Houston gets its third Asian all-cargo scheduled service to Taipei and soon they promise to bring even more flights.
Duration : 0:2:32
Emirates (Arabic: طيران الإمارات Ṭayarān al-Imārāt) (also known as Fly Emirates) is a major airline in the Middle East, and a subsidiary of The Emirates Group. It is the national airline of Dubai, United Arab Emirates and operates over 1,990 passenger flights per week,[1] from its hub at Dubai International Airport, to 91 destinations in 55 countries across 6 continents.[2] The company also operates four of the world’s longest non-stop commercial flights from Dubai to Los Angeles, São Paulo, Houston, and San Francisco, all on the Boeing 777-200LR.[3][4] Emirates is a subsidiary of The Emirates Group, which has over 40,000 employees, and is wholly-owned by the Government of Dubai directly under the Investment Corporation of Dubai.[5] Cargo activities are undertaken by the Emirates Group’s Emirates SkyCargo division.[6]
During the mid-1980s, Gulf Air began to cut back its services to Dubai. As a result Emirates was conceived in March 1985 with backing from Dubai’s royal family, whose Dubai Royal Air Wing provided two of the airline’s first aircraft. It was required to operate independent of government subsidies, apart from $10 million in start-up capital. The airline became headed by Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the airline’s present chairman. In the years following its founding, the airline expanded both its fleet and its destinations.[7] In October 2008, Emirates moved all operations at Dubai International Airport to Terminal 3, a new terminal exclusively dedicated to Emirates.
Emirates operates a mixed fleet of Airbus and Boeing wide-body aircraft and is one of only six airlines to operate an all wide-body aircraft fleet.[8] The centrepiece of the airline’s fleet is the Boeing 777; with 77 aircraft, Emirates is the largest operator of the type in the world. Emirates also has orders for 58 Airbus A380s and became the second operator of the Airbus A380-800 when their first aircraft was delivered on 28 July 2008.[9] Emirates has won numerous awards and is an industry bellwether for aircraft purchases, purchasing over 130 aircraft in 2007 alone.[10]
The airline ranks amongst the top 10 carriers worldwide in terms of revenue, passenger kilometres, and has become the largest airline in the Middle East in terms of revenue, fleet size, and passengers carried as of 2007.[11] In 2009 the airline was the seventh-largest airline in the world in terms of international passengers carried,[12] and fourth-largest[13] in the world in terms of scheduled international passenger-kilometres flown.
Emirates has built up a strong brand name as a trendsetter in the aviation industry, particularly in terms of service excellence, coupled with consistent profitability.[14] In 2009, Emirates was voted the fifth best airline in the world by research consultancy firm Skytrax.[15]
Duration : 0:4:54
Wagah (Punjabi: ਵਾਘਾ, Hindi: वाघा, Urdu: واہگہ) is the only road border crossing between India and Pakistan, and lies on the Grand Trunk Road between the cities of Amritsar, India and Lahore, Pakistan. Wagah itself is a village through which the controversial Radcliffe Line was drawn. The village was divided by independence in 1947. Today, the eastern half of the village remains in India whilst the western half is in Pakistan.
The Wagah border, often called the “Berlin wall of Asia”, is a ceremonial border on the IndiaPakistan Border where each evening there is a retreat ceremony called ‘lowering of the flags’. At that time there is a very energetic and thrilling parade by the Border Security Force (B.S.F) of India and the Pakistan Rangers soldiers. It may appear slightly aggressive and even hostile to foreigners. Troops of each country put on quite an entertaining show in their uniforms with their colorful turbans. Border officials from the two countries sometimes walk over to the offices on the other side for day to day affairs. The happenings at this border post have been a barometer of the India-Pakistan relations over the years.
Samjhauta Express, the train service between Lahore and Delhi, plies twice a week from Attari railway station, 5 km from Wagah. The National Highway 1 of India starts from Wagah Border, and is the transit point for the DelhiLahore Bus service operating within the Punjab between Amritsar and Lahore, which was started in 2004 as relations between the two countries improved.
