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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 27 June 2014

GAIL pipeline explosion in A.P.

At least 15 people were charred to death and 18 suffered burns in a massive explosion in a GAIL-operated gas pipeline passing through Nagaram village in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. The victims include three women and three children. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu cut short his visit to Delhi and reached the accident site accompanied by Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The blast occurred in the pipeline maintained by Gas Authority of India Limited carrying gas to the Lanco power station at Kondapalli near Vijayawada. Huge flames leapt from the damaged pipeline gutting scores of houses and shops.
The damage could have been much higher had the flames spread to nearby Tatipaka ONGC Refinery Station. The GAIL pipeline runs in front of the gas collection centre and the Tatipaka mini refinery of the ONGC.

Ukraine’s new Western-backed president signed a landmark EU pact whose rejection by his pro-Moscow predecessor plunged the ex-Soviet country into turmoil and sent East-West relations to their lowest level since the Cold War.
Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko hailed the deal, which pulls Kiev out of Kremlin’s orbit, as a turning point for the strategic country sandwiched between Europe and Russia.
But the agreement bursts Russian President Vladimir Putin’s dream of enlisting Kiev in a Kremlin-led alliance that could rival the European Union and NATO and Moscow warned it would have “serious consequences.”
The Association Agreement is also deeply unpopular in Ukraine’s heavily Russified eastern rustbelt, where pro-Russian insurgents are battling Kiev government troops.
The European Union also sealed similar partnership agreements with Georgia and Moldova — two former Soviet nations with similarly complicated relations with Russia.
Mr. Poroshenko said the deal offered Ukraine “an absolutely new perspective for my country,” hailing a “historic day, the most important day since independence.”

North Korea announced the successful test of a new high-precision, tactical guided missile, as its Army threatened a “devastating” retaliation against South Korea for carrying out live fire drills near their maritime border.
The launch of the “cutting-edge” missile was watched by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, according to the North’s official KCNA news agency, which hailed the test as a “breakthrough” in national defence capability.

Ranbaxy Laboratories has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to launch a cheaper copy of Novartis AG’s blood pressure pill Diovan, bolstering its outlook after a raft of regulatory bans for poor production quality at its India facilities dented investor sentiment.
Ranbaxy, which is in the process of being acquired by Sun Pharmaceutical Industries for $3.2 billion, will be the first rival drugmaker to launch a copy of Diovan in the United States, and will be entitled to six months of exclusivity to sell it.
The drug, whose chemical name is valsartan, should add about $200 million to Ranbaxy’s sales and $100 million to its profit after tax during the exclusive sale period, said Praful Bohra, a senior research analyst at Mumbai-based brokerage Nirmal Bang.
Swiss firm Novartis’s once-best selling drug Diovan lost patent protection in September, 2012, but it has been spared generic competition because Ranbaxy, which holds the right to launch the first generic of Diovan, was struggling with quality control issues at its manufacturing sites.
The FDA has banned all of Ranbaxy’s India-based plants under a wider scrutiny of the country’s $15-billion pharmaceutical industry, which is the largest supplier of medicines to the United States.

Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) said it would invest over Rs.5,700 crore in re-development of its giant Mumbai High (North) oil and gas field off the west coast. The project will yield an incremental 6.997 million tonnes of crude oil and 5.253 billion cubic metres of gas by 2030, the company said in a statement here.
The board of ONGC approved the proposal for re-development of its giant offshore field, Mumbai High (North), involving a capital investment of Rs.5,706.47 crore, including foreign exchange component of Rs.4,421.76 crore.
The project is designed to carry forward the success of the previous two editions of re-development projects of the fields that were discovered four decades ago. This will give a new lease of life to the giant field.

Sixth-seeded Saina Nehwal beat Eriko Hirose of Japan 21-18, 21-9 in 47 minutes to enter the women’s singles semifinals of the $750,000 Star Australian Super Series.
However, eighth-seeded P.V. Sindhu failed to cross the quarterfinal hurdle losing 21-17, 21-17 to Carolina Marin of Spain.
Saina will take on World No. 2 Shixian Wang of China.Saina enjoys a 4-3 record against the two-time All England champion.