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April 26, 2019: National Current Affairs
1. Pakistan pledges neutrality in Afghan conflict
• Pakistan on April 25, 2019 pledged neutrality in the Afghan conflict and at the same time denounced both the Taliban`s spring offensive and intensified security operations by Afghan forces, saying such actions weaken prospects for peace.
• `The so-called offensives are condemnable and will undermine the peace process. It is not right to seek an edge in dialogue through coercion,` Prime Minister Imran Khan said in a policy statement on Afghan peace.
• `Pakistan is highly dismayed by the surge of violence in Afghanistan from all sides,` he added.
• The statement was made as a United Nations report revealed that more Afghan civilians were killed by NATO and Afghan security forces than Taliban and other terrorist groups in the first quarter of 2019. The report said that 305 civilians were killed by NATO and Afghan forces, while terrorist groups were responsible for the killing of 227 people.
2. Hussain Asghar appointed as NAB’s deputy chairman
• Ministry of Law and Justice yesterday announced appointment of Hussain Asghar as deputy chairman of National Accountability Bureau (NAB). In a notification issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice, the appointment of Asghar was formally announced for a period of three years. The appointment has been made under Section 7 of the National Accountability Ordinance 1999.
• The notification said President Arif Alvi gave a green signal to the appointment following consultations with NAB Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal. Earlier on April 20, NAB Chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal had sent a summary to the president for the appointment of Hussain Asghar as deputy chairman of the anti-graft watchdog.
• Hussain Asghar of PSP Grade-22 has previously headed the anti-corruption department in Punjab from September 2018 to February 2019 and has a positive image. His name was recommended because of his good repute
3. Pakistan included in high-burden malaria countries
• Pakistan is included in high burden malaria countries as around one million malaria cases have been registered annually. This was disclosed by experts while addressing a ceremony organised by the Directorate of Malaria Control Programme on the World Malaria Day on April 25, 2019.
• Parliamentary Secretary for NHS Nousheen Hamid, Secretary NHS Zahid Saeed and Programme Coordinator Dr Baseer Achakzi were invited in the event.
• It was also informed that in 2018, total suspects tested for malaria were 6.1 million and malaria positive or confirmed cases were in all districts of Pakistan.
• According to the findings the reduction in malaria cases by around 20 per cent (240,000) cases while a successful mass campaign for distribution of approximately 2.5 million ITNs(Malaria Nets) Machardani) in 11 districts of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Tribal Districts and Sindh provinces were distributed.
4. PA body approves local govt bill
• The Standing Committee on Local Government of the Punjab Assembly on April 25, 2019 approved the Punjab Local Governments Bill (2019),
• Current Punjab Minister for Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Local Bodies: Raja Basharat.
• The bill was referred to the committee and it was supposed to report back to the House within 60 days. The committee, however, did the job within 48 hours and the bill is now ready to go to the Punjab Assembly any moment for final approval.
• The committee was briefed on the Bill in depth and it underwent a detailed discussion before according it the approval.
5. Lahore surpasses Karachi, Islamabad in crime control
• The provincial capital Lahore surpasses Karachi and Islamabad in controlling crime and moves 36 steps down from the 138th position with crime index 46.9 in 2018 to 174th (42.06) this year.
• The World Crime Index for 2019 released the periodically updated crime status of 319 mega cities of the world, including three of Pakistan Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.
• Karachi and Islamabad dropped 11 and six notches, respectively, in the list of the cities reporting bad crime rate.
• According to the periodically updated Crime Index 2019, Islamabad ranks 232 with crime index of 32.88 and Karachi 61 with 58.43 crime index.
• In 2018, Karachi ranked 50 with crime index 62.20 and Islamabad 226 (38.05) that showed both the cities improved their positions during a period of one year or so.
• As for the rest of the world, Abu Dhabi was the safest city in the world with 319th position [10.97 crime index].
April 26, 2019: International Current Affairs
6. US-led coalition killed 1,600 civilians in Raqqa: report
• The US-backed assault to drive the IS from its Syrian capital Raqqa in 2017 killed more than 1,600 civilians, 10 times the toll the coalition itself has acknowledged, Amnesty International and the monitoring group Airwars said on April 25, 2019.
• Amnesty and Airwars, a London-based group set up in 2014 to monitor the impact of the US-led campaign against the IS, spent 18 months researching civilian deaths including two months on the ground in Raqqa, they said.
7. Spurned by Washington, Kim seeks closer ties with Putin
• North Korea`s Kim Jong-un and Russia`s Vladimir Putin vowed to seek closer ties as they met for the first time on April 25, 2019, in talks aimed at countering US influence.
• Putin emerged from the meeting in Russia`s Vladivostok saying that like Washington, Moscow supports efforts to reduce tensions on the Korean peninsula and prevent nuclear conflicts.
• But he insisted that Pyongyang `needs guarantees of its security, the preservation of its sovereignty`, and took a veiled swipe at the US for trying to strong-arm North Korea.
• `We need to… return to a state where international law, not the law of the strongest, determines the situation in the world,` Putin said.
8. Japan creates first artificial crater on asteroid
• Japanese scientists have succeeded in creating what they called the first-ever artificial crater on an asteroid, a step towards shedding light on how the solar system evolved, the country`s space agency said on April 25, 2019.
• The announcement comes after the Hayabusa2 probe fired an explosive device at the Ryugu asteroid early this month to blast a crater in the surface and scoop up material, aiming to reveal more about the origins of life on Earth.
• Yuichi Tsuda, Hayabusa2 project manager at the Japanese space agency (JAXA), told reporters they confirmed the crater from images captured by the probe located 1,700 metres (5,500 feet) from the asteroid`s surface.
9. Ukraine`s parliament adopts controversial language bill
• Ukrainian lawmakers have approved a language law that seeks to increase the use of Ukrainian in a country where Russian is also widely used.
• The Supreme Rada on April 25, 2019 voted overwhelmingly to support the bill which will force increased use of Ukrainian in the media and in public administration.
• The office of the UN Human Rights Commissioner as well as the Council of Europe has expressed its concern over the previous draft of the bill, saying that it could infringe the rights of language minorities.
• Most Ukrainians switch between Ukrainian and Russian effortlessly but generations of Ukrainian politicians have exploited and encouraged the language divide in this country of 45 million.
April 26, 2019: Sports Current Affairs
10. Semenya wins 5,000m gold at South African Championships
• Caster Semenya cruised to victory in the 5,000 metres at the South African athletics championships on April 25, 2019, a potential new distance as she waits for the verdict of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in an appeal against regulations seeking to limit her testosterone level.
• Semenya looked in complete control as she won in a time of 16:05.97 on the opening day of the championships, which serve as an important test for the South African team going to the World Championships in Doha in September.
• Semenya made a rare run in the longer distance after earlier cruising into Fridays final of the 1,500m with a time of 4:30.65, well below her personal best.
• Although she barely broke a sweat, her 1,500m time was nine seconds quicker than the second fastest qualifier.
