Pakistan should use diplomacy and not "proxies" that engage in violence to pursue its interests in Afghanistan and elsewhere, US National Security Adviser Lt Gen H R McMaster has said as he criticised the Pakistani leadership for selectively targeting terror groups.

McMaster in an interview to Afghan television channel ToloNews appeared to take a "tougher line" on Pakistan, which has been accused of using the Taliban as a proxy force and giving its leaders sanctuary.

"As all of us have hoped for many, many years we have hoped that Pakistani leaders will understand that it is in their interest to go after these groups less selectively than they have in the past," McMaster said during his latest visit to the war-torn country, according to a report in The New York Times.

"The best way to pursue their interests in Afghanistan and elsewhere is through the use of diplomacy, and not through the use of proxies that engage in violence," it quoted him as saying.

The report added that Afghan officials aware of the discussions with McMaster said there was a common understanding of the threat of terrorist groups emerging from Pakistan.

"And there are other indications that the United States may be weighing a tougher stance on Pakistan, among them General McMaster's reported pick of a point person on the country who has strongly advocated that the United States stop treating Pakistan as an ally and condition any future military aid on fighting terrorist groups," the report added.

It said many analysts, as well as some coalition partners, have been critical of the United States' uphill struggle to persuade Pakistan to crack down on the Afghan Taliban leadership, which has used Pakistan as a base for its battles in Afghanistan.

"Many people in Afghanistan are wondering about the nature of relations between the United States and Pakistan, particularly the fact that everyone recognisers the principal role of Pakistan in supporting Taliban and other terrorist groups," said Davood Moradian, the director of the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies.

Moradian said the new administration realised that the prior "appeasement policy" with Pakistan had not worked and needed to be reconsidered.

In late 30's, a lot of physical changes happen and the process of aging starts slowly but steady. Skin starts to dry and loosen and muscles don’t look defined. And, as you age, you may get exhausted more quickly and intensely while working out in gym or while running. However, everyone wants to look perfect in shape and appearance irrespective of age.

If you are overweight, the first and easiest step is to slim down by following a healthy lifestyle. By losing fat, muscles appear more defined giving you a fit ‘n’ fine look.

The foremost thing you need to do is to reduce your caloric intake. Don’t reduce it drastically or don’t stop eating, hoping for faster fat loss. Your body needs adequate fuel for good metabolism. Eat food high in nutrients and low in artifice- five to six times a day.

Switch your carbohydrate intake to fruits, vegetables and whole grains. It is also important to get necessary healthy fats intake like nuts and avocados. These food help to lose fat by giving required calories to build the muscles you need while gearing up your metabolism.

Increase your protein intake to prevent muscle loss. It effects the toned look you are desiring for.

Choose the activities that you love to do to burn your calories. You may go for nature walk for 30 to 60 minutes five days a week. Stay consistent with it for best results. Walk fit and firm. Walking right tones and tightens the muscles, making you slimming around the waist. You may get rid of those rolls of flab in parts of your body, particularly around the thighs and hips. Shoulders also lose fat when you start walking regularly. Always walk faster than usual, picking up speed gradually. Sweat!

No doubt, gadgets and equipment in a gym can help in building a great physique. But, the most effective way of losing weight is to indulge in regular normal exercise with different moves. It engages many muscles swiftly, maximising your calorie burn. You can practise these moves at home, hotel room, park or anywhere. These internal moves holding for 30 to 40 seconds giving a break of a minute in between every cycle for half an hour is the ultimate work out for you. For example, get on all fours with your wrist under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Hold for 30 seconds and relax. Breathe deep for a minute. Repeat it 10 to 12 times. Choose the moves that involve different muscle groups working at once. More hormones are released in these moves burning more calories throughout the day. Lift weights. Don’t worry, you will not bulk up like body builders. That requires change in food and very-very heavy weights. It may also boost your metabolism, burn calories and accelerate weight loss.

Dehydration leads to muscle cells breakdown. Stay hydrated as much as you can. Your body toning requires a lot of water.

Stresss adds to storing fats in the body. Keep it at bay. Get a full body massage once or twice a week. Get enough sound sleep, breathe deep, stretch a lot and laugh as much as you can. Be determined to push your body towards toning. And, always feel good.

NASA has postponed its fifth attempt to launch a giant stadium-sized super pressure balloon (SPB) from Wanaka, New Zealand, due to poor weather, the media reported.

