Baking soda, the magical beauty potion!

Baking soda has been used as a home remedy for a number of beauty issues since times immemorial.
"Baking soda which is easily available in all kitchens is an alkaline substance that has a crystalline composition has antibacterial, antifungal, antiseptic and anti inflammatory properties. One can use it as a face wash, face mask, it works as an exfoliator, soothes sun-burnt skin, removes dead cells and also helps in skin whitening" says famous makeup artist Meenakshi Dutt.
"When you don't have much time to go for facials, try baking soda. For best results mix with lemon juice and apply on your face. Try it as a dry shampoo before going to bed" says makeup artist Guneet
Virdi.
Jyoti Pandey, beauty and make-up artist from Geetanjali Salon says, "Baking soda is not only used for cooking purposes, it is also used as a beauty potion. It's very good for removing tan from skin and darkness from underarms, elbow, knee. Mix 1 spoon of baking soda with an equal amount of lemon juice and make a thick paste. Apply the paste evenly on darker area and leave for 10 mins. After 10 minutes, wash with lukewarm water."

Skin break out solution

Use baking soda to clear your skin. Firstly, wash your face, and make a paste of water and baking soda. Apply on your blemishes. Once the paste has dried, wash with warm water.

Natural deodorant

In case you're searching for a natural deodorant without the risk of Aluminum, you can turn to your kitchen pantry. You can utilize baking soda blended with water to make a odor repelling paste.

Freshen up your hands

To expel smell from hands, include 3 tsps of soda and 1 tbsp of water into a dish. Mix well and apply it on your hands. Rub and wash off.

Teeth Whitener

Baking soda can help whiten teeth and keep them clean and healthy. Mix 1/4 cup baking soda with lemon juice from half a lemon. Use a Q-tip or cotton ball to apply the mixture to your teeth and wait 45 seconds before brushing your teeth.

As a mouthwash

Blend one teaspoon of baking soda in a glass of water. Mix well using a spoon. Take a big sip and gargle it for a few seconds You will be left with new breath and a clean mouth!

Banish blackheads

Make a paste by adding a spoon of water in baking soda and apply it around the blackhead zone for 10 minutes. Wash off with warm water.

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Space station crew land in Kazakhstan

A Soyuz capsule carrying NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko, Sergey Volkov landed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, NASA television reported.

The landing took place in a steppe near the Kazakh city of Zhezkazgan at 10:26 local time (0426 GMT), it said.

A search and rescue team has located the capsule.

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly is closing the door on a space mission that has spanned a U.S.-record of 340 days.

They has circled the world 5,440 times and experienced 10,880 orbital sunrises and sunsets.

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U.S., Iraq plan battle for Mosul

Recent gains against the Islamic State (IS) in eastern Syria have helped sever critical supply lines to Iraq and set the stage for what will be the biggest fight yet against the Sunni militancy, the battle to retake Mosul, Pentagon officials said Monday.

Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon news conference that U.S.-backed forces had begun laying the groundwork for the fight by moving to isolate Mosul from the IS’s de facto headquarters in Raqqa, Syria. Kurdish and Arab forces retook the town of Shaddadi in eastern Syria last week, cutting off what Defense Secretary Ash Carter called the last major artery between Raqqa and Mosul.

But military officials cautioned that the fight for Mosul could last many months.

In addition to the advances in eastern Syria, the Pentagon has begun using cyber-attacks on IS communications between Raqqa and Mosul, as well as attacks meant to disrupt the militant group’s ability to use social media to recruit fighters, officials said.

Retaking Mosul would be a “massive hit” to the IS, said Patrick Martin, an Iraq expert at the Institute for the Study of War. Such a loss would bolster claims by the U.S.-led coalition that the Sunni militancy is on the run in Iraq. It could also sharply demoralise IS fighters, raising questions about whether the group could still credibly call itself a caliphate.

