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June 26, 2019: National Current Affairs
1. Pakistan, EU sign new strategic engagement plan
• Pakistan and the European Union on June 25, 2019 inked their Strategic Engagement Plan (SEP), which is expected to provide the framework for greater cooperation and stronger ties between the two sides.
• The SEP was signed by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and EU High Representative Federica Mogherini at a ceremony in Brussels.
• The new strategic engagement plan for steering their bilateral relationship was agreed upon after protracted negotiations at the fourth round of Pakistan-EU strategic dialogue held in Islamabad in March.
• Addressing the EU`s Politicaland Security Committee, Mr Qureshi shared Pakistan`s perspective on regional security and hailed the new engagement, saying it would bring about qualitative change in ties.
• `The SEP will usher in a qualitatively new phase in our relationship, and further deepen this partnership through an all-encompassing framework of cooperation,` the minister said.
• The new security dialogue under SEP has replaced the earlier series of annual counterterrorism and non-proliferation and disarmament dialogues.
2. State Bank discontinues Rs 40,000 prize bonds
• The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in a circular issued on June 25, 2019 directed all commercial banks to stop selling Rs40,000 prize bonds from June 24 onwards.
• `National Prize Bonds of Rs40,000 denomination shall not be sold after June 24, and will not be encashed or redeemed after March 31, 2020,` said the SBP.
• The government has decided to freeze sales of these instruments after it was alleged that huge amounts of black money was used to buy these bonds as they also offer prize money worth millions.
• However, bond holders will have the option to either replace them with Special Savings Certificates (SSC) or Defence Saving Certificates (DSC), premium prize bonds through SBP field offices or National Bank of Pakistan, Habib Bank, United Bank, Allied Bank and Bank Alfalah Ltd or encash them at the face value.
• `Cash payment for encashments of bonds is not allowed … the bonds willonly be encashed by transferring the proceeds to the bond holder`s bank account` said the SBP.
3. Pakistan, three other countries got highest G20 coal subsidies
• Pakistan is one of four countries which received highest amount of G20 international public finance for coal-fired power plants in 2016-17, according to a report issued by a London-based think tank on June 25, 2019.
• Despite promising a decade ago to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, the world`s leading economies more than doubled subsidies to coal-fired power plants over three years, putting climate goals at risk, said the report by the Overseas Development Institute.
• Between 2014 and 2017, G20 governments more than halved direct support for coal mining, from $22 billion to about $10 billion on average each year.
• But over the same period, they boosted backing for coal-fired power plants-particularly supporting construction of the plants in other, often poorer nations from $17 billion to $47 billion a year, the report noted.
• China and Japan which will host a G20 summit later this week in Osaka were the biggest providers of public finance for coal-fired power plants, followed by South Korea and India, it said.
4. Traffic warden system launched in Battagram
• The traffic warden system was launched in the Battagram district here on June 25, 2019.
• In this connection, the inaugural ceremony was held in the police lines, where DIG Hazara Mohammad Ali Babakhel, DPO Abdul Rauf Babar Qaiserani, deputy commissioner Arshad Qayum Barki, district nazim Attaur Rehman Khan, and others were present.
5. Ahad Raza Mir wins award for Hamlet performance
• Actor Ahad Raza Mir has been awarded a Betty Mitchell Award for his portrayal of Hamlet in a theatre play.
• The Annual Betty Mitchell Awards aim to recognise excellence in Calgary`s Professional Theatre Community.
• Mir was recognised for his role in the play Hamlet: A Ghost Story in the 22nd edition of the awards in the `Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Drama` category.
June 26, 2019: International Current Affairs
6. US warns Turkey against buying Russian missiles
• The US envoy to Nato said on June 25, 2019 that Turkey will be axed from the high-tech F-35 fighter jet programme if it goes ahead with plans to buy Russian S-400 air defence missiles.
• US Ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchison said `there will be a disassociation with the F-35` if Nato member Turkey buys the Russian missile system, as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to do. Speaking on the eve of Nato talks in Brussels, Hutchison said `we cannot have the F-35 in any way affected by, or destabilised by, having this Russian system.` The United States and other Nato allies have repeatedly complained about the purchase, saying the S-400 is not compatible with other allied systems and represents a security threat, particularly to the F-35.
• But Hutchison said Turkey does not appear ready `to retract on the sale.` Indeed, Erdogan repeated on June 25, 2019 that Turkey had no intention of doing so.
7. Russian, North American astronauts return to earth
• The first crew to blast off to the International Space Station following a launch accident that deepened doubts over Russia`s space programme returned to earth safely on June 25, 2019.
• NASA astronaut Anne McClain, veteran cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko of Roscosmos, and Canadian Space Agency record-holder David Saint-Jacques emerged from the space craft to applause from support crews, after touching down near the Kazakh city of Dzhezkazgan.
• Arriving to warm conditions, Kononenkojoked that he was `happy to see any kind of weather` after coming back from space.
8. US border chief quits amid outcry over child detainees
• The chief US customs and border enforcement official is stepping down amid an uproar over the treatment of migrant children detained along the border with Mexico, US media reported on June 25, 2019.
• John Sanders will resign as acting commissioner of the Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP) in the coming weeks, The New York Times cited a federal official as saying.
• In a copy of a message to employees published by Axios, Sanders said his resignation is effective July 5.
• His departure comes amid mounting public backlash over alarmingly unsanitary conditions at an overcrowded migrant facility in Clint, Texas where the discovery of poor care and lack of access to showers or clean clothing prompted the relocation of 250 detained children.
9. UN warns of looming `climate apartheid`
• The world is on course for `climate apartheid`, where the rich buy their way out of the worst effects of global warming while the poor bear the brunt, a UN human rights report said on June 25, 2019.
• The report, submitted to the UN Human Rights Council by its special rapporteur on extreme poverty, Philip Alston, said business was supposed to play a vital role in coping with climate change, but could not be relied on to look after the poor.
• `An over-reliance on the private sector could lead to a climate apart held scenario in which the wealthy pay to escape overheating, hunger, and conflict, while the rest of the world is left to suffer,` he wrote.
• He cited vulnerable New Yorkers being stranded without power or healthcare when Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012, while `the Goldman Sachs headquarters was protected by tens of thousands of its own sandbags and power from its generator`.
June 26, 2019: Sports Current Affairs
10. Australia crush England to reach semi-finals
• Australia captain Aaron Finch hit a hundred before left-arm quicks Jason Behrendorff and Mitchell Starc shared nine wickets as the reigning champions thumped England by 64 runs at Lord`s on June 25, 2019 to book their place in the semi-finals of the World Cup.
• Finch made exactly 100 in a total of 285-7 before England slumped to 221 all out with 32 balls left.
• The recalled Behrendorff took 5-44 his first fivewicket haul in a One-day International while Starc became the leading bowlerat the tournament with 19 scalps thanks to a haul of 4-43.
• The host nation, bidding to win a first World Cup title, can still qualify for the semifinals but they are likely to need to beat at least one of India and New Zealand in their remaining two group games.
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