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• On October 29, 2018, the world’s largest airport terminal under one roof with a capacity to serve 90 million passengers was opened in Istanbul, Turkey.


• It has been constructed as a part of the phase-1A of the project – Istanbul New Airport.


• It has been constructed by – IGA and the first phase costed 7.5 billion Euro.


• It has five pier blocks as well as 77 boarding gates and 143 aero-bridges.


• The airport has been envisioned to have a total capacity of up to 200 million passengers, once all four phases are completed in the next 10 years.

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• On October 29, 2018, India released its first semi-high speed train called- Train 18.


• It is a 16-coach prototype without a locomotive (engine) that will travel at a speed of up to 160 kmph.


• It was developed by the city-based Integral Coach Factory, Chennai in 18 months as part of the ‘Make In India’ initiative.


• It cost nearly Rs 100 crore and will cut travel time by 15 per cent compared to the Shatabdi.


• The ICF will make six such train sets, out of which two will have sleeper coaches.

Source: Cick Here

• On October 29, 2018, Defence Research and Development Organization, DRDO organized a day-long conference on Innovation in Cyberspace, Cyber Security – Challenges and Innovations.


• Secretary, Department of Defence, Research and Development, and Chairman, DRDO, Dr G Satheesh Reddy stressed on work on the cyberspace area.

Source: Cick Here

• On October 27, 2018, the 3-day long 2nd edition of India Mobile Congress concluded at Aerocity, New Delhi.


• It is a regular platform for exploring area of digital communications with specific focus on South and South-East Asia.


• It was inaugurated by Shri Manoj Sinha, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Communications.


• It was organized by the Department of Telecommunications, GOI and Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).


• The theme for this year was: “ New Digital Horizons. Connect. Create. Innovate.”
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• More than 5,000 delegates, delegations from 20 countries and more than 300 companies participated in the event.


• Also, delegations from several BIMSTEC and ASEAN countries such as Ministers from the European Commission, Cambodia, Myanmar, Nepal, and Lao PDR led their respective delegations.


• Among the companies, Samsung, Intel, Ericsson, Nokia, Cisco, NEC, Accenture, KPMG, E&Y, Facebook, Huawei, Sterlite, Vodafone Idea, Reliance Jio, Airtel, and BSNL were present. Also 200 start-ups participated in this event.

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• On October 29, 2018, as part of the country’s first container movement on inland vessel post-independence in the Inland Waterways sector, the IWAI would transport a PepsiCo India cargo from Kolkata to Varanasi on river Ganga (National Waterway-1).


• PepsiCo (India) will move 16 containers – equivalent to 16 truckloads in the vessel MV RN Tagore which will reach Varanasi in 9-10 days.


• MV RN Tagore will make its return journey with Fertilizers belonging to IFFCO that will be procured from its Phulpur plant near Allahabad.


• The vessel will be flagged off by Secretary (Shipping), Govt. of India, Shri Gopal Krishna along with Chairman, IWAI, Shri Pravir Pandey.


• Additionally, IWAI would hand over the operation and management of its terminals in Kolkata to M/s Summit Alliance Port East Gateway (India) Pvt Ltd. (SAPEL) on a supply, operate and maintain (SOM) model.

Source: Cick Here

• On October 27, 2018, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani launched the “Ro-Pax” (roll on/off-passenger) ferry service connecting Ghogha in Saurashtra and Dahej in south Gujarat.


• The inaugural vessel- Voyage Symphony was flagged off from the RORO terminal at Ghogha, Bhavnagar and will pass through the Gulf of Cambay.


• It will cut the distance between Ghogha and Dahej via sea route to just 30 kilometres from 300 kms and reduce the time from 10-12 hours to 1.5 hours.


• The ferry can carry around 60 trucks, five to seven buses, 35-40 cars and an equal number of bikes in addition to 525 passengers.


• The service would be operated by Surat-based Indigo Seaways Pvt Ltd (ISPL) and Gujarat Maritime Board under the public-private partnership model.


• Furthermore, the passenger service will be made operational between Hazira and Ghogha and will be extended till Mumbai.

Source: Cick Here

• On October 29, 2018, Punjab and central government joined hands to stop stubble burning and took up responsibilities educate farmers against it through various departments.


• Goods and Services Tax (GST) Commissionerate in Ludhiana purchased 2 seeder machines and given them to Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Samrala.