The Pentagon has declined to predict when Iraqi troops will try to enter Mosul, though Gen. Dunford said on Monday that “it is not something that will happen in the deep, deep future”. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi of Iraq said two weeks ago that Iraqi forces would start a full military operation to retake the city as early as March.

The long fight by Iraqi security forces to take back Ramadi from the IS, which concluded in December, offers a preview of the battle to come over Mosul. Advancing inch by inch, Iraqi forces, backed by U.S. airstrikes, took more than five months to gain control of the city centre of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province. As difficult as that battle was, the fight for Mosul will be much harder, military officials say. The city is five times as large as Ramadi.

Military officials also say it is hard to imagine how the fight for Mosul can be waged without close U.S. air support, which would probably require attack helicopters, something Prime Minister Abadi, for political reasons, has yet to agree to.

The effort is likely to include Kurdish peshmerga fighters, Pentagon officials say. The U.S. military has trained some 16,000 Kurdish fighters, but their participation is likely to come with its own problems. Mr. Abadi’s government is unlikely to want the Kurdish fighters to assume the lead role in the coming fight, a role that Iraq experts say is likely to be filled by the Shia-dominated Iraqi security forces.

In 2004, it took more than 13,000 highly trained troops, primarily Americans, almost two months to retake and clear Fallujah of about 3,000 insurgents in the fiercest fight of the Iraq war. Ninety-five U.S. service members died, and more than 560 were wounded.

The battle for Mosul, many military experts say, could be much worse. Pentagon officials say they are unsure how many IS militants are in the city, but they have been there for almost two years.

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Google self-driving car hits public bus in California

A self-driving car being tested by Google struck a public bus on a Silicon Valley street, a minor accident that appears to be the first time one of the tech company’s vehicles caused a crash during testing.

Google accepted at least some responsibility for the collision, which occurred on Feb. 14 when one of the Lexus SUVs it has outfitted with sensors and cameras hit the side of the bus near the company’s headquarters in Mountain View, California.

No one was injured, according to an accident report Google wrote and submitted to the California Department of Motor Vehicles. It was posted online Monday.

According to the report, Google’s car intended to turn right off a major boulevard when it detected sandbags around a storm drain at the intersection.

The right lane was wide enough to let some cars turn and others go straight, but the Lexus needed to slide to its left within the right lane to get around the obstruction.

The Lexus was going 2 mph (3 kph) when it made the move and its left front struck the right side of the bus, which was going straight at 15 mph (24 kph).

The car’s test driver who under state law must be in the front seat to grab the wheel when needed thought the bus would yield and did not have control before the collision, Google said.

While the report does not address fault, Google said in a written statement, “We clearly bear some responsibility, because if our car hadn’t moved there wouldn’t have been a collision.”

Chris Urmson, the head of Google’s self-driving car project, said in a brief interview that he believes the Lexus was moving before the bus started to pass.

“We saw the bus, we tracked the bus, we thought the bus was going to slow down, we started to pull out, there was some momentum involved,” Urmson told The Associated Press.

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority said none of the 15 passengers or the driver of the bus was injured.

The transit agency is reviewing the incident and hasn’t reached any conclusions about liability, spokeswoman Stacey Hendler Ross said in a written statement.

There may never be a legal decision on fault, especially if damage was negligible as both sides indicated it was and neither Google nor the transit authority pushes the case.

Still, the collision could be the first time a Google car in autonomous mode caused a crash.

Google cars have been involved in nearly a dozen collisions in or around Mountain View since starting to test on city streets in the spring of 2014. In most cases, Google’s cars were rear-ended. No one has been seriously injured.

Google’s written statement called the Feb. 14 collision “a classic example of the negotiation that’s a normal part of driving we’re all trying to predict each other’s movements.”

Google said its computers have reviewed the incident and engineers changed the software that governs the cars to understand that buses may not be as inclined to yield as other vehicles.