The wind was again unsuitable to launch the balloon at the latest scheduled launch time of 7.50 a.m on Monday, the New Zealand Herald reported on Monday.

"The wind direction today shifted toward the west, which ultimately led to today's cancellation after hours of waiting for the winds to align," NASA was quoted as saying. 

"We were as close as we've ever been in this campaign for launching, but the wind direction simply wouldn't support taking the next steps of bringing the balloon out and beginning inflation operations," said mission director Gabe Garde.

NASA will continue to assess the weather daily to determine if conditions will support a launch attempt.

The balloon is designed to carry a pioneering telescope to detect ultra-high-energy cosmic rays from near space.

The purpose of the flight is to test and validate the SPB technology with the goal of long-duration flight at mid-latitudes. 

In addition, the University of Chicago's Extreme Universe Space Observatory on a Super Pressure Balloon (EUSO-SPB) is a mission of opportunity flying on the 2017 SPB test flight.

EUSO-SPB is designed to detect high-energy cosmic rays originating from outside our galaxy as they penetrate the Earth's atmosphere. 

Brazilian footballer Neymar has defended his decision not to congratulate his former club Santos for their 105th anniversary.

Neymar, his father Neymar Santos Sr and Barcelona are involved in a bitter legal dispute with Santos, who claim they are owed money for the 25-year-old's controversial transfer to the Camp Nou in 2013, reports Xinhua news agency.

"Santos have taken legal action against us. There are things that nobody knows about," Neymar told Brazil's Esporte Interativo television channel on Sunday.

"It's complicated. I'm not obliged to congratulate Santos. I don't have to do something just because other people say I should."

Former Andhra Pradesh minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader Devineni Nehru died of cardiac arrest on Monday, his family members said. He was 65.

A key figure in Vijayawada politics, he suffered cardiac arrest at his house in Hyderabad. He is survived by a son and a daughter.

Nehru, whose real name was Devineni Rajasekhar, was suffering from kidney related ailments and was discharged from a hospital in Hyderabad a few days ago.

His body was shifted to Vijayawada, where last rites will be performed on Tuesday.

Popular as Nehru among his followers, he had joined TDP when it was floated by thespian N.T. Rama Rao in early 1982.

He was elected to Andhra Pradesh assembly from Kankipadu in 1983 and retained the seat in 1985, 1989 and 1994.

Nehru served as the minister in N.T. Rama Rao's cabinet from 1994 to 1996. When N. Chandrababu Naidu led a revolt against N.T. Rama Rao, Nehru was one of the few leaders to remain loyal to the party founder.

He later joined Congress party but lost 1999 election. He, however, was again elected to the assembly in 2004 but suffered defeats in 2009 and 2014.

Last year, he joined re-joined TDP along with his son Avinash.

Nehru's family had a long-running feud with their political rival Vangaveeti Ranga.

Ranga, a leader of Congress party and belonging to the Kapu community, was murdered in 1988 when he was on hunger strike, sparking unprecedented violence in Vijayawada and other parts of Krishna district as well as neighbouring districts. More than 40 people were killed and properties worth billions of rupees were destroyed in the violence.

The violence abated after then Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao made Nehru surrender.

In 2002, a court acquitted all 33 accused including Nehru in the Ranga's murder case.

A Telugu movie "Vangaveeti" on the feud between two families and produced by controversial filmmaker Ramgopal Verma was recently released.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP President N. Chandrababu Naidu condoled the death of Nehru and termed it as a personal loss to him and also a loss to the party.
 

Dutch league leaders Feyenoord and second ranked Ajax booked a victory in the Eredivisie football league here.

Feyenoord defeated FC Utrecht 2-0 in Rotterdam on Sunday. Jens Toornstra broke the deadlock in the second half and Eljero Elia decided the match with a magnificent shot ten minutes from time, reports Xinhua news agency.

In other match, Ajax came behind against S.C. Heerenveen here through a goal by Reza Goochannejhad, but the home-team bounced back to win 5-1. Nick Viergever, Matthijs de Ligt, Davy Klaassen, Kasper Dolberg and David Neres scored.

Feyenoord now lead the table with 76 points from 31 matches, followed by Ajax (75) and PSV (69). 

Renowned singer Sonu Nigam has lashed out at "forced religiousness" in India after being woken up by the azaan (Islamic call to prayer) from a nearby mosque.

