- 100 ml
• Curry Leaves- a handful of them; you may also increase the amount.

 Directions: 

• Mix curry leaves with coconut oil.
• Boil them together.
• If it’s winter, your coconut oil will be in solid state. So, first heat it to melt and then add curry leaves to boil them.
• When the leaves turn black, put off the flame.
• Strain the oil and store in an air tight container.

Apply this oil to your hair daily at night and massage your scalp (only scalp) with fingers gently. Massage for about 15-20 minutes. Leave it overnight and wash off your hair the next morning. Use this oil for at least 3 months to get results.

Interesting fact: British actress Anna Friel drinks tea made of curry leaves everyday to preserve the natural colour of her hair. She boils the leaves in water and drinks the hot beverage after she noticed two strands of gray hair post her illness recently.

2. Use Indian Gooseberry’s Wonder for Hair 

Amla, as it is known, Indian gooseberry is the most talked about ingredient in Ayurveda for all hair problems, leave alone the color of hair! It is one of the richest sources of antioxidant vitamin C. If you include gooseberry in your diet, you will not only help your hair to grow fast and prevent from graying but you will also ensure that you remain healthy in toto. I’ll give you the recipe for homemade amla oil to be prepared by you so that you can stop premature growing of your hair.
You will need:

• Amla powder- 2 tsp (see the recipe below to know how to get powder out of gooseberry)
• Fenugreek powder (optional)- 1 tsp
• Coconut oil- 1 cup

Directions:

• To make amla powder, take gooseberries pieces and dry them in shade. Once they dry completely, grind them to get their powder.
• Mix amla powder, coconut oil and fenugreek powder (if using) in a pan.
• Heat the pan on low flame.
• When you notice the oil turning brown, put off the flame.
• Allow to cool a little (watch it doesn’t get solid as coconut oil tends to settle in solid state when it’s cold temperature outside)
• Strain and store the oil in a container

Use this coconut oil with all the good things of amla in it to massage your scalp and hair daily at night. Wash off your hair in the morning.

Amla Remedy for Oily Hair 

If you have oily hair, you may not like to apply oil to your hair. In such a case, you can use amla water to treat your hair. For making amla water,

• Take a cup of water.
• Mix 1 tsp amla powder in it.
• Boil the water till it reduces to half of its quantity.
• You should get at least 3 teaspoons of amla water.
• Mix 3 teaspoons of lemon juice with the amla water.
• Now add this amal-lemon juice mix to the required amount of water that is needed to wash your hair.
• Wash you hair with this water.

Interesting fact: Amla or Indian gooseberry is a fruit with a diameter of only 1 inch but it has the same antiscorbutic value as two oranges have in them. Also, amla doesn’t lose its qualities whatever you do wih it- boil it, make jam or pickle with it, eat it raw or process it in any form- it won’t leave its properties!

3. Apply Ridge Gourd for Hair Color

Ridge gourd, often also called ribbed gourd, is widely used for treating premature graying of hair. It helps in enriching the hair roots as well as in restoring pigment. You again need to make a hair tonic using coconut oil to use it for your graying hair.
You will need:

• Dried ribbed gourd pieces- half a cup
• Coconut oil- 1 cup

Directions:

• Take the pieces of ridge gourd and dry them out in shade.
• Soak the dried pieces in coconut oil for about 3-4 days.
• Now boil the coconut oil along with soaked pieces of dried ribbed gourd.
• Boil it on low flame till the oil gets darkened, black in color.
• Strain and store.
• Use this oil to massage your scalp, at least twice a week.

Interesting fact: One of the common everyday name of ridge gourd is Luffa, also spelled loofah. In fact, the naturally dried ridge gourd is used as an external body cleanser which is popularly known as loofah sponge. Also, ridge gourd has medicinal use in some other color related diseases like leprosy (white skin) and jaundice (yellow skin).

4. Create Sesame-Carrot Wonder for Changing Gray Color of Your Hair

You can prevent your hair from growing gray. What about those that are already gray? Here’s a recipe using sesame oil, carrot juice and fenugreek seeds that is used in South India- one of the main centers of Ayurvedic practitioners- for premature graying of hair!

You will need:
• Sesame Oil
• Carrot Juice
(both sesame oil and carrot juice should be in equal amount. For example 1 glass each or 100 ml each)
• Fenugreek seed powder- Half the amount of oil and juice (For example, ½ glass or 50 ml if the oil-juice is one glass each or 100 ml each respectively)

Directions:

• Mix sesame oil, carrot juice and fenugreek seeds powder in a clear bottle, jar, bowl or any other container
• Keep the mixture in sun for 21 days.
• Apply the resultant oil mixture after 21 days on your scalp and hair.
• Use this for at least 3 months.

This mixture can also be used for graying hair on your other body parts like beards, moustaches, eye-brows, chest etc. This can miraculously change the graying color of your hair.

Interesting fact: Solar radiation can purify (read disinfect) water to make it safe for drinking. The UVA rays of sun terminate many germs present in water when exposed to sunlight for minimum 6 hours. Read More

Are You Thinking which is Best Android phone - which should you buy?

By Gary Cutlack 

Our verdict on the best Android phones - constantly updated

There's one key way in which Android is massively different from its Apple-branded smartphone competition - the number of phones out there running Google's hot mobile OS.

Samsung makes loads of them. Sony's cut the Ericsson ties but still is cranking out the Google-branded handsets. Then you've got Android-powered phones from Acer, LG, Huawei, Motorola, ZTE and many others, and while HTC has ceased the practice of releasing more phones than centipedes have shoes (they do wear them, you know) it's still one of the most prominent Android manufacturers.

Compare 1,000s of Android deals

The many variations in screen size, processor power, software features and design makes finding the best Android phone for you extremely tough.

