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 March 4, 2018 (Day by Day Current Affairs)

1. PML-N gains Senate control amid surprise PPP showing

• As the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz won the expected 15 seats in Senate elections on March 3, 2018 after having suffered a major setback in Balochistan, the Pakistan Peoples Party pulled off a surprise win on 12 seats which with the likely support of independent candidates may further allow it to consolidate its position in the upper house.
• According to unofficial results, 15 candidates backed by the PML-N, 12 Pakistan Peoples Party, 10 independent, 6 PTI, 2 candidates of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and National Party each, one candidate from each of the MQM, Jamaat-i-Islami and PML-F returned successful on the 52 of the 104 Senate seats.

2. Saudi crown prince sets off on maiden foreign tour

• Saudi Arabia`s crown prince lands in Egypt on March 4, 2018 on the first leg of his maiden foreign tour as heir to the throne, a diplomatic charm offensive that follows his stunning rise to power.
• Prince Mohammed bin Salman`s two-day visit to Cairo comes ahead of a scheduled trip to Britain for talks with Prime Minister Theresa May and the United States from March 19-22.
• The son of Saudi King Salman is already seen as the country`s de facto ruler controlling the major levers of government.

3. Pakistan elects first female Dalit senator

• Pakistan elected its first female senator from the lowest Dalit caste over the weekend, in polls which also saw the ruling party strengthen its hand ahead of general elections.
• Opposition candidate Krishna Kumari Kohli´s surprise victory stirred a wave of optimism on social media, as Pakistanis celebrated the rare win for a woman from a marginalised community that lies at the bottom of the Hindu caste hierarchy.
• Pakistan´s Hindus make up around two percent of the country´s 200 million people

4. Bahria Masjid Quran gallery opens to public

• A new gallery featuring some rare handwritten copies of the Holy Quran as well as rare collection of Ahadith and books on Fiqh has been opened to general public at the Bahria Town’s Grand Jamia Masjid.
• The display is unique as it showcases more than 50 handwritten copies of Holy Quran, with some estimated to be 300 to 700 years ago. In the gallery, dozens of original images of Holy Kaaba, Masjid-e-Nabvi and other holy places captured in early 1900s have also been put on display.
• A copy of handwritten Holy Quran on canvas by calligrapher Muhammad Ayub of Agra, India, is another hallmark of the Grand Jamia Masjid’s Quran Gallery.

5. PAF achieves another significant milestone

• Pakistan Air Force (PAF) achieved a significant milestone, when its No 88 Search & Rescue Squadron was re-equipped with AW-139 (Augusta Westland) helicopters on March 3, 2018.
• With the induction of this state-of-the-art helicopter on its inventory, this Search & Rescue Squadron has been renamed as No 88 Combat Support Squadron and Advanced Helicopter Training School

6. E-libraries established in 20 districts of Punjab

• The Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) and Youth Affairs, Sports, Archaelogy and Tourism Department (YASAT) have established e-libraries in 20 districts of the province.
• A central digital library has been established at the PITB data centre to provide online access to full text of e-books, e-journals, e-theses, online reference collections, Nobel laureate collections, documentaries, simulated videos and other local and international resources. A Union Catalogue of Libraries in Punjab has also been developed to facilitate sharing of resources across Punjab.
• The libraries are focused to promote e-reading and e-learning culture, and to provide the avenues to general public for networking, exchange of views, open access to free online resources and limited access to members for subscribed resources, engage the youth and players in healthy activities

7. N Korea threatens to ‘counter’ US over military drills

• North Korea threatened on March 3, 2018 to “counter the US” if the United States holds joint military exercises with South Korea, and said it would not beg for talks with Washington.
• The United States is due to start joint exercises in early April, a South Korean presidential security adviser said this week according to Yonhap news agency – the latest in a series of drills that the north has regularly described as a threat.

8. Egyptian court finalises islands transfer to Saudi Arabia

• Egypt’s top court on March 3, 2018 dismissed all outstanding legal challenges to a deal transferring two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, a day before a visit by its crown prince.
• The plan to cede the islands to Riyadh, an ally which has given billions of dollars in aid to Egypt, was announced in 2016 and became mired in political protest and legal action.
• The Supreme Court ruled that no other court had jurisdiction over the matter, blocking two opposing verdicts – one by the Supreme Administrative Court, which was against ceding control of the islands of Tiran and Sanafir, the other by the Court of Urgent Matters, which looked to void that decision.

9. First Poland Holocaust law complaint targets Argentina paper

• An Argentinian newspaper has become the first outlet to be targeted by Poland’s controversial new Holocaust law, after a nationalist group filed a case hours after the legislation went live.
• The law, which went into effect on Thursday, sets fines or up to three years in jail for anyone ascribing “responsibility or co-responsibility to the Polish nation or state for crimes committed by the German Third Reich”.
• The main aim is to prevent people from erroneously describing Nazi German death camps in Poland, such as Auschwitz-Birkenau, as Polish.

10. China pledges friendship with Taiwan

• China wants to deepen friendship with Taiwan, the ruling Communist Party’s fourth-ranked leader said on March 3, 2018, a day after state media warned China could go to war over Taiwan if a US bill promoting closer ties with the island becomes law.
• China has been infuriated over the bill, telling Taiwan it would only get burnt if it sought to rely on foreigners, adding to the warnings from state media about the risk of war.
• The legislation, which only needs President Donald Trump’s signature to become law, says it should be US policy to allow officials at all levels to travel to Taiwan to meet their Taiwanese counterparts, permit high-level Taiwanese officials to enter the United States “under respectful conditions” and meet with US officials.

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