Jessica Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for California’s DMV, which regulates Google’s testing of about two dozen Lexus SUVs in the state, said agency officials spoke Monday with Google but would have no comment.

A critic of Google’s self-driving car efforts said the collision shows the tech giant should be kept from taking onto public streets self-driving prototypes it built without a steering wheel or pedals.

Google sees that as the next natural step for the technology, and has pressed California’s DMV and federal regulators to authorize cars in which humans have limited means of intervening.

“Clearly Google’s robot cars can’t reliably cope with everyday driving situations,” said John M. Simpson of the nonprofit Consumer Watchdog. “There needs to be a licensed driver who can takeover, even if in this case the test driver failed to step in as he should have.”

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Hopes on habitat revive as vultures feed at ‘restaurant’

For vulture conservationists, there is no sight more beautiful than the highly decimated-in-number scavenger birds feeding on a carcass offered at a “vulture restaurant”.

A group of dedicated forest officials and personnel, involved in reviving the picturesque vulture habitat in Adilabad district, are an exhilarated lot as their painstaking effort for over a year in making the majestic birds feed in their “restaurant” has yielded results.

The 100 m high and 250 m wide habitat of the long billed vulture (Gyps indicus), the picturesque Pala Rapu cliff in Murliguda beat of Bejjur forest range in Kagaznagar division, at present has 24 adults and 6 chicks living in 2 roosting points and 10 nests, though there are over 40 of them, all abandoned. Five of the 10 have been occupied only after the conservation efforts helped the number of the scavenger birds go up from 10 to 30 in a span of two years.

“We do not know when, but the nests were certainly abandoned because of shortage of food. A survey conducted in 10 surrounding villages revealed that cattle carcasses were not available since long, as farmers sell away their cattle,” recalled Bejjur Forest Range Officer M. Ram Mohan, who leads the conservation effort.

“Supplying food to the vultures became our first priority as the habitat did not lack in the other two parameters for survival of the birds — availability of water and of higher perching places. We established a vulture restaurant on top of the cliff and on the Peddavagu stream bed to attract the scavengers to the habitat,” Mr. Ram Mohan added.

“Though we had placed a carcass near the stream about six months ago, it was for the first time that the birds fed on it on February 20 and 21,”says wildlife biologist and field researcher M. Ravikanth. “We missed photographing the first day’s action involving seven vultures but made sure we carried a camera the next day.”

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Two of seven videos manipulated, finds forensic probe report

The forensic probe of a set of video clippings of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) event ordered by the Delhi government has found that the two videos were “manipulated” where voices of persons not present in the clips were added.

Out of the seven videos sent by the Delhi government to the Hyderabad-based Truth Labs, two have been found to be tampered with while the rest were authentic, sources said.

“In the manipulated clips, videos have been edited and voices have been added. The main report, with a supplementary, has been submitted to the Delhi government,” an official said.

The Arvind Kejriwal led-government had on February 13 ordered a magisterial inquiry into the alleged raising of anti-national slogans on the Jawaharlal Nehru University’s campus on February 9.

Earlier, a video showing raising of anti-India slogans allegedly by outsiders at the event had given a fresh twist to the case. In the video, the youths, whose faces were covered, could be seen raising slogans against India.

Several videos of the event have surfaced since the controversy broke out leading to the arrest of JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar on charges of sedition, triggering widespread protests.

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Hillary wins 7 states, Trump 6 on Super Tuesday

Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton moved closer to winning their parties’ nominations with a series of victories in the Super Tuesday elections, the biggest day of the primary campaign.

Ms Clinton won seven of 11 state races and Trump won at least six as they distanced themselves from party rivals and looked ahead to a November presidential election showdown.

Ms Clinton’s opponent, Bernie Sanders, won the Oklahoma primary and caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado, as well as the primary in his home state of Vermont.

In the Republican race, Ted Cruz, a firebrand conservative senator, won his home state of Texas and Oklahoma and Marco Rubio, a favorite of the Republican establishment, won in Minnesota for his first victory. Both are seeking to break out as Mr. Trump’s main rival.

