Giant 3-D Printer to Make An Entire House in 20 Hours

3-D Printing Concrete Houses Contour Crafting
3-D printers can make airplanes and their parts, food and more why not entire buildings? A professor at the University of Southern California aims to print out whole houses using layers of concrete and adding
plumbing, electrical wiring and other guts as it moves upward.Professor Behrokh Khoshnevis at USC created a layered fabrication method he calls Contour Crafting, which he says can be used to build a single house or a colony of houses.It could be used with concrete or adobe he says. Khoshnevis has been developing the system for several years and hosted a presentation about it at a recent TEDx even It would use a movable gantry taller than the house you want to build. Concrete pours out and is set down layer by layer, like a typical 3-D printer would sinter plastic together. It could be ideal for emergency housing, commercial or low-income structures, but it could also be used to print out customized luxury homes, according to Khoshnevis. Or, he adds, it might be ideal for the moon or Mars. “Contour Crafting technology has the potential to build safe, reliable, and affordable lunar and Martian structures, habitats, laboratories, and other facilities before the arrival of human beings his website reads. Khoshnevis is hardly the only 3-D printing expert advocating this Enrico Dini the Italian inventor of the D-Shape 3-D printer, wants to 3-D print moon buildings out of lunar regolith.On Earth, the automated system could prevent delays, injuries and other labor issues related to human workers. With this system, maybe a 3-D printer could beat the Chinese attempt to construct the world’s tallest building in three months.

New Pakistan Army chief visits troops on LoC

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's new army chief Gen Raheel Sharif today visited troops deployed at forward locations along the Line of Control (LoC), which has witnessed tensions and fierce exchanges of fire in the recent past.This was his first visit to the region since taking over late last month, and part of a series of trips to army bases around the country.Sharif was briefed by the local formation commander on the prevailing security situation along the LoC. Rawalpindi Corps Com.

New Pakistan Army chief visits troops on LoC

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PM expresses concern over continuing US drone strikes

Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on Monday expressed deep concern over the continuing drone strikes by the United States in the country.
Talking to US Secretary Defence Chuck Hagel who called on him here, the Prime Minister stressed that
drone strikes were counter-productive to the government’s efforts to combat terrorism and extremism on an enduring basis. The US Defence Secretary held in-depth exchange on the whole range of issues of mutual interest between the two countries. “The two leaders agreed to work together to strengthen Pakistan-US relations and advance the shared interest of a stable, secure and prosperous Pakistan and the region,” a Foreign Office press release said.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif stressed the importance Pakistan attached to a peaceful, stable and united Afghanistan and reaffirmed Pakistan’s support for the Afghan peace and reconciliation process.
Secretary Hagel acknowledged Pakistan’s efforts to support an inclusive reconciliation process in Afghanistan.
The two leaders reaffirmed the importance of Pakistan-US strategic partnership for peace and stability in the region.
They noted the substantial progress made in the bilateral relationship in recent months and acknowledged that the recent high-level exchanges including the Prime Minister’s visit to Washington, meetings of the Working Groups on energy, defence and security, non-proliferation and disarmament had greatly helped in building trust and strengthening the relationship.
The two leaders also reviewed the current state of bilateral defence and security cooperation and explored ways of further expanding cooperation in this important area of the relationship.
The Prime Minister stressed the importance of establishing a long-term and broad-based defence cooperation with the United States on the basis of mutual interest.
The two leaders also discussed the situation in Afghanistan.
Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Minister for Defence, Sartaj Aziz,
Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs, Syed Tariq Fatemi, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Jalil Abbas Jilani, Foreign Secretary and Lt.  Gen. Asif Yasin Malik, Secretary Defence also attended the meeting.

Fifteen illegal occupants arrested in PU hostel raid

LAHORE: Fifteen illegal occupants were arrested by the Lahore police during an operation conducted in Punjab University with help of the university administration in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, DawnNews
reported.According to a Punjab University spokesperson, the Lahore police, along with the university administration, raided Hostels No 15 and 18 and arrested 15 illegal occupants.The spokesman added that four illegal occupants were arrested from Islami Jamiat Tulaba’s (IJT) nazim Azeem Khushi's room in Hostel No 18.Earlier in December, 21 IJT illegal occupants were arrested during a police clampdown on a hostel of the university.Following the raid, IJT activists resorted to violent protest, causing massive traffic jams for several hours on Lahore’s major roads as well as damaging and burning of public transport.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel talks drones with Pakistan PM amid tensions

 U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, right, meets with Afghan military leaders in Kandahar on Sunday.
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan -- Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel discussed the use of U.S. drones against militants in remote areas of Pakistan on Monday during the first visit by a Pentagon chief to the South Asian ally in almost four years.
The United States has a complicated relationship with Pakistan and ties have been further soured by a dispute over unmanned military aircraft the United States uses to target militants in Pakistan's tribal areas on the Afghan border.
Islamabad says drone strikes kill too many civilians and violate its sovereignty. Protests by anti-drone activists prompted the United States to suspend ground shipments of NATO cargo leaving Afghanistan via Pakistan last week.
During his visit, Hagel met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and other senior officials including the newly appointed army chief, Raheel Sharif. Both sides were tight-lipped on the details of the talks. The prime minister ... conveyed Pakistan's deep concern over continuing U.S. drone strikes, stressing that drone strikes were counter-productive to our efforts to combat terrorism and extremism on an enduring basis the foreign ministry said in a statement.
A senior U.S. defense official said Hagel hoped to work with Pakistan to deepen the security partnership and reassure it of continued U.S. assistance in building its military capacity.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States believed peace and stability in the region would be enhanced by improved Afghan-Pakistan relations, "because of the unique nature of its porous border and the presence of a variety of militant groups in the AfPak border region.
Pakistan is one of the largest recipients of U.S. foreign assistance and has received more than $16 billion in security aid since 2002, a defense official said. The Obama administration has sought $305 million in military aid for 2014 and $858 million in a range of civilian assistance for Pakistan.
Before his arrival in Pakistan, Hagel visited troops in Afghanistan and met senior Afghan officials. He said a NATO meeting in February could serve as a new deadline for approval of a security pact between Kabul and Washington -- an accord Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been reluctant to sign.
Hagel is the first defense minister to visit Pakistan since the U.S. raid in the city of Abbottabad that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2011. Pakistan was embarrassed and angered by the surprise raid.
At the same time, Pakistan has served as a supply route for equipment flowing into Afghanistan to support the international coalition that is fighting Taliban militants.The routes, known as the Pakistani Ground Lines of Communication (GLOC), are important for withdrawing U.S. and coalition equipment as they draw down foreign forces in Afghanistan and hand over security control to Afghan forces. Prior to the talks, the defense official said Hagel would express appreciation that ... the government of Pakistan has made it a priority to keep the GLOCs open.He praised operations by Pakistani forces in a dangerous region this year to break up militants who posed a threat to the Torkham-Peshawar road that serves as part of the route between Afghanistan and the Pakistani port city of Karachi. That's an example of the kind of effort that the Pakistan government as a whole has taken to ensure that the GLOCs stay open the official said.