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March 21, 2020: National / International Current Affairs
1. Govt to set up 1,000-bed hospital at Expo Centre, more quarantine facilities
• Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar says the government is working on the standard operating procedure (SOP) for the people as to how they can self-quarantine at home and protect themselves against coronavirus.
• The decision will be formally announced after consultations with the federal government.
• The CM was speaking to the media after chairing a cabinet committee on coronavirus at Chief Minister Secretariat on March 20, 2020.
• He announced the government would set up a 1,000-bed field hospital at the Expo Centre, Johar Town, on Saturday (today) besides various hotels and private hospitals to offer quarantine facility to the coronavirus patients.
2. Quarantine centre set up at Afghan border in Chagai
• A quarantine centre has been set up in Bahramchah in Chagai district near the border with Afghanistan.
• One hundred tents with required facilities have been erected in the quarantine centre for the people expected to return from Afghanistan after reopening of Bahramchah border crossing.
• Assistant Commissioner of Dalbandin Ayesha Zehri visited the quarantine centre in Bahramchah, inspected the facilities and received briefing by Frontier Corps officials on Friday.
3. US announces $1 million in aid to combat coronavirus in Pakistan
• The United States March 20, 2020 announced $ 1 million aid to Pakistan to combat the coronavirus.
• US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Alice Wells said that the US will provide $1 million to Pakistan under the USAID programme “to bolster monitoring and rapid response” against coronavirus.
• In a tweet, she said that US and Pakistan both were longstanding partners in tackling global health challenges.
• Pakistani authorities confirmed two more deaths from coronavirus, or COVID-19, raising the total number of casualties in the country to four. A 77-year old patient, who died in a hospital in Karachi, was already suffering from cancer and diabetes, Azra Fazal Pechuho, health minister of Sindh province, said.
4. Pentagon successfully tests hypersonic missile
• The United States announced on March 20, 2020 it had successfully tested an unarmed prototype of a hypersonic missile, a weapon that could potentially overwhelm an adversary`s defence system.
• The Pentagon said a test missile flew at hypersonic speeds -more than five times the speed of sound, or Mach 5 -to a designated impact point.
• The test followed the first joint US Army and Navy flight experiment in Oct 2017, when the prototype missile demonstrated it could glide in the direction of a target at hypersonic speed.
5. India hangs four men for brutal Delhi bus rape
• India hanged four men on March 20, 2020 who were convicted for the rape and murder of a young woman on a bus in New Delhi in 2012, in a case that shocked the world and shamed the country over its appalling record for crimes against women.
• The men were executed at dawn in Tihar jail, on the outskirts of the capital, two prison officials said.
• Hundreds of police were deployed outside the jail to control a crowd that waited to actually celebrate the execution. Some held placards that read `Justice for women` and `Hang the culprits`.
• The crime, which happened on the night of December 16, 2012, sparked massive protests and global outrage
6. Guinea to vote on new constitution amid coronavirus fears
• Guineans are set to vote March 22, 2020 on whether to adopt a new constitution, against a backdrop of mass protests against the move, coronavirus and possible internet cuts.
• After being delayed last month, the referendum also caps months of tension, occasional violence, and arrests, as critics see the new constitution as a ploy to keep President Alpha Conde in power. The government argues the proposed constitution will, among other things, codify gender equality in the West African state, and that holding a referendum is democratic.
• But critics fear the real motive is to reset presidential term limits, allowing Conde, 82, to run for a third spell in office later this year.
7. China ready to step up virus cooperation, Xi tells Putin
• China is prepared to “work with all other countries” to intensify the global fight against the deadly coronavirus pandemic, state media on March 20, 2020 quoted President Xi Jinping as saying. Xi made the comments in a late-night telephone call with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
• The Chinese leader said Beijing was “willing to make concerted efforts with Russia and all other countries to… safeguard global public health security,” the report added. “China has the confidence, capacity and certainty to achieve the ultimate victory over the epidemic,” Xinhua quoted Xi as telling Putin. The disease, which has now claimed more than 9,800 lives worldwide, first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year
8. The world’s happiest countries revealed
• Finland has been named the happiest country in the world for the third year in a row by the World Happiness Report – and Afghanistan ranked the bleakest.
• The annual United Nations World Happiness Report ranks over 150 countries by how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be, according to their evaluations of their own lives.
• Denmark takes the No.2 spot in 2020’s study, followed by Switzerland in third place and Iceland in fourth. The UK climbs two places to 13th and the U.S is up one place to 18th.
• The remaining countries in the top ten are Norway (5th), the Netherlands (6th), Sweden (7th), New Zealand (8th), and Austria (9th), followed by top-10 newcomer Luxembourg. Joining Afghanistan (153rd) at the bottom of the table are South Sudan (152nd), Zimbabwe (151st), Rwanda (150th), Central African Republic (149th), Tanzania (148th), Botswana (147th), Yemen (146th), Malawi (145th) and India (144th). In addition to the country rankings, the World Happiness Report 2020, for the first time, has ranked cities around the world according to subjective wellbeing
9. Former FIBA head Borislav Stankovic dies
• Borislav Stankovic, the former longtime International Basketball Federation secretary general responsible for bringing NBA players to the Olympics, has died, the international body said. He was 94.
• Stankovic was at the helm of FIBA from 1976 to 2002 and was a member of the International Olympic Committee.
• During his leadership, he was credited with working toward building bridges between East and West during the Cold War and working closely with the then-NBA Commissioner, David Stern, in the late 1980s and early `90s to bring world basketball into the modern era.
10. Umar Akmal charged with breach of anti-corruption code
• The Pakistan Cricket Board has formally charged discarded Test batsman Umar Akmal for breaching its anti-corruption code, according to an announcement made by the PCB.
• Right-handed Umar, 29, was charged on March 17, and will have to submit his response by March 31.
• According to the PCB, Umar has breached the article 2.4.4 which narrates: `Failing to disclose to the PCB Vigilance and Security Department (without unnecessary delay) full details of any approaches or invitations received by the Participant to engage in Corrupt Conduct under this Anti Corruption Code
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