Middle-aged women happier than men

A survey has found middle-aged women are more satisfied with their sex lives as they get older, despite having less sex and admitting that their partners have performance issues in the bedroom.

Men, on the other hand, say they are less satisfied as time goes by, Daily Mail reported.
In a survey of 1,000 heterosexual couples, it was found that while nearly three-quarters of married or cohabiting women between ages 50 and 79 said they were satisfied with their sex lives, only half of men of the same age agreed.
Of those aged between 50 and 59, about 16 percent of the men were very dissatisfied with their sex lives compared to only 10 percent of the women.
It was found that women were generally satisfied with their sex lives if they felt they were getting as much or as little sex as they wanted. The actual frequency itself was not a determinant of satisfaction.

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Three Star extend lead on top

KATHMANDU, JAN 19 -

Leaders Three Star Club were all but assured top spot in the first round of the Red Bull Martyrs’ Memorial ‘A’ Division League after their 3-0 win over Sankata Club while Iceberg Madhyapur Youth Association boosted their chances of survival  with a 1-0 victory over fellow relegation strugglers Samsung Jawalakhel Youth Club on Friday.

With only one game to be played in the first round, the Patan based club are assured of going in to the second round as table toppers for it will take a herculean effort from any other club to dethrone them from the top. The only club with a realistic chance of doing so are third placed Machhindra FC, who themselves are through to the next round and have two matches in hand.  

Machhindra will have to score an unprecedented 17 goals or more in their remaining matches while hoping that Three Star taste defeat in their final match.

After the keenly contested first half, Three Star went all out on the attack in the second half with Santosh Shahukhala, Adewumi Femi and Bishnu Gurung finding the target, taking their undefeated run to eight games.

“We have a realistic hope about winning against arch rivals Manang Marshyangdi on Sunday,” said Humagain when asked about their upcoming match.

“Our morale is high. We will give everything to win against Manang. A win against a such a formidable team will give us enough confidence to go the distance and clinch the championship.”

Shahukhala broke the deadlock in the 58th minute, dispatching a side-foot volley from close range after he was spotted by Femi with a perfect cross from the left.

Femi doubled their advantage in the 83rd minute, nudging in a glancing header from point blank range following Biraj Maharjan’s corner, right after Sankata has replaced their first choice goalie, Pierre Hearver with Dipesh Yadav.

As the game was nearing its end, substitute Gurung sealed victory for Three Star, scoring a spectacular goal from 25-yards.

Earlier in the day, prime relegation candidates Madhyapur, who came into the game in a must win situation, piled on the uncertainty upon Jawalakhel after Devis’s all important goal two minutes from time sealed victory.

Jawalakhel stand at 13th place on 14 points, one point advantage over Madhyapur.

Both clubs fate will be decided in their respective final matches.

Jawalakhel coach Kishore KC said that the relegation scare has mounted but he was confident about surviving while his counterpart, Upendra Man Singh applauded the spirit shown by his players for gaining victory.

“We can still make it happen,” he said.

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15 burned bodies found at Algeria gas plant

ALGIERS : Algerian special forces on Saturday found 15 burned bodies at the desert gas plant attacked by al Qaeda-linked fighters, a source familiar with the unfolding hostage crisis there said.

An investigation was in progress to try and identify the bodies, which were found after the Algerian army launched an operation to free dozens of foreign and Algerian workers at the gas plant. There was no immediate indication of the circumstances in which those found on Saturday had died.

