Central Myanmar was hit by a powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake

A strong earthquake in central Italy reduced three towns to rubble as people slept early Wednesday, with reports that at least 73 people were killed and hundreds injured as rescue crews raced to dig out survivors. Central Myanmar was hit by a powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake on Wednesday, more than a day after another tremor struck the Southeast Asian nation.The quake struck 25km (15.5 miles) west of Chauk, at a depth of 84km, the US Geological Survey said.
Tremors were felt as far away as Thailand, Bangladesh and India, sending fearful residents into the streets.At least 66 stupas in Bagan have been damaged, a spokesman from the department of archaeology told the BBC. Videos posted on social media from Bagan show clouds of dust and the tops of some pagodas crumbling as the quake struck.The ancient capital is a major tourist site, home to thousands of Buddhist monuments.There are numerous reports of buildings being damaged elsewhere in the country, including the parliament building in Naypyidaw.Tall buildings shook in Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, the Thai capital Bangkok and Kolkata in India, where underground railway services were temporarily suspended.At least 20 people were injured in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, as they fled a building, local media report.

Audi petrol cars in india

Many automobile manufacturers took a hit on the sales of their diesel-powered wagons when the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) completely banned the registration of vehicles powered by diesel engines equal to or greater than 2000cc. Every carmaker - from Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Jaguar Land Rover and Audi, to home-grown players Tata Motors and Mahindra - felt the heat of the ban. Recently, Mahindra announced that it will bring petrol engine options across its range of cars and that it was working on a 1.5-litre mill to start off with.
Next in line is Audi India, which has announced that it will offer petrol engines for all the models across its portfolio. This move is thanks to the shifting customer demands in the Indian market towards petrol-powered vehicles in the wake of the ban on big diesel cars and SUVs in Delhi-NCR. In fact, Audi India will first introduce the petrol variant of the A6 sedan next week. An all-new A4 sedan is in the pipeline as well, and is slated to hit the market next month.
"This year has been a very difficult one as customers are confused due to the issues such as ban of diesel in Delhi-NCR and different excise duties imposed on those vehicles. They had postponed purchases. It has been a real challenge changing our business strategy overnight from a predominantly diesel to petrol due to an out of the blue decision by the NGT and the Supreme Court,” Joe King, Audi India head has reportedly said. He added that these events have left a lasting impression on customers' minds in the rest of the country as well, and that they had also begun questioning the use of investing in diesel-powered vehicles, since there is a possibility of such bans coming into effect in the states they reside in.Audi India estimates that it may lose around Rs 760 crore worth of sales this year due to the overall impact on customer sentiment that developed because of the diesel ban and the different excise rate for diesel vehicles. King added that Delhi-NCR is one of the company's biggest markets and its best-selling SUV, the Q7, was the worst hit.

Nita Ambani becomes first Indian woman to be elected as member of International Olympic Committee

As founder and chairperson of the Reliance Foundation, Nita has been steering initiatives in the area of education, sports, health and art and culture.Nita Ambani, was among eight new members elected to the International Olympic Committee on Thursday on the eve of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.After being nominated in June by the IOC Executive Board, Nita was today elected by IOC members at the 129th Session of the world body, just a day before the opening ceremony of the 31st Olympics Games in Rio."This is a recognition of the growing importance of India in the world stage and a recognition for Indian women," Nita Ambani said in a press release."I have always believed in the power of sport to shape our youth. I believe that sports brings together communities, cultures, and generations has the power to unify and unite people. I look forward to spreading the spirit of Olympics and sports across our nation,"

Clean City Awards conferred on three Indian cities by CSE

Alappuzha, Panaji and Mysuru are three of the cleanest cities in India, with municipal waste management systems that actually work  says a latest rating by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). The three cities will be awarded CSE’s Clean City award  by the Union urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu.Mr Naidu will also officially release CSE’s latest report on solid waste management in Indian cities, titled Not in my backyard. CSE director general Sunita Narain said: “This book started as a survey—we wanted to simply know which city is India’s cleanest. We knew that once we found out which is the cleanest, we would also find out what makes it so. This would give us the answers for future policy.”Mr Naidu will also officially release CSE’s latest report on solid waste management in Indian cities, titled Not in my backyard. CSE director general Sunita Narain said: “This book started as a surve we wanted to simply know which city is India’s cleanest. We knew that once we found out which is the cleanest, we would also find out what makes it so. This would give us the answers for future policy.in this scenario, the best option is what we have found exists in Kerala, where municipalities have withdrawn from the waste business. People segregate and compost; informal recyclers collect and sell. This is perhaps the most exciting model for future waste business in the country. And even if it cannot be emulated completely, it holds important lessons for other cities,” added Narain. The book release and the Clean City Awards will be followed by a day-long workshop on July 12th, 2016, to share best practices from across the country in solid waste management. Representatives from the cities rated by CSE, municipal authorities and regulators, media people and civil society functionaries will come together to deliberate on the three key phrases of the workshop

 Reinvention, Opportunities and Way Ahead.

Today :Indian Independence Bill Presented in British House Of Commons in 1947

The Indian Independence Act1947 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that partitioned British India into the two new. independent dominions of India and Pakistan.

An Act to make provision for the setting up in India of two independent Dominion states, to substitute other provisions for certain provisions of the Government of India Act, 1935, which apply outside those Dominions, and to provide for other matters consequential on or connected with the setting up of those Dominions.

Remote hilly villages to get power supply for first time in Tamil Nadu

115 villages in remote forest areas in the state will get the electricity supply for the first time to ‘light up’ their huts through solar power.Though Tamil Nadu has achieved 100 per cent electrification of villages in 1992, there are habitations located in remote areas, where conventional power supply is not feasible, had remained un-electrified. 5,787 households in remote areas in 12 districts would be provided with power supply with battery back up to light three LED bulbs with four watts capacity each for six hours a day and a point to charge mobile phones.  The 115 villages located in Theni, Madurai, Dindigul, Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari, Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Nilgiris, Salem, Erode, Vellore and Dharmapuri districts would be electrified.

USA asks NSG members to support India's plea

USA asks the members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to consider and support India's application to join the grouping.
The plenary meeting in Seoul begins on Wednesday.(22/06/2016)
"We believe, and this has been US policy for some time, that India is ready for membership and the United States calls on participating governments to support India's  application at the  session of NSG later this week," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told the above information.

TODAY

June: 21 World Humanist day

"Humanism is a
democratic and ethical life stance, which affirms that human beings have the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to their own lives. It stands for the building of a more humane society through an ethic based on human and other natural values in the spirit of reason and free inquiry through human capabilities. It is not theistic , and it does not accept supernatural views of reality.
“