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August 09, 2019: National Current Affairs
1. Pakistan bans all cultural exchanges with India
• The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on August 8, 2019 launched a national slogan `Say No to India` and decided to ban all cultural exchanges with India including all kinds of joint ventures in the entertainment industry of the two countries.
• All kinds of Indian content have been stopped and Pemra [Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority] has been directed to step up its vigilance in this regard along with actions against the sale of Indian DTH instruments.
• Talking to media persons at a reception hosted by her, she said that the recent Indian action to annex Kashmir had proved that the Quaid-i-Azam was right.
2. Samjhauta Express train service suspended
• Islamabad on August 8, 2019 decided to suspend Samjhauta Express train service between Pakistan and India as part of its reaction to Delhi`s decision to strip occupied Kashmir of its autonomous status.
• The decision was announced by Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed.
• `Before the announcement of the decision, the passengers of Samjhauta Express with their luggage were sent to Wagha border and India was asked to send its engine to take the passengers away.
• The passengers who had booked tickets for next train scheduled to depart from Lahore would get refund from the divisional superintendent office of Pakistan Railways.
• The train which operates twice a week every Thursday and Monday would not run any more.
3. Islamabad to still open Kartarpur corridor
• Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi clarified on August 8, 2019 that Pakistan remained committed to completing and opening the Kartarpur corridor and that its support for the Afghan peace process would remain unaffected despite the slide in ties with India after it annexed occupied Kashmir.
• The National Security Committee (NSC) decided to downgrade bilateral ties with India and expel its high commissioner, suspend bilateral trade, undertake a review of bilateral arrangements, raise the matter with the United Nations Security Council and observe Independence Day on Aug 14 as a solidarity day with the Kashmiris and India`s independence day on Aug 15 as a black day.
• On the Kartarpur corridor, the project remained intact as far as Pakistan was concerned because the country respected all religions, adding that it was being undertaken on Pakistan`s initiative and in accordance with the decision that people-top eople contacts would not be impeded. `We neither had any design nor were we playing games.
4. Govt earns Rs57.714m through Asset Declaration Scheme
• The government has accrued Rs57,714 million from the Asset Declaration Scheme that was launched to give people an opportunity to declare their undeclared assets by paying a certain amount of tax on them, the Ministry of Finance informed the National Assembly (NA)in writing on August 8, 2019.
• However, the tax amount of Rs8,081 million collected under the present scheme will be deposited till June 30, 2020 along with default surcharge.
• The Ministry of Finance, however, clarified to the NA that the main purpose of the Asset Declaration Ordinance 2019 was documentation of the economy.
August 9, 2019: International Current Affairs
5. Kashmir status remains unchanged: UN chief
• In a major endorsement of Pakistan’s principled position on Kashmir, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres August 8, 2019 made it clear that the UN position on this dispute continues to be governed by the UN Charter and the relevant Security Council resolutions. In a statement issued by his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric from New York, UN Secretary General also called on the parties to refrain from taking any steps that could affect the status of Jammu and Kashmir.
• India’s Hindu nationalist government earlier this week stripped the disputed region of its autonomy and split the Muslim-majority territory into two, a move that sent shock waves through South Asia.
• Pakistan, which has legitimate claims on the Himalayan state and has been lending moral, diplomatic and moral support to the Kashmiris for their UN-promised right to self-determination, reacted sharply. It expelled India’s ambassador and suspended all trade with the neighbouring country on Wednesday.
6. UAE pulls WTO trade complaint against Qatar
• The United Arab Emirates withdrew on August 8, 2019 a complaint it had made to the World Trade Organization accusing Qatar of imposing discriminatory trade restrictions on its goods.
• `Qatar withdrew the measures in question, in order to address the claims` which led Abu Dhabi to discontinue its action against Doha, the UAE foreign ministry said in a statement.
• The UAE, whose complaint was referred to a WTO dispute resolution panel in May, has enforced a complete economic embargo of Qatar along with Saudi Arabia and other regional allies since June 2017.
• The Saudi-led bloc, which also includes Bahrain and Egypt, accuses Doha of supporting Islamist movements and backing Iran, a claim Qatar rejects.
7. World must change now or endanger food and climate: report
• Humanity faces increasingly painful trade-offs between food security and rising temperatures within decades unless emissions are curbed and unsustainable farming and deforestation halted, a landmark climate assessment said on August 8, 2019.
• The UN`s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that efforts to limit global warming while feeding a booming population could be wrecked without swift and sweeping changes to how we use the land we live off. The report on land use and climate change highlighted the need to protect remaining tropical forests as a bulkhead against future warming.
• But it offered a sobering take on the hope that reforestation and biofuel schemes alone could offset mankind`s environmental damage, underlining that reducing emissions would be central to averting disaster.
8. Lebanese newspaper goes black to raise alarm over political crisis
• A prominent Lebanese daily on August 8, 2019 appeared on newsstands with a black front page in the second such protest by a local paper in less than a year over the country`s lingering political crisis.
• `Lebanon,` read the cover of The Daily Star, the country`s only English-language newspaper.
• On 10 blank pages inside, it listed a string of woes including `government deadlock` `pollution` `unemployment`, `illegal weapons` and `public debt`.
• `Wake up before it`s too late!` it concluded on its back page, with the issue`s single picture of a cedar, the country`s national emblem.
• The newspaper`s Lebanon and online editor Joseph Haboush said the move sought to convey alarm to the ruling class.
9. Kim sends missile ‘warning’ to South Korea, US as tensions rise
• North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un says the country’s latest missile launches were a warning to Washington and Seoul over their joint war games, state news agency KCNA reported on Wednesday, as tensions rise on the Korean peninsula.
• The latest launch by the nuclear-armed North came after the South Korean and US militaries began mainly computer-simulated joint exercises on Monday to test Seoul’s ability to take operational control in wartime.
• Those drills are taking place despite Pyongyang’s warnings that the exercises would jeopardise nuclear negotiations between the United States and North Korea.
August 9, 2019: Sports Current Affairs
10. Ackermann claims record seven wickets in T20
• South African off-spinner Colin Ackermann claimed a new Twenty20 world record on August 8, 2019 when he took seven wickets for just 18 runs in a T20 Blast fixture.
• The 28-year-old, captaining Leicestershire Foxes, took the wickets of Michael Burgess, Sam Hain, Will Rhodes, Liam Banks, Alex Thomson, Henry Brookes and Jeetan Patel in his side`s 55-run over Birmingham Bears at Grace Road.
• Malaysian bowler Arul Suppiah held the previous world record when he claimed 6-5 for Somerset against Glamorgan in 2011.
• Ackermann took six of his seven wickets in two overs.