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Bhattarai shoots letter to British PM‚ UN

KATHMANDU: Nepali Ambassador to United Kingdom Suresh Chalise today handed over Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai’s letter addressed to his British counterpart David Cameron on Colonel Kumar Lama’s arrest.
Confirming this to THT, MoFA Assistant Spokesperson Durga Bahadur Subedi said, “Ambassador Chalise handed over the letter on behalf of PM Bhattarai to the officials at the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London.”
Yesterday, the Cabinet took a formal position on the arrest of Col Lama in UK, and authorised the PM to send a letter against the arrest. Bhattarai, in his letter, maintained the arrest of Col Lama was against international law and it has undermined Nepal’s sovereignty, long standing diplomatic ties between the two countries and entire achievement of Nepal’s peace process.
The letter has drawn Prime Minister Cameron’s attention and support to release Colonel Lama from custody.
A separate letter was also handed over to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon later in New York. On behalf of Nepal government, Deputy Permanent Representative of Nepal to UN in New York, Sewa Lamsal Adhikari handed over the letter to the staff of UNSG’s office, informed a source.
In the letter, the Government has sought the UNSG’s support to ensure Colonel Lama’s deputation as UN Peace Observer
in South Sudan, releasing him from the case and custody in London.

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WINTER RAINS are here: Respite for farmers; people hit

KATHMANDU, JAN 19 -

Thunderstorms accompanied by heavy rain and snowfall, particularly in the hilly and high mountainous parts in West Nepal, brought some respite for farmers on Friday, while it also affected normal life as mercury plummeted in these areas.
Farmers heaved a sigh of relief as they welcomed the rain s in their dry fields of wheat and barley crops, seasonal vegetables and fruits. After rice, wheat is the second major staple crop in the country. The active western disturbance, a weather condition responsible for rain s during the winter, was observed since Thursday evening across the Tarai belt and high altitude regions in most places in the western and some places in the central region, bringing partial to heavy rain s on Friday, according to the Meteorological Forecasting Division (MFD). These conditions are likely to continue until Saturday evening, it said. In Mahendranagar district in the Far-West, continuous rain fall and snowfall since Thursday night in both low-land and high-altitude districts led to a drop in day temperatures, which affected day-to-day activities of the local people.
However, according to agricultural experts at the Agriculture Development Office, the winter rain s will benefit wheat crops which had been drying up in the lack of adequate rain fall and proper irrigation facilities in the major wheat belt across the region.
Senior agriculture development officer Ganesh Chandra Dhakal said that besides wheat and barley, seasonal vegetables and fruits will benefit from the rain s. This rain fall is, however, likely to hamper mustard crops and ripe potatoes that are ready for harvest, he said.Districts, namely Dadedhura, Dipayal, Dhangadhi, Birendranagar and Jumla, in the region recorded rain fall measuring 95.4, 45.1, 47.1, 15.4 and 82.2 millimeters respectively on Friday, according to the MFD. Some other districts that received rain s in the west are Dailekh, Pyuthan, Mugu, Rukum and Bajhang.
This is the first time that the country witnessed rain s this winter after a dry spell of almost two months.
Agriculture experts had earlier warned of a significant drop in winter crop production this year due to the dry weather. Government estimates show that this year’s wheat production may drop by more than 10 percent, while production of other winter crops—potato, barley, mustard and lentils—may also fall. It was also forecast that wheat output would drop by 20-25 percent if the dry spell continued until January-end.
According to the spokesperson at the Ministry of Agriculture Development, Prabhakar Pathak, rain fall between mid-December and mid-January is considered a boon for winter crops, particularly wheat.
The MFD said that the average winter rain fall for the Eastern and Western regions and Kathmandu is around 40, 140 and 46mm respectively. Senior meteorologist Rajendra Prasad Shrestha said many places in the country may see cloudy weather and rain fall in the next few days. High mountainous regions will witness snowfall while there is a possibility of the weather improving in the western regions from Sunday, he added.

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MacBook Pro- With Retina Display (Introduction )

"We wanted a screen as vivid as your imagination. A screen where everything you see is vibrant, detailed, and sharp. With the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, we created the world’s highest-resolution notebook display. The only thing that even comes close? The supercompact 13-inch model. They’re two of a kind. And in a class all their own" -Apple


Multimillion-pixel view.
When you pack so many pixels into a display — over 4 million on the 13-inch model and over 5 million on the 15-inch model — the results are positively stunning. The pixel density is so high, your eyes can’t discern individual pixels. Images take on a new level of realism. Text is pin sharp. A spectacular 2560-by-1600 resolution on the 13-inch MacBook Pro and an equally impressive 2880-by-1800 resolution on the 15-inch MacBook Pro let you see more of your high-resolution images with pixel-for-pixel accuracy.

