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April 29, 2019: National Current Affairs
1. Pakistan, China enter second stage of free trade
• Pakistan and China on April 28, 2019 embarked on the new phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor by signing memoranda of understanding (MoUs) on the first Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and socio-economic development and a new agreement on free trade.
• The MoUs and the second stage Free Trade Agreement (FTA) were signed towards the conclusion of Prime Minister Imran Khan`s second trip to China in six months.
• The prime minister`s latest visit to Beijing was for attending the second Belt and Road Forum and talks with the Chinese leadership on the expanded CPEC. The earlier visit was more about the future course of the CPEC after the change of government in Pakistan and soliciting Beijing`s help for dealing with the balance of payments crisis.
• PM Khan in his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping assured him of Pakistan`s `unflinching commitment` to the CPEC and hailed its next phase, which includes newer areas like agriculture, industrial development and socio-economic uplift with livelihood projects.
2. Privatisation of seven PSEs to be discussed with IMF
• The government has firmed up a plan for privatisation and restructuring of major public sector entities (PSEs) as part of the proposed medium-term economic and financial policies.
• This will be part of discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this week for a three-year bailout package under which the provinces have agreed in principle on a single sales tax pro forma that will ultimately lead to a single value-added tax (VAT) regime.
• Informed sources said the government was not committing with the IMF divestment of any of the lossmaking entities at this stage and these would be passed through a restructuring phase, but transactions of seven mostly profitable and efficient entities would be completed in the first year i.e. fiscal year 2019-20.
3. Woman minister removed from GB cabinet
• Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Hafeezur Rehman has removed the only female member of his cabinet, Sobia Muqaddam, for her continued absence from official meetings, travelling abroad without permission and lack of interest in government affairs.
• According to a press release issued by the Chief Minister House on April 28, 2019, Mr Rehman said minister for youth affairs and women development Sobia Muqaddam was not serious in fulfilling her duties and remained absent from cabinet meetings and her ministry`s affairs for last six months.
• The chief minister also sought explanation from the woman minister many times for her non-serious attitude but she didn`t respond and refused to meet the chief minister.
• It said the vacant ministry would be given to an `active` member of GB Assembly to ensure that the affairs of the ministry did not suffer.
4. CM becomes head of Buzdar tribe
• The ceremony of turban tie of Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar took place at Barthi which was attended by eminent leaders of Baloch tribes. Respectable members and seniors of Buzdar tribe were also present at this ceremony after which he was nominated as their leader.
• The tradition of AAS ROTI for (late) Sardar Fateh Muhammad Khan father of CM was arranged and Fateha was offered to bless the departed soul and to seek forgiveness for him.
April 29, 2019: International Current Affairs
5. Khalilzad, Wells due today for talks on Afghan peace efforts
• Another round of talks between Pakistan and the United States on Afghan peace process will start here from April 28, 2019 (today).
• US Special Representative for Afghan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, South and Central Asia, Alice Wells, will be arriving the same day to participate in the negotiations.
• The two sides will hold meetings as part of `regular consultation on bilateral relationship and Afghan peace process`.
• Ambassador Khalilzad warned that there would be no enduring peace in Afghanistan unless the Taliban adapted to the changes that had swept the country since they were ousted in 2001, adds AFP.
• Mr Khalilzad made the comments during a visit to Kabul on April 28, 2019.
6. 270 poll officials die from overwork in Indonesia
• Ten days after Indonesia held the world`s biggest single-day elections, more than 270 election staff have died, mostly of fatigue-related illnesses caused by long hours of work counting millions of ballot papers by hand.
• The April 17 elections were the first time the country of 260 million people combined the presidential vote with national and regional parliamentary ones, with an aim to cut costs.
• Voting was largely peaceful and was estimated to have drawn 80 per cent of the total 193 million voters, who each had to punch up to five ballot papers in over 800,000 polling stations.
• As of Saturday night, 272 election officials had died, mostly from overwork-related illnesses, while 1,878 others had fallen ill, said Arief Priyo Susanto, spokesman of the General Elections Commission (KPU).
7. Ukraine`s president-elect Zelensky offers passports to Russians
• Centrist Republican Richard Lugar, a soft-spoken foreign policy powerhouse who championed nuclear nonproliferation during 36 years in the US Senate, died on April 28, 2019 at age 87.
• Lugar, a professorial Midwesterner known for his keen intellect and mild demeanour, served as mayor of Indianapolis from 1968 to 1975 before his long stint in the Senate from 1977 to 2013. He was the longest-serving senator ever from Indiana.
• Lugar was an influential Republican voice on foreign policy. Lugar, a former Rhodes scholar and an avid runner into his 70s, served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and also headed the Agriculture Committee. He unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1996.
8. US refuses to share data on F-16s with India
• The United States government has declined to share with India information on the use of F-16 fighter jets by the Pakistan Air Force during a recent dogfight.
• `Soon after we were informed by the Indian side about Pakistan using F-16 aircraft on Feb 27, we informed the Indians that we will not be sharing any information on the subject as it is a bilateral matter between the US and Pakistan,` a US official told Indian Express.
• The official said that India understood the US position, which was not India or Pakistan-specific. `If a third country tomorrow wants information about the C130 or C17 or Apaches that the IAF uses, our answer would be the same. It is a bilateral matter between India and the US,` the official added.
• The Indian Air Force had complained to the Pentagon in March that Pakistan had violated the end user agreement on F-16 by using the jets for offensive against India. The IAF also displayed parts of an AMRAAM beyond visual range airto-air missile to prove its claim that Pakistan deployed US-made F-16 fighter jets during the Feb 27 dogfight with its planes.
9. Ukraine`s president-elect Zelensky offers passports to Russians
• President-elect Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed an offer by Vladimir Putin to provide passports to Ukrainians, and pledged instead to grant citizenship to Russians who `suffer` under the Kremlin`s rule.
• The Russian president on April 28, 2019 said Moscow was considering plans to make it easier for all Ukrainians to obtain Russian citizenship, after it earlier moved to grant passports in the country`s separatist east.
• Kiev has been fighting Moscow-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine since 2014 in a war that has killed 13,000.
10. Man swam for 54 days to break world record
• Six years ago, Martin Hobbs had never swum a mile. This week, he cemented a world record by swimming 361 miles — the full length of Lake Malawi in Africa.
• Hobbs, 45, set the record for longest solo swim in a lake and became the first person to swim the entirety of Lake Malawi after swimming for 54 days in a row.
• The South African swimmer started his athletic career as a competitive off-road biker and marathoner, but after fracturing a disk in his back, he was told he could no longer ride a bike or run. Swimming was the only endurance sport left. The open water gave him a way to come back from his devastating injury and also gave him motivation to embark on a new adventure.
• Hobbs technically broke the Guinness World Record last week, but kept swimming to reach the end of the lake.
