ZAYN MALIK HOTTEST , SEXIEST , GREATET , ADOBORAST ,AWESOMEST PICTURES

Niall also gives us a valuable biology lesson...

The combination of One Direction and Friday Download is enough to make us thank the God of All that is Good and Pure, especially after seeing this latest video.
It features the boys and their usual tomfoolery (amazing word), Zayn dances, it’s awkward – quelle shock.

But what really caught our eye and made our ovaries flutter was a moment between Larry Stylinson after Louis won a thumb war. It was intense.

Whitney Houston's journey 'home' ends

For complete coverage of Whitney Houston's death, tune in to CNN and HLN.

Newark, New Jersey (CNN) -- Whitney Houston's journey "home" ends with a private burial in New Jersey on Sunday as questions persist about what caused the superstar's death.
A crowd gathered at the entrance to Fairview Cemetery in Westfield, south of Newark, where Houston's body arrived at Fairview Cemetery in Westfield late Sunday morning. She was laid to rest next to her father in the cemetery, located south of Newark.
Her burial brings an end to her "coming home," as her family dubbed the invitation-only memorial service held a day earlier at her childhood church in Newark.
The family-only burial is in contrast to the emotionally-charged, star-studded memorial service held at New Hope Baptist Church, where Houston, nicknamed "Nippy," was soloing in the junior choir by age 11.

Witnessing Whitney Houston's success

Fans remember Whitney

"Jesus Loves Me" was the last song Houston sang in public before her death on February 11 in Beverly Hills, California, at the age of 48.
So it was fitting that the mourners -- comforted and encouraged by the likes of Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys and R. Kelly -- heard the simple, but powerful, "Jesus Loves Me," this time performed by CeCe Winans.
The mourners inside the church represented an amalgamation of Houston's life, from childhood friends to gospel singers, from music stars to movie stars.
"You literally felt like this was just a girl from New Jersey who had a few famous friends, and it was such a celebration of life," CNN producer Raelyn Johnson, who attended the funeral, said Sunday.
"It is the same church service that will go on in so many churches across the country this morning ... and it was celebration, it was singing, it was praise for three hours." Johnson said. "And it wasn't until the very end that you remembered that this was a funeral and a very sad day for a lot of people."
Kevin Costner, who cast Houston in her first role alongside him in "The Bodyguard," recalled how she questioned whether she was good enough, beautiful enough to be cast in the film.
"It was the burden that made her great and the part that caused her to stumble in the end," he said.
For her closest friends inside the church, and strangers who continue to draw inspiration from her voice, Costner's words hit a painfully honest note about human frailty.
Years after "The Bodyguard" hit theaters, reports of Houston's struggles with drug addiction and a rocky marriage with Bobby Brown surfaced and her album sales declined.
"The inexplicable burden that comes with fame," Costner said. "Call it doubt. Call it fear. I've had mine. I know the famous in the room have had theirs."
Costner said Houston's own story could help a new generation of young girls who dream big.
"Maybe they're thinking they aren't good enough," he said. "I think Whitney would tell you: Guard your bodies. Guard the precious miracle of your life. Then sing your hearts out, knowing that there's a lady in heaven who's making God himself wonder how He created something so perfect."
One of the most emotional moments in the service came when Keys recalled how Houston helped her and others achieve success.
"She reached back to so many people; she reached back to me, to Monica and Brandy ... and just made us feel strong and capable and loved," she said.
Keys ended her tribute to Houston by singing "Send Me an Angel," her voice soaring into the rafters of the sanctuary.
Oprah Winfrey, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Spike Lee were among those who attended.
"It wasn't until the very last moment that you pinched yourself and said, 'There's Oprah Winfrey with a face full of tears, there's Tyler Perry with a face full of tears," said Johnson, recalling the moment that Houston's casket was carried out of the church. "It all really sunk in and got really, really heavy."
Houston's former husband, Bobby Brown, also arrived at the service but left soon after. Brown walked by Houston's casket with his head down before the service began and then left. Brown accused security of treating his family badly and barring him from visiting with his daughter, an account that Houston's family denied.
Brown was expected to attend with two guests but showed up with 10 people and sat in a section reserved for family, a close friend of the Houston family told CNN on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
When Brown refused to reseat his entourage to make room for Houston's mother, the family asked police to intervene, the family member said.
Mourners heard only a few indirect references to her personal battles.
A close family friend told CNN recently that Houston had not used "hard drugs" for several years. Investigators are examining prescription drugs found in her hotel room.
At the time of her death, Houston was in the Los Angeles area for the annual Grammy Awards and was to attend a party hosted by her longtime mentor and record producer, Clive Davis. She was discovered dead in her hotel suite at the upscale Beverly Hilton.
Investigators are contacting doctors and pharmacies across the country, seeking answers about prescriptions found in Houston's hotel room and whether they played a role in her death, a source with knowledge of the investigation recently told CNN. The source spoke on condition of anonymity citing the ongoing investigation.
Houston's death certificate is only fueling speculation after coroners deferred making a determination as to the cause of death pending the outcome of toxicology tests.
The investigation also sparked questions on her behavior during her final days, with authorities examining video from her television appearances as well as other reports to determine her physical state leading up to her death on the eve of the Grammy Awards, the source said.

