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March 21, 2019: National Current Affairs
1. Mahathir arrives on three-day visit today
• Malaysia`s Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad will visit Pakistan on March 21-23, the Foreign Office confirmed on March 20, 2019.
• During his stay, Prime Minister Mahathir will be the guest of honour at the Pakistan Day parade on March 23, the FO said in a statement.
• Dr Mahathir, who is visiting Pakistan at the invitation of Prime Minister Imran Khan, will be accompanied by a high-level delegation including leading businessmen.
• His bilateral engagements include call on President Dr Arif Alvi and one-on-one meet-ing with Prime Minister Khan followed by delegation-level talks.
2. Dr Jamil Jalibi nominated for Kamal-i-Funn Award
• Prominent intellectual, writer and researcher Dr Jamil Jalibi was on March 20, 2019 nominated for the Kamal-i-Funn Award 2017 by a jury selected by the Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL).
• This is also the first time in the last many years that a prominent politician was awarded by the jury which announced to give the English Prose Pitras Bukhari Award to former Senate chairman Mian Raza Rabbani for his book Invisible People.
• The panel of judges included prominent writers and scholars such as Dr Fehmida Hussain, Dr Tehseen Firaqui, Prof Dr Nazeer Tabassum, Dr Abdul Razzaq Sabir, Parveen Malik, Hafeez Khan, Dr Tauseef Tabassum, Dr Rauf Parekh, Mohammad Ayub Baloch and Dr Rubina Shaheen. The meeting was presided over by Syed Mazhar Jameel.
• The Kamal-i-Funn Award is the highest literary award in the field of literature and is awarded in recognition of a lifetime`s achievement in creative and research works, and the award amount is Rs1 million.
3. Nauroz festival kicks off in GB today
• Gilgit-Baltistan residents are celebrating the biggest spring festival of Nauroz on March 21, 2019 (today) as the two-day traditional Tukhmrezi festival kicked off in Yasin valley of Ghizer district on Wednesday.
• The GB government has announced of ficial holiday on the occasion of Nauroz.
• Gatherings will be held in every village to celebrate the spring festival with traditional zeal.
• People have decorated homes, shops and markets.
• People have been purchasing new clothes for children and traditional dishes are being prepared.
• Musical programmes, traditional sports competitions, including polo, are part of the activities of the day.
4. KP PA terms Aurat March un-Islamic act
• Terming Aurat March an un-Islamic act, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on March 20, 2019 unanimously passed a resolution demanding government to evolve a strategy that no one should dare to weaken the foundations of Pakistan and to also uncover those behind the move.
• Jointly signed by treasury and opposition benches, the resolution said that ‘Aurat March’ took out on March 8 to mark International Women’s Day in several cities of the country, was actually a conspiracy hatched by hidden hands to ruin social norms and existing family system in the country.
• The resolution which was approved by the House unanimously said that Pakistan came into being in the name of Islam. Unfortunately, certain elements were bent upon weakening Pakistan by promoting such un-Islamic acts, which is sorrowful. It is shameful as well as un-Islamic that women in large number appeared on roads holding placards with indecent demands. This august House would support only those rights which are given to women and minorities in Islam.
March 21, 2019: International Current Affairs
5. FDA approves first medicine for post-partum depression
• US authorities approved the first medication designed specifically to treat post-partum depression, an illness that affects about one in nine new American mothers.
• The drug is called brexanolone from a company called Sage Therapeutics and one advantage is that it works quickly, in two days, whereas traditional anti-depressants can take weeks or months to kick in.
• The drug`s trade name is Zulresso. It has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
• But it needs to be administered intravenously in a hospital over the course of 60 hours because of the risk of fainting that was observed in some women during clinical tests.
6. Indian court acquits all Samjhauta blast accused
• A special court of India`s National Intelligence Agency (NIA) on March 20, 2019 acquitted all four accused in the 2007 Samjhauta blasts case in which 68 people were killed, including 42 Pakistanis.
• The court in Panchkula also dismissed an application seeking permission for deposition of Pakistani witnesses in the case.
• `The NIA Special Court has concluded that the investigating agency has failed to prove the conspiracy charge and ruled that accused deserve a benent of doubt,` reports quoted NIA Counsel R.K. Handa as saying.
• The NIA in its charge-sheet had named eight persons as accused.
• Among them were Naba Kumar Sarkar alias Swami Aseemanand, Lokesh Sharma, Kamal Chauhan and Rajinder Chaudhary, who appeared before the court, while Sunil Joshi, the alleged mastermind of the attack, was killed in December 2007.
• The three other accused Ramchandra Kalsangra, Sandeep Dange and Amit are still at large and have been declared pro-claimed offenders.
7. EU fines Google $1.7bn for search ad blocks
• Alphabet unit Google was fined 1.49 billion euros ($1.7 billion) on March 20, 2019, its third large EU antitrust penalty in two years marking the company`s decade long regulatory battle in Europe.
• The European Union antitrust chief, however, gave a cautious welcome to Google`s measures to boost competition and give Android users a choice of browsers and search apps, suggesting the company`s regulatory woes may be coming to an end. The European Commission, which said the fine amounted to 1.29 percent of Google`s turnover last year, said the case focused on the company`s illegal practices in search advertising brokering from 2006 to 2016.
• `Today`s decision is about how Google abused its dominance to stop websites using brokers other than the AdSense platform,` European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager told a news conference.
8. Turkish Cargo delivers historical artifacts to Japan
• Turkish Cargo, a subsidiary of flag-carrier Turkish Airlines, carried 186 historical artifacts to the Japanese capital Tokyo as the sponsor carrier.
• According to a statement from Turkish Cargo, the historical artifacts owned by Istanbul’s Dolmabahce and Topkapi Palaces will be displayed at an exhibition “The Ottoman Empire and Tulip Culture”.
• The exhibition is being held as part of the events for 2019, which was declared as the “Year of Turkish Culture” across Japan.
• It will take place at the National Art Center, Tokyo, from March 20 to May 20, and at the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, from June 14 to July 28.
• The artifacts preserved meticulously for years in Topkapi Palace include the bed of Suleiman the Magnificent, kaftan of Sultan Osman II, and a ceremonial flask.
9. China develops new energy battery powered UAV
• The China-developed new energy battery-powered demonstration unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), known as LQ-H, has conducted a successful maiden flight, according to its developer March 20, 2019.
• LQ-H, the technical demonstration UAV, conducted the flight at an airport in Zhengzhou in central China’s Henan Province, said its developer Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), which is also the developer of China’s C919 large passenger airplane. Powered by a hydrogen fuel battery, LQ-H had a smooth flight with all systems in good condition. And its battery power system has been fully validated, COMAC said.
• COMAC said it was substantial progress for them in terms of exploring new energy aircraft
March 21, 2019: Sports Current Affairs
10. Tokyo unveils Olympic torch
• Organisers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on March 20, 2019 unveiled a cherry-blossom shaped torch for the Games as the city prepares for the famed flower season to begin in coming days.
• The top part of the torch is shaped in the traditional emblem of the sakura, or cherry blossom using the same cutting edge technology as in production of Japan`s bullet trains, the organisers said.
• The shiny rose-gold torch, which is 71 centimetres (28inches )long and weighs 1.2 kilograms (2 pounds 10 ounces), uses aluminium construction waste from temporary housing built for victims of the 2011 quake and tsunami.
• Designer Tokujin Yoshioka said he was inspired to create the torch, which features five sakura petals cut into its head to mirror the five Olympic rings, following a visit to an elementary school in Fukushima.