Struggling to work out which are the best Android Widgets? Or just stuck wondering: "Actually, what IS Android?"

To help find the best Android phone for you, we've rounded up the best Android handsets out there today, rating the phones on hardware performance, OS upgrade potential and, of course, how shiny and nice they are to have and boast about to work colleagues.

So here they are - The best Android phones money can buy today. 

Happy New Year trailer out: This Shah Rukh Khan starrer is nothing more than a visual treat!

The trailer of Shah Rukh Khan’s much awaited Happy New Year is finally out after days of buzz and drama! And after days of waiting for the trailer, if you expected something spectacular than we are sorry, you are in for a BIG let down by Farah Khan. The longest trailer ever released with running time of over three minutes is like a drab chocolate in shiny cover! Happy New Year trailer starts off with Shah Rukh Khan flaunting his golden colour streak as Charlie – the main leader of the bunch of losers who mouths monologue on two types of people existing in this world – winners and losers! When the trailer itself says this to be a journey of ‘6 losers’ who are we to call them anything else. The losers come together to pull off the biggest heist in the world! Yes, Mr. George Clooney, Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt – please move aside as Indiawaale are coming to take the stage!

The trailer was always going to be this long as Shah Rukh Khan wanted to give equal attention to all the characters – Charlie, the mastermind and pack leader. Deepika Padukone plays Mohini, a dancer who has forgotten how to act! Abhishek Bachchan is ‘English speaking’ Nandu and looks cute as he impersonates his father Amitabh Bachchan’s yesteryear scene of saying ‘English, English’. Sonu Sood takes  a potshot at all the masala flicks with his shirt-tearing act while Boman Irani is the stud as cool Tammy along with the youngest member of this group Vivaan Shah as geeky yet smart Rohan.

The story of Happy New Year revolves around this World Dance Competition where this bunch of 6 immature dancers take part with the hidden motive of carrying put the biggest theft the world has witnessed! Yawn. The best part of the trailer? The prime and exotic locations, the over-the-top glamorous actors, props, set and slap-stick comedy – something that is expected of Farah Khan and Shah Rukh Khan collaboration! And Shah Rukh Khan assures you are not in for something new but recycled story as he repeats the dialogue from their previous film Om Shanti Om – “Yeh toh sirf trailer hai, picture abhi baaki hai!”

Dozens Of People Helped Rescue a Fellow Commuter In Australia

SYDNEY (AP) — Dozens of people helped rescue a fellow commuter in Australia by pushing against a train car to free the man whose leg slipped between the platform and the train.

Closed-circuit footage released by the Western Australia State Public Transport Authority showed the man lost his footing while boarding the train at a station in the city of Perth on Wednesday.

A passenger alerted railway staff who stopped the train from leaving, local media said. When railway workers realized the man couldn't move, they called on other passengers to help.

The footage showed dozens of people rushing to help tilt the car to free the man, who fell at least thigh deep into the platform gap.

"It's really heartwarming I think, to find an incident like this where everyone pitched in," transport authority spokesman David Hynes said.

The man wasn't named, but local media reported that he was believed to have escaped injury and caught the next train.

How 'normal' is your sex life?

Finding time for sex after kids are in the picture. Photo: Getty

Rachel Clun
Life & Style reporter

A recent Reddit thread asked married people how frequently they had sex, and their answers ranged anywhere from every day for couples who had been together for 30 years, to once every two to three months for others.

Given the huge differences in answers, it’s impossible to tell what is normal and what is not.

Psychologist and founder of The Hart Centre Julie Hart says, that for couples with mismatched libidos, understanding what a ‘normal’ amount of sex is can be helpful.

“What’s considered in the normal range is often a question mark for people,” says Hart.

“I’ve certainly had people in my counselling practice who think that once every three months is normal, particularly when you’ve got children,” says Hart, “and their partner is just horrified at the thought of only being able to make love once every three months.”

Hart says research has shown couples with the healthiest – and happiest – sex lives have sex once or twice a week.

“If you leave it too long between having sex and making love, you tend to get out of the mode; you sort of forget,” says Hart.

She says it can be hard to remember what you used to like and also difficult to get back into the habit of having regular sex, so lovemaking becomes less and less frequent.

So what is it that prevents couples from having sex more regularly?

Children, says Hart, can unfortunately be a major factor.

“The research has shown that for about 70 per cent of all couples their sex life goes down at the birth of their first child, and it doesn’t really go up again until their last child leaves home,” says Hart.

Babies will keep you awake, while younger children are physically demanding – and the tiredness from having young children will impact your sex drive. While teens have more autonomy, says Hart, they are often quite stressful to raise, and in combination with younger kids they can also leave parents feeling exhausted. Read More

When your husband doesn't want sex

When husbands want less sex, marriages can suffer. Photo: Getty

Heidi Stevens

There's a passage at the beginning of Michele Weiner Davis' 2008 book, The Sex-Starved Wife: What to Do When He's Lost Desire (Simon and Schuster), that underscores what experts say is a larger problem than our culture lets on.

"You ask yourself, 'What's wrong with me? Aren't I attractive?'" Weiner Davis writes. "How did you manage to hook up with the one man in the world who would prefer doing just about anything other than making love to you? Why isn't he like all the other guys?"

The one man in the world. All the other guys.

It's difficult to quantify how many women are in marriages with husbands who've lost the appetite for sex, in part because it's hard for women - who are surrounded by friends, sitcoms and magazines telling them all men want sex all the time - to speak up about the "one man in the world" who doesn't.

"It's a very real problem," says psychiatrist Andrew Gilbert, medical director at the Hallowell Center, a New York-based facility that treats cognitive and emotional problems. "It's not weird or unique. It's also very treatable."

While researching her book, Manopause: Your Guide to Surviving His Changing Life (Hay House), co-author Lisa Friedman spoke with women who struggled to reconcile their husbands' waning desire with the impressions they had always accepted about men's sex drives.

