News Flash (20th October 2020): Top 10 Stories Of The Day

1. PM Modi: Working on Covid-19 vaccine delivery system

PM Modi has mentioned that India is rapidly progressing towards vaccine development for COVID-19 with some of the vaccines in advance stages. India is already working on putting a well-established vaccine delivery system in place.  

2. L&T to sign Rs 24,985 cr contract for bullet train project from Mumbai- Ahmedabad

L&T’s bid worth Rs 24,985 Cr for the bullet train project has overthrown other bids by Tata projects and Afcons Infrastructure. Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train is the first high-speed train project of India, which is being built with the help of Japan. 

3. Digital health IDs will be used in COVID-19 immunization: PM Modi

Addressing the Grand challenges Annual Meeting 2020, PM Modi, on Monday said that a digitized network with digital health IDs will be used to make sure immunization of the citizens against COVID-19. The health IDs will contain details of every test, disease, which medicine is given and when what were your reports. 

4. Apple sold up to 2 mn iPhone 12 models in the first 24 hours of pre-order

The preorders for Apple iPhone 12 surpassed iPhone 11 preorders on its first day. In the first 24 hours, these orders touched 2 million for iPhone 12 models, up from 800,000 units of the iPhone 11 for the same period last year.

5. 7.5 magnitude earthquake off Alaska triggers 2-ft high tsunami waves

The earthquake was centered near Sand Point a city that is home to 900 people off the Alaska Peninsula where wave levels were as high as 2 feet, according to the National Tsunami Warning Center. The warning was given to an advisor just two hours after the Quake.

6. Samsung beats Xiaomi to become no. 1 Smartphone brand in India in July and August

As per the latest report by Counterpoint, Samsung has retaken the top smartphone seller in India. Samsung lost the position to Xioami in the second half of 2017. The company says the market share has reached its highest peak in India since 2018.

7. NASA awards Nokia $14.1 mn to deploy a 4G cellular network on the moon

Nokia is soon going to install its network equipment remotely on the Moon’s surface using a lunar hopper built by Intuitive Machines in late 2022, Nokia said. The astronauts will begin carrying out detailed experiments and explorations with the help of advanced technology on the moon.

8. Jio planning to sell 5G smartphones for 2,500-3000.

Jio has planned to roll out its 5G smartphone, each costing Rs 5,000. As the sales grow, the company will further reduce the price to Rs 2,500-3,000 as the operation scales up. The target audience of the company will be 20-30 cr phone users who use the 2G connection at present.  

9. India must rethink and re-invest its manufacturing sector to boost growth: Mukesh Ambani

Reliance Industries (RIL)  is planning to work with the SMEs in the new commerce businesses: telecom and retail. RIL is offering them cloud connectivity and several enterprise applications at one-tenth of regular prices, in association with Microsoft.

10. Candidate nearly scores double marks after rechecking, come out as NEET ST Topper

A candidate named Mridul Rawat scored 329 as per the first mark-sheet. However, after revaluation of papers, he obtained 650 marks and emerged as the toppers of NEET 2020.