• Punjab State Power Corporation (PSPCL) deputed their officials to talk to farmers.


• CII in collabration with ReNew Power, an independent power producer, took up a project, ‘Clean air better life’ to make 5,000 acres stubble-burning free.


• They also took up the task to educate 500 big farmers.

Source: Cick Here

• On October 29, 2018, Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Smt Harsimrat Kaur Badal inaugurated the first Mega Food Park- The Gujarat Agro Mega Food Park, in Surat, Gujarat.


• It is promoted by M/s Gujarat Agro Infrastructure Mega Food Park Pvt. Ltd and is located at Village Shah and Vasravi, Taluka Mangrol, District Surat.


• This has been set up in 70.15 acre of land at a cost of Rs. 117.87 crore.


• It also has 4 PPCs at Bharuch, Padra (Vadodara), Valsad and Navsari having facilities for primary processing and storage near the farms.


• It will leverage an additional investment of about Rs. 250 crores in 25-30 food processing units in the park.


• It is also expected to generate a turnover of about Rs. 450-500 crore annually.


• It will benefit the the people of Surat District and Districts of Navsari, Tapi, Narmada & Bharuch and provide direct and indirect employment to 5,000 persons and 25,000 farmers in the CPC and PPC.


• Additionally, a 2nd Mega Food Park has been sanctioned by the Ministry in Mehsana District of Gujarat.

Source: Cick Here

• On October 29, 2018, State Bank of India (SBI) and payments solution provider Hitachi Payment Services India entered into an agreement to form a joint venture for establishing a card acceptance and digital payment platform.


• According to the joint venture (JV), Hitachi will pick up 26 per cent stake in SBI Payment Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SBI.

Source: Cick Here

• On October 29, 2018, Whatsapp partnered with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to train Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs on using the messaging platform.


• To help connect and grow the SMe businesses through the social messaging platform.


• This will be done through CII’s SME Technology Facilitation Centre that was set up in November 2016.


• This will consist of on-ground training around the country to explain the features and best practices on the WhatsApp Business app that was launched in January 2018.


• The training material will be available on the CII SME website.

Source: Cick Here

• On October 29, 2018, according to a new Standard Chartered study-‘The Emerging Affluent Study 2018– Climbing the Prosperity Ladder’, India is Asia’s most investment savvy economy.


• The survey markets were: China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Singapore, South Korea, the UAE.


• It examined the views of 11,000 emerging affluent consumers from 11 markets across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.


• More than half (59%) of emerging affluent consumers in Asia, Africa and the Middle East are experiencing upward social mobility.


• Of these, 7% are enjoying ‘supercharged’ social mobility, not just relative to the previous generation, but compared to the rest of the socially mobile.


• Overall, the socially mobile class had an earnings growth, with over a third (35%) enjoying a salary increase of 10% or more in the past year and 28% seeing their earnings jump by 50% or more in the past five years.


• Of the markets in the research, China and India lead the way, with 67% being socially mobile.


• ’Investment products’ refers to fixed income investments, stocks, equities, mutual funds, unit trusts, investment-linked insurance, self-invested pension funds, Real Estate Investment Trust (REITS) and real estate property funds.

Source: Cick Here

• On 28th October 2018, India and Pakistan jointly won the Asian Hockey Champions Trophy title in Muscat, Oman.


• The start of the final match was delayed due to heavy rain. As the turf was completely waterlogged the teams couldn’t play.


• Both India and Pakistan were declared joint winners of the Asian Hockey Champions Trophy.


• India remained unbeaten throughout the tournament after winning over: Oman (11-0), Pakistan (3-1), Japan (9-0) and South Korea (4-1) and a game with Malaysia ended in a goalless draw.


• Pakistan was defeated only by India. It had won over: South Korea (3-1), Oman (1-8), Malaysia (1-0) and a game against Japan ended in a 1-1 tie.


• Earlier, India had won the Asian Hockey Champions Trophy in 2011 and 2016.

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• From 23 to 27 October 2018, 2018 (ITTF) International Table Tennis Federation Challenge Belgium Open, was held in De Haan, Belgium.


• India’s Ayhika Mukherjee won silver medal in the under-21 women’s singles category. She lost 1-3 to Korea’s Youjin Kim in the final.


• India’s Anthony Amalraj and Sanil Shetty won bronze medal in the men’s doubles.