During British rule the village was part of the Lahore Division of British Punjab. In 1947 the division, like the village, was split between India and Pakistan.
Porters carrying goods across Wagah border For the past 60 years since independence in 1947, porters have been carrying goods across the Wagah border, which had been the only road link between the two nations, before the opening of Aman Setu in Kashmir for the start of the SrinagarMuzaffarabad Bus in 1999. On August 1415, 2001, the respective Independence days of Pakistan and India, the candle-lighting ceremony at the Wagah border, in which 40,000 Pakistani citizens and 15,000 Indian citizens took part, was seen as a reflection of the changing public mood over India-Pakistan reconciliation; such candlelight vigils and the yearly ‘Midnight Peace Festivals’ were also reported in subsequent years. There have been many calls for the opening up of Wagah border to promote Indo-Pak trade through increased transport between India and Pakistan. In March 2005, a delegation of the Indian Border Security Force met the Pakistan Rangers at the Wagah border to discuss the border issue after three years since the 20012002 IndiaPakistan standoff.
In May 2005, Pakistan allowed the import of five specified food items, free of tax via Wagah border to tide over shortages in the domestic market; eventually, in an unprecedented move, on 1 October 2006, trucks carrying goods crossed the Wagah border for the first time since the independence of Pakistan and India over 60 years ago. The 1,400 Pakistani and 1,300 Indian porters employed till then were employed in unloading lorries and trucks, with this the bi-lateral arrangement which accounted for $1.3 billion (£650 million) a year in trade in 2007 and was expected to exceed $10 billion by 2010. The trade has further improved since then through the Wagah post, despite the ups and downs of Indo-Pak relations.
With over 8000 people visiting the border on an average day just on the Indian side, governments have started developing Wagah as a tourist destination, improving tourist and custom facilities. The Indian government plans to develop a global tourist complex at the Wagah-Attari border, which lies 30 km away from Amritsar.
As the relations between the two nations improved, the joint talks to tone down the sunset ceremony were held between BSF and Pakistan rangers, and the two later started “reorienting” their personnel involved in the ceremony, effects of which were seen by November 2006, when the evening ceremony at the border was considerably less aggressive than in previous decades on both sides
Duration : 0:2:37
The company was raising funds for the children…And I thought it was such a lovely gesture…This beautiful song is specially dedicated to them…The children of the world…Our future… =)
I’m far from being a Whitney…Hee…This is one of my personal favourites from the brilliant singer…So I do hope it goes gentle on your ears… And do forgive my silly stage antics! I was feeling jittery… =) Cheers & love!
Lyrics:
I believe the children are our future
Teach them well
And let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty
They possess inside
Give them a sense of pride
To make it easier
Let the children’s laughter
Remind us how we used to be
Everybody’s searching for a hero
People need someone to look up to
I never found anyone
Who fulfilled my needs
A lonely place to be
And so I learned to depend on me.
I decided long ago
Never to walk in anyone’s shadow
If I fail, if I succeed
At least I’ll live as I believe
No matter what they take from me
They can’t take away my dignity
Because the greatest love of all
Is happening to me
I found the greatest love of all
Inside of me
[ Find more Lyrics at www.mp3lyrics.org/lq ]
The greatest love of all
Is easy to achieve
Learning to love yourself
It is the greatest love of all
I believe the children are our future
Teach them well
And let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty
They possess inside
Give them a sense of pride
To make it easier
Let the children’s laughter
Remind us how we used to be
I decided long ago
Never to walk in anyone’s shadow
If I fail, if I succeed
At least I’ll live as I believe.
No matter what they take from me
They can’t take away my dignity
Because the greatest love of all
Is happening to me
I found the greatest love of all
Inside of me
The greatest love of all
Is easy to achieve
Learning to love yourself
It is the greatest love of all
And If by chance that special place
That you’ve been dreaming of
Leads you to a lonely place
Find your strength in love
Duration : 0:5:24
