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January 23, 2019: National Current Affairs
1. CTD chief among five removed over Sahiwal shooting
• Holding the Counter Terrorism Department solely responsible for the killing of three members of a family in January 19, 2019`s Sahiwal shooting, the Punjab government on January 22, 2019 removed five senior police officers, including the CTD chief, from their posts and ordered trial of the five personnel who had opened fire on the family in an antiterrorism court.
• Those removed from their offices are CTD head Additional IG Tahir Rai, Additional IG (Operations) Azhar Hameed Khokhar, DIG Babar Sarfraz Alpa while CTD SSP Jawad Qamar and CTD`s Sahiwal DSP have been suspended.
• The action was announced by Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat at a press conference in the evening after the head of Joint Investigation Team (JIT) Additional IG Ijaz Hussain Shah presented the JIT`s interim report at a meeting, which was chaired by Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar.
• Additional IG Tahir Rai, Additional IG Azhar Hameed Khokhar and DIG BabarSarfraz Alpa had been told to report to the federal government.
2. Nishan-i-Imtiaz conferred upon KSA general
• President Dr Arif Alvi conferred Nishan-i-Imtiaz (Military) upon Chief of General Staff, Royal Saudi Armed Forces, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia General Fayiadh Bin Hamed Bin Ragad Al-Rowaily in a special Investiture ceremony held at Aiwan-e-Sadr on January 22, 2018.
• Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Zubair Mahmood Hayat and other senior officers were also present during the ceremony.
• Chief of the General Staff, Royal Saudi Armed Forces also called on President Dr Arif Alvi and discussed matters of mutual interest.
3. India tries to blunt Pakistan`s initiative, sends own invite
• Wary of Pakistan`s invitation to negotiations over the agreement on the planned Kartarpur Corridor, India on January 22, 2019 asked Pakistani officials to visit New Delhi for talks on the issue and suggested Feb 26 and March 7 as the two possible dates for the meeting.
• `India has also proposed two set of dates, 26 February and 7 March 2019, for the visit of Pakistan delegation to New Delhi to discuss and finalise the modalities so that the Indian pilgrims can visit the holy Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib using the corridor at the earliest,` the Indian external affairs ministry said in a statement issued in New Delhi.
• The statement was issued in response to the draft agreement on Kartarpur Corridor shared by Pakistan with India on Monday and the accompanying invitation to initiation of negotiations for its finalisation.
• By giving a counter-invitation to Pakistan instead of accepting its invitation for negotiations, India seemed to be avoiding the tough choice between rejecting the proposal and accepting Islamabad`s call for talks.
• Pakistan had asked the Indian government to `urgently send a delegation to Islamabad` for negotiating the agreement.
• India has during PM Narendra Modi`s tenure avoided resumption of dialogue with Pakistan on the pretext that its terrorism concerns are not being addressed. The Modi government has been particularly suspicious of Pakistani move to offer opening of Kartarpur Corridor on theoccasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, in November this year even though it accepted it out of its domestic political compulsions.
4. France gives Rs 130m loan for Peshawar bus project
• The French government has decided to provide a soft loan of 130 million euros (Rs19.5 billion) for the Peshawar Sustainable Bus Rapid Transit Corridor Project.
• Economic Affairs Division Secretary Noor Ahmed, Ambassador of France Marc Barety and Country Director of the French Development Agency (AFD) Jacky Amprou signed the credit facility agreement here on Tuesday.
• The Executive Committee of National Economic Council had approved the revised PC-1 of the project in November last year, while the federal cabinet accorded approval to the signing of the agreement with the AFD early this month. The AFD and Asian Development Bank have cofinanced the project.
• The revised cost of the project is Rs66.437bn ($593m), including foreign exchange component of Rs53.32bn shared by the ADB and AFD. The project will contribute to the government`s strategy to resolve the issues of urban transportation.
• It will provide safe, efficient and comfortable user friendly mass transit system, which will be well integrated with the existing transport facilities. It will also help in improving energy efficiency and air quality through reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
5. Agreement signed for $3bn deposit from Abu Dhabi
• The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on January 22, 2019 signed an agreement with Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) for $3 billion to be deposited in the SBP account.
• The announcement came from the Foreign Office which added that the funds `will help Pakistan achieve financial stability and overcome economic challenges.