Syria: Bashar al-Assad's 'ghost gangs' that haunt Damascus

President Bashar al-Assad enforces his control of Damascus using an army of thuggish corner boys to kidnap, torture, beat up and menace residents suspected of sympathies to the rebels. 

 

Derived from the Arabic for "ghost", the word Shabiha has come to embody the latest repressive twist of Syria's minority dictatorship.

In neighbourhoods such as Moaddemiya, a rebellious suburb near the capital brutality meted out by the Shabila has become a powerful source of fear.

A video from there shows Shabiha, who are mostly recruited from the president's Alawite sect, standing above bloodied corpses. "Say Bashar al Assad and the Alawites will forever rule," said a man in the video, moving the jaw of the corpse with his shoe.

The Shabiha are armed, and paid a daily rate of 2000 Syrian pounds, with extra for working on Friday, the weekend day when the largest demonstration has traditionally taken place.

"They have weapons and a licence to kill," said Omar al Khani of the Syrian Revolution Coordinators Union. "The government brings these gangs to protests.

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"Most are recruited by the intelligences services. They are given a free hand to do what they want. If they kill for job no questions are asked," added Khani. "It is the policy of the Free Syrian Army to kill the Shabiha,"
Faced with a nationwide uprising it has failed to quash, the regime is unrestrained in its attacks on the civilians who seek to cast off its control. Yesterday it was reported that victims of unrelenting shelling on the Baba Amr district of beseiged Homs were being treated by a vetinary surgeon. The only medical professional administering life saving treatment to the wounded was relying on his knowledge of sheep anatomy to those brought to his makeshift field hospital.
In the capital the battle lines are not yet drawn in such stark definition. For the most part the Shabiha lounge in Damascene streets, monitoring passers-by and keeping a tally of local movements.
But their patrols frequently take a sinister turn, especially in the capital's hostile suburbs.
A group of Moaddemiya women recounted a litany of terrors the Shabiha has inflicted on the community.
"They imprisoned Nasser Serir, a peace activist for six months. Five days after he was released, a gang broke into his home and shot him in front of his children and his mother. They pushed his body from the balcony of the second floor apartment," said 'Obeida', a middle aged women.
"Two weeks ago they entered into a family friend's home. They held the men at gunpoint and trampled on them," interjected 'Hala'. "They punched the handicapped son in the stomach. Really, you cannot imagines these things!" The day before, a group had arrested her 60 year old father said Bola, a student in the group. Insisting that he had never before been to an anti-government protest, she said she could not fathom why he was taken.
"He was leaving the mosque after praying. He is a peaceful man, he is frightened of the security forces," she said. "I cannot go to him. If I did they might take me too," added Bola.
The Shabiha, which the international community has long condemned as outsourcing oppression, are not always easy to discern, said Damascus residents. "They give them military uniforms so that people cannot differentiate between them and the army. Some of the soldiers are very kind, but if you want to speak one in the street you should know if they are Shabeha or military," warned Obeida.

Romney inability to clear field leads to possibility of contested convention, more GOP names Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/19/clearing-field-unlikely-as-talk-contested-convention-brings-out-more-gop-names/#ixzz1mqytSn3P

Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul.

Or maybe Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, Mitch Daniels and Paul Ryan.

In the Republican presidential primary race, enthusiasm frequently turns toward the candidates not in the race. 

And as the August Republican national convention hastily sneaks up on the field, the fact that one candidate hasn't yet run away with momentum has the media, pundits, even the candidates themselves talking about generating the appeal to defeat President Obama in November, or having someone else jump in the race. 