"It's hard for anyone to admit; let's start there," Friedman says. "Women are just as uncomfortable admitting they're not having sex as men are. They think, 'What's wrong with my man?' Because, after all, the ability to perform is at the core of his masculinity." Read More

Gaza team defuses live bombs and shells without protective suits

Some of the artillery shells his team collected on Thursday. Photo: Ruth Pollard

Ruth Pollard
Middle East Correspondent
Nuseirat, Gaza: Hazem Abu Murad and his team have none of the equipment you would expect in a unit of munitions disposal experts.

Theirs is one of the most dangerous jobs in Gaza but they have no protective suits, no robots and no portable X-ray systems.

Instead, they assess the situation – a potential unexploded mortar, shell or missile – on sight alone and work out the safest way to disarm and dispose of it as far from civilians as possible.

As his team examines a large missile dropped from an Israeli F16 into a field where crops of potatoes and tomatoes usually grow, Mr Abu Murad of Gaza’s Explosive Ordinance Disposal Police admits there have been some frightening moments in his 15-year long career. "There is one minute between life and death," he says. "If I move my fingers two millimetres the wrong way, I am gone." After pronouncing the one-tonne bomb safe to move, a bulldozer is summoned to the site, and it rumbles slowly along a narrow, sandy track and into the field.

Under the watchful eye of the family who were forced to flee their home 10 days earlier when the missile landed, the dozer driver lowers its tray and scoops up the enormous missile along with a large pile of dirt and lifts it high up into the air. The bulldozer then trundles out of the residential farming district.

Following 29 days of Israeli aerial, naval and tank bombardment in which the Israel Defence Forces say they struck 4762 sites across Gaza, the risk to civilians, especially children, of unexploded munitions has skyrocketed, experts warn. Read More  

Barack Obama authorises bombing of Islamist militants in northern Iraq

US President Barack Obama. Photo: Bloomberg

Nick O'Malley
US correspondent for Fairfax Media

Washington: President Barack Obama has authorised airstrikes in Iraq in defence of United States staff and of refugees who have been besieged by Islamic State of Iraq and Levant militants on the Sinjar mountains in the north.

Addressing the nation from the White House at 9.30pm in Washington, the President said the US had already begun dropping emergency aid to the besieged Yazidi community on the mountains.

Mr Obama said America’s top priority was the protection of US consulate and military staff who are based in the city of Erbil to advise Iraqi forces in their fight against ISIL. He said he had authorised targeted airstrikes against any ISIL convoys that approached the city.

Washington: President Barack Obama has authorised airstrikes in Iraq in defence of United States staff and of refugees who have been besieged by Islamic State of Iraq and Levant militants on the Sinjar mountains in the north.

Addressing the nation from the White House at 9.30pm in Washington, the President said the US had already begun dropping emergency aid to the besieged Yazidi community on the mountains.

Mr Obama said America’s top priority was the protection of US consulate and military staff who are based in the city of Erbil to advise Iraqi forces in their fight against ISIL. He said he had authorised targeted airstrikes against any ISIL convoys that approached the city. Read More

11 Amazing Herbal Remedies for Weight Loss

Posted by: Sara in Home Remedies

Herbs are what are natural and you can very well take help of these herbs for weight loss. Have you ever thought why people in the past were not so bothered about getting fat? Why obesity was not a problem as it is today? From the time onwards when people started processing natural foods and leading life which lacks physical movements, they also started gaining weight. Even today if you talk to someone who has lost weight, you’ll be told of lots of herbs and natural foods along with exercises that had helped them in losing weight. So, why not you too know about the top herbs for weight loss. Only knowing is not enough. Act on this. Adopt these herbal remedies for weight loss and get in shape not instantly but with lasting effect!

Herbal Remedies for Weight Loss

1. Green Tea for Weight Loss

Green tea is not only loaded with antioxidants but has thermo-genic properties within itself. Thermogenesis can be understood as the process of heat production in organisms including human beings. It increases consumption of energy and fat oxidation so you burn your body fat faster. Green tea also helps feel you full so that you don’t eat more than you need. Not only this, EGCG in green tea reduces the amount of fat that your body absorbs when you eat your food. This is not only helpful in your weight loss efforts but also in reducing your cholesterol level.

How to have green tea for weight loss?

• Make your green tea by placing 1-2 tsp of good quality green tea in a cup or bowl. Pour hot water over it and let it brew for a minute. Taste it. If it is not strong enough for your taste buds, let it brew for another minute and then taste again. Keep on tasting every minute to know what strength of green tea would you prefer. Then onwards, you may brew your tea for that many minutes. Usually people brew green tea for 2-5 minutes. Strain and drink your cup of green tea. As this is for weight loss, its desirable not to add any sweetener to the tea.
• Have green tea instead of regular tea or coffee in the morning. It has enough caffeine to start off your day. Also, this will speed up your metabolism right in the morning so that you may burn more calories throughout the day.
• Drink at least 4-5 cups of green tea throughout the day. This will help you feel full and you’ll concentrate lesser on binge eating. Having a cup of green tea before or after meals is a good idea.

2. Ginseng for Weight Loss

Ginseng has long been used by Chinese medicine as a traditional medicine for energy, stamina, and overall well being. Modern researchers have also found ginseng to be effective for weight loss as well as diabetes control. One of the researches talks about ginseng’s ability to make body cells lesser capable of storing fat. Ginseng is an adaptogen, a substance which improves the body’s capability to cope with physical, emotional and environmental stress. You can find ginseng in fresh as well as dried form. While sometimes leaves of ginseng plant are also added with its root but the root is the most beneficial part of this plant. Ginseng can help you in two ways to lose weight. First, it will boost your metabolism wherein when you eat, you will store less fat as compared to when you don’t take ginseng. Secondly, ginseng will fill you with energy so that you remain more active and thus spend more calories.