Source: Cick Here

• On 28th October 2018, Kenyan distance runner Abraham Kiptum won the men’s race at the Valencia Half Marathon in Spain with a new world best time of 58 mins 18 sec for the half-marathon.


• The previous record was by Ethiopia’s Zersenay Tadesse who finished the Lisbon half-marathon in 58 minutes and 23 seconds in March 2010.


• Abraham Kiptum is 29 years old. He has a personal best time of 2 hrs 5 minutes 26 seconds for a marathon set at Amsterdam in October 2017.


• Ethiopia’s Jemal Yimer finished in the second place with a timing of 58:33 and another Ethiopian Abadi Hadis came third in 58:44.


• In the women’s race Ethiopia’s Gelete Burka came first in 1:06:11, United Arab Emiartes’ Alia Mohammed Saeed came second in 1:06:13 and Kenya’s Edith Chelimo finished 3rd in 1:06:18.

Source: Cick Here

• On 28th October 2018, Spanish rider Maverick Viñales won the Australian MotoGP in Australia.


• This is Maverick Viñales’s (Yamaha) first title of the season, who finished in 40mins 51.081 secs.


• Italy’s Andrea Iannone (Suzuki) came second in 40:52,624. Third position was occupied by Italy’s Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) in 40:52.913.

Source: Cick Here

• On 28th October 2018, Roger Federer won his 99th career ATP Tour title in the Swiss Indoors final in Basel, Switzerland.


• Roger Federer defeated Marius Copil 7-6 (5), 6-4 in the final. This is his 9th Swiss Indoors title.


• He is now only 10 titles short of the all-time record. The all-time singles titles list is topped by Jimmy Connors with 109 titles.

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• On October 28, 2018, Michael D Higgins was re-elected as Irish president for the 2nd term.


• He won the election after receiving 56% of the country’s election vote.


• Businessman Peter Casey came second with 23.1%.

Source: Cick Here

• On 29th October 2018, the first Franco-Chinese satellite was launched into orbit to study ocean surface winds and waves, aboard a Long March 2C carrier rocket, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in Gobi Desert, China.


• This satellite will predict cyclones better and improve scientists’ understanding of climate change and interactions between oceans and the atmosphere.


• The satellite entered orbit 520 kilometres (323 miles) above the Earth. The satellite weighs 650-kilogram (1,430 pound).


• This is the first satellite jointly built by China and France. This satellite is fitted with 2 radars: the French-made SWIM, which will measure the direction and the wavelength of waves, and China’s SCAT, which will analyse the force and direction of winds.


• The data will be collected and analysed in both China and France.

Source: Cick Here

• Researchers from the University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa have developed the world’s first bio-brick grown from human urine.


• The bio-bricks are created through a natural process called microbial carbonate precipitation.


• This finding is the result of waste recycling and upcycling. Loose sand is colonised with bacteria that produce urease enzyme which breaks down the urea in urine and produces calcium carbonate through a complex chemical reaction.


• This cements the sand into any shape. This process is environment friendly as bio-bricks are made in moulds at room temperature.


• The strength of bio-bricks will be based on client needs. The bio-brick process produces nitrogen and potassium as by-products, which are important components of commercial fertilisers.


• The overall process would result in zero waste, as urine is converted into three useful products (bio brick, nitrogen and potassium).

Source: Cick Here

• On October 29, 2018, a Japanese rocket lifted off the United Arab Emirates’ first locally made satellite, the KhalifaSat Earth observation satellite, into orbit.


• The launch was done by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries from the Tanegashima Space Center.


• The rocket named: H-2A, also carried an Ibuki-2 greenhouse gas observation satellite for Japan.

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• On 29th October 2018, Professor and Urdu writer Qazi Abdussattar, died following a long term illness, in Delhi.


• Qazi Abdussattar was 85 years old. He was the former head of Aligarh Muslim University’s Urdu department.


• He had won Padma Shri in 1974. He was the first recipient of Ghalib Academy Award in 1978.


• He was born in Machretta village of Sitapur district, Uttar Pradesh in 1933. In 1954, he joined the Aligarh Muslim University as a researcher.


• He wrote short stories and historical novels. Some of his important works are: “Peetal Ka Ghanta”, “Darashiko”, “Khalidbinwalid” and “Ghalib”.