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June 29, 2020: National / International Current Affairs
1. Heroism at PSX as deadly attack thwarted
• The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) came under attack on June 29, 2020 morning when four heavily armed assailants lobbed grenades at its entrance and opened fire on security guards and officials before being killed in an exchange of fire that also claimed the lives of a police officer and three guards.
• The outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility through social media, but such an attack reflecting `frustration` of Indian agency RAW over peace in Pakistan`s financial hub was not possible without the help of any foreign hostile agency, the chief of paramilitary Rangers later told media.
• The attackers arrived in a car and hurled hand grenades at the First gate of the PSX where police challenged them and foiled their attempt to barge into the building, said DIG (South) Sharjeel Kharal, adding that due to the combined efforts of security guards and law enforcement agencies all the attackers were killed. In the exchange of fire, he said, one police officer and three security guards of the PSX embraced martyrdom, while three policemen, one guard and two civilians suffered wounds. `All terrorists were neutralised within eight minutes and routine activities within PSX and outside were restored within 25 minutes,` said the Director General of Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, Major General Omer Ahmed Bukhari. They pulled up at 10.02am and the joint operation of Rangers, police and security guards was completed at 10.10am, according to him.
2. NA passes budget as govt humbles opposition
• Amidst reports of cracks within the ranks of the ruling alliance, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government on June 29, 2020 managed to get the federal budget for the Financial year 2020-21 passed from the National Assembly, comfortably outnumbering the opposition whose members delivered fiery speeches, but failed to make any difference.
• At the time of final vote on the finance bill, generally known as the federal budget, a triumphant Prime Minister Imran Khan was seen raising his hand in the air like he used to during his cricketing days and then receiving felicitations from the treasury members over his latest political victory.
• The treasury members raised full-throated slogans in favour of Imran Khan as soon as Speaker Asad Qaiser announced passage of the budget through a voice vote
3. Pakistan launches electric vehicle plan with cars in slow lane
• Pakistan has launched a plan to move vehicles over to electric power.
• After a lengthy delay, Pakistan`s ambitious electric vehicle (EV) policy was approved for implementation this month, but a latest age change leaves cars out of its first phase.
• Critics warn this means it will take longer for Pakistanis to reap the policy`s environmental and financial benefits.
4. Gurdwara Darbar Sahib reopens
• Pakistan has formally reopened the Kartarpur Corridor after three-and-a-half months long closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
• The reopening marks the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
• Indian had already declined to allow Sikhs from its side to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib due to the virus threat.
• Sikhs from Nankana Sahib, Sialkot, Lahore and some other cities attended the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh under SOPs issued by the government.
5. Worst of pandemic `yet to come`, warns WHO
• Six months since the new coronavirus outbreak, the pandemic is still far from over, the World Health Organisation said on June 29, 2020, warning that `the worst is yet to come`.
• Reaching the half-year milestone just as the death toll surpassed 500,000 and the number of confirmed infections topped 10 million, the WHO said it was a moment to recommit to the fight to save lives.
• `Six months ago, none of us could have imagined how our world and our lives would be thrown into turmoil by this new virus, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual briefing
6. Vietnam grounds all Pakistani pilots
• The Vietnam`s aviation authority said on June 29, 2020 it had grounded all Pakistani pilots working for local airlines, amid concern from global regulators that some pilots may have been using `dubious` licences.
• Pakistan said last week it would ground 262 airline pilots whose credentials may have been falsified, after global airlines body IATA said that irregularities found in pilot licences at in Pakistan represent a `serious lapse` in safety controls.
• `The head of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has ordered a suspension for all Pakistani pilots working for Vietnamese airlines,` the CAAV said in a statement on Monday.
7. India bans 59 Chinese mobile apps over `security`
• India on June 29, 2020 banned 59 Chinese mobile apps, including the wildly popular TikTok and WeChat, over national security and privacy concerns just weeks after a deadly Himalayan border clash between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
• Relations between the world`s two most populous nations have been strained following the deaths of 20 Indian troops in hand-to-hand fighting with their Chinese counterparts on the western end of the high-altitude, contested border in mid-June.
• The apps `are engaged in activities… prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order,` the ministry of information technology said in a statement.
8. Saudis, US push for extension of Iran arms embargo
• US and Saudi officials on June 29, 2020 called for extending a UN arms embargo on Iran, warning of major implications for regional security amid accusations that Tehran was arming Yemeni rebels.
• The embargo, put in place as part of a nuclear accord signed with Tehran in 2015, is set to expire in October but Washington is working to extend the ban as tensions with its arch-rival remain high.
• Lifting the ban will `embolden` Tehran and could trigger a regional arms race, US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook told reporters in Riyadh.
9. Operation begins to switch off France`s oldest nuclear plant
• An operation to switch off France`s oldest nuclear plant got under way on June 29, 2020, ending four decades of output that built the local economy but also attracted cross-border controversy.
• The second and last reactor of the plant at Fessenheim in the east of France opened in 1977 and three years over its projected 40-year life span should go offline shortly before midnight, said state-owned power company EDF.
• The procedure to finally shutter the plant, four months after the first reactor was taken offline, started hours earlier than scheduled, and will be followed in the coming months and years by the dismantling of the site.
10. Menon becomes youngest ICC elite umpire at 36
• India`s Nitin Menon, 36, on June 29, 2020 became the youngest member of the International Cricket Council ICC)`s elite umpire list.
• Menon gave up playing cricket when he was 22 to start umpiring and has gradually moved up the rankings, officiating in three Tests, 24 One-day internationals and 16 Twenty20 Internationals.
• `My priority was to play for the country rather than umpiring,` said Menon, who played two matches for Madhya Pradesh state in 2004 before taking up umpiring.
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