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April 24, 2019: National Current Affairs
1. 11,000 Pakistanis suffering in foreign jails: JPP study
• Weak regulation of labour migration in Pakistan leaves thousands of mostly low-wage Pakistani male workers vulnerable to human trafficking, forced labour, ill-treatment in detention overseas and even the risk of death.
• Around 11,000 Pakistanis, including 3,309 in Saudi Arabia, have been suffering in foreign jails because of it. While Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman during his visit to Pakistan in February had announced immediate release of 2,000 Pakistani prisoners, only 200 of them have been released so far, it was disclosed during the launch of a report on April 23, 2019.
• The report titled `Through the Cracks: The Exploitation of Pakistani Migrant Workers in the Gulf Recruitment Regime` was launched by the Justice Project Pakistan (JPP) a non-governmental organisation working for Pakistani prisoners at home and abroad.
2. Gen Adnan posted as Bahawalpur corps commander
• The army on Friday announced a new commander for Bahawalpur Corps and postings of the four newly promoted three star generals.
• According to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations, Lt Gen Mohammad Adnan has been posted as Bahawalpur Corps Commander. His predecessor Lt Gen Javed Bukhari retired from ser-vice this month.
• Lt Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza, who was promoted on April 12, would continue in his earlier position as Vice Chief of General Staff-A. Lt Gen Nauman Mahood has, meanwhile, been appointed Inspector General Communications & IT. Lt Gen Azhar Abbass has been appointed as director general Joint Staff Headquarters. Meanwhile, Lt Gen Faiz Hameed has been made new Adjutant General of the Army. Lt Gen Azhar Abbass has been appointed as director general Joint Staff Headquarters. Meanwhile, Lt Gen Faiz Hameed has been made new Adjutant General of the Army.
3. Special assistant on health assumes charge
• Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services Dr Zafar Mirza on April 23, 2019 assumed the charge of his office.
• The process of reforms in health sector in line with the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan would be fast tracked. The minister said steps would be taken to provide relief to the citizens and bring tangible change in health delivery.
4. Former French PM to face trial over fake jobs
• Former French prime minister Francois Fillon, whose 2017 bid for the presidency was torpedoed by a fake job scandal involving his wife, is to face trial over the allegations, a judicial source said on April 23, 2019.
• Investigating judges have recommended the right winger be tried on charges of misusing public money, misuse of corporate assets, conspiracy and failing to fully disclose his financial assets to a French watchdog.
• His Welsh-born wife Penelope faces the lesser charges of complicity in the misuse of public money and conspiring to misuse corporate assets, the legal source said.
• Fillon was widely viewed as being on course to win the French presidency before revelations published by the investigative newspaper Le Canard Enchaine in January 2017 shattered his credibility.
April 24, 2019: International Current Affairs
5. Egyptians approve changes to extend Sisi`s rule
• Egyptian voters have overwhelmingly backed constitutional changes that could see President Abdel Fattah al Sisi`s rule extended to 2030.
• National Election Authority head Lashin Ibrahim told a Cairo press conference that 88.83 percent voted `yes` in a referendum on the amendments, with 11.17 percent voting `no` The three-day vote took place `in a democratic climate powered by freedom`
• Parliament, stacked with Sisi loyalists, voted in favour of the constitutional amendments last week.
• Voters were given less than a week to digest the changes to 20 articles, which include allowing the64-year-old leader to run for another six-year term after his current term ends.
• His term was originally scheduled to end in 2022, but has now been extended to 2024.
6. Stolen in France, 1.5m-euro Impressionist work found in Ukraine
• Ukrainian authorities said on April 23, 2019 they had found an oil painting by the French Impressionist Paul Signac, valued at 1.5 million euros ($1.68 million), which was stolen last year from a museum in France.
• Police chief Sergiy Knyazev said the painting was discovered at the home of a Kiev man who was also wanted on suspicion of murdering a jeweller.
• The painting would shortly be returned to the Museum of Fine Arts in Nancy in northeast France, Ukraine`s interior minister Arsen Avakov said as he presented the work at an event with French ambassador Isabelle Dumont.
7. Israel to name Golan settlement after Trump
• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on April 23, 2019 he plans to name a new settlement in the occupied Golan after US President Donald Trump in appreciation of his recognition of Israel`s claim of sovereignty there.
• Netanyahu, who has been on a trip to the region with his family for the week-long Passover holiday, said in a video message that he would present a resolution to the government calling for a new settlement named after the US president.
• Trump again broke with longstanding international consensus on March 25 when he recognised Israel`s claim of sovereignty over the part of the strategic plateau it seized from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War.
8. Nagasaki University stops hiring smoking professors
• A Japanese university has stopped hiring professors and teachers who light up, officials said on April 23, 2019, as the nation steps up an anti-smoking campaign ahead of the 2020 Olympics.
• Nagasaki University have `stopped hiring any teaching staff who smoke`, although applicants who promise to kick the habit before taking up their post could still be offered employment.
• The university will also ban smoking entirely on campus from August, opening a clinic for those who cannot give up.
9. 1m species risk extinction due to humans: draft UN report
• Up to one million species face extinction due to human influence, according to a draft UN report obtained by AFP that painstakingly catalogues how humanity has undermined the natural resources upon which its very survival depends.
• The accelerating loss of clean air, drinkable water, CO2-absorbing forests, pollinating insects, protein-rich fish and storm-blocking mangroves to name but a few of the dwindling services rendered by Nature poses no less of a threat than climate change, says the report, set to be unveiled on May 6.
• Indeed, biodiversity loss and global warming are closely linked, according to the 44-page Summary for Policy Makers, which distills a 1,800-page UN assessment of scientific literature on the state of Nature.
• Delegates from 130 nations meeting in Paris from April 29 will vet the executive summary line-by-line.
• Wording may change, but figures lifted from the underlying report cannot be altered.
10. Australia`s WWII ship sunk by Japanese submarine found
• An Australian freighter sunk by a Japanese submarine during World War II has been located `relatively intact` in waters off the country`s southeast coast, archeologists said on April 23, 2019.
• The SS Iron Crown was hit by a torpedo on June 4, 1942 while carting ore in waters off Australia`s southern coastline near the state of Victoria. The ship sunk within 60 seconds, killing 38 of the 43 crew members aboard.
• `Locating the wreck after 77 years of not knowing its final resting place will bring closure for relatives and family of those that were lost at sea, as well as for Australia`s maritime community,` Peter Harvey, an archeologist with Heritage Victoria, said.
