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April 26, 2018

1. Army`s telecom wing allowed 3G, 4G services trial run in GB

• A court has allowed the Special Communications Organisation (SCO) to operate 3G and 4G mobile services on a trial basis in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and stayed the telecom regulatory body`s decision to allow other private operators to launch the service in the mountainous region.
• A two-judge bench of the Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Court (GBCC) comprising Justice Haq Nawaz and Justice Muhammad Umar admitted a petition filed by the SCO, the telecommunication wing of the army, for hearing and issued notices to the respondents to submit their comments within a month.
• The peddon was filed on April 18 under Article 71 of the GB Empowerment and Self Governance Order 2009, challenging the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority`s (PTA) decision of issuing licences to cellular networks for launching 3G and 4G spectrum in the mountainous region.
• The petitioner through its counsel Adnan Hussain named the Gilgit-Baltistan Council, PTA, Frequency Allocation Board and the GB government as respondents.

2. Pakistan to develop its first govt cloud-based storage

• The National Telecommunications Corporation (NTC) on April 25, 2018 signed an agreement with VMware Inc (VMW), an inventor in enterprise software, to develop Pakistan`s first government cloud.
• A cloud contains a large number of distributed computing resources connected via the internet. Cloud services are hosted in a data centre that can be accessed by companies or individuals using network connectivity.
• The agreement will enable the IT and telecommunications service provider to modernize the country`s publicsector IT infrastructure. With VMware`s digitalfoundation, NTC will further expand the government`s capabilities in cloud adopp-tion, enable greater innovation and easier access to cloud-based services, and deliver better and faster digital services for citizens

3. NA body approves amendments to ATA

• A parliamentary panel on April 25, 2018 approved amendments to the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) that would allow the government to act against people or organisations based solely on United Nations Security Council resolutions.
• The amendments were approved by all members of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior other than Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) MNA Naeema Kishwar Khan, who believed the move could be used to take action against individuals such as Hafiz Saeed and Kashmiri leaders at the behest of India.

4. Tehran dismisses Trump-Macron call for fresh nuclear deal

• Iran`s President Hassan Rouhani rejected any hopes of rewriting a nuclear deal with world powers on April 25, 2018, after the leaders of the United States and France suggested a new pact covering Tehran`s missile programme and regional interventions.
• He was responding to statements in Washington by French President Emmanuel Macron and his US counterpart Donald Trump, in which they proposed a new deal with tougher restrictions on Iran.

5. Government unveils Economic Survey today (April 26)

• The government is all set to unveil the Economic Survey 2017-18 today (April 26, 2018), which would show that government has missed the key economic targets, including those for GDP growth, budget deficit, industrial growth, savings and investments and tax collection, for outgoing financial year (FY2017-18).
• Meanwhile, all other sectors of the economy showed a better performance in the outgoing fiscal year. The government achieved the targets of inflation, exports, and agriculture and services sectors during FY 2018. Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance Dr Miftah Ismail would release the Economic Survey one day before the announcement of annual budget for the next fiscal year.
• The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government has claimed to have achieved 5.8 percent economic growth rate in FY2017-18 that is the highest rate in last 13 years. The PML-N government had set 6 percent growth target for the current fiscal year. However, the government had missed the economic growth target for the consecutive fifth year during FY2017-18.

6. Donors pledge $4.4bn for Syria, well short of target

• International donors on April 25, 2018 pledged $4.4 billion in aid for 2018 for civilians caught up in the Syrian civil war well short of what the UN says is needed for humanitarian work in Syria and neighbouring countries.
• The sum committed at a two-day conference in Brussels was less than half of the $9 billion the United Nations says is needed this year to help those in need inside Syria and living as refugees in neighbouring countries.
• The head of the UN aid agency UNOCHA called the $4.4 billion `a good start` but Oxfam slammed the international response as `tragically inadequate`.

7. UN launches youth initiatives in four Muslim states

• The United Nations has launched a project to support youth-driven initiatives in education, science, culture and the media in Jordan, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia.
• Vladimir Voronkov, who heads the UN`s counterterrorism office, (UNOCT) met Audrey Azoulay, head of the UN cultural agency, in Paris to initiate the joint project, `Preventing violent extremism through youth empowerment in Jordan, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia`.

8. US court reviews Trump’s power to block Muslim immigrants

• President Donald Trump’s effort to ban immigrants from several Muslim-majority countries heads to the Supreme Court April 26, 2018, which will decide if his argument asserting national security interests was tainted by religious bias.
• The case, known as Trump v. Hawaii, will address the president’s broad powers to set immigration policy, which the administration says permit Trump’s travel ban, one of his hallmark policies since taking office in January 2017.
• Legal experts say the court is usually loathe to rule on executive powers.

9. Madeeha Gauhar passes away

• Popular theatre personality and founder of Ajoka Theatre Madeeha Gauhar passed away on April 25, 2018. She was 61.
• Madeeha was suffering from cancer for the last three years.
• Born in Karachi in 1965, Madeeha obtained a Master degree in English Literature. Later, she moved to England and got a degree in theater sciences from the University of London.

10. Germany scraps music award over anti-Semitism row

• Organisers of a major German music prize scrapped their main award on April 25, 2018 due to an anti-Semitism row, as Germans staged shows of solidarity with Jews after a spate of shocking hate crimes.
• A cascade of recent scandals, including the `Echo` prize-winning rap duo making light of Nazi death camp prisoners, has raised pointed questions about Germany`s ability to protect its burgeoning Jewish community seven decades after the Holocaust.

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