Qayam Ali

Thousands of yoga enthusiasts spread their mats for yoga sessions across America from East to West Coast to mark the First International Day of Yoga as governors of several states issued proclamations in support.

In Washington DC, more than 1500 people from all walks of life joined the event held at Sylvan Theatre Stage on the prestigious National Mall, next to the towering National Monument, built to commemorate the first American president George Washington,

Government should repeal the proposed Quality Control Order with regard to steel imports else it would adversely impact India’s international trade relations, an industry body has said.

Under the proposed Steel and Steel Products (Quality Control) Order, 2015, government is set to bring several steel products under a mandatory Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) registration.

A Singapore Airlines aircraft from Mumbai to Singapore was forced to make an emergency landing in Malaysia after it received a cargo fire warning message, a report said today.

Flight SQ425 made the landing at Kuala Lumpur International Airport yesterday when a cargo fire alarm warning went off.

The warning was sounded towards the end of its flight, just 20 minutes before the descent into Singapore, according to a report by The Straits Times.

Singapore Airlines spokesperson said that the aircraft, a Boeing 777, landed in Kuala Lumpur without incident at 4.01 pm (local time).

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon discussed several regional issues including Pakistan, Bangladesh and Maldives during their meeting on the eve of International Day of Yoga here.

Mr Ban had called on Swaraj on the evening of June 20 at the Manhattan hotel where she is staying.

“The Secretary-General and the Minister then exchanged views on a number of regional issues including Nepal, Bangladesh, the Maldives and Pakistan,” according to a readout of the meeting provided by Mr Ban’s office today.

An exhibition on ‘Yoga Chakra, Tradition and Modernity’ was inaugurated on Sunday coinciding with the International Yoga Day celebrations.

The exhibition was inaugurated by the Minister of State for Tourism and Culture, Mahesh Sharma.

“The exhibition is part of the larger endeavour of the Ministry of Culture to present Yog Parv, a festival of Yoga, in the context of performing and visual arts as well as workshops and interactive session in three interlinked segments,” an official release said here.

The Dalai Lama marked his 80th birthday on Sunday and vowed to continue to work for promotion of religious harmony as thousands of Tibetans and supporters joined the celebrations at the main temple Tsuglakhang at Mcleod Ganj.

Union Minister of State for Culture and Tourism Mahesh Sharma, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki, tourism minister Viplove Thakur, were among those who joined the celebrations.

Three Indian cities- Jaipur, New Delhi and Mumbai, have been featured in the list of top 15 destinations with the best hotels for wellness across Asia in the first quarter of 2015, according to a survey.

“India, which has its own history of health and wellness traditions Ayurveda therapies and Yoga, features three times in the top 15 with Jaipur and New Delhi (placed 12th, 86.11%) and Mumbai (15th, 84.73%),” report by a travel search engine ‘Wego’ across Asia-Pacific and Middle East, showed.

The flood situation in Assam deteriorated on Sunday with over 19,000 people reeling under the waters in more than 60 villages across the state.

Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said in its daily flood report that more than 19,100 people were affected as of now in 62 villages across Barpeta, Dhemaji, Tinsukia, Morigaon and Lakhimpur districts.Till Saturday, around 15,300 people were affected in 72 villages under five districts across the state.

Amidst opposition in some quarters to observing International Yoga Day, VHP International Executive President Dr Praveen Togadia today said that the discipline was never secular and was more of “Vedic and sanatan”.

He also said that Surya Namaskar was an essential part of the exercise form and no performance of yoga was complete without it.

“Om and Surya Namaskar, two exercises of yoga, are very necessary and without them, yoga is incomplete,” Togadia told reporters at a VHP event here.

A 40-year-old local journalist was allegedly murdered by three persons involved in illegal mining who kidnapped him and set him ablaze apparently over his refusal to withdraw a court case, police said on Sunday.

The burnt body of Sandeep Kothari, who was abducted from Katangi tehsil in Balaghat district two days back, was found dumped in a farm at Butibori area in Nagpur on Saturday night, they said. Police have arrested three persons in connection with Kothari’s mruder, Sub-Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) J S Markam said on Sunday.

A 41-year-old Dubai man on Sunday attempted a world record by performing ‘shirsasana’ or headstand for about an hour on the occasion of International Yoga Day, a media report said.

Ivan Stanley stood on his head for 61 minutes to create a possible new Guinness World Record, Emirates 24|7 reported, adding that the feat left him feeling “a little” disoriented.

“It feels nice but a little disorienting. Those last five minutes were impossible, perhaps the longest of my life,” Stanley said after his feet touched the ground.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said that he has sought clarification from Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria over his statement wherein he confirmed meeting former IPL chairman Lalit Modi in London last year.

We have asked him to give a clarification and whatever information he has on the matter. We will take further steps on the issue after having a look at these details,” said Fadnavis.