Make ginseng tea for weight loss
Get this:

• Dried ginseng root- 4 tbsp
• Water- 4 cups
• Honey (optional)- 1-2 tsp
• Cinnamon (optional)- ¼ – ½ tsp

Do this:

• Boil the water in a pan.
• Add ginseng root to the boiling water.
• Simmer for about an hour.
• Remove from the heat and strain.
• Add honey and/or cinnamon. Honey reduces the bitter aftertaste f ginseng herb and cinnamon powder can make it a little aromatic.
• Drink one cup each in the morning and after lunch.

3. Guggul Herb Extract for Weight Loss

Guggul is an age old herbal medicine recommended by Ayurveda for various health conditions including weight loss. And what is more important is that modern studies have also supported the effect of guggul herb in weight loss. Guggul gum resin is extracted from the Commiphora mukul tree or the mukul myrrh tree. Gum guggul extract contains guggulsterone, a plant steroid which is thought to be anti-tumor, anti-angiogenic and cholesterol-lowering component. However, the weight loss effect of guggul comes from its activity on thyroid gland. Thyroid hormones are essential for exact metabolic rate which decides how much calories would you burn in a day. As guggul stimulates thyroid function, your metabolic rate comes to the optimum level and weight loss becomes easier and faster. The added advantages of guggul are lowered cholesterol levels and a good mood too. And because, it doesn’t stimulate your central nervous system, it is a safe herb for weight loss.

Ways to take guggul for weight loss

• Guggul extract is easily available in form of tablets in health stores, especially Ayurveda herbal medicines stores. Generally, you should take 75 milligrams of guggul extract divided in 3 doses. This means 25 milligrams as one dose. Sometimes 100 milligrams can also be taken but it’s better to consult an Ayurvedic doctor or a herbalist before you take guggul supplement.
• If you decide to take guggul gum, you may keep 1 gram (about ¼ tsp) of this resin under your tongue or inside your mouth so that it dissolves there. Do it 4 times a day.

4. Hibiscus Tea for Weight Loss

The beautiful flowers of Hibiscus are loaded with nutrients, flavonoids and various minerals. The amylase inhibitors in this herb help in lowering absorption of fats and carbohydrates. The fats and carbohydrates in your body are broken down by hibiscus so that they can be flushed out of body. Hibiscus flowers also have mild diuretic property s, which o that you shed water weight too and reduce your bloating. Your body gets added advantage of strengthened immunity due to the antioxidants present hibiscus. Read More

Top 10 Remedies to Remove Stretch Marks

Posted by: Sara in Home Remedies

Have you ever noticed the leather bag that you carry with all the stuff under the sun? It gets so stretched that it reaches the limit of its elasticity. It is then, when you see those wrinkle type marks on your old overused leather bag. You discard it and buy a new one. But you cannot do this with your own skin! Yes, your skin is composed of elastin which can be thought of as a soft elastic tissue. It is soft, supple and stretchable but it too has its own limits. Some situations exert extra pressure on your skin such as sudden weight gain or loss, pregnancy and even rapid growth of your body during teenage. Sometimes while exercising too, you stretch your body out of its limits. In such situations you get those thick red or purple lines on your skin which is popularly known as stretch marks. Gradually these lines do fade away and become white or silvery white in color but they don’t go away on their own. You have to put efforts to remove these stretch marks. Here are some home remedies to help you with your task.

Natural Remedies to Remove Stretch Marks

1. Apricot Mask to Remove Stretch Marks

Many people use apricot scrub for rapid removal of stretch marks from their skin. However, I am giving you the recipe of a mask made from apricot that you have to apply on your stretch marks daily for at least a month or more.

Get these things:
• Apricots- 2-3
• Lukewarm water- enough to wash off your skin having marks.

Do this:
• Cut open the apricots and remove their seeds.
• Crush the fruits to get their paste.
• Apply this apricot paste on your stretch marks.
• Leave for about 15-20 minutes.
• Now wash off with warm water.
• Repeat everyday (you may initially do it twice a day) for a month.

2. Aloe Vera to Remove Stretch Marks
Benefits of aloe vera are now very popular among the fans of home remedies. This herb has in it the plant collagen which excellently repairs human skin too. Use, as far as possible, the fresh aloe gel taken from the leaves instead of using store bought gel.

Get this:
• Aloe vera leaf

Do this:
• De-thorn the aloe vera leaf and remove its outer skin.
• Take out the sticky gel from the inside of the leaf.
• Apply this fresh aloe gel on your stretch marks.
• Now forget it for two hours.
• Wash off with water after this couple of hours.

3. Oils to Remove Stretch Marks
Natural oils are excellent emollients and they have these capacity to treat all scalp and hair problems as also skin issues including stretch marks. You just need to identify the right type of oil for the very purpose. You should ideally gently massage your skin having stretch marks with oil for about half an hour daily. However, just applying oils to the marks (something near to soaking them in oil) can also do wonders. If doing so, you need to apply oil for about three to four times a day. Olive oil, with all its antioxidant properties and loads of nutrients, is considered one of the best oils for removing stretch marks but there are many other oils that you can use. They too are good when it comes to curing stretch marks. Here is the list.

• Olive oil
• Lavender oil
• Rose oil
• Frankincense oil
• Myrrh oil
• Geranium oil
• Helichrysum oil
• Chamomile oil

The best thing will be to mix certain oils and then apply to the marks. Here’s the recipe.

Get this:
• lavender oil- ½ tsp
• Chamomile oil- ½ tsp
• Almond oil- 2 tsp ( you can use any other carrier oil like avocado oil, jojoba oil etc. in place of almond oil)

Do this:
• Mix lavender, chamomile oils with almond or the other carrier oil that you are using.
• Mix them well.
• Apply this oil mix to your stretch marks daily.
• Do this preferably thrice or four times a day.