"God bless everyone. I'm not a Muslim and I have to be woken up by the azaan in the morning. When will this forced religiousness end in India," Nigam posted on Twitter on Monday.

Further clarifying his stance, Nigam wrote: "And by the way Mohammed did not have electricity when he made Islam.. Why do I have to have this cacophony after Edison? 

"I don't believe in any temple or gurudwara using electricity To wake up people who don't follow the religion. Why then..? Honest? True? Gundagardi hai bus."

While many people have criticised Nigam over his tweets, filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri lent his support to him and wrote: "I am willing to sponsor a campaign against illegal blaring of Azaan and other prayers on loudspeakers. Suggest a creative hashtag." 

He went on to tag Maharastra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to look into the matter. 

"Dear Devendra Fadnavis please note and help us force police to act against illegal blaring of Azaan and other such activities," he added.
 

Former Davis Cup captain Anand Amritraj believes drawing Canada in the play-offs presents India a golden chance to make it to the World Group in next year's tournament.

The Indian team beat Uzbekistan in Asia-Ocenia zonal match in Bengaluru recently and was drawn to meet Canada for a spot in the elite group of the 2018 Davis Cup.

Speaking at the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association annual day function here on Sunday, Amritraj said in his opinion Canada was the best team to draw from among the eight which had lost in the first round of this year's competition.

“This is our golden chance. If we are going to get into the World Group, this is the year we have to do it,” he said.

Amritraj said if Canada didn't have their top player Milos Raonic playing, India stood a good chance of winning, the best in the last four years.

Raonic recently pulled out of the Miami Open after aggravating a right hamstring injury that sidelined him for nearly a month. He had earlier withdrawn from Canada's Davis Cup World Group tie against Britain after a nagging adductor injury flared up during his recent Australian Open run.

Meanwhile, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, who won the doubles title at the Aircel Chennai Open earlier this year along with Rohan Bopanna, was chosen for the T K Ramanathan annual award for 2016, for the best player of the year.

Breaking three-month rising streak, Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation slipped to 5.70 per cent in March from 6.55 per cent in February, official data stated on Monday.

The inflation had registered growth in December, January and February.

Fuel and power index slipped by 0.05 per cent in March while manufactured products index fell 0.06 per cent.

Food articles index rose by 0.04 per cent, month-on month, due to higher price of fruits, vegetables and ragi (up 5 per cent each), bajra (2 up per cent) and egg, fish-marine and rice (up 1 per cent each).

However, the price of gram (down 11 per cent), condiments and spices (down 7 per cent), arhar (down 6 per cent), urad (down 5 per cent), wheat (down 4 per cent), barley (down 3 per cent), masur (down 2 per cent) and maize and moong (down 1 per cent each) declined.

Meanwhile, country's Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation or retail inflation rose to 3.81 per cent in March from 3.18 per cent in February, official data showed last weak.

Nepal's Madhesi parties have warned the government that they would disrupt the May 14 locals election if their demands, including proportional representation in Parliament, are not addressed.

The Federal Alliance, a grouping of seven Madhesi and ethnic parties, said they would hold a fresh round of protests from Tuesday across the country.

The alliance said their protests would include sit-ins, rallies and general strikes.

Alliance coordinator and chairman of Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal Upendra Yadav said yesterday the government did not consult them before tabling the Constitution amendment proposal in the Parliament.

The government, however, claimed the amendment was tabled to address the demands of Madhesis relating to the proportional representation and the redrawing of federal boundaries.

Yadav said the government did not table the amendment proposal which it had showed them.

But, Prime Minister Prachanda, according to party sources, has told ruling CPN (Maoist-Centre) leaders that the alliance has tricked him.

Yadav claimed that the amendment proposal the government tabled in the parliament did not propose to bring the local federal units under the provinces.

He warned the government it would not be able to hold the polls on May 14, if they do not include their demands.

The Madhesi parties, who claim to represent the interests of inhabitants of the southern Terai region who are mostly of Indian origin, demand that the Constitution promulgated in 2015 be amended to revise the provisions of citizenship and re-demarcation of the provincial boundary before going to the May polls.

Om Gurung, the alliance spokesman, said their other concern relate to what he termed was the discriminatory structure of the National Assembly – the upper House of the parliament.

The protest programmes include torch rallies in the district headquarters tomorrow, 'lathi' and whistle rallies on Thursday; and mass meetings in Janakpur, Udaypur, Birgunj and Kavre on Saturday, a weekly public holiday in Nepal.