Mr. Cruz desperately needed the Texas win in order to stay in the race. Still, Trump’s wins in the South were a blow to Cruz, who once saw the region as his opportunity to put himself on a path to the nomination. Instead, he’s watched Trump, a brash New York real estate mogul, display surprising strength with the region’s evangelical Christians and social conservatives.

Mr. Rubio’s win in Minnesota gave him a boost on an otherwise disappointing night. His long-shot hopes now rest with his home state, Florida, which votes on March 15, but polls show him trailing Mr. Trump there.

Mr. Trump won in Virginia, Arkansas, Alabama, Massachusetts, Tennessee and Georgia. Two races, Vermont and Alaska, had not been called.

Mr. Trump has stunned the Republican political establishment by emerging as the clear front-runner, winning three of the four contests preceding Super Tuesday. He has seized on the anxieties of voters angry at Washington and worried about terrorism, immigration and an uncertain economy. Using simple terms, and often coarse language, he has soared to the top of polls with his pledge to “make America great again.”

Ms Clinton, once seen as the all—but—inevitable Democratic nominee, has contended with an unexpectedly strong challenge from Sanders, a senator and self—described democratic socialist. But Clinton, like Trump, had also won three of the first four races.

Ms Clinton, the former secretary of state and senator, won in Massachusetts, Texas, Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Virginia. The wins reflected her strength in the South, where black voters are an important part of the Democratic base and overwhelmingly support her.

Signaling her confidence, Ms. Clinton set her sights on Mr. Trump as she addressed supporters during a victory rally in Miami.

“It’s clear tonight that the stakes in this election have never been higher and the rhetoric we’re hearing on the other side has never been lower,” said Clinton, who is seeking to become America’s first female president.

Mr. Trump, too, had his eye on a general election match—up with Ms Clinton, casting her as part of a political establishment that has failed Americans.

“She’s been there for so long,” Trump told a news conference at his swanky Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. “If she hasn’t straightened it out by now, she’s not going to straighten it out in the next four years.”

Candidates are trying to win delegates who will vote for them at the parties’ national conventions in July. For Republicans, 595 delegates were at stake, nearly half of the 1,237 needed for the nomination. Democrats were allocating 865 delegates, more than one—third of the 2,383 needed to become the nominee.

Ms. Clinton is now assured of winning at least 334 delegates Tuesday and Sanders, 145. Including superdelegates — party leaders who get to vote for candidates at the convention — Ms. Clinton now has at least 882 delegates. Mr. Sanders has at least 232.

Mr. Trump has won at least 139 of the delegates at stake on Super Tuesday, while Cruz has won at least 52 and Rubio 25. Overall, Trump leads with 221 delegates. Cruz has 69, Rubio has 41, Ohio Gov. John Kasich has 19 and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson has seven.

Both Mr. Cruz and Mr. Rubio have launched furious verbal attacks on Trump in recent days, but some in the party establishment fear the anti—Trump campaign has come too late.

Republicans spent months largely letting Trump go unchallenged, wrongly assuming that his populist appeal with voters would fizzle. Instead, he’s appeared to only grow stronger, winning states and drawing support for some of his most controversial proposals.

In six of the states voting Tuesday, large majorities of Republican voters said they supported a proposal to temporarily ban all non—citizen Muslims from entering the United States, an idea championed by Trump. The exit polls were conducted by Edison Research for The Associated Press and television networks.

Republicans fear Trump will damage their prospects of recapturing the White House after Barack Obama’s two terms. The worries appeared to grow after Trump briefly refused to disavow the apparent support of a former Ku Klux Klan leader, David Duke, during a television interview. Trump later said he had not understood the TV interviewer and he did repudiate Duke.

In addition to her state victories, Clinton won in American Samoa, picking up four of six delegates in the South Pacific island chain.

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