Top tablets compared - which is best for you?

Best tablet 2014: Our top 10 ranking

What's the best tablet for 2014? Today's latest tablets compared and rated - constantly updated

Tablets are taking the world by storm. Just a few years ago they were an unknown for many people, but nowadays you've got more choice than you can shake a mildly agitated badger at.

And with choice comes decisions - difficult decisions. Do you eschew Apple's high prices, join the Android brigade and find the best iPad alternative? Or jump on board Cupertino's lovetrain, and use one of the most popular tablets on the planet?

We've made it easy for you and pulled together the top 10 tablets of the moment available in the UK.

It's a difficult process divining which place each of these excellent tablets should occupy in our list, so we take into account multiple elements including performance, battery life, screen quality and more. Price plays a minor part, as does age: a tablet that's been replaced by a sequel will tumble down the rankings as you can get all the great features on a better slate.

If none of the top 10 tablets here take your fancy then head on over to our tablet reviews pages, where you'll find in-depth reviews for many more models.

Top 10 Mobile Phones In The World Today

Are you buying smartphones?. we guide what phone is best for you?

You want the best smartphone, right? We've whittled our constantly updated selection down to the 10 best handsets you can get your hands on right now - but after you've checked out number one, we've still got plenty of other options to feast your eyes on.

We've all got at least one mobile phone each, right? We've probably got about three or four nowadays, and that counts giving your old Nokia 3310 to your Mum a few years ago.

But while you used to be able to just bank on the new Nokia or always get the next Sony Ericsson because it had a half-decent camera, there are now so many great options out there from loads of manufacturers.

The trouble is, how do you decide which is the best one for you?

Well, this is where we make it easy: we've played with nearly every device on the market and have found the ten best you can spend your money on. It needs to be good, after all, given it will reside in your pocket for the next two years.

Our ranking of the best mobile phones available in the UK today celebrates the brilliance of the smartphone: we love handsets that add in functionality to enrich our lives in so many different ways.

We also partially take into account the price of the phone too - meaning a low-price handset doesn't always need to have high-spec functions to be in our top 10. Read More

Why West Africans keep eating bush meat, which could be Ebola's bridge from animals to humans

A woman in Ivory Coast dries bush meat near a road in March. Photo: Reuters

Abby Phillip

To the foreign eye, it looks like a flattened, blackened lump of unidentifiable animal parts. To many Africans, however, bush meat - the cooked, dried or smoked remains of a host of wild animals, from rats and bats to monkeys - is not only the food of their forefathers, it is life-sustaining protein where nutrition is scarce.

And as it has been during past Ebola outbreaks, bush meat is once again suspected to have been the bridge that caused the deadly disease to go from the animal world to the human one. All it takes is a single transmission event from animal to human - handling an uncooked bat with the virus, for example - to create an epidemic. Human-to-human contact then becomes the primary source of infection.

"If you know that the Ebola virus is introduced in one area, it's probably an extra good time to stop eating bush meat," said Daniel Bausch, an associate professor of tropical medicine at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

What is bush meat? It varies. It can be a chimpanzee, gorilla or monkey. It could also be a rat, deer or fruit bat. The animals come from the wild and are captured and sold for sustenance where other sources of protein from domesticated animals are scarce or prohibitively expensive.

West Africans say they have been eating bush meat for longer than anyone can remember. And even where it is outlawed and frowned upon by conservationists who decry the killing of protected primates and other animals, you can still find it readily available in markets and on street corners.

"Life is not easy here in the village," Guinean Sâa Fela Léno told the Guardian. Authorities and aid groups "want to ban our traditions that we have observed for generations. Animal husbandry is not widespread here because bush meat is easily available. Banning bush meat means a new way of life, Read more 

Gaza ceasefire gives pause to assess destruction

Palestinians in a car with their belongings drive past a destroyed house in Rafah's.

Ruth Pollard

Gaza City: Amidst the vast moonscape of grey rubble, the bloated carcasses of dead animals and the occasional splash of colour from a child’s toy, Gazans returned to what was left of their homes as another 72-hour ceasefire began.

Between 16,000 and 18,000 housing units have been severely damaged or totally destroyed, the United Nations Development Program estimates, leaving tens of thousands not just homeless, but with nothing left but the clothes they were able to evacuate with.

On a wider scale, almost every piece of critical infrastructure, from electricity to water to sewage, has been seriously compromised by either direct hits from Israeli air strikes and shelling or collateral damage.

As many as 520,000 Palestinians have been displaced from their homes in Israel’s nearly four-week long military campaign and with this temporary ceasefire, many are only now able to fully grasp the extent of the devastation in their neighbourhoods.

Shocked families wordlessly picked through the rubble of their houses in northern towns of Shujaiya and Beit Hanoun, where the smell of death still hangs in the air.

Rescue workers are still pulling bodies from under rubble – after successive humanitarian ceasefires broke down over the last week, there has been little access until now to some of the worst-affected neighbourhoods.

There was no celebration of the ceasefire – the first to have lasted more than a few hours since this conflict began on July 8 – or of the fact that Israeli ground troops had withdrawn from Gaza after announcing they had destroyed 32 Hamas tunnels and significant weapons caches.

Instead, Gaza was blanketed in grief and loss.

Gaza officials say that 1834 Palestinians have died in the conflict, most of them civilians, including more than 400 children. Israel says 64 of its soldiers and three civilians have been killed since fighting began on July 8. Read more

Man arrested for hoax bomb threat on plane escorted by fighter jet to Manchester Airport

A Qatar Airways aircraft is seen surrounded by emergency.Photo: Reuters

Andrew Yates

Manchester: British police have arrested a man on suspicion of making a hoax bomb threat after two fighter jets escorted a Qatar Airways plane into Manchester Airport. The pilot had reported a possible explosive device was on board.