They also announced shutdowns on April 28 in the Tarai, Tharuhat and the East and a nationwide shutdown on April 29.

The indefinite general strike is said to begin on May 10.

Google is reportedly building an overhauled version of its Google Earth that will be unveiled during an Earth Day event in New York City on April 18, a media report said.

According to a report in Express.co.uk on Monday, Google has sent invitations for an Earth Day-themed event to be held at Whitney Museum of Art in New York City.

Google Earth is a virtual globe that allows users to trawl satellite images of the planet's surface. It uses image resolutions that range between 15m to 15cm. One can search any area on the earth through Google Earth. 

It is assumed that the new version of Google Earth would replace its Google Maps app.

In 2008, Google included its Street View feature that offers a panoramic view from eye-level of streets across the world, in Google Maps.

A dramatically revamped version of Google Earth could bring in more functionality from Google Maps, including traffic reports and local listings, the report said.
 

The Tourism and Cultural Affairs Minister, Punjab, Navjot Singh Sidhu on Sunday promised to initiate strong steps to put an end to the menace of vulgarity in Punjabi songs.

The minister said this after presiding over a brainstorming meeting with the prominent personalities of art, literary and cultural sectors at Punjab Bhawan. Sidhu also said that forming a ‘Gunda Act’ to curb piracy would also be his main agenda.

Showcasing Punjab as an ideal spot for shooting of Hindi films, the minister said that keeping in view this aspect as well as to give boost to film tourism, a film city would be constructed in the state. Underlining the importance of culture and tourism sectors, he said that rich and glorious cultural heritage can go a long way in popularising tourism sphere.

Disclosing more, he elaborated that Sri Durbar Sahib, Amritsar witnesses 1 lakh devotees on daily basis, so a circuit would be constructed to bolster religious tourism where all the religious places would be connected and top class arrangements would be made for the devotees.

Sidhu said that Punjab has scores of historical forts, memorials which would be made tourist destinations by forming their circuits.

The meeting had among attendees Dr Surjit Patar, Pammi Bai, Mrs. Sunita Dheer, Jasbir Jassi, Gurpreet Ghuggi, Dr. Satinder Sartaj, Dr Amar Singh and filmmaker Manmohan Singh.

The Supreme Court on Monday took a strong note of the vacancies in police force in six states, including Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, and asked their Home Secretaries to either personally appear or depute an officer to assist it.

A bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar referred to the vacancy in the states — Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, and summonsed the home secretaries or officers not below the rank of the joint secretary authorised by them for assisting it on Friday.

The bench, also comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud and S K Kaul, said that the data, mostly pertaining to 2013, indicates that there are huge vacancies in police force in various states and said, "We endeavour to monitor the filling up of vacancies." 

It said that there are more than 40,000 and 1.5 lakh vacancies in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, respectively.

The six states have been asked to provide the roadmap as to how they endeavour to fill up the vacancies with the apex court fixing the plea filed by Manish Kumar for monitoring by it on April 21.

Rising Pune Supergiant batsman Manoj Tiwary described his 27-run cameo as one of the turning points of his side's IPL match against Royal Challengers Bangalore here and expressed happiness at the role he played in the win.

Tiwary struck 27 from just 11 balls after RPS suffered a middle order collapse to take the team score to 161 for 8. RPS then restricted RCB to 134 for 9 to notch up a 27-run win.

“There were lot of turning points. My innings at the end was important, that made 20-odd runs difference. Obviously we had a collapse in the middle order. We lost the momentum from there, Tiwary said.

“It was not easy for batsman to rotate the strike. Obviously my innings proved important to the team and also the contributions of others. It was a team effort,” he told reporters after the match.

Tiwary said he was not surprised with his side's 161/8 after being sent into bat because he knew the wicket was very difficult to play on. He said the bowlers did a fantastic job to restrict RCB to 134 for nine.

“To be honest, I am not surprised because the amount of runs we put on was just enough. Rest was left for the bowlers to execute, and they executed the plan very well by bowling a lot of slow deliveries and slow cutters,” he said.

Tiwary said reading bowlers' mind was very important for him in the last phase of his side's innings.

He said before coming into this IPL season, he had made up his mind to build innings and go for aggressive strokes at the same time to have good strike rate, which is very important for a batsman in shorter versions of the game.

