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January 19, 2020: National / International Current Affairs
1. Pakistan wants US to get it off FATF grey list
• Pakistan has urged the United States to get it off the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which monitors global money laundering and terror financing.
• Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said at a news briefing that Pakistan hoped the US would bacl( its efforts to get it off the list at the FATF`s Beijing meeting next month.
• `This meeting is very important for us as it leads to a plenary meeting in Paris in April where the world body will decide whether Pakistan remains on the list or is taken off,` he said.
• The FATF has placed Pakistan on a list of countries that have failed to eradicate money laundering and where terrorists can still raise funds for their activities. If not removed off the list by April, Pakistan may move to a blacklist of countries that face severe economic sanctions, such as Iran.
2. US diplomat Alice Wells due today
• Senior US diplomat Amb Alice Wells is reaching here on January 19, 2020 on a four-day trip for talks on bilateral and regional issues.
• Although her visit, which will continue till Wednesday, comes close on the heels of Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi`s visit to Washington, it had been planned earlier. A diplomatic source, however, said that she would follow up on Mr Qureshi`sdiscussions in Washington, where he met US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Adviser Robert O` Brien, and Under Secretary of Defence John Rood.
• During her stay in Islamabad, Ms Wells is likely to meet civilian and military leaders.
3. Pak navy ships arrive in Port Victoria
• Pakistan Navy ships Moawin and Aslat visited Port Victoria, Seychelles as part of overseas deployment around African region.
• During the visit, mission commander and commanding officers of the visiting ships called on important authorities of Seychelles, visited Foyer De Nazareth Orphanage, Victoria, besides holding various social and professional engagements in the host country, according to a press release issued by Pak Navy officials on January 18, 2020.
• The visit was also amply utilised to highlight atrocities of Indian armed forces in Indian-occupied Kashmir (IOK).
• Upon arrival at Port Victoria, visiting Pakistan Navy Ships were extended warm welcome by Seychelles authorities.
4. Xi stands with Myanmar despite Rohingya genocide accusations
• China`s Xi Jinping doubled down on his support for fallen rights icon Aung San Suu Kyi on January 18, 2020, signing dozens of infrastructure and trade deals and meeting with the Myanmar army chief accused of overseeing a genocide against Rohingya Muslims.
• The Chinese president`s state visit to Myanmar`s purpose-built capital came as Western investors give a wide berth to the country due to the Rohingya crisis.
• A 2017 military crackdown on the minority, which UN investigators called genocide, forced around 740,000 people from western Rakhine state over the border into Bangladesh.
5. Kashmir Internet to be firewalled: report
• A consequence of the Supreme Court`s order on Internet shutdowns in held Kashmir where it put down accountability norms for Internet shutdowns, and said that some essential websites should be accessible, is that it has given rise to the creation of the Great Indian Firewall: filters that control what users can and cannot access online.
• It said Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have been asked to install a firewall and white-list certain websites. It quoted Shaleen Kabra, the Principal Secretary in the Home Department of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, in an order, as saying that ISPs will have to install `necessary firewalls and carry out `white-listing` of sites that would enable access to Government websites, and websites dealing with essential services, e-banking, etc, excluding, however, access to all social media sites`. In addition, Kabra adds that `2G mobile connectivity on post paid mobiles for accessing white-listed sites, including e-banking shall be allowed, to begin with, in the districts of Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Udhampur and Reasi` VPNs are also being completely banned
6. China reports new virus cases, raising global concern
• China reported four more cases of pneumonia believed to be caused by a new coronavirus strain, causing rising concern globally that a disease health officials do not yet fully understand could spread during a key holiday period.
• The new virus, which was discovered in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, belongs in the same large family of coronaviruses that includes Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which killed nearly 800 people globally during a 2002/03 outbreak that also started in China.
7. Yemen`s warring factions battle over banknotes
• Yemen`s warring sides opened a new front in their five-year conflict on January 18, 2020 a battle over old and new banknotes that threatens to create two economies in the same state.
• As of midnight, the Houthi movement which controls the capital Sanaa outlawed the use and possession of crisp new Yemeni riyal bills issued by its rivals in the internationally recognised government based in the southern port town of Aden.
• The Iran-allied Houthis, who say people should only use the old bills, have defended the ban as a move against inflation and what they call rampant money printing by the government.
• The government has branded the hanan act of economic vandalism.
8. Saudis pay $500m for US troops
• Saudi Arabia has paid the U.S. roughly $500 million in compensation for the costs associated with stationing American forces in the Kingdom, according to a report.
• The payment was made in December, an anonymous U.S. official told CNN. If true, it stands in stark contract to U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim while speaking to Fox News last week that Riyadh “already deposited $1 billion in the bank” in return for the troop deployment.
• The Pentagon has yet to officially confirm the dollar amount of Saudi Arabia’s payment, or if one has indeed been made. But CNN reported that bilateral negotiations are continuing between the allies to determine what the Kingdom will be paying for. Those talks include the establishment of a payment mechanism to cover deployment costs
9. SpaceX to practise emergency crew capsule escape
• America aims to take another step on Saturday towards being able to send its own astronauts into orbit again.
• California’s SpaceX company will practise what to do in the event that one of its rockets carrying a human crew fails shortly after lift-off.
• If the test is completed successfully, it should clear the way for regular astronaut launches later this year. The US has not launched from its own soil since the retirement of the space shuttles nine years ago. It has been riding the Russian Soyuz system instead.
10. India`s Nadkarni dies at 86
• India`s most economic bowler Bapu Nadkarni, who also held England at bay as a batsman in a landmark Test series has died at the age of 86.
• The all-rounder conceded just 2,559 runs from 9,165 balls bowled with his left-arm spin in 41 Tests for India between 1955 and 1968. He was also a team manager for India and chief selector for a while
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