The incident, which prompted the authorities to close the northern England airport for 25 minutes, briefly raised fears of a terrorism attack.

Qatar Airways said the Airbus A330-300 plane was flight QR23 from Doha to Manchester with 269 passengers and 13 crew on board.

A Reuters photographer saw armed police remove a handcuffed male passenger dressed in baggy trousers and a sports shirt from the plane.

Police say a 47-year-old man from the north-west of England has been arrested on suspicion of making a bomb hoax and remains in police custody for questioning.

A full search of the aircraft found nothing suspicious on board. Read more:

World Health Organisation Meets as Ebola Fears Grow

The World Health Organisation began a two-day emergency meeting on West Africa's Ebola epidemic, with the UN agency deciding whether to declare it an international crisis.

The closed-door session is tasked with ruling whether the outbreak constitutes what is known in WHO-speak as a "public health emergency of international concern".

The meeting comes as Nigeria reported its second death and Saudi Arabia said a man who had visited Sierra Leone and had returned with Ebola symptoms died at a hospital in Jeddah.

Taking the form of a telephone conference between senior WHO officials, representatives of affected countries, and experts from around the globe, the WHO meeting is not expected to made its decision public until Friday.

To date, the WHO has not issued global-level recommendations - such as travel and trade restrictions - related to the outbreak which began in Guinea and has spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.

But the scale of concern is underlined by the WHO emergency session itself - such consultations are relatively rare.

The UN agency this year held such meetings on polio and last year on the mysterious Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.

But before that, the last emergency meeting had been during the 2009 H1N1 influenza outbreak.

Nigeria on Wednesday confirmed five new cases of Ebola in Lagos and a second death from the virus, bringing the total number of infections in sub-Saharan Africa's largest city to seven.

"Nigeria has now recorded seven confirmed cases of Ebola Virus Disease (EVB)," Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said.

Read more , AFP, Washington Post

Home Remedies To Treat Obesity Naturally

What Is Obesity?

Obesity is the condition in which a person is overweight and has a high degree of body fat. Obesity is measured by the Body Mass Index of a person (BMI). BMI is calculated by dividing your weight in kilograms with your height in meters squared.  A person with BMI 25-29 is considered as overweight and the person with a BMI between 30 and 40 are considered as obese. Obesity can lead to various life threatening diseases like diabetes, heart diseases, some varieties of cancer, stroke etc. obesity can occur in people of all ages. Consumption of more calories and sedentary lifestyle are the major cause for obesity. It is possible to control obesity or get rid of obesity using various home remedies and lifestyle changes. Heredity also plays an important role in the development of obesity. Though many weight loss treatments are available in the market to get rid of obesity, they are not effective and are not a safe method. Try the following home remedies to get rid of obesity.

Home Remedies To Treat Obesity Naturally

The following are some of the home remedies that aren’t just controlling obesity in humans but will also help them to maintain a healthy body and mind.

1. Green Tea
Green tea has been found to be very effective in weight loss and will help in treating weight loss without any dieting or weight loss pills.

• Use the best quality green tea leaves in boiling water and let it simmer for a few minutes.
• Drink this green tea two to three times a day to see visible results in days.

2. Apple Cider Vinegar And Lime Juice 

• Mix one teaspoon of apple cider vinegar and one teaspoon of lemon juice in a cup of lukewarm water.
• Drink this glass of water on an empty stomach every day for two to three months.
• You will see visible results as water will keep you hydrated, apple cider vinegar will boost your metabolism and lemon will help in improving the taste of water.

3. Start Day With Honey 

• Take a teaspoon of honey and mix it in a glass of hot water.
• Add a teaspoon of lemon juice to this water mixture.
• Drink this water the first thing in the morning when you get up and on an empty stomach.
• Repeat this daily for two to three months to see an effective weight loss.

4. Drink Hot Water 

• If you have the habit of drinking cold water, try to replace it with hot water.
• Hot water will help in eliminating the fat deposits in your body.
• Drink hot water after every meal and make sure that you leave a gap of half an hour between the food and the water.
• Never drink water immediately after eating.

How to Lighten Skin Naturally with Home Remedies?

Posted by: Sara in Home Remedies,

Your skin color depends upon various factors, main of which is the pigment melanin which is produced in the skin cells known as melanocytes. If you have darker skin, it means your melanocytes produces more melanin. Sometimes, darker skin is not your natural skin color. It may get darken due to tanning resulting from exposure to sun rays. In fact, your skin color adapts to intense sunlight irradiation so that you get protection against the ultraviolet rays that can damage your skin. There can be many other causes for dark skin other than heredity and overexposure to sun. These may include environmental pollution, dry skin, stress, as well as prolonged usage of cosmetics having lots of chemicals in them. If your dark skin is not due to genetic reasons, you may take an attempt to lighten your skin with the help of these home remedies for skin lightening.
Homemade Remedies to Lighten Skin Naturally

1. Milk for Skin Lightening

Milk is a rich source of calcium. Calcium, along with many important functions in our body, also regulates normal skin color. It does so by stimulating melanocytes, the skin cells that produces melanin pigment. Also, when you provide higher calcium content to the upper epidermis of your skin, you help maintain effective barrier against moisture loss. This prevents skin from going dry which can also affect your skin making it darker. Milk also contains lactic acid which reduces skin’s pigmentation making your skin lighter in complexion.

How to use milk for skin lightening?