• The central bank will release details possibly on January 23, 2019. The amount to arrive in the country within a week but no final details were available.
• The agreement was signed between SBP Governor Tariq Bajwa and ADFD Director General Saif Al Suwaidi at the latter`s headquarters in Abu Dhabi.
• If $3bn is placed in the SBP account, the amount could be utilised for foreign exchange payments. But the central bank will not transfer local currency equal to this $3bnto the government account.
6. Pakistan doubles its wheat contribution to Saare food bank
• Pakistan has doubled the quantum of wheat from 40,000 tonnes to 80,000 tonnes as its share for the `Regional Food Bank` maintained by the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
• Minister for National Food Security and Research Sahibzada Mehboob Sultan announced on January 22, 2019 at the 10th meeting of the SAARC Food Bank board in Islamabad. The meeting was to take place in December 2018 but was rescheduled to January 21 to 22. The food bank board`s last meeting was held in Kathmandu in September 2016.
• The SAARC region with 1.788 billion people has annual food grain requirement of 244 million tonnes and the total reserve represents 0.2 per cent of the total requirement though the reserve had jumped by 100 per cent from the 1988 stock to 486,000 tonnes in 2007.
• At the Islamabad meeting, the board formulated recommendations for operationalising the bank, and it was decided that the international development partners working in the region would also be engaged in this regard.
January 23, 2019: International Current Affairs
7. France, Germany sign friendship treaty
• The leaders of France and Germany signed a new treaty on January 22, 2019 to update their 1963 post-war reconciliation accord, aiming to reinvigorate the European Union`s main axis as growing euro-sceptic nationalism tests the bloc`s cohesion.
• At a ceremony in the German border city of Aachen, a historic symbol of European concord, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron sought to show they can provide fresh leadership for the troubled EU project.
• But some analysts doubt that France and Germany can still lead an EU that has grown to 28 members with diverse and often conflicting interests and priorities.
• The two leaders want the 16-page Aachen Treaty, negotiated over the past year to update the 1963 Elysee Treaty, to give an impulse to European unity that has been strained by Brexit, immigration and the euro zone crisis.
8. US aid cuts hit Palestinians, further dimming hope for peace
• Tens of thousands of Palestinians are no longer getting food aid or basic health services from America, U.S.-funded infrastructure projects have been halted, and an innovative peace-building program in Jerusalem is scaling back its activities.
• The Trump administration’s decision last year to cut more than $200 million in development aid to the Palestinians is forcing NGOs to slash programs and lay off staff as the effects ripple through a community that has spent more than two decades promoting peace in the Middle East.
• The U.S. government’s development agency, USAID, has provided more than $5.5 billion to the Palestinians since 1994 for infrastructure, health, education, governance and humanitarian aid programs, all intended to underpin the eventual creation of an independent state. Much of that aid is channeled through international NGOs, which were abruptly informed of the cuts last summer and have been scrambling to keep their programs alive.
January 23, 2019: Sports Current Affairs
9. S. Africa beat Pakistan to level ODI series
• Hendrick Rassie van der Dussen and Andile Phehlukwayo guided South Africa to a series-levelling win in a roller-coaster second one-day international against Pakistan at Kingsmead on January 22, 2019.
• The pair came together when South Africa were 80 for five in reply to Pakistan`s 203. They put on an unbeaten 127 as South Africa won by five wickets with eight overs to spare.
• Van der Dussen, 29, playing in his second one-day international, made an unbeaten 80 after scoring 93 on debut in South Africa`s five-wicket defeat in the first match in Port Elizabeth.
• Phehlukwayo was named man-of-the-match after two career-best performances.He took four for 22 in Pakistan`s innings and then scored 69 not out.
10. Kohli first to win three ICC awards
• India captain Virat Kohli became first player in history to win three major ICC awards and was also named skipper of both ICC Test and ODI teams of the year on January 22, 2019.
• Kohli was named cricketer of the year and won the Sir Garfield Trophy, was named best Test player of the year and also ODI player of the year after his extraordinary batting form in 2018.
• The 30-year-old Kohli scored 1,322 runs at an average of 55.08 with five centuries in 13 Tests. He also scored 1,202 runs in 14 ODIs that featured six centuries and came at an astonishing average of 133.55.
• Kohli became only the second player after Australian great Ricky Ponting to retain the prestigious Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy given to the cricketer of the year.