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July 15, 2019
1. TCC open to negotiated settlement with Pakistan
• Tethyan Copper Company (TCC) said on July 14, 2019 it`s willing to discuss the potential for a negotiated settlement with Pakistan over an almost $6 billion damages case decided in its favour.
• An arbitration tribunal of the World Bank`s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) awarded about $5.9bn in damages to TCC in arbitration claims it filed against Pakistan following the denial of a mining lease for the Reko Dig project in Pakistan in 2011.
• Tethyan Copper Company is a joint venture held equally by the Antofagasta plc and Barrick Gold Corporation, one of the world`s mining giants.
• Damages include compensation of $4.087bn by reference to the fair market value of the Reko Dig project at the time of the mining lease denial, and interest award of $1.753bn. The tribunal also awarded TCC just under $62 million in costs in curredin enforcing its rights.
2. Pakistan to witness partial Moon eclipse on July 16-17 night
• The world will be able to witness a partial lunar eclipse on 16 and 17 July in many parts of the world including most parts of Pakistan.
• According to Pakistan Meteorological Department all phases of partial moon eclipse will be visible in the country.
• The eclipse will also be visible from much of Europe, much of Asia, Australia, Africa, North America, South America, Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean and Antarctica, according to reports.
• Penumbral eclipse will begin at 23:44 PST (on 16th July, 2019), while partial eclipse will begin at 01:02 PST on 17th July, 2019, the met office said.
• The entire lunar eclipse will begin at 02:32 PST, while the partial eclipse will end at 04:00 PST, the weather department said.
• During a lunar eclipse, the Earth casts a shadow on the Moon.
3. Bangladesh ex-dictator Ershad dies at 89
• Bangladesh’s former military dictator HM Ershad, who seized power in a 1982 coup and ruled until 1990, has died aged 89.
• He was the leader of the opposition in the current parliament.
• Ershad assumed power as the military chief in 1982 and declared himself president the following year. He later floated his own Jatiya Party and won a controversial election in 1986.
• Ershad was born in 1930 in Coochbehar district of West Bengal state in then British India. His parents migrated to present-day Bangladesh, which was then a part of Pakistan, in 1948, after the end of British colonial rule in the Indian subcontinent.
4. Qatar opens biggest coast guard base
• Qatar inaugurated its largest coast guard base on July 14, 2019 as a stand off between Iran and the United States continues to boost tensions in strategic Gulf waters.
• Qatar, a key US ally in the region, is home to Washington`s largest Middle East military base.
• Malloy, commander of the US Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain, said the new base was `a wonderful opportunity for us to interface more strongly with the Qatari coast guard`.
• Tensions in the Gulf through which nearly a third of the world`s oil is transported have spiked in recent weeks, with the US blaming Iran for multiple attacks on tanker ships in the region and Tehran shooting down an American drone.
5. Israeli city ends park ban seen as racist by Arab citizens
• An Israeli city will end a selective closure at one of its parks that Arab citizens said was a racist policy meant to keep them out after a court decision on July 14, 2019.
• The northern city of Afula had decided to keep the park open only to its residents during the summer school holiday, saying that as the facility was funded from municipal funds its residents should be prioritised.
• Israeli Arab rights group Adalah however said that the move was aimed at keeping out Arab residents of nearby towns and the Arab city of Nazareth and it filed a lawsuit to overturn the ban.
6. UK envoy wrote Trump pulled out of Iran deal to spite Obama: report
• Britain`s ambassador to Washington believed US President Donald Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal because it was associated with his predecessor Barack Obama, according to leaked documents published on July 13, 2019.
• `The administration is set upon an act of diplomatic vandalism, seemingly for ideological and personality reasons it was Obama`s deal, ambassador Kim Darroch wrote in a diplomatic cable in May 2018.
• The cable was included in a second batch of leaked reports published by the Mail on Sunday newspaper, the first of which caused Darroch to resign earlier this week.
• Separately, the Sunday Times reported that a government investigation into the leak had identified a civil servant as the person responsible.
• Working with officials from the National Cyber Security Centre, partof spy agency GCHQ, and MI6, the probe has homed in on a suspect who had access to historical Foreign Office files, the paper said.
• The first leaked cables authored by Darroch were published last weekend, causing major turmoil between Britain and its closest ally.
7. Rouhani says Iran ready to talk if US lifts sanctions
• Iran is ready to hold talks with the United States if Washington lifts sanctions and returns to the 2015 nuclear deal it quit last year, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in a televised speech on July 14, 2019.
• US President Donald Trump`s administration says it is open to negotiations with Iran on a more far-reaching agreement on nuclear and security issues.
• But Iran has made any talks conditional on first being able to export as much oil as it did before the United States withdrew from the nuclear pact with world powers in May 2018.
• `We have always believed in talks …
• if they lift sanctions, end the imposed economic pressure and return to the deal, we are ready to hold talks with America today, right now and anywhere,` Rouhani said in his Sunday speech.
8. England Crowned Cricket World Champions
• England won their maiden Cricket World Cup title in dramatic circumstances on July 14, 2019 at historic Lord’s Cricket Ground.
• The match went into a Super Over, following a tie in the final after Eoin Morgan’s side finished on 241 all out in pursuit of New Zealand’s 241-8. The Super Over also ended in a tie but England lifted the trophy due to a tie-break rule because they hit the most boundaries.
• England’s Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler took 15 off Trent Boult’s over. Jofra Archer bowled England’s over against Martin Guptill and Jimmy Neesham, who smashed a six off the second ball. With two runs required off the final ball, wicketkeeper Jos Buttler and Jason Roy combined to run out Guptill as he came back for the second. Both sides finished on 15 so England won due to a tie-break rule because they hit more boundaries.
• After defeats in previous finals against Pakistan in 1992, Australia in 1987 and the West Indies in 1979, it was a cathartic moment for English cricket. Morgan and his team-mates were cheered to the rafters by the ecstatic capacity crowd at Lord’s as they joined Bobby Moore’s 1966 footballers and Martin Johnson’s rugby union team of 2003 as England’s World Cup winners.
9. Djokovic beats Federer to win 5th Wimbledon title
• Novak Djokovic became the first man in 71 years to win Wimbledon after facing match points in the final, coming back to beat Roger Federer in an unprecedented fifth-set tiebreaker July 14, 2019.
• By barely emerging to win 7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 13-12 (3) after nearly five tight, tense and terrific hours, Djokovic claimed his fifth championship at the All England Club and second in a row. “Unfortunately in these kinds of matches,” Djokovic said, “one of the players has to lose.”
10. Hamilton clinches record sixth British Grand Prix title
• Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton hailed his home fans after celebrating a record sixth British Grand Prix win on July 14, 2019 and stretching his lead over luckless Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas to 39 points.
• Bottas, on pole position, finished a distant second after a safety car period turned the race decisively in Hamilton`s favour by handing the home favourite a free pits top in a thrilling race.
• It was Hamilton`s seventh win in10 races this season and 80th of his career.
• The five-times world champion, now on 223 points to Bottas`s 184, also banged in a late fastest lap, on a set of tyres that had already done 301 aps,to secure an extra point.