Get this:

    Milk (preferably cow’s or goat’s milk)- 1 bowl
    Washcloth

Do this:

• Take the bowl of milk and warm it a little. You need just warm milk and not hot.
• Soak your washcloth in this.
• Take out the washcloth and wring it out to discard excessive milk. While the cloth should be fully soaked in milk, it should not drip.
• Now gently rub your skin with this cloth.
• Once the cloth gets dry, soak it again in the milk and repeat the process.
• Repeat the cycle of dipping and rubbing for 3-4 times.
• Do this daily, preferably after taking bath.
• After a couple of weeks, you may do this twice a week instead of doing it daily.

2. Yogurt for Skin Lightening

Lactic acid is a known remedy for natural skin lightening. This acid is the most gentle alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs). Alpha hydroxy acids act as exfoliants by contributing in rapid shedding of dead skin cells on the surface. This leads to cell renewal which in turn removes dullness from your skin giving you a brightening effect. As a skin lightening agent, lactic acid helps bleach the hyperpigmented skin by suppressing the production of melanin. Therefore, using yogurt loaded with lactic acid, makes sense when it comes to skin lightening with natural remedies.

Ways to use yogurt for skin lightening

1. Take some plain, unflavored and unsweetened, yogurt. Rub this gently on to your skin for a couple of minutes. Then leave the yogurt on your skin for another few minutes. Now wash off using lukewarm water. Repeat this daily.
2. Mix yogurt, lemon juice and oatmeal to get make a face mask. Apply this to your skin. Leave it there for 15-20 minutes before washing off with water.
3. Add 1-2 tsp of honey to 1 tablespoon of yogurt. Apply this to your skin. Leave it for 10-15 minutes. Wash off with water. Repeat daily. Read More

12 Easy Home Remedies for Chapped Lips

Posted by: Sara in Home Remedies

The protective layer on the skin of your lips is far too thinner than the skin of your face. It has only three to five cellular layers whereas the skin of your face has up to 16 layers! This makes your lips prone to moisture loss in a big way. Not only this, there is no sweat glands too on your lips. If you think for a while, your lips never sweat! Also there is no hair on lips thereby no hair follicle that may secret sebum or oil to keep your lips moist and hydrated. Sometimes weather too contributes in making your lips dried and chapped such as winter months that lack humidity in air. Your lips are not safe even in summers due to over exposure to sun rays that make it more drier by sucking whatever moisture it has. Sometimes you knowingly or unknowingly lick your lips and the saliva of your mouth too contributes in making it dry as if all the above causes for chapped lips were not enough! So, what to do? Because your lips cannot remain moist themselves, you need to provide them with extra moisture. These home remedies for chapped lips are meant exactly for this, to tell you what all can lend moisture to your lips so that they remain wet and plump! Home Remedies for Chapped Lips

Powerful Home Remedies For Hair Growth

The Need For Hair Growth

In some people overall thinning of the hair occurs without any bald spot or patterns. The individual will that the hair is not thick or full as it previously was. There are many reasons for this hair loss condition and most of them can be effectively treated using home remedies for hair growth. It is normal for a healthy person to lose up to 100 hairs a day. Though the condition is very common, it is very tough to live with it as it may change your appearance.
Causes Of General Hair Loss

The important causes of general hair loss include

•    Rapid shedding of hair after child birth
•    Hair loss after fever
•    Sudden weight loss
•    Some medications
•    Certain illness and infections
•    Severe stress
•    Thyroid problems
•    Anemia
•    Age
•    Poor diet

Symptoms Of Hair Loss

Hair thinning occurs very slowly and you may not notice the problem. Some of the important symptoms are
•    Clumps of hair fall out
•    Loss of more than 100 hairs in a day
•    Thinning of the hairline
It is necessary to understand the cause for hair loss and treat it with appropriate home remedies for hair growth. Good nutrition, good hygiene and adequate levels of vitamins and irons ensure the growth and health of the hair. Read More

Top 10 Herbs For Hair Growth

Hair loss is a common concern these days for both men and women who are in their mid to late adulthood. Many people are suffering from baldness, receding hairline, hair loss and thinning of hair. Even though hair loss is very commonly seen in men here are many females too who are prone to this problem. The regular use of treatments like hair dyeing, hair straightening and curling which leads to many harmful chemicals being used on the hair is one of the main reasons why females also feel hair loss at some stage in their life. Some of the other factors that are responsible for hair loss in humans according to the American Academy of Dermatology are: poor diet, improper care of the hair, health disorders like thyroid and anemia problems, inborn conditions like menopause and alopecia and also due to chemotherapy and certain medications.

The hair is not just a part of your body and it is a symbol of beauty, status and health. It is important for you to take proper care of your health in order to prevent early hair loss. It is not a very serious problem and with a little bit of caution you will be able to prevent further hair loss. There are certain uncontrollable factors like pregnancy conditions or certain illness or genetic factors that will result in hair loss. But, this does not mean that you cannot do something about your hair loss. Read More

Muslim Minister Of UK Resigned Over Gaza Tragedy

British Foreign Office minister Syeeda Warsi

LONDON: A Muslim British Foreign Office minister, Syeeda Warsi, who was also the first Muslim to sit in the UK cabinet, has resigned over the UK government’s policy on Gaza, TheNewsTribe reported.

Her resignation was made public through twitter when she wrote on Tuesday that, “With deep regret I have this morning written to the Prime Minister (David Cameron) & tendered my resignation. I can no longer support Govt policy on #Gaza.”

Warsi was the first Muslim to handle as a full cabinet minister. Cameron had appointed Warsi as chair of the Conservative Party and minister without portfolio in May 2010.

It should be noted that the Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron has drawn criticism as his coalition partner Labor party has also been blamed for its silence and for not taking a tougher stance against Israel over its military attacks and atrocities on children of Gaza. Read More

Israel Withdraws Ground Forces From Gaza Before 72-Hour Ceasefire

Israeli soldiers from the paratroop battalion return to Israel . Photo: AP

Jerusalem: Israeli ground forces will completely withdraw from the Gaza Strip before a 72-hour Egyptian-mediated ceasefire, which began at 3pm on Tuesday (AEST), a military spokesman said.

