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January 08, 2020: National / International Current Affairs
1. NA passes tenure bills without a murmur
• Hours after passage by the National Assembly, the bills meant to empower the prime minister to give extension to the three services chiefs landed in the Senate on January 7, 2020 and were all set to sail through it on Wednesday (today) under the expedited timeline already agreed between the government and the opposition.
• The bills were not part of the original agenda issued for the Senate sitting and were brought to the upper house through a supplementary agenda. In the absence of Defence Minister Pervez Khatak, the bills were introduced by the federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Azam Swati, amid the opposition`s uproar.
• The senators belonging to National Party (NP), Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F), Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) and Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) rose in their seats and chanted slogans of `no, no` as the minister tabled the bills
2. Upright jurist Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim is no more
• Retired Justice Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim, who served as chief election commissioner, Sindh governor, law minister, attorney general and a Supreme Court judge, died on January 7, 2020. He was 91.
• His family said that Mr Ebrahim was under treatment at home when he passed away.
• Mr Ebrahim was born in February 1928 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
3. Sibtain sworn in as provincial minister
• Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Sardar Sibtain Khan on January 7, 2020 returned to provincial cabinet after a hiatus of six months and is expected to head forestry department.
• He had quit cabinet in June last year after being implicated in an inquiry instituted by the National Accountability Bureau. He was sworn in at a ceremony held at the Governor House, where Chief Minister Usman Buzdar was also present
4. 30pc decrease in terrorist attacks in 2019 observed: think tank
• The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) emerged as major actors of instability in Pakistan in 2019 by perpetrating 82 and 27 terrorist attacks, respectively, including some high-impact ones.
• However, the incidence of terrorist violence by the militant Islamic State (IS)group declined significantly during that year, according to the statistics provided in the Pak Institute for Peace Studies` (PIPS) annual security review of the country for 2019.
• It notes that on the whole, marking a 13 per cent decrease as compared to the previous year, 2019 saw 229 terrorist attacks in Pakistan, including four suicide assaults. These attacks claimed in all 357 lives a decline of 40pc from the number of those killed in such attacks in 2018 and injured another 729 people.
5. Pakistan among best underrated places to visit this year: Forbes
• Pakistan is among the top 10 `under-the-radar` travel destinations for 2020, according to a recent article published by well-known business magazine Forbes.
• `Closed countries are opening up. Savvy luxury agencies are making remote destinations accessible to travellers who don`t want to rough it or risk much,` the US-based publication said.
• The Forbes` list also features Armenia, Chad, Eritrea, Guatemala, Mongolia and Saudi Arabia.
• Citing adventure travel company Wild Frontiers, the magazine noted that Pakistan had become an increasingly attractive destination, especially after the recent visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
6. Pentagon at odds with Trump threat to hit Iran`s cultural sites
• The Pentagon distanced itself from President Donald Trump’s assertions that he would bomb Iranian cultural sites despite international prohibitions on such attacks.
• Defence Secretary Mark Esper said the US will follow the laws of armed conflict. When asked if that ruled out targeting cultural sites, Esper said pointedly, That`s the laws of armed conflict.
• The split between the president and his Pentagon chief came amid heightened tensions with Tehran following a US drone strike that killed Gen Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran`s elite Quds Force. Trump had twice warned that he would hit Iranian cultural sites if Tehran retaliates against the US.
7. Austria`s Kurz returns as world`s youngest chancellor
• The leader of Austria`s conservatives Sebastian Kurz was sworn in on January 7, 2020 as the world`s youngest democratically elected leader, at the head of an unlikely coalition with the Greens following the collapse of his previous alliance with the far-right.
• Vowing to `protect the climate and the borders`, the 33-year-old has become chancellor of the Alpine country`s first government to include the Greens, an arrangement called `exotic` and `unlikely` by Austrian media.
• Speaking at a handover ceremony with his predecessor Brigitte Bierlein, Kurz said it was `good to be able to continue working for Austria` and promised: `We will strive every day to give our best.` Kurz`s People`s Party (OeVP) and the Greens agreed last week to govern together after the last administration with the far-right fell apart in a corruption scandal. Both the OeVP and the ecologist party made key gains in September`s snap polls
8. Putin on surprise visit to Assad as Mideast boils
• Russian President Vladimir Putin met Syria`s Bashar al Assad on January 7, 2020 during an unprecedented visit to Damascus as the prospect of war between Iran and the United States loomed over the region.
• In one of the highest-profile assassinations in the troubled Middle East`s recent history, Washington killed top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani on Friday, triggering vows of bloody revenge from Tehran and its allies.
• On his first visit to the capital since the start of the Syrian conflict nearly nine years ago, Putin greeted the Russian forces stationed there on the occasion of the Orthodox Christmas
9. Nasa`s planet hunter finds Earth-sized world
• Nasa said on January 6, 2020 that its planet hunter satellite TESS had discovered an Earth-sized world within the habitable range of its star, which could allow the presence of liquid water.
• The planet, named `TOI 700 d`, is relatively close to Earth only 100 light years away, NASA`s Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced during the annual American Astronomical Society meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii.
• `TESS was designed and launched specifically to find Earth-sized planets orbiting nearby stars,` said Paul Hertz, director of NASA`s astrophysics division
10. SpaceX launches 60 internet satellites
• SpaceX launched 60 more mini internet satellites late, this time testing a dark coating to appease stargazers.
• It`s a `first step` compromise between SpaceX and astronomers fearful of having dark skies spoiled by hundreds and, eventually, thousands of bright satellites circling overhead.
• The Falcon 9 rocket blasted into a cold, clear night sky, recycled by SpaceX for its fourth flight. As the first-stage booster flew to a vehical landing on an ocean platform, the Star link satellites continued hurtling toward orbit to join 120 similar spacecraft launched last year
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January 2020:
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