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 January 20, 2018 (Day by Day Current Affairs)

1. Prominent writer Munoo Bhai passes away
   • Renowned journalist, playwright and poet Munoo Bhai passed away on January 19, 2018. He was 84
   • Munoo Bhai was born on Feb 6, 1933 in Wazirabad. His real name was Munir Ahmed Qureshi
   • As one of the major and pioneering playwrights of the PTV, he has to his credit popular plays such as Sona Chandi, Jhok Siyal, Jheel, Dasht, Ashyiana and Ye Khanai Nahin
   • Munoo Bhai also wrote long plays for the PTV, Gumshuda and Khoobsurat being prominent among them
2. No support for anti-Pakistan campaigns: US
   • The United States has assured Pakistan that it does not support any group threatening the country`s territorial integrity, a traditional US position re-emphasised following a recent advertising campaign targeting Islamabad
   • Pakistan reacted strongly to the campaign, raising it with the State Department as well as with other US government agencies that assured Pakistan that the groups behind these campaigns had no support from any US agency
   • Similar advertisements had appeared in London and Geneva and Pakistan was able to get them removed
   • Pakistan`s ambassador in Washington, Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhary
3. Poet Saqi Faruqui dies
   • Renowned Urdu poet Saqi Faruqui passed away in London on January 19, 2018. He was 81.
   • Faruqui was born on Dec 21, 1936 in Gorakhpur, India. In 1952, his family migrated to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh)and a few years later shifted to Karachi. Here he did his BA and became the editor of a monthly magazine Nawai-i-Karachi. Later, he went to England where he settled for good
   • Faruqui was a prolific poet who was known for his aggressive attitude both towards life and literary appreciation
4. Pentagon terms China, Russia bigger threat than terrorism
   • Countering China`s rapidly expanding military and an increasingly aggressive Russia are now the US military`s top national security priorities, outpacing the threat of terrorism, the Pentagon said
   • A new national defence strategy says that competition with China and Russia has threatened America`s military advantage around the world. And it will require increased investment to make US forces more lethal, agile and ready for war
5. China snubs India, claims sovereignty over Doklam
   • China on January 19, 2018 claimed sovereignty on Doklam, a border site where it recently had a tense showdown with Indian troops
   • Donglong [Doklam] always belongs to China and is alwaysunder China`s effective jurisdiction. There is no dispute in this regard
6. Russia warns against revoking nuclear deal with Iran
   • Russia has warned that the collapse of the Iranian nuclear deal will send an `alarming` message to the world
   • Commenting on US President Trump`s threatening tone to withdraw from the deal, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference at the United Nations on Friday that: `We cannot for the benefit of political agendas of certain countries abandon a genuine achievement of international diplomacy
   • Russia is one of the six world powers along with the United States that signed the deal with Iran
7. Trump appointee quits over anti-Muslim rants
   • A US official appointed by President Donald Trump resigned after CNN posted excerpts of him making racist and Islamophobic comments on a radio show he used to host
   • Carl Higbie resigned from his post as external affairs chief at the Corporation for National and Community Service,
8. Shahid Mahmood gets senior position in ADB
   • The federal government has appointed Shahid Mahmood, a retired BS-22 officer of Pakistan Administrative Services, as Executive Director/Alternate Executive Director on the Board of Director of Asian Development Bank, Manila, for a period of four years starting from February 1, 2018
   • The Establishment has issued a notification in this regard. The federal government has also appointed Muhammad Zubair, a BS-20 officer of Secretariat Group, as Member Finance, Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT) Board
9. Pakistan shuts Radio Free Europe’s Pashto-language station
   • Pakistan shut down the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Pashto-language station in the country January 19, 2018 for airing content “against the interest of Pakistan”
   • The office of RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal in the capital Islamabad was ordered closed by the ministry of interior, which said Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) — Pakistan’s top spy agency — had found its programmes to be “in-line with (a) hostile intelligence agency’s agenda”
   • The Pashto-language Radio Mashaal was launched in 2010 to help undermine Islamist militants. RFE/RL, founded in 1950 to beam programmes into the communist bloc, is funded by a grant from the US Congress, according to its website. It currently broadcasts in 25 languages and aims to “serve as a ‘surrogate’ free press in 23 countries where the free flow of information is banned or not fully developed”
10. China to enshrine Xi’s name in state constitution
    • China’s Communist Party proposed on January 19, 2018 to engrave President Xi Jinping’s guiding philosophy in the country’s constitution, further cementing his status as its most powerful leader in decades
    • Xi’s eponymous “thought” was already enshrined in the Communist Party constitution at the 19th Party Congress in October, elevating him to the same status as modern China’s founder Mao Zedong
    • The architect of China’s economic reforms, Deng Xiaoping, is the only other leader whose name appears alongside his guiding principle in both the state and party constitutions

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