WELCOME TO CSS TIMES DAY BY DAY CURRENT AFFAIRS, YOUR BEST SOURCE FOR UP-TO-DATE AND DAILY TOP CURRENT AFFAIRS 2018 FOR PREPARATION OF CSS, PMS, BANKING, NTS, RAILWAYS AND ALL COMPETITIVE EXAMS. “DAY TO DAY CURRENT AFFAIRS” BASICALLY IS TOP 10 NEWS SUMMARY ON CURRENT HAPPENINGS OF NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL IMPORTANCE FOR ALL EXAMINATIONS
March 10, 2019: National Current Affairs
1. Pakistan urges FATF to remove India from review group
• Citing `animosity towards Pakistan`, Islamabad has approached Financial Action Task Force (FATF) president Marshall Billingslea seeking removal of India as co-chair of the Asia-Pacific Group to ensure `that [the] FATF process is fair, unbiased and objective`.
• The demand was made in a formal letter by Finance Minister Asad Umar two weeks before the scheduled visit of a delegation of the Asia-Pacific Group (APG) a regional associate of the FATF to Islamabad on March 24.
• Friendly countries had confirmed to Pakistan that Indian co-chair of APG was lobbying with other countries to get Pakistan blacklisted. `India is calling other members of APG to blacklist Pakistan.
2. Crisis eases as envoys return to Islamabad, Delhi
• The recent Pakistan-India crisis eased significantly on March 9, 2019 as high commissioners of both countries returned to their places of posting to resume their diplomatic work and New Delhi claimed to have `achieved its objectives`.
• High commissioners Sohail Mahmood and Ajay Bisaria returned to New Delhi and Islamabad, respectively, 11 days after the tensions between their countries peaked with Indian aircraft intruding into Pakistani airspace on Feb 26 and claiming to have hit alleged terror bases.
• The crisis had started after the Feb 14 bombing of a bus belonging to the Central Reserve Police Force, an Indian security force, in Pulwama (Occupied Kashmir) in which over 44 Indian security personnel were killed. Delhi called back HC Bisaria on Feb 15 for consultations, whereas HC Mahmood was asked by the Foreign Office to return to Islamabad on Feb 18.
3. Fata dists get global connectivity with 3G, 4G services
• Government March 9, 2019 achieved another milestone by connecting the erstwhile incommunicado tribal districts with the global network with the inauguration of 3G and 4G cellular services in the region.
• The cellular service was inaugurated by Chief Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan along with other federal and provincial cabinet members at a ceremony.
• CM launches health insurance cover of Rs720,000 per family
• At the ceremony, the chief minister also launched Sehat Insaf Card to provide annual health insurance cover of Rs720,000 to each family. He also pledged that during his next visit, he would inaugurate a cadet college, medical college and university along with some other developmental projects for the area.
4. Lahore-Karachi VVIP train from 30th
• The Pakistan Railways is set to launch a VVIP train -Jinnah Express -from Lahore to Karachi on March 30 after Prime Minister Imran Khan confirmed that he would inaugurate it.
• Similarly, the PR also plans to launch another VVIP train -Sir Syed Express -from Lahore to Karachi by next month.
• The premier has given us a time for March 22 to inaugurate Jinnah Express.
• He (the PM) will also give an honorarium of Rs3,000 each to all workers working round the clock in manufacturing of new bogies /coaches for the Jinnah and Sir Syed Express trains.
5. 18 foreigners among 127 to be conferred civil awards on 23rd
• The federal government on March 9, 2019 issued the list of 127 persons, including 18 foreigners, who will be conferred civil awards by President Dr Arif Alvi for excellence in various fields of activities at an investiture ceremony to be held on the Pakistan Day on March 23.
• The list, which is usually issued on the country`s Independence Day on August 14 every year, has been issued by the cabinet secretariat just two weeks before the Pakistan Day celebrations, as there was no government in the office on the country`s last Independence Day.