More color and contrast. Less glare.
The Retina display reduces glare up to 75 percent while maintaining incredible color and quality. In fact, it has a 29 percent higher contrast ratio than a standard MacBook Pro display. Blacks are blacker. Whites are whiter. And everything in between is rich and vibrant. IPS technology gives you a wide, 178-degree view of everything on the screen, so you’ll see the difference at practically any angle. And you’re going to love what you see.

When your goal is to build the high-performance notebook of the future, you begin at its foundation. For MacBook Pro with Retina display, that foundation is flash. Because when you build a notebook around an all-flash architecture, not only is everything more durable, reliable, and battery efficient — everything is fast. Really, really fast.
Learn more about flash performance

There’s a reason they call it “flash.”
You’ll notice a difference in whatever you do — starting up takes seconds, apps launch quickly, even navigating the desktop feels incredibly fluid and responsive. It’s all thanks to flash storage, which gives you up to four times the performance of a traditional hard drive.1 So you can import huge photo libraries into Aperture in no time flat. And on the 15-inch model, flash storage combines with quad-core processors and high-performance discrete graphics to make quick work of even the most demanding editing tasks in Final Cut Pro. Since these MacBook Pro models come with up to 768GB of flash storage, you can keep all your important files with you. Flash doesn’t have any moving parts, which makes it superdurable and quiet. And flash storage is extremely energy efficient, which means your MacBook Pro also has the ability to stay in standby mode for up to a month, without plugging in. So whether it’s been 1 day or 30, your all-flash MacBook Pro will spring to life, right where you left off.

Matching power for power.

A 7-hour battery life is impressive for any notebook. But for a high-performance notebook with an ultra-high-resolution display, top-of-the-line processors and graphics, and a superslim design, it’s absolutely remarkable. The built-in battery gives you up to 1000 full charge and discharge cycles and up to 30 days of instant-on standby time.³

Learn more

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Single women break tradition

A group of single (widowed) women of Ramechhap broke the age-old social taboo, which often barred them to take part in all forms of social activities.

A group of 51 single women went against the prevailing tradition by wearing crimson clothes, bangles and red tika, which, according to the Hindu tradtion, are the domain of the women who have not widowed.

Amidst a programme organised by Single Women Group of Ramechhap here on Sunday, Devi Poudel, a single woman, wrapped shawsl and put red tika on their forehead.

Prohibiting widowed women from wearing red clothes, accessories was a hegemonic practice enforced by the Nepali patriarchal culture for dominating the female members of the society, the Group declared.

Devi Poudel, 60, of Tiplung, who lost her husband around year ago, put on red tika on her forehead at the programme.

Sharing her experience, Poudel said she had never thought of wearing red clothes and accessories after the death of her husband.

Khadga Kumari Khatri, 70, of Khimti VDC, said she also thought after the death of her husband she would have to pass her life without wearing crimson clothes and accessories such as glass bangles and others.

However, the situation of the single women has changed after the Women for Human Rights, Single Women Group, Ramechhap organised a campaign to alter the prevailing wrong social perception towards the single women. .

Expressing her gratitude toward the Group, Khatri said after wearing red cloths and tika she felt like a bride. She vividly remembers the day when she got married with her husband around 60 years ago, she added.

Wiping her tears, she said she is so happy to wear red colors as she was prohibited to wear red clothes and accessories after her husband died.

She said after the death of her husband people used to say her that real worth of a woman ends along with the death of her husband.

Chairperson of single women Group, Pramila Sapkota, said that the Nepali society was had been obstructing the widows being self-dependent through different ruses. The red colour signifies confidence and self-dependency of women, she said.

Stating that the single women are still facing social stigma, she said that the single women were victimised by the inhuman cultural practices, ill practice and restrictions.

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