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May 19, 2019: National Current Affairs
1. Reforms plan sets tax to GDP ratio target at 17pc
• Pakistan has finalised a comprehensive tax reforms programme to increase tax to GDP ratio to 17 per cent by 2024 for which benchmarks in 10 key areas have been set.
• The World Bank has committed to providing $400 million assistance to Pakistan for implementation of the reforms over the next five years. The reforms programme was evolved in the light of recommendations of the Working Group, which was constituted in December 2018.
• The last WB-funded reforms project, which was launched in 2004 during Musharraf`s military rule, concluded in the year 2011 costing $149m. Of this amount, $102.9m was provided by the WB.
• A senior tax official told Dawn that the programme had already been negotiated with the economic affairs division. The project document was likely to be approved by the Word Bank Board in its meeting scheduled for May 30.
2. Sindh Assembly revives Musharraf-era Police Order amid opposition walkout
• The Sindh Assembly on May 18, 2019 revived the Police Order, 2002 by repealing the colonial-era Police Act, 1861, prompting a walkout by the three major opposition parties that were part of a select committee to examine the draft law.
• Among several other structural changes, establishment of public safety commissions at district and provincial levels are said to be the most significant part of the new law.
• The Sindh (Repeal of the Police Act, 1861 and Revival of Police Order, 2002) Amendment Act, 2019, was moved in the house with five of the 15 members of the select committee refusing to sign it.
• The Police Order, 2002 was first enforced by the former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf.
3. Balochistan notifies Levies-police merger
• The Balochistan government has formally merged the Levies force with the police department in three districts of the province despite opposition`s misgivings.
• It was announced through a notification on May 18, 2019.
• The official notification issued by the Home and Tribal Affairs department states, it was `pleased to declare the revenue limits of districts of Quetta, Lasbela and Gwadar as `A-Area` with the meaning of aforesaid sections, for the purpose of terri-torial jurisdiction of Balochistan police with immediate effect and until further orders`.
4. World Bank to help KP Govt boost revenue collection
• The World Bank will help the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government prepare a programme to increase provincial tax collection and improve the management of public resources.
• The project, for which the International Development Association (IDA) will provide a credit of $100 million, will fund expenditures of the main government entities responsible for implementing the Public Financial Management (PFM) reform strategy for the period 2017-20.
• The overall objective of putting in place a robust PFM system is to ensure financial compliance, facilitate prioritisation amongst competing claims on scarce resources, encourage efficient delivery of public services and achieve the ultimate goal of efficient, effective and accountable use of public resources.
May 19, 2019: International Current Affairs
5. US State Dept approves $314m sale of missiles to South Korea
• The US State Department has cleared $314 million in possible sales of air defence missiles to South Korea, the Pentagon said, as tensions re-emerge on the Korean peninsula.
• South Korea, a key Asian ally of the United States, asked to buy up to 94 SM-2 missiles used by ships against air threats, along with 12 guidance systems and technical assistance for a total cost of $313.9 million, the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said on its website.
• The agency, a unit of the Department of Defence, delivered certification on Thursday notifying Congress of the possible sale.
• The proposed sale comes after North Korea recently criticised South Korea`s defence purchases from the United States, including the arrival of the first F-35 stealth aircraft.
6. US warns airliners flying in Gulf amid Iran tensions
• US diplomats warned on May 18, 2019 that commercial airliners flying over the wider Persian Gulf faced a risk of being `misidentified` amid heightened tensions between the US and Iran.
• The warning relayed by US diplomatic posts from the Federal Aviation Administration underlined the risks the current tensions pose to a region crucial to global air travel. It came as Lloyd`s of London warned of increasing risks to maritime shipping in the region.
• Concerns about a possible conflict have flared since the White House ordered warships and bombers to the region to counter an alleged, unexplained threat from Iran that has seen America order non-essential diplomatic staff out of Iraq.
7. Conservatives pull off an unexpected win in Australian poll
• Australia`s ruling conservative coalition defied expectations to retain power in national elections on May 18, 2019, prompting Prime Minister Scott Morrison to declare: `I have always believed in miracles! `How good is Australia, shouted a jubilant Morrison, who came to office just nine months ago in a party coup against his moderate predecessor, Malcolm Turnbull.
• While it remained unclear if Morrison`s Liberal party and their rural-based National party partners would win enough seats to form a majority government, the leader of the main opposition Labour party conceded defeat shortly before midnight.
• `It is obvious that Labour will not be able to form the next government,` Bill Shorten told stunned supporter s in Melbourne.
8. Former CIA agent gets 20 years for selling information to China
• A former CIA officer was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Friday for spying for China in a case called part of an `alarming trend` in the US intelligence community.
• Kevin Mallory, 62, was convicted under the Espionage Act for selling classified US `defence information` to a Chinese intelligence agent for $25,000 during trips to Shanghai in March and April 2017.
• `Your object is to gain information, and my object is to be paid,` he told the Chinese agent in a May 5, 2017 message.
• The fluent Mandarin speaker had served in the US army, then as a special agent for the security service of the State Department, before becoming a covert case officer for the Central Intelligence Agency.
9. Bahrain asks its citizens to leave Iran, Iraq `immediately`
• US-allied Bahrain warned its citizens on Saturday against travel to Iraq and Iran and asked those already there to return `immediately` for their safety.
• The Bahrain foreign ministry cited, `unstable regional circumstances, dangerous developments and potential threats, according to BNA.
• The warning comes amid simmering tensions between the United States and Iran.
• Washington on Wednesday pulled nonemergency staff members from its embassy in the Iraqi capital Baghdad out of apparent concern about perceived threats from neighbouring Iran, to which Iraqi Shi`ite militias are allied.
10. Austrian vice chancellor forced to resign after hidden camera sting
• Austrian Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, a key figure of the European far-right, resigned on May 18, 2019 after explosive revelations came to light from a hidden camera sting, just days before key EU elections.
• `I tendered my resignation as vice chancellor of Austria to Chancellor Kurz, and he accepted this decision, an emotional Strache said in a televised statement which almost certainly marks the end of his career.
• Media reports emerged on May 17, 2019 alleging that Strache promised public contracts in return for campaign help from a fake Russian backer he met on the island of Ibiza a few months before 2017`s parliamentary elections in Austria.