"Just when you thought this race for the nomination couldn't get any more volatile. it seems like it potentially could," said Shane D'Aprile, editor of Campaigns and Elections Magazine. 

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Romney has been the presumptive frontrunner throughout the seemingly interminable campaign season, but despite his hometown roots and his father having been governor of Michigan for three terms, Romney's numbers in the state are dragging ahead of the Feb. 28 vote. Michigan, with 30 delegates after being penalized for voting early holds its election alongside Arizona one week before the March 6 Super Tuesday mega-vote.

Santorum has been up by three to 10 points in Michigan in the last four polls tracked by Real Clear Politics. On average, Santorum gets 36.6 percent of polling compared to Romney with 30 percent in the state, according to RCP. Nationally, Santorum is up by an average 6.6 points in an average of national polls tracked by RCP.

The former Massachusetts governor is now retooling, planning a big economic speech this week at the stadium where the Detroit Lions play. In the era of "go big or go home," Romney is doing both.

But will it be enough?   

"If Romney can't find a way to turn this thing around and win Michigian I think this question of a brokered convention a contested convention, whatever you want to call it, is a much more salient question," D'Aprile told Fox News.

Romney challenger Gingrich, without referencing the possibility of a brokered convention, agreed that the struggle will be tough for anyone who loses at home.

"If any of the three loses our home state -- if Santorum loses Pennsylvania, Romney loses Michigan, or I lose Georgia -- you have, I think, very, very badly weakened candidacies."

But could a brokered -- or contested -- convention be in the cards? And could New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels or anyone else come in to save the day?

"I don't see how that can happen," Ryan, R-Wis., the chairman of the House Budget Committee, told NBC's "Meet the Press." "It's just too late, I think."

"I've heard it, but, man, that is an unbelievable scenario. It'd be really hard to achieve that," former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush told Fox News in a recent interview.

"I think it's about as remote as life on Pluto," said Karl Rove, George W. Bush's chief strategist and a Fox News contributor.

A brokered convention results when a candidate fails to obtain a majority of delegates and a feverish bout of backroom negotiating goes on to obtain the support needed to push a candidate over the top. 

The last brokered convention for Republicans was in 1948, when the party nominated Thomas E. Dewey on the third ballot -- in case anyone remembers how that headline turned out, Dewey did not defeat Harry Truman in that party contest.  

To avoid anything resembling a replay in 2012, a GOP candidate needs to secure 1,144 of the 2,286 delegates. So far, according to The Associated Press count, Romney has 123 delegates, Santorum has 72, Gingrich 32 and Paul 19.

A contested convention could be "disastrous," D'Aprile said, because delegates chosen by their candidates "feel very strongly about their candidate," 

"You've got a deadlock scenario," he said. "I think it's significantly harder for someone to walk on the convention stage out of nowhere, given the makeup of the delegates they may be facing. I think that's a scenario for potential disaster for the party. I don't know how you come out with an actual consensus candidate from there."

Before that happens, the candidates will plod along to create whatever intensity they can generate. 

"We don't know when the end is, whether it's going to be May, June, July or August," Paul told CNN on Sunday. "So we just have to, you know, wait and see so that, in my mind, I anticipate it's going to go on for a while."

"You know, I have been through Tim Pawlenty, then Michele Bachmann, and then Herman Cain one, and then Rick Perry, then Herman Cain the second time, and now we have Santorum," Gingrich told "Fox News Sunday." "And we're just going to keep moving forward gathering delegates. We're looking forward very much to Super Tuesday." .

Putting to rest the notion of a weakened GOP, Daniels told CNN that whoever it is -- and whenever a candidate is nominated --the race will return to "a binary choice between a failed presidency" filled with policies "detrimental to job growth and investment and risk taking" and a Republican alternative. 