"The Israel Defence Forces will be redeployed in defensive positions outside the Gaza Strip and we will maintain those defensive positions," Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said.

Citing briefings from the military, Israel Radio and Army Radio also announced that ground forces have completed their main war mission of destroying cross-border tunnels dug by Palestinian militants.

At least 32 of the underground passages – and dozens of access shafts – were located and blown up, Israel Radio and Army Radio said.

Just hours before the ceasefire started, the Gaza conflict arrived in deadly form in Jerusalem. In two separate attacks, a Palestinian man killed an Israeli while overturning a bus with a construction vehicle in West Jerusalem and a few hours later a gunman wounded a soldier in an attack in East Jerusalem. Both attacks appeared to be a backlash against Israel's Gaza war.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility but a spokesman for Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip, said: "We praise the heroic and brave operations in Jerusalem, which come as a natural reaction to the crimes and massacres by the occupation against our people in Gaza." Read more 

A man at a funeral in Beit Lahiya carries the body of a girl from the Abu Nejim family, whom medics said was killed along with eight other family members by an Israeli air strike. Photo: Reuters

Afghan Princess Faces Eviction From Manhattan Apartment

Matt A. V. Chaban

Zeynep Osman,a niece of the last king of Afghanistan.Photo: New York Times

New York: Tutankhamen, Richard III, Archduke Franz Ferdinand - throughout history, the deaths of monarchs have set off wars, revolutions and writing careers. Now, the passing of the last of the imperial Ottoman Turks has led to a battle over the rent-controlled apartment of an ageing Afghan on the Upper East Side.

In 1945, Ertugrul Osman moved into a two-bedroom walk-up apartment on the top floor of a three-storey commercial building. Though it had a handsome mansard roof at the time and a prime uptown location, the stout 10-metre-wide property was practically a hovel compared with the  50-hectare Yildiz Palace in old Constantinople where Osman was born and where his grandfather Abdul Hamid II ruled from 1876 to 1909. Had the empire not been dissolved, Osman would have taken the throne in 1994.

Instead he spent 64 years in the same apartment until he died in 2009 on a trip to Istanbul with his second wife, Her Imperial Highness Zeynep Osman, who had joined him after their marriage in 1991. Like her husband, Zeynep Osman's royal family had had to flee its home in Afghanistan in the 1920s.

Now Osman, who was born in Turkey, fears she may be forced out of her New York home.

After her building was sold in 2011 for $US10.1 million ($10.8 million), her new landlord, Avi Dishi, went by to see her that October.

"The first words out of his mouth were: 'I want you out. I paid too much for this building to have you here,' " Osman, 69, recalled, sitting inside her large living room sharing platters of cookies and crackers - a courtly gesture she said she also extended to her landlord, along with any other guests. Read more

Guo Meimei, China's most brazen 'professional mistress', confesses on TV

Philip Wen
China correspondent for Fairfax Media

Guo Meimei living the high life, here.Photo: Supplied

 

Beijing: In the end, the downfall of Guo Meimei, widely considered China’s most brazen “professional mistress”, came through the same means she achieved fame and notoriety – an indiscriminate series of ostentatious and overly revealing internet blog posts.

Ms Guo, 23, was arrested by police with seven others ahead of the football World Cup final last month, amid a crackdown on the massive illegal online betting on the tournament in China. Rather indiscreetly, she had been bragging to her legion of nearly two million followers on Weibo – China’s broad equivalent of Twitter – about the big bets she was making.

Ms Guo, with her penchant for fast cars, designer brands and documenting her glamour-filled life on social media, has simultaneously captivated China's netizens while infuriating them with her relentless flaunting of her inexplicable wealth - a gleaming example of inequality in a nation grappling with the social divide.

There are the shots of her sunbathing on luxury yachts and her sitting behind stacks of casino chips in Macau. Yet those fall in the subtle category: Ms Guo also once posted a screenshot of her bulging 10-digit bank balance for all to admire.

On Monday, China’s state broadcaster China Central Television revealed some of the money’s origins, in an astonishing news package complete with a recorded ‘confession’ by a meek Ms Guo and testimony from a sour ex-boyfriend and a snitching personal assistant.

On top of participating in the online World Cup betting syndicate, she admitted to operating an illegal poker den from an inner-city Beijing apartment. She also supplemented her income by having sex with men for money, but never for less than 100,000 yuan ($17,400) an encounter.Read more

Ebola death toll hits 887 as doctor who treated Nigerian case falls ill

Bashir Adigun and Jonathan Paye-Layleh

Nigeria health officials wait to screen passengers in Lagos. Photo: AP

Abuja, Nigeria: The doctor who treated a man who flew to Nigeria and died of Ebola now has contracted the disease, authorities said on Monday, presenting a dire challenge to Africa's most populous nation as the regional toll for the outbreak grew to 887 dead.

As Nigerian health authorities rushed to quarantine others who had been exposed to the doctor, a special plane landed in Liberia to evacuate the second American missionary who fell ill with Ebola. Nancy Writebol, 59, is expected to arrive in Atlanta on Tuesday, where she will be treated at a special isolation ward.

The second confirmed case in Nigeria is a doctor who treated Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian-American man who died July 25 days after arriving in Nigeria from Liberia, said Nigerian Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu.

Three others who also treated Sawyer now show symptoms of Ebola and their test results are pending, he said. Authorities are trying to trace and quarantine others in Lagos, sub-Saharan Africa's largest city of 21 million people.

"This cluster of cases in Lagos, Nigeria is very concerning," said Dr Tom Frieden, director of the US Centres for Disease Controls and Prevention, which is dispatching 50 experienced disease control specialists to West Africa. Read more