India-born former Google executive Nikesh Arora has been appointed the President of Japan’s telecommunications giant SoftBank Corp that paid the “rising star” a whopping USD 135 million for the financial year 2014.
Arora, 47, who earlier held the vice president’s post, was appointed company president and chief operating officer at a general meeting of shareholders on Friday.
In a management reshuffle last month, Arora – then investments head – was named as a potential successor to company chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son, as the telecoms conglomerate steps up its overseas expansion.

Music maestro AR Rahman recently met legendary American record producer Quincy Jones in the US.

The 48-year-old Oscar and Grammy winning composer took to Facebook to share a photo with Jones.

“With legendary producer Quincy Jones after the LA concert,” Rahman wrote.

Rahman recently wrapped his North American tour titled ‘AR Rahman: The Intimate Concert Tour’.

During his visit to the US, Jai Ho, a documentary based on his life, was screened at the White House.

The train is equipped with bio-toilets and fully vestibule for free movement of passengers between coaches.
ANI
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today flagged off India’s first diesel electric multiple unit (DEMU) train service with an air-conditioned coach here.

The Angamaly-Ernakulam-Tripunithura-Piravom train service is expected to help in reducing traffic congestion in the state’s fastest growing city. “It is for the first time in a DEMU service, we have provided air conditioned service. We want to increase it further,” Prabhu said at a function in Ernakulam Junction.

Husbands of two of the three sisters who allegedly took their nine children and fled to join IS terrorists in Syria last week, claim that UK police encouraged and promoted’ the radicalization of three sisters who went to join Islamic State terrorists last week.

According to reports the Husbands ‘Mohammed Shoaib, 39’, and ‘Akhtar Iqbal, 48’ have written to the Home and Foreign Secretaries, and chairman of the Home Affairs Committee.

Delhi government has decided to give jobs to acid attack survivors and a committee will be formed to look into the issues of acid attack victims.

According to a senior official, a representation from acid attack victims was received by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in which they have requested that government jobs be extended to them.
Following the plea, the government has proposed that, as a special relief measure, suitable government jobs (contract or permanent) be provided to these survivors.

According to official figures, there are 35 acid attack survivors in the city.

High court on Friday permitted petitioner T Uma Mahendra, a BJP leader, to organise the yoga programme on June 21 in front of the historic Charminar.

The BJP leader approached the HC after the commissionar police denied him permission. In response to a writ petition the high court on Friday permitted petitioner T Uma Mahendra, to conduct yoga event at Charminar.

ACP K Ashok Chakravarthy filed a counter stating that the stretch from Charminar to Gulzar Houz is busy. He also stated that there are three historic mosques located in the area and hence permission could not be granted.

Historian-author Ramachandra Guha has been selected for Japan’s prestigious Fukuoka Prize in the Academic category.

Scores of journalists were today taken into preventive custody after they held a demonstration in front of the DGP office here strongly condemning the issuance of notice by Andhra Pradesh Police to T News channel.

The protesting journalists under the banner of Telangana Union of Working Journalists assembled in front of the AP Police Headquarters (DGP office) and raised slogans against Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and AP Police.

In a case of honour killing, a man allegedly strangulated his 17-year-old daughter to death for having an affair with their neigbhour, police said here on Friday.

Rabina, daughter of Yusuf Ali Kureshi, was a resident of Adda village under Mundal Police station of the district. She was having an affair with her neighbour Ajju, police said.

Yusuf and the entire family was against their relationship. On Wednesday Yusuf strangulated her to death in her sleep, police said.

China has made the world’s first electric passenger aircraft that could be used in pilot training, tourism, meteorology and rescue operations, state media reported today.

The BX1E has a 14.5-meter wingspan and a maximum payload of 230 kgs. It can fly at an altitude of 3,000 meters.

The charging is completed within two hours, allowing a flight time of 45 minutes to one hour, at a maximum speed of 160 km per hour, Xinhua news agency reported.

National Geographic Channel will air Davis Guggenheim’s upcoming feature documentary “He Named Me Malala” about Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai in 171 countries in 45 languages in 2016.

In 2012, Malala was targeted by the Taliban and severely wounded by a gunshot when returning home on her school bus in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. FSL will release the film in October.

A North Carolina florist is being hailed a hero for alerting police when she spotted the suspected gunman’s car and then tailed him for nearly 50 km until authorities arrested him, hours after the massacre of nine black worshippers in one of the worst hate crimes in US history.

51-year-old Debbie Dills was driving to work yesterday through Shelby, North Carolina – about four hours’ drive from Charleston – when she spotted a black Hyundai with a South Carolina plate and a confederate flag.

The LTTE’s international network and financial support are still intact despite its military defeat at the hands of Sri Lankan government troops in 2009, a US government report has said.

The State Department’s annual Country Report on Terrorism for 2014 released yesterday noted that there have been no known attacks in Sri Lanka that could verifiably be attributed to the LTTE since the end of the war, but a total of 13 LTTE supporters, several of which had allegedly planned attacks against US and Israeli diplomatic facilities in India, were arrested in Malaysia in 2014.