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/19/clearing-field-unlikely-as-talk-contested-convention-brings-out-more-gop-names/#ixzz1mqyyemTH

CUP: Gordon Survives Wild Ride

On a night filled with hard impacts, frayed tempers and even Kevin Harvick’s car catching fire, no one had a scarier Budweiser Shootout than four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon.
For the first time in his two-decade long Sprint Cup career, the four-time series champion found himself upside down after a terrifying crash with two laps to go. Fortunately for Gordon, he was uninjured.
The incident occurred with two laps to go in the scheduled 75-lap distance at Daytona International Speedway. Heading into Turn 3, Gordon was directly behind second-place Kyle Busch and leader Tony Stewart.
As they transitioned from Turn 3 to Turn 4, Gordon made contact with Busch’s bumper, sending the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota down to the apron. Gordon, meanwhile drifted to the outside and hit Kurt Busch, the cars four-wide at this point.
When Gordon and Kurt Busch made contact, they both turned hard right into the wall at the exit of Turn 4. Behind them, Gordon’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson was tagged by Marcos Ambrose, sending Johnson’s car into Busch and Gordon.
That turned Gordon onto his driver’s-side door, where he slid for about 1,000 feet before doing three barrel rolls and ending up on his roof on the frontstretch tri-oval. Gordon was able to escape under his own power.
After a quick check at the Daytona infield medical center, Gordon was released.
“It was just getting down to the end of the race and it was time to go,” said Gordon. “Me and Jimmie were looking good there. We knew those guys were coming, and once Kyle got in front of me, I was just trying to keep Jimmie on me and trying to stay with Kyle.”
That ultimately proved impossible.
“Every time I got to Kyle’s bumper, he just started getting so sideways, like he was a lot tonight,” Gordon said. “And I thought he was going to wreck. I saw him start to spin, so I went wide, not knowing someone had gotten to my outside. That got me into those guys and into the wall and along for a ride. And then Kyle wins the race, so it was a pretty wild and crazy way to get it all started. It was certainly an exciting finish, but not the way our Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet wants to get the 2012 season started.”
Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2012/02/19/cup-gordon-survives-wild-ride/#ixzz1mqyWKfbp

Whitney Houston laid to rest in N.J.

WESTFIELD, N.J. - Whitney Houston is being laid to rest at a private ceremony in New Jersey.
Houston died Feb. 11 in California at age 48. No cause of death has been determined.
She is being buried Sunday at the cemetery in Westfield where her father was interred in 2003.
Whitney Houston's voice still soars
Complete Coverage: Death of a pop diva

Onlookers were gathering along the route to her gravesite as the police-escorted motorcade headed toward it and the hearse carrying her casket entered the cemetery.
The pop star was mourned at a funeral Saturday at the church in Newark where she sang in the choir as a child.
The invitation-only service featured a tribute by some of the biggest names in the music, including Stevie Wonder and Alicia Keys. Kevin Costner and music mogul Clive Davis were among those who spoke.

Tyler Perry recalls the "grace that carried" Whitney Houston

(CBS) Writer, director and producer Tyler Perry today characterized Whtney Houston's life as one directed by grace, "a grace that carried her from heaven down through Miss Cissy Houston." Speaking at the hush-filled memorial service at New Hope Baptist Church in Houston's hometown of Newark, N.J., the Atlanta-based Perry said that same grace carried her into a singing career and to the top of the charts.
Complete Coverage: Death of a pop diva
Pictures: Whitney Houston memorial
"So what I know about her is that she loved the Lord," he concluded, "and if there was a grace that carried her all of the way through, it was the same grace that carried her home."
Perry, named by Forbes magazine in 2011 as the richest man in entertainment, was among a dozen speakers and performers at the hours-long service.
Here's the full text of his remarks:
"It was Pat who introduced me to Whitney a while back, and she and I sat in a restaurant in Atlanta, just the two of us, and sat there talking for about an hour and a half about four years ago. And during this time she was telling me about her life and I was very surprised about how candid and open and revealing she was as she was talking to me, and she would talk about some things that she had went through and things that made her sad and things that were tough, and as I would see her talk about this i would see this heaviness come upon her and I'm the type of person that when I would see this with anyone I would just want to say something encouraging, but before I could get words out to encourage her, she would say, 'But the Lord.'
"And the conversation went on, the conversation went on, we would talk a little bit more and she would go back into her sadness and just as I'm about to say, 'But my lord and savior Jesus Christ and his amazing grace."
"It was at that moment that I knew that I would do all I can to stand with her, and from that moment to now I've been standing with the family and her and I am just completely thankful to God for all that he has done in her life.
"There are two constants that I know about Whitney Houston, and one is that there was a grace that carried, a grace that carried her from heaven down through Miss Cissy Houston. A grace that brought her up through singing, a grace -- from what I understand she wasn't even supposed to be able to speak let alone sing because of an incident that happened to her as a child, but there was a grace that kept on carrying her all of the way through.
"The same grace led her all of the way to the top of the charts, sold all of these albums and just done some amazing things, won all these awards. She sang for presidents. There was a grace that kept on carrying her. That's one thing I know.
"And the other thing I know, for sure, and this is more important than anything than she's ever done in her life: Whitney Houston loved the Lord. And in every conversation we had over these years it was evident that she loved the Lord. She loved the Lord, and when I think about it there's a scripture that keeps burning in my heart. I keep thinking about the Apostle Paul in Romans when he was talking about, 'I am persuaded that nothing shall separate me from the love of God.'
"So what I know about her is that nothing separated her from the love of God, and if you look at what Paul was saying he was describing her life so perfectly. He said, 'Neither height - ' which meant, no matter how far she went in the stratosphere, nothing separated her from the Lord; 'Neither height nor depth -' no matter how much struggle, no matter what she had to go through, no matter what she had to walk through, it still wasn't enough to separate her from the love of God, nor principalities nor power nor things to come. Nothing was able to separate her from the love of God.
"So what I know about her is that she loved the Lord, and if there was a grace that carried her all of the way through, it was the same grace that carried her home.
"And I just want to close by saying this because Pastor Paul said something that just fascinates me as I read the Word sometimes, he said, 'What then say you to these things? That if God be for you, who can be against you? So say whatever you want, God was for her and she is resting singing with the angels. God bless you, family. God bless you. God bless you, Whitney. We love you so much."