“Strike rate is obviously at the back of my mind. In domestic matches, I had a very high strike rate because it is the demand of this format. Before I came here, I had a plan to build my innings if the situation demanded and be aggressive at the same time,” he said.

On Ben Stokes and Shardul Thakur, Tiwary said both bowled exceptionally well because it is not easy to bowl to Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and others.

Asked how much pressure was on him to make a comeback in IPL, Tiwary said there were a lot of expectations from people to score 1,000 runs at the start of every season, but even after scoring 700 runs, the performance was not appreciated enough.

“For me, every season is important. Somehow there are lot of expectations. People want me to do well. They want me to score 1000 runs every season but people should understand even getting 700-odd runs also is good enough. I have decided no matter what people say, I will not get bogged down by them,” he said.

Singer Kimberly Wyatt is is expecting second child, a baby girl, with husband Max Rogers.

The former Pussycat Doll revealed the news of her second pregnancy on Instagram by posting a picture of her two-year- old daughter Willow holding onto her bump, alongside a balloon rabbit.

“There's a little bun-ny in the oven. Happy Easter,” she captioned the picture.

Rogers also posted the photo on the photo-video sharing app and wrote, “My THREE girls… And a balloon bunny. Happy Easter everyone!”

Kimberly and Max tied the knot in February 2014 and welcomed daughter Willow in December the same year.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp praised his side’s concentration levels and battling qualities after they secured a gritty 1-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion on Sunday to enhance their hopes of securing a securing a top-four finish, according to a statement on the club website (www.liverpoolfc.com).

Brazilian attacker Roberto Firmino’s header in first-half stoppage-time ultimately proved the decisive moment in ensuring the Reds collected three vital points.

Clearly thrilled with the result at a venue where Liverpool haven't had much luck in the past, Klopp said: “It is one of the most difficult places to come because in no game can you feel comfortable. Somebody asked me which result would have kept me a little bit calmer in the last few minutes and I said only 4-0 after 86 minutes! Maybe then I would have felt OK, but now it’s done. That makes it really difficult, so you need to be at your highest concentration level – but we have been. For us, it was very, very important because showing this concentration level until the end didn’t work each week in the last few months – but today, it was really good and I am happy about this.”

There were some who felt that the Reds went overboard with their celebrations with the travelling supporters after the game, but Klopp brushed aside those accusations with a honest reply: “I don’t think we did crazy things, but yes we are very happy. They were only three points today; we had 63 before we came here, now 66 and that’s a wonderful number for the next six or seven days and then we want to have 69. I really thought that the boys were in a really difficult game in not the easiest situation, but they did really well. I am really happy about the performance.”

Full-back Alberto Moreno had a horror miss in the second-half, opting to shoot from distance despite having teammates in support and the German tactician revealed his thoughts on the incident: “I know everyone thinks you can play in Daniel Sturridge, but actually he would have been offside. Maybe there was another option that I didn’t see, I’d have to watch it again, but it’s completely normal in a situation like this, you think you have to do this [shoot]. He’s a good boy, really. I would have been happy for him, actually, if he’d scored this goal, but [there was] excitement until the end, which is pretty much always the way it is when we are involved.”

“He made an important save [from Matt Phillips with 10 minutes remaining] and in the end, it doesn’t look that spectacular, but he was really present around the set-pieces. I think three, four, five fists away, which was really good, I have to say. He was really lively, front-footed, all that stuff. Very important again,” Klopp added on goalkeeper Simon Mignolet’s performance.

Actress Melissa McCarthy returned on the TV show Saturday Night Live to reprise her impression of White House press secretary Sean Spicer, while taking a jibe at his gaffe involving Hitler and the Holocaust.

In the show, McCarthy came out in a bunny suit, a reference to Spicer having played the Easter Bunny at one of the White House's Easter Egg Roll events during the George Bush administration, reports variety.com.

Spicer shocked everyone during a briefing on April 11 while discussing US President Donald Trump's decision to launch air strikes on Syria in response to President Bashar al-Assad's use of chemical weapons on Syrian civilians.

Spicer stated that even Hitler didn't resort to using chemical weapons on his own people — a comment that drew immediate corrections and a storm of criticism for insensitivity and lack of knowledge of the Holocaust. He later apologised for the same.

McCarthy as Spicer delivered an apology from a podium, but also criticised the press for inflating the incident. 

"If you guys didn't focus on every little slur and lie I said," she said.