United Nations

” One Word …’ YOGA’… United the Entire World …” !!!

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Some practised their stretches on a boat as they floated across River Siene in Paris; the others did their asanas outside the world famous ruins of Angkor Vat in Cambodia.

Fitness enthusiasts embraced our ancient practice with great fervour across the world. The pictures tell the story of the grand success of the first International Yoga Day.

People perform yoga to mark International Day of Yoga in Seoul, South Korea. Milions of people worldwide took part in the first International Day of Yoga, which was declared by the United Nations last year. Photograph: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

Yoga demonstration on boat as it makes way past the bridges of Paris on River Seine.Photograph@Indian_Embassy/Twitter

Participants perform yoga to mark the International Day of Yoga under the Eiffel tower in Paris, France. Photograph: Benoit Tessier/Reuters

Participants attend the Yoga Fest to mark the International Day of Yoga at the Medeo skating rink at the altitude of some 1600 metres above sea level in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Photograph: Reuters

Tashkent, Uzbekistan celebrates International Day of Yoga. Photograph:@MEA/India

On Sunday, London was completely engrossed in yoga. Photograph: @chris_vasiliou/Twitter

Yoga enthusiasts do the Suptvajrasan in Brussels. Photograph:@IndEmbassyBru/Twitter

International Yoga Day celebration is in full swing in Samara, Russia.Photograph: @IndEmbMoscow

Over 4,000 yogis gathered at the Grand Halle de la Villette, Paris.Photograph: @Indian_Embassy

Britain gets its mat out on Yoga Day. Photograph: @SGadiLondon/Twitter

Sri Sri Ravishanker shares this picture from the Art of Living Yogathon in Japan.Photograph: @SriSri/Twitter

Afghans practise their asanas on Yoga Day.

Yoga Day fever grips Mongolia. Photograph:@IndianDiplomacy/Twitter

Nepali Actress Mala Limbu participates in Yoga Day celebrations. Photograph: @IndiainNepal/Twitter

I do yoga. Do you?’ has become the catchphrase in Vietnam.

Hhundreds took part in the celebrations at Hanoi’s Quan Ngua Sports Palace, and in Ho Chi Minh city and seven other provinces. “The response was amazing, way beyond our expectations,” Preeti Saran, India’s ambassador to Vietnam said. Photograph: @cghcm/Twitter

From the iconic Angkor Vat and Ta Prohm Temples in Cambodia, the full beauty of Yoga Day was on display. Photograph: @MEAIndia/Twitter

In China, events were organised at the prestigious Peking University and Geely University. People from different walks of life took part in the exercise.

About a week ahead of the International Yoga Day, the India-China Yoga college was inaugurated at Yunnan Minzu University in Kunming, the first such college in the country.Photograph: @MEAIndia/Twitter

More than a thousand people took part in several events across Australia to mark the day, with Prime Minister Tony Abott appreciating Yoga’s universal appeal.

“For thousands of years, yoga has provided its followers with a guide to bringing their mind, body and spirit into balance,” Abott said.

“Yoga’s universal and growing popularity demonstrates its appeal to people from all the walks of life and its great potential to foster better health among individuals and populations around the world,” he said.

Melbourne saw over 500 people gathered at the Springers Leisure Centre to kick off the day with ‘Surya Namaskar’ and bending and twisting their bodies in complex postures.Photograph: @navdeepsuri/Twitter 

Revellers participate in yoga as they celebrate the summer solstice and International Yoga Day at Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain in southern England, Britain. Photograph: Kieran Doherty/Reuters

Source….www.rediff.com

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Image of the Day… ” International Year of Light … 2015…”

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The year of 2015 has been declared the International Year of Light (IYL) by the United Nations. Organizations, institutions, and individuals involved in the science and applications of light will be joining together for this yearlong celebration to help spread the word about the wonders of light.

NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory explores the universe in X-rays, a high-energy form of light.  By studying X-ray data and comparing them with observations in other types of light, scientists can develop a better understanding of objects likes stars and galaxies that generate temperatures of millions of degrees and produce X-rays.

To recognize the start of IYL, the Chandra X-ray Center is releasing a set of images that combine data from telescopes tuned to different wavelengths of light. From a distant galaxy to the relatively nearby debris field of an exploded star, these images demonstrate the myriad ways that information about the universe is communicated to us through light.

In this image, an expanding shell of debris called SNR 0519-69.0 is left behind after a massive star exploded in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy to the Milky Way. Multimillion degree gas is seen in X-rays from Chandra, in blue. The outer edge of the explosion (red) and stars in the field of view are seen in visible light from the Hubble Space Telescope.

> More: Chandra Celebrates the International Year of Light

SOURCE::::  www.nasa.gov

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World”s Safest Airline ….

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QANTAS has been named the world’s safest airline, after a year when fatal air accidents soared above the 10-year average.

In a report published by AirlineRatings.com last night, Qantas was lauded for amassing “an extraordinary record of firsts” in safety and operations over its 94-year history. It also has a fatality free record in the jet era.

The company’s rating system, which is endorsed by the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency, takes into account a variety of factors related to audits from aviation’s governing bodies and lead associations as well as government audits and the airlines’ fatality records.

Operational histories and incident records were also analysed.

Qantas was named the leader in terms of real-time monitoring of its engines across its fleet using satellite communications.

“Doing so allows the airline to detect problems before they become a major safety issue,” the report says.

The airline was also described as a leader in the development of an avionics system that provides a direct data link communication between the pilot and the air traffic controller, as well as the development of flight data recorders to monitor plane and crew performance.

The flying kangaroo wins for its safety and operations.

The flying kangaroo wins for its safety and operations. Source: Getty Images

The report comes after what was “in no doubt” a bad year for airline safety, AirlineRatings.com said, adding 2014 included some of the industry’s most tragic and bizarre incidents.

“Certainly, 21 fatal accidents with 986 fatalities — higher than the 10-year average — is sickening. However, the world’s airlines carried a record 3.3 billion passengers on 27 million flights,” the report says.

AirlineRatings.com said the high number of deaths came despite the number of accidents for 2014 being at a record low 21 — one for every 1.3 million flights.

“Two of the crashes last year — MH370 and MH17 — were unprecedented in modern times and claimed 537 lives,” the report says.

“Flashback 50 years and there were a staggering 87 crashes killing 1,597 when airlines carried only 141 million passengers — five per cent of today’s number.”

Air New Zealand made the top 10 of the world’s safest airlines.

Air New Zealand made the top 10 of the world’s safest airlines. Source: Supplied

The report rates 449 airlines. Making up the remainder of the top 10 in alphabetical order were Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific, British Airways, Emirates, Etihad Airways, EVA Air, Finnair, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines.

Low-cost carriers were also included in a separate list, with Jetstar making the top 10 along with Aer Lingus, Alaska Airlines, Icelandair, Jetblue, Kulula.com, Monarch Airlines, Thomas Cook, TUI Fly and Westjet.

AirlineRatings has been used by millions of passengers from 232 countries and its safety rating.

SOURCE:::: http://www.news.com.au

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Jan 7 2015