• Prominent among those who will be conferred the civil awards are former Pakistan cricket team captain Wasim Akram, former fast bowler Waqar Younis, cricketer Yasir Shah, singers Attaullah Khan Esakhelvi and Sajjad Ali, film actors Babra Sharif, Reema Khan, Mehwish Hayat, Shabbir Jan and Iftikhar Thakur, newscaster Ishrat Fatima, TV anchor Arshad Sharif and businessman Aqeel Karim Dhedhi.
6. India returns septuagenarian farmer as goodwill gesture
• A 70-year-old man, who had mistakenly crossed the border while cutting fodder for buffaloes on March 8, 2019, was handed over to Pakistani authorities by Indian Border Security Force (BSF) personnel as a goodwill gesture on March 10, 2019.
• According to the Punjab Rangers, the Indian BSF returned the farmer as a goodwill gesture during a meeting held at Lehri Post of Zafarwal sector on March 9, 2019 . Later , the Punjab Rangers reunited the old man with his family.
March 10, 2019: International Current Affairs
7. Japanese woman confirmed as world`s oldest person
• A 116-year-old Japanese woman who still enjoys studying math and playing board games has been recognised as the world`s oldest person, the Guinness World Records said on March 9, 2019.
• Kane Tanaka was born on 2 January 1903, the year when the Wright brothers launched humanity`s first powered flight, according to Guinness.
• Tanaka`s recognition was celebrated at the nursing home where she lives in western Japan`s Fukuoka by city mayor Soichiro Takashima and other well wishers.
8. Saudi court approves detained tycoon Sanea`s bankruptcy filing
• A Saudi court has approved an application by detained and indebted billionaire Maan al-Sanea and his company, Saad, to have their case resolved through the kingdom`s new bankruptcy law, the company`s financial adviser and two sources familiar with the matter said.
• The ruling in February could provide a resolution to one of the kingdom`s longest-running debt sagas.
• Saad, with interests from banking to healthcare, defaulted together with another conglomerate, Ahmad Hamad al-Gosaibi and Brothers (AHAB), in 2009, leaving banks with unpaid debts of about $22 billion Creditors have spent the past 10 years pursuing Saad, which is based in the city of Khobar in Saudi Arabia`s Eastern Province, for claims that some observers familiar with the case last year estimated at between $11 billion and $16 billion.
• `This is a landmark step for all stakeholders since 2009, said Ahmed Ismail, the chief executive of Reemas Consultants, which was appointed as Saad`s financial adviser in late 2017 to find a settlement with creditors.
9. N Korea ‘preparing rocket launch’, images suggest
• Satellite images of a facility near Pyongyang suggest that North Korea may be preparing to launch a missile or a satellite.
• The increase in activity is around a site known as Sanumdong, where North Korea assembled most of its ballistic missiles and rockets.
• It comes after reports earlier this week that North Korea’s main rocket launch site at Sohae had been rebuilt. Work to dismantle Sohae began last year but stopped as US talks stalled. On March 9, 2019 US President Donald Trump said he would be disappointed if North Korea was to resume weapons testing. “I would be surprised in a negative way if he did anything that was not per our understanding.
• But we’ll see what happens,” he said. “I would be very disappointed if I saw testing.”
• Analysts believe that it is more likely at this stage that Pyongyang is preparing to launch a satellite rather than test a missile. However the US said earlier this week that this would still be inconsistent with the commitments North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has made to President Trump.
March 10, 2019: Sports Current Affairs
10. Ton-up Delport leads United`s charge into playoffs
• Islamabad United, power-driven by Cameron Delport`s dazzling century, put up a record breaking batting performance in the HBL Pakistan Super League history on March 9, 2019 before qualifying for the Eliminator 1 playoff with a 49-run rout of Lahore Qalandars.
• The electrifying atmosphere at the National Stadium in this first of eight fixtures to be played in the sprawling city of lights in this edition was probably the inspiration United needed to overcome uncertainty which surrounded their haphazard run of play during the UAE leg of the competition where they lost five of nine matches.