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August 19, 2020: National / International Current Affairs
1. No recognition of Israel unless Palestine freed: Prime Minister
• Prime Minister Imran Khan has categorically said that Pakistan could not recognise Israel as a state unless it gave freedom to Palestine.
• He touched upon several issues, from the government`s strategy to deal with Covid-19, sugar and wheat crises, poor civic amenities in Karachi, government-opposition relations and FBR reforms to Pakistan`s foreign relations.
• On foreign policy, the prime minister said: `The Quaid-i-Azam had said in 1948 that Pakistan could not recognise Israel unless it gave freedom to Palestinians
2. Cabinet allows lawmakers to join govt depts boards
• The federal cabinet on August 18, 2020 allowed parliamentarians to become members of the boards of government departments, authorities and commissions provided they do not avail any perks and privileges in the process.
• The cabinet meeting, which was presided over by Prime Minister Imran Khan, also decided to launch a massive crackdown against hoarders of sugar and wheat flour in the country.
• According to the PM Office`s media wing, cabinet members highly appreciated the prime minister for what they called `his dynamic leadership role to successfully counter the internal and external challenges` in the last two years of the government.
3. Senate passes two more FATF-related bills
• The Senate on August 18, 2020 passed two more FATF-related bills out of five such laws amid protest by Jamaat-iIslami (JI) members for not considering their proposed amendments to one of the bills as they were assured by Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani and L aw Minister Farogh Naseem that their proposed amendments would be considered in the form of a new bill next week.
• The Senate passed the Islamabad Capital Territory Trust Bill 2020 and the Control of Narcotic Substances (Amendment) Bill 2020 as per conditions of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to steer the country out of the grey list of the countries in terms of terror financing.
4. Govt allows export of N95, surgical masks
• Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry on August 18, 2020 announced that the government had agreed to allow export of N95 and surgical masks.
• According to the Ministry of Science and Technology, orders worth $100 million for export of personal protective equipment (PPE) made in Pakistan have been received from around the world, particularly Europe.
• Pakistan is expected to receive orders for such equipment worth $500m by the end of this year.
5. KP assembly passed highest number of bills in two years: report
• The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly has outranked other provincial assemblies by passing the highest number of bills at the end of the second parliamentary year.
• The Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency in its study titled `Comparative Assessment of Provincial Assemblies`, however, ranked the KP Assembly as third in terms of holding sittings. It held 52 sessions.
• The Sindh Assembly leads by holding the highest 68 sittings, followed closely by the Punjab Assembly which met for 67 days. The Balochistan Assembly met for only 33 days. Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani attended 33 per cent of sittings of the provincial assembly, followed by Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah (31pc), Punjab CM Usman Buzdar (7pc) and KP CM Mahmood Khan (6pc)
6. Pakistan-born scientist named dean of MIT school
• Nergis Mavalvala Pakistan-born quantum astrophysicist who was among scientists who announced in 2016 the scientific milestone of detecting gravitational waves, ripples in space and time hypothesised by physicist Albert Einstein a century ago has been named the new dean of the MIT School of Science, one of the five schools of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), it emerged on August 18, 2020.
• MIT News says that Mavalvala will become the new dean from Sept 1, succeeding Michael Sipser, who will return to the faculty as the Donner Professor of Mathematics after six years of service.
• Mavalvala, who has published extensively in her field, is renowned for her pioneering work in gravitational-wave detection, which she conducted as a leading member of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), the report said
7. Israel opposes F-35 sale to UAE despite agreement
• Israel would oppose any US F-35 warplane sales to the United Arab Emirates despite forging relations with the Gulf state, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on August 18, 2020, citing a need to maintain Israeli military superiority in the region.
• The statement followed a report in Israel`s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper that the Trump administration planned a `giant` F-35 deal with the UAE as part of that country`s US-brokered move last week to normalise ties with Israel.
• Under understandings dating back decades, Washington has refrained from Middle East arms sales that could blunt Israel`s `qualitative military edge`. This has applied to the F-35, denied to Arab states, while Israel has bought and deployed it
8. Mossad chief visits UAE for security talks
• Israel`s Mossad spy agency chief Yossi Cohen visited the United Arab Emirates for security talks, Emirati state media reported on August 18, 2020, only days after Israel and UAE agreed to establish diplomatic ties.
• The head of Israel`s foreign intelligence service discussed `cooperation in the fields of security` with the UAE`s national security adviser, Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in Abu Dhabi, reported the official WAM news agency.
• Cohen`s visit marked the first visit to the UAE by an Israeli official after the announcement last week by US President Donald Trump that the two countries had agreed to normalise relations
9. Mali president detained by mutinying soldiers
• Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was detained on August 18, 2020 by mutinying soldiers in the capital Bamako, two security sources said.
• Soldiers had earlier in the day mutinied at the Kati military base about 15 km outside of Bamako and rounded up a number of senior civilian and military officials.
• A mutiny in 2012 at the Kati base led to a military coup that toppled then President Amadou Toumani Toure and hastened the fall of Mali`s north to jihadist militants, who continue to operate across the north and centre of the West African country
10. Eminent artist Shahid Jalal passes away
• Eminent artist Shahid Jalal passed away on August 18, 2020, surrounded by his loved ones. He was 72.
• He has developed a style of his own which is executed with thick impasto brush strokes, the surface being further divided to form a subtle pattern in his patiently executed landscapes, in which the sunlight and shadows are the other striking elements of the larger design
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