Yoga can prevent swine flu, cancer:Baba Ramdev

Indian Yoga guru, Swami Ramdev, has suggested that his techniques of pranayama, popularly known as breathing exercises, could help in healing many ailments, including swine flu and cancer.

"I want to promote and propagate ancient Indian heritage of yoga around the globe. My aim is to turn Toronto into a peace haven," Swami Ramdev told thousands of yoga fans, who gathered at the Pearson Convention Centre in Toronto on Monday.

He claimed the practice of yoga could prevent diseases like swine flu, cancer and AIDS, and argued that his teachings were based on science.

Swami Ramdev said, "Yoga is the universal and scientific philosophy of self-realisation and healing. Our personal life should also be full of austerity and self-control and a complete sense of denunciation."

He also demonstrated yoga and other meditation techniques.

Gagan Bhalla, spokesperson of the function, said the Canadian government must recognise the benefits of Yoga and provide encouragement to the Patanjali Yog Peeth Canada, to promote and propagate yoga in the country.

The Yog Peeth has proposed to set up Yoga and Ayurvedic research centre in Toronto on the model of Pathanjali Yog Peeth in Hardwar, Bhalla added.

Senior politicians and diplomats were among those who attended the function.

wine flu: Google Closes Hyderabad office for two days

The swine flu scare forced IT major Google on Tuesday to shut down its Hyderabad office for two days as a precautionary measure.

A company spokesman confirmed that Google has announced two-day holiday for all its employees at the office here to enable them undergo screening for Influenza A(H1N1).

Over 1,000 employees of the firm were told to contact the Andhra Pradesh Chest Hospital after one employee was tested positive for the swine flu.

He was among the six employees of three IT companies who contracted the virus from a software engineer, who returned to the city from Houston on July 5, according to health authorities.

The 29-year-old techie, who approached the Chest Hospital on July 11 after he developed swine flu symptoms, spread the infection to employees of the IT companies with whom he worked.

The techie and six others were tested positive on Monday, spreading the swine flu scare in IT companies in Madhapur in Hyderabad. Employees of one company have already started taking medicines as a precautionary measure.

Health authorities said the swine flu symptoms in the techie could not be detected despite compulsory screening of all air passengers at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad. This was the first cluster formation in the city.

With eight new cases including a two-and-half-year-old boy who arrived in Hyderabad from Dubai, the swine flu cases in the city has gone up to 31.