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April 27, 2022: National / International Current Affairs
1. Three Chinese teachers killed in varsity bombing
• In a brazen attack on campus, a female suicide bomber targeted a vehicle carrying faculty members of Karachi University`s Confucius Institute, killing three Chinese nationals and their local driver on April 26, 2022 afternoon.
• The attack, later claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army, took place near the varsity`s commerce department around 2pm.
• The target was a 16-seater van, accompanied by Rangers security detail, and CCTV footage showed that the bomber clad in a burqa blew herself up just as the vehicle turned into the gate of the Confucius Institute.
• Although the tactic has been used by other militant outfits in the past, BLA claimed that this was the first time they had employed a female suicide bomber to attack a target
2. Portfolios allocated to six cabinet members
• Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on April 26, 2022 allocated portfolios to four federal and two state ministers after all the 40 members of the federal cabinet assumed charge of their ministries and divisions.
• According to a cabinet division notification, the prime minister allocated portfolios of federal minister for power to Khurram Dastagir, economic affairs to Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, parliamentary affairs to Murtaza Javed Abbasi, human rights to Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada, and state minister for interior to Abdul Rehman Kanju and state minister for power to Mohammad Hashim Notezai with immediate effect.
• PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who had initially refused to become Minister of Foreign Affairs, is also likely to join the cabinet after his return from the UK where he met PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif.
3. US assured new govt wants to rejuvenate ties
• Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar on April 26, 2022 assured the United States that the new government intended to rejuvenate bilateral ties.
• She was talking to US Charge d`affaires Angela Egler, who had called on her.
• This was the first reported face-to-face meeting between the new government and US officials in Islamabad since Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was elected following Imran Khan`s ouster through a vote of no confidence in the National Assembly.
• Mr Khan had blamed the US for conspiring with local collaborators for his ouster. The former prime minister based his allegation on a cable received from Pakistan`s ambassador in Washington in which State Department official Donald Lu had, ahead of the submission of no-confidence motion by the then opposition, said that bilateral ties could suffer if Mr Khan survived the no-trust move
4. 24 law-enforcement officials martyred in TTP attacks since late last month
• At least 24 law-enforcement personnel have been martyred and 26 injured in several terrorist attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since the banned terrorist outfit Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) launched the Operation Al-Badar late last month, say the police.
• The TTP`s March 30 announcement for the launch of a special operation against law-enforcement agencies has led to a surge in its attacks in tribal districts, southern region and other parts of the province.
• A senior police official told Dawn on condition of anonymity that the law-enforce-ment agencies were working on a multipronged strategy to defeat terrorism amid growing attacks
5. Biden pardons first Black secret agent
• US President Joe Biden on April 26, 2022 wielded his clemency powers for the first time, announcing pardons for three people, including the first Black man to serve in the White House`s Secret Service detail.
• Biden also announced the commutation of sentences for 75 others, mainly going to those serving lengthy terms for non-violent drug offenses.
• `America is a nation of laws and second chances, redemption, and rehabilitation,` Biden said in a statement.
• The pardons are for `people who have demonstrated their commitment to rehabilitation and are striving every day to give back and contribute to their communities,` he said