Sleigh Bells: Something To Shout About

When Derek Miller moved to Brooklyn in 2008, he'd already written most of the songs that would become Treats, the first album by his band Sleigh Bells. But the guitarist and producer says he needed one thing to bring the songs to life.
"Female vocalists have always appealed to me, ever since I was a little kid," Miller says. "My mom was super into Madonna and Belinda Carlisle and Janet Jackson, so I was always surrounded by female voices."
Miller found his muse that spring in singer Alexis Krauss, who put aside a career in education to start the band. Krauss says that working with Miller's production style — characterized by blaring guitars and machine-gun beats — meant learning how to shout.
"I have a past in session work, working with other people — that was something I knew how to do," Krauss says. "I was used to pushing myself and going to a place that I was a bit uncomfortable in, but making it work. ... Now I love shouting. I actually kind of prefer it to singing sometimes."
NPR's Rachel Martin speaks with Miller and Krauss about their creative partnership and the second Sleigh Bells album, Reign of Terror, which comes out this week.

Elizabeth Smart marries at Hawaii temple

Elizabeth Smart married her fiance Saturday at a Mormon temple in Hawaii, several months ahead of scheduled plans for the nuptials after news of her engagement last month drew widespread media attention.
A family spokesman said the Utah woman who was kidnapped at knifepoint at age 14 and held captive for nine months married Matthew Gilmour on Oahu's North Shore.
"Elizabeth's desire was for what most women want — to celebrate her nuptials in a private wedding with family and close friends," family spokesman Chris Thomas said in a statement. "She decided, about a week ago, the best way to avoid significant distraction was to change her wedding plans and to get married in an unscheduled ceremony outside of Utah."
The 24-year-old Smart is a senior at Brigham Young University. She met Gilmour, of Aberdeen, Scotland, while doing Mormon missionary work in Paris.
The couple wed at the Laie Hawaii Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in front of a small group of family members, Thomas said. The group then celebrated at a private reception and luau.

Smart and Gilmour got engaged last month and initially made plans to wed this summer.
"The bride and groom were beaming as they left the LDS Temple," he added, noting the couple planned to go on an extended honeymoon in an undisclosed location.
"We're just thrilled that she's married," her father, Ed Smart, told The Salt Lake Tribune, calling the ceremony a "kind of a spur of a moment thing."
Onetime itinerant street preacher Brian David Mitchell was convicted in 2010 of Smart's 2002 kidnapping and sexual assault. He is serving a life prison sentence.
Since her rescue, Smart has become increasingly involved in advocacy work for crime victims, forming the Elizabeth Smart Foundation, aimed largely at protecting children from abuse through prevention and education.
"Her wedding further demonstrates it is possible to rise above challenging circumstances to lead a happy and productive life," Thomas said. "Once Elizabeth returns from her honeymoon, she looks forward to continuing her child advocacy work."