10 OCTOBER 2014: GIF launched by WB chief

Ø  Veteran journalist M.V. Kamath passed away in Manipal, Karnataka, after a brief illness. He was 93.

Ø  World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, while launching the Global Infrastructure Facility (GIF), said the potential economic impact of the Ebola epidemic could be as high as $32.6 billion, if not quickly contained. The GIF is aimed at mobilising the private sector to help tackle the massive infrastructure deficit now facing developing countries and emerging markets such as India. The World Bank estimates that these countries need $1 trillion a year in extra investments through 2020 and with public purses stretched, it is significant that the heads of some of the world’s leading institutional investors such as insurance and pension funds will be signing up as partners in the GIF.

Ø  A Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C26, will lift off from the space centre at Sriharikota on October 16 at 1.32 a.m. to put a navigation satellite, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System, IRNSS-1C, into orbit. The launch window opens at 1.32 a.m. and lasts till 1.47 a.m. The 1,425-kg satellite has already been integrated with the four-stage PSLV in the first launch pad and the final phase of checks is under way. The 67-hour countdown will begin at 06.32 a.m. on October 13.