Day by Day Current Affairs (August 4, 2019)

WELCOME TO CSS TIMES DAY BY DAY CURRENT AFFAIRS, YOUR BEST SOURCE FOR UP-TO-DATE AND DAILY TOP CURRENT AFFAIRS 2019 FOR PREPARATION OF CSS, PMS, BANKING, NTS, RAILWAYS AND ALL COMPETITIVE EXAMS. “DAY TO DAY CURRENT AFFAIRS” BASICALLY IS TOP 10 NEWS SUMMARY ON CURRENT HAPPENINGS OF NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL IMPORTANCE FOR ALL EXAMINATIONS

August 04, 2019: National Current Affairs

1. Indian barbarians unleash banned cluster bombs on LoC

• In a blatant violation of the Geneva Convention and international laws, the Indian army has resorted to barbaric and inhuman tactics as it has used cluster munitions along the Line of Control (LoC) to target the civilian population, Pakistani military said August 3, 2019.
• The Indian army earlier this week used cluster ammunition to target the civilian population in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) across the LoC in violation of the Geneva Convention and international laws, Pakistan military’s media wing; the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) directorate said.
• According to the statement released by the ISPR, as a result of the bombardment by cluster munitions, at least two civilians including a four-year-old boy were martyred and 11 were injured. The attack took place on the night of July 30/31.
• The directorate said Indian army uses cluster ammunition along LoC deliberately targeting civilian population. “This is a violation of the Geneva Convention and international humanitarian law,” the military’s media wing said. Indian army on the night of July 30th/31st targeted innocent citizens including women and children in Neelum Valley through artillery using cluster ammunition.

2. In a first, ailing witness testifies via video link in murder case

• In a first, a model court on August 3, 2019 used videoconferencing technology to record the testimony of a 90-year-old witness who could not appear before the court due to her illness in a murder-cum-robbery case.
• The key witness, Roshan Harmozji, rightly picked the accuse d persons Manooj Kumar and Hina when they were brought before the camera attached with the video link. The accused have been charged with murdering Hina`s husband, Rajeshwar, and committing an armed robbery at Ms Harmozji`s house in Clifton in 2010.
• The model courts had been established in March in each judicial district of Sindh for timely disposal of old murder and narcotics cases.
• The video testimony of the witness was preserved in a CD and made part of the case evidence.

3. Nepalese climber scales highest peaks in Pakistan in less than a month

• Nepalese mountaineer Nirmal Purja has set his sights on breaking the world record for climbing all 14 peaks above 8,000 metres.
• The previous record for this feat is eight years, but Mr Purja plans to achieve it in seven months. The 35-year-old is now three 8,000-metre peaks away from his goal.
• Before coming to Pakistan, Mr Purja had climbed six 8,000-ers in Nepal in 31 days. It took him 23 days to climb all five of the highest mountains above 8,000 metres in Pakistan K2 (the second highest mountain in the world), Nanga Parbat, Broad Peak and Gasherbrum I and ILIn all, it has taken him roughly three months to climb 11 out of the 14 tallest mountains on earth, he said.
• With four months left to complete his project, Mr Purja told Dawn on Friday that he has plenty of time to summit the remaining three peaks two in Tibet and one in Nepal.
• `The biggest take away from all this time in Pakistan is that I was concerned about the security, especially after the terror incident in June 2013, when 11 foreign mountaineers and a Pakistani were killed at the Nanga Parbat base camp.

August 4, 2019: International Current Affairs

4. US to soon put intermediate range missile in Asia

• US Defence Secretary Mark Esper said he wants to deploy an intermediate range conventional missile in the Pacific region within months, now that the Trump administration has formally pulled out of a Cold War-era arms control treaty with Russia.
• Esper, however, added that it will likely take some time to develop the more advanced land-based missile capabilities. The move is likely to anger China, but Esper said Beijing shouldn’t be surprised by it.
• “It’s fair to say, though, that we would like to deploy a capability sooner rather than later,” Esper told reporters travelling with him to Australia on Friday. “I would prefer months. I just don’t have the latest state of play on timelines.”
• Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the formal US withdrawal on Friday, saying that “the United States will not remain party to a treaty that is deliberately violated by Russia.”

5. Erdogan lays stone for modern Turkey`s first church

• President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on August 3, 2019 laid the foundation stone for the first new church in Turkey since it became a modern republic in 1923.
• The church in the Istanbul suburb of Yesilkoy will serve the 17,000-strong Syriac Christian community, which is also paying for the new building.
• Syriac Christians are part of the eastern Christian tradition and pray in Aramaic, which Jesus is believed to have spoken.

6. US enhances engagement with Pakistan

• A US delegation will reach Islamabad on Monday for talks with Pakistani officials, as the Afghan peace process intensifies and could lead to a presidential visit to the region, if it succeeds.
• Also, US special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, arrived in Doha on Saturday to `resume talks with the Taliban`, he wrote in a tweet in Dari. `The Taliban have shown signs of a willingness to compromise. We are ready for a good deal, he added.
• In Washington, diplomatic sources told Dawn that Alice Wells, the Trump administration`s point-person for South and Central Asia, was coming to Islamabad for talks with Pakistani officials on Afghanistan and bilateral relations.

7. Nature’s language is being hijacked by technology

• “Apple”, “tweet”, “cloud”, “stream” – words that once conjured vivid visions of the countryside are now synonymous with our technological world.
• And, a National Trust study suggests, just 1% of uses of the word “tweet” in conversation now refer to birdsong.
• Similarly, while in the 1990s 100% of mentions of “stream” meant “a little river”, that has now fallen to 36%.
• One in four parents and grandparents surveyed worried about children losing the original natural meanings of words.
• “A lot of new tech is abstract and difficult to understand, which makes it ripe for metaphor,” Dr Robbie Love, a linguistics fellow at the University of Leeds, who conducted the study, told BBC News.

August 4, 2019: Sports Current Affairs

8. Asif edges Mubashir to regain title

• As the best of 15-frame epic final progressed until seven-all, it was the turn of Mohammad Asif to return 8-7 triumphant over Mubashir Raza while regaining the title in the 11th National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) ranking snooker championship at the bank`s sports complex on August 3, 2019.
• The scores were: 0-117, 8-127, 60-31, 6-131, 0-115, 92-32, 62-16, 95-0, 51-74, 74-0, 126-7, 132-0, 31-72, 45-54, 140-0 By doing so the former world champion achieved three things.
• Firstly, he surged on top of the ladder in the national ranking, secondly, booked a ticket for the IBSF World Championship and finally avenged his 2-4 defeat that he had suffered against Mubashir in the group match.

9. Messi banned for three months for ‘corruption’ outburst

• Argentina’s Lionel Messi has been banned from international duty for three months and fined $50,000 (£41,142) after levelling accusations of “corruption” at South American soccer chiefs during the Copa America.
• Messi was sent off against in the Copa America third-place playoff and afterwards alleged that the tournament had been fixed in favour of hosts Brazil, who beat Argentina in a controversial semi-final on their way to the title.
• The Argentina captain called the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) “corrupt” and did not attend the ceremony to pick up his medal. He was handed a one-match ban and a $1,500 fine for his sending off last month.

10. Pakistan win in U-23 volleyball

• Pakistan under-23 team crushed Qatar 3-0 in the Asian Men Volleyball Championships in Naypyitaw, Myanmar on August 3, 2019.
• Pakistan wrapped up the match a score line of 25-22, 25-11, 25-22 after Qatar offered some resistance in the first and third sets. Murad Khan excelled for Pakistan with six points on the trot in the second set.