1. Pakistan signs agreement with Russia to build a gas pipeline
(i) In a recent development, Pakistan signed an agreement with Russia for the construction of a gas pipeline stretching from Karachi on the Arabian Sea to the eastern city of Lahore.
(ii) The Petroleum Minister of Pakistan Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and his Russian counter part Alexander Novak signed the agreement. The 1,100-kilometre (680-mile) pipeline, with a capacity of 12.4 billion cubic metres (438 billion cubic feet) per year, will connect liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in Karachi with those in Lahore.
2. China to develop first overseas bullet train in Indonesia
(i) Chinese and Indonesian state-owned companies will together build the first high-speed railway in Indonesia.
(ii) The $5.5 deal will result in a 150-km railway line linking Jakarta with Bandung, the capital of West Java. Indonesia controls 60 per cent of the joint venture’s stake, while China holds the remaining 40 per cent.
(iii) It is China’s first overseas deal, which officials expect would enhance economic growth that is presently down at around seven per cent.
3. Maharashtra declares drought
(i) Maharashtra recently became the second state after Karnataka to declare drought.
(ii) The state
government listed 14,708 out of 40,053 villages that received less than 50% rainfall this year.
(iii) The drought-hit villages are in 20 of the state’s 35 districts, and includes all eight districts of
Marathwada. A total of 2,234 farmer suicides have been recorded between January and
September.
4.’mSehat’ launched in Uttar Pradesh
(i) Recently Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav launched m-Sehat, a mobile app that helps health workers to record maternal and infant data in real- time.
(ii) The State Innovations in Family Planning Services Agency roped in Hyderabad-based company Kellton Tech to create the app that would enable remote access from across the state through 2G-enabled cell phones.
(iii) Initially, the app would be made available to health superintendents in five districts, namely Mirzapur, Faizabad, Sitapur, Bareilly and Kannauj.
(iv) “mSehat is an integrated mobile platform that will enable Uttar Pradesh to experience an improvement in the infant mortality rate outcomes,” the company said in a statement.
5. GAIL to create Natural Gas and City Gas Distribution infrastructure in Jharkhand
(i) GAIL (India) Limited has signed a Gas Cooperation Agreement (GCA) for creation of Natural Gas and City Gas Distribution infrastructure in Jharkhand.
(ii) This move is aimed at construction of “Urja Ganga” Jagdishpur-Haldia Pipeline project in the state. The proposed pipeline will run through six districts of Jharkhand – Bokaro, Giridih, Hazaribagh, Singhbhum, Ranchi and Dhanbad, covering 340 km in the state.
6. RBI opens sub-office in Imphal
(i) Recently, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) opened a sub-office in Imphal in keeping with its ‘Look East Policy’.
(ii) With this the central bank now has offices in five of the seven states in the North-East and its focus remains to improve the unbanked areas of the region.
(iii) The office will work with the state government, NABARD, and other banks for financial development. Imphal office will have a Financial Inclusion and Development Department, Consumer Education and Protections Cell, Market Intelligence Unit.
7. Subsonic cruise missile – Nirbhay fails to take off
(i) The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), subsonic cruise missile – Nirbhay failed on its launch recently.
(ii) The missile lost control after about 12 minutes of flight and fell into the Bay of Bengal.
(iii) The flight should have lasted an hour, covering a range of about 800 km. However, it lost control midway and fell into the sea.
8. Yahoo Mail to phase out security passwords
(i) Recently, it was announced that Yahoo Mail app is to have access to a new service called Yahoo Account Key, for users on both iOS and Android.
(ii) The Yahoo Account Key will allow smartphones to verify identities in lieu with traditional passwords.
(iii) Now, when users wish to access their yahoo mail, they would no longer need to key in password just the account key service will send message to smartphone connected to the account and the user may tap a yes or no thereby indicating if it is an legitimate attempt to get into account or deny the same.
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