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 November 15, 2018: National Current Affairs

1. Azad Kashmir to celebrate 2019 as ‘tourism year’

• The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government has decided to celebrate 2019 as tourism year and all departments have been asked to gear themselves up to hold different events and activities in partnership with the private sector during the next year.
• A ‘tourism calendar’ of the events for 2019 would be issued sometime next month so that each department could make preparations for its events and activities well before time.
• A high level meeting chaired by Additional Chief Secretary Development Dr Syed Asif Hussain was also held to elicit recommendations from the heads and representatives of different government and semi government departments as to how to disseminate information and create awareness among the masses about their role in the promotion of tourism in the region.

2. Govt approves Rs660bn projects

• The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on November 14, 2018 approved six development projects worth about Rs660 billion, five of them from the water and power sector.
• The meeting presided over by Finance Minister Asad Umar jacked up the costs of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf`s signature transport project for Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) by 38pc and that of Diamer-Bhasha dam project by 1pc.
• The meeting approved a proposal of the Ministry of Water Resources to include Tangir Hydropower in the Diamer-Bhasha dam project that increased its cost by about Rs5bn from previously approved cost of Rs474bn to new revised cost of Rs479.68bn.

3. Only one Pakistani firm finds place in top 24 Asian companies

• An international report commissioned by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and The Netherlands government placed Pakistan-based seed company, Punjab Seed, Enterprise among the 24 leading seed companies in South and Southeast Asia.
• Out of the 24 leading seed companies in Asia, 21 have a presence in India and Pakistan, but only two companies have a breeding station and production activities in Pakistan, revealed a recent report.
• Only three companies were found to provide farmer training in Pakistan to help farmers to adopt new technologies and to adapt their agricultural practices to new realities, caused by climate change.
• Due to less interest of international companies in local seed business activities in Pakistan, the national seed sector does not benefit from these kinds of investment, in contrast to other countries like India, Thailand or the Philippines, the report said.

4. Senior journalist Salamat Ali passes away

• Senior journalist Salamat Ali passed away in Islamabad on November 14, 2018. He was 84.
• Mr Ali served and headed a number of newspapers. He was jailed during the tenures of two dictators Ayub Khan and Ziaul Haq for writing in favour of democracy and basic human rights.
• After being released from jail he went to Hong Kong and later to India and started living in New Delhi.

November 15, 2018: International Current Affairs

5. UN lifts sanctions on Eritrea after 9 years

• The UN Security Council on November 14, 2018 lifted sanctions on Eritrea following a landmark peace deal with Ethiopia and a thaw with Djibouti that have buoyed hopes for positive change in the Horn of Africa.
• The council unanimously adopted a British-drafted resolution lifting the arms embargo, all travel bans, asset freezes and targeted sanctions against Eritrea.
• Eritrea and Ethiopia hailed the decision as a boost for regional stability, four months after the two countries signed a peace deal that ended two decades of hostility and led to friendlier relations with Djibouti.
• The council slapped sanctions on Eritrea in 2009 for its alleged support of Al-Shabaab insurgents in Somalia, a claim Asmara has long denied.

6. Israeli defence minister quits over Gaza ceasefire, lands govt in turmoil

• Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced his resignation on November 14, 2018 and called for early elections after a sharp disagreement over a Gaza ceasefire deal, throwing the government into turmoil.
• Lieberman also said his party was quitting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu`s coalition, leaving the premier with only a one-seat majority in parliament.
• Elections are not due until November 2019, but Lieberman`s resignation increases the likelihood of an earlier vote.

7. Up to 507,000 people killed in US wars since 2001

• Up to 507,000 people have been killed in the US-initiated wars in three countries after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States, according to a report released by Brown University’ Cost of War Project.
• “Between 480,000 and 507,000 people have been killed in the United States’ post-9/11 wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan,” the report said.
• The report explained that the tally of the counts and estimates of direct deaths caused by war violence does not include the more than 500,000 deaths from the war in Syria. While the war in Syria raged since 2011, the United States joined the conflict in August 2014.
• The report said a total of 147,000 fatalities – including those among US military and other allied troops, civilians, opposition forces and others – occurred in Afghanistan between October 2001 and October 2018.
• The cost of the United States’ war on terrorism in the Middle East and South Asia since September 11, 2001 will soon exceed $6 trillion, the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University said in a new report on Wednesday.

8. Pink Legacy diamond sold for world record price

• A rare pink diamond has fetched 50.3m Swiss francs ($50m) at auction, a record price per carat.
• Pink Legacy, weighing in at just under 19 carats, was bought by US brand Harry Winston at auction in Geneva.
• The price of around $2.6m per carat marked a world record for a pink diamond, according to the Europe head of auction house Christie’s.
• It had been valued at between $30-$50m before sale, and was bought after only five minutes of bidding.
• The diamond’s new owners have rechristened it the Winston Pink Legacy.

9. Nasa wants people on Mars within 25 years

• Deadly radiation from the cosmos, potential vision loss, and atrophying bones are just some of the challenges scientists must overcome before any future astronaut can set foot on Mars, experts and top Nasa officials said November 14, 2018.
• The US space agency believes it can put humans on the Red Planet within 25 years, but the technological and medical hurdles are immense.
• “The cost of solving those means that under current budgets, or slightly expanded budgets, it’s going to take about 25 years to solve those,” said former Nasa astronaut Tom Jones, who flew on four space shuttle missions before retiring in 2001. “We need to get started now on certain key technologies,” he told reporters in Washington.
• At an average distance of about 140 million miles (225 million kilometers), Mars poses scientific problems an order of magnitude greater than anything encountered by the Apollo lunar missions.

10. Ancient Greek city Tenea found

• Archaeologists in Greece believe they have found the lost city of Tenea, thought to have been founded by captives of the legendary Trojan War.
• They said they had discovered the remains of a housing settlement, jewellery, coins and several burial sites in the southern Peloponnese area.
• Until now, archaeologists had a rough idea of where the city might have been located but had no tangible proof. The items date from 4th Century BC to Roman times.
• Excavation work around the modern-day village of Chiliomodi began in 2013, and “proof of the existence” of Tenea emerged in work carried out in September and early October this year, officials said.