1. Samjhauta Express not suspended

• The Pakistan Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed declared a decision that Samjhauta Express services will be permanently stopped on 8th August.
• It also said that the people who had already purchased their tickets can get their money reimbursed from Lahore DS office.
   
• Despite announcement Indian Railways maintained that the train that runs between the 2 neighbouring countries has not been suspended and it will run normally.

Reason for the issue:

• The decision of Pakistan follows after after the resolution revoking Article 370 was passed by the Parliament of India.

Foot Notes:
About Samjhauta Express:

1. The Samjhauta Express was named after the Hindi word for agreement. The samjhauta  train service was started on July 22 in 1976 under the Shimla Agreement that settled the 1971 war between the two nations.
2. The  train runs on the Indian side from Delhi to Attari and from Lahore to Wagah on the Pakistan side. The train departs in every Monday and Thursday from Lahore. The train comprises of six sleeper coaches and an AC 3-tier coach.

2. ISRO institutes Vikram Sarabhai Journalism Award

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has announced Vikram Sarabhai Journalism Award in Space Science, Technology and Research as a reward and recognition to journalists.
• Nominations:All Indian journalists can be nominated and those articles that are published from the year 2019 till 2020 can be submitted.
• Candidates will be nominated and judged based on the standard criteria set by ISRO. The names of the selected will be declared on August 1, 2020.

Foot Notes:
About Vikram Sarabhai Award:

• Vikram Sarabhai is the father of Indian space program. He was an Indian Scientist. The centenary year celebrations of the father of Indian space programme announced the award.
• ISRO institutes two categories of awards instituted in the field of journalism:
• An award that includes a cash price of Rs.5,00,000, a medal and citation to two journalists or freelancers of print media.
• An award that includes 3 cash prizes such as Rs.3,00,000, Rs.2,00,000 and Rs.1,00,000 to the articles or the success stories that are published in Hindi, English, or Regional languages in popular Periodicals, Science magazines, or Journals in India from 2019 to 2020.

3. Nagasaki Day: 9th August

• Japan commemorates the 9th August every year as the Nagasaki day. On August 9, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan.
• It was code named "Fat Man" due to the design of the bomb as it had a wide, round shape. This happened 3 days after dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
• An area of about 5 square miles was completely obliterated and around 65,000 people were killed in the bombing. Nagasaki and Hiroshima continue to feel the impact of the destructive bombing even today.

Foot Notes:
About Nagasaki

1. Nagasaki is a Japanese city on the northwest coast of the island of Kyushu. It’s set on a large natural harbor, with buildings on the terraces of surrounding hills. It is synonymous with a key moment during World War II, after suffering an Allied nuclear attack in August 1945. The event is memorialized at the city’s Atomic Bomb Museum and Peace Park.

4. Virasat-e-Khalsa Museum in Punjab sets record
The Virasat-e-Khalsa Museum in Punjab’s Anandpur Sahib town is all set to find a place in the Asia Book of Records for becoming the most visited museum in the Indian sub-continent in a single day.
The museum had witnessed a record footfall of 20,569 visitors on a single day on March 20, becoming the most visited museum in the Indian sub-continent in a single day.

5. Remains of the world’s largest bird on earth discovered

• Remains of the World’s largest parrot that lived 19 million years ago have been discovered in New Zealand which is well known for giant birds world's largest bird on earth discovered.
• The report on this bird has been published in the latest edition of Biology Letters by Australasian Paleontologists.

Foot Notes:
About the bird:

• This flightless bird has been named as Heraclesinexpectatus reflecting the Herculean myth of size and strength and unexpected nature of discovery.

Size:

• The bird is estimated to have weighed about 7kg with a height that stood more than half of an average man according to experts from Flinders University, Australia, UNSW (University of New South Wales) Sydney, and Canterbury Museum, England. This parrot with its massive beak could crack open wood and even preyed on other smaller parrots.

Discovery:
The bones of this parrot was found in 2008. Since then researchers spent 11 years gathering dust on a shelf until the team looked at them again earlier this year.
The previously known largest parrot iscritically endangered flightless bird of New Zealand Kakapo. This Heracles is twice the size of kakapo and approximately the size of giant ‘dodo’ pigeon.

6. Amla retires from international cricket

• South African batsman Hashim Amla has retired from all formats of international cricket.
• Amla played 124 Tests, 181 ODIs and 44 T20Is between his 15-year-long cricketing career.
• Scoring more than 18,000 runs, including 55 centuries and 88 other scores in excess of 50.

7. SBI Life Insurance, Indian Bank ink Bancassurance pact

• Padmaja Chunduru, MD & CEO, Indian Bank.SBI Life Insurance said that Bank assurance as a channel has been a strong differentiator for the life insurer and it continues to explore more opportunities through partnerships with credible organisations.The bank assurance agreement was signed in the presence of Padmaja Chunduru and Sanjeev Nautiyal.
• It comes on the heels of a similar agreement between Aditya Birla Sun Life SBI Life Insurance and Chennai-headquartered Indian Bank entered into a bank assurance pact to offer holistic financial planning solutions to the latter’s customers. The partnership will see for 2,851 branches of Indian Bank across the country for insurance solutions.S
   
• SBI Life will work with Indian Bank to ensure sales training, product support and smooth operational processes in order to offer life insurance policies to its customers. Indian Bank’s customers have access to an array of life insurance products from SBI Life catering to varied life stage needs of the customer.

Foot Notes:
Chairperson: Rajnish Kumar
Headquarters: Mumbai
Founded: 1 July 1955
Managing directors: P.K.Gupta

8. President signs National Medical Commission Bill into a law

• President Ram Nath Kovind has signed National Medical Commission Bill which was passed by both houses of Parliament.
• The NMC bill aims at mega reforms in the medical education sector and will replace the nearly 63-year-old Indian Medical Council Act. The bill will ensure probity, quality education and bring down costs of medical education.
• National Medical Commission Bill will also simplify procedures and provides wider access to people for quality healthcare. The NMC will have eminent medical personalities as members who will be appointed for only one term of four years and will not be eligible for any further extension.

9. Iran unveils three new precision-guided missiles

• Iran unveiled 3 precision-guided missiles. The new line-up of air-to-air missiles named the "Yasin", "Balaban" and a new series of the "Ghaem" were developed jointly by the ministry and Sa Iran, also known as Iran Electronics Industries.

Foot Notes:
About Iran

1. President of Iran: Hassan Rouhani
2. Capital of Iran: Tehran.
3. Currency of Iran: Rial.

10. Rohingya refugees get identity cards in Bangladesh

• 5 lakh Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh have been issued identity documents by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). UNHCR’s Bio-metric Identity Management System (BIMS) fraud-proof cards are being issued jointly by Bangladeshi authorities and UNHCR to all verified refugees over the age of 12.
• These cards will help in establishing and safeguarding the right of Rohingya refugees to return to their homes in Myanmar. UNHCR’s (BIMS) captures bio-metric data, including fingerprints and iris scans, which secure each refugee’s unique identity as well as other important information such as family links.

Foot Notes:
About UNHCR

1. UNHCR Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland
2. UNHCR Head: Filippo Grandi.