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May 10, 2018

1. Senate committee clears three bills on child rights

• A parliamentary committee on May 9, 2018 cleared three bills calling for the protection of juvenile offenders, increasing punishments for child pornography and abuse and for the interests of street children.
• The Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights discussed the Juvenile Justice System Bill, 2018 first. The bill focuses on the disposal of cases through diversion and social integration of juvenile offenders.
• The bill was passed by the National Assembly in Feb this year and was introduced in Senate last month.
• The committee also approved the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2018 which calls for increasing punishments and fines for those involved in child pornography.
• The Women in Distress and Detention Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2018 was also cleared with the hope that the institution would finally become effective.

2. Pakistan joins WTO bloc to further free trade

• Pakistan joined a group of 41 developing and developed countries to support a multilateral trading system for global economic stability, prosperity and development.
• The rare block emerged in the wake of recent trade restrictive measures by US President Donald Trump.
• Pakistan`s Ambassador to World Trade Organisation (WTO) Dr Taugir Shah told that the country has played a key role to put together this group in support of a multilateral system.
• Pakistan is the founding member of the global system and played an important role in the past negotiations.
• Members include Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Benin, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Côte d`Ivoire, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Hong Kong China, Iceland, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Republic of Korea, Lao People`s Democratic Republic, Liechtenstein, Malaysia, Mali, Mexico, Republic of Moldova, Myanmar, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Qatar, Singapore, Switzerland, Thailand, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, and Viet Nam.

3. Pakistan stands with Iran on nuclear deal issue

• Pakistan May 9, 2018 supported Iran against the United States President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the historic nuclear deal.
• A foreign ministry statement issued said ‘arbitrarily rescinding’ such agreements “will undermine confidence in the value of dialogue and diplomacy in the conduct of international relations and the peaceful resolution of disputes.”
• Pakistan, the statement said: “believes that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action represents a very good example of a negotiated settlement of complex issues, through dialogue and diplomacy.”
• “We had welcomed the JCPOA when it was concluded and hope that all parties will find a way for its continuation, especially when the International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly verified Iran’s compliance,” it said.

4. 1,230MW Haveli Bahadur Shah power plant starts generation

• Minister for Power Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari May 9, 2018 announced that 1230MW RLNG based power project at Haveli Bahadur Shah had started generating power.
• He made this announcement while chairing the 116th meeting of Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) held here.
• The minister for power said that 1230MW project at Haveli Bahadur Shah has world’s highest plant efficiency rate of 62.5 percent and is a great achievement of current government, made possible by the relentless efforts by the Power Division, PPIB, NPPMCL and other key players.
• The minister expressed that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has greatly served Pakistan in securing self-reliance in power sector while its full scale implementation would deliver fruitful results in every nook and cranny of our country.

5. Senate approves 156 recommendations on Finance Bill 2018

• The Senate, which resumed discussion on the budget for the next fiscal year on May 9, 2018, unanimously approved 156 recommendations on the Finance Bill 2018-19 which have sent to the National Assembly. The recommendations were moved by Chairman of the House on Finance Committee Senator Farooq H. Naek.
• The House recommended the tax rate of individuals on slab of Rs12,00,000 to Rs24,00,000, the tax rate be increased to ten per cent slab for Rs24,00,000 to Rs48,00,000, the tax rate be increased to 15 per cent and the slab for Rs48,00,000 and above be increased by 25 per cent.
• The House recommended to the National Assembly that in order to protect the dairy sector, tariff on import of Skimmed Milk Power should be increased from 45 per cent to 50 per cent.
• To encourage the use of solar energy, interest-free loans should be introduced for the installation of Solar Tube Wells for farmers owning up to 12 acres of land.

6. Mahathir-led bloc ends ruling party`s 60-year hold on power

• An alliance of Malaysian opposition parties led by the country`s 92-year-old former authoritarian leader Mahathir Mohamad won a parliamentary majority in a fiercely contested general election on May 9, 2018, ending the 60-year rule of the Malay-dominated National Front.
• Official results show the opposition parties, which banded together as the Alliance of Hope, surpassed the 112 seats needed for a majority in parliament.
• The result is a political earthquake for Malaysia, sweeping aside the government of Prime Minister Najib Razak, whose reputation was tarnished by a corruption scandal and the imposition of an unpopular sales tax.

7. North Korea frees three US detainees ahead of Kim-Trump summit

• North Korea has freed three American detainees, President Donald Trump announced on May 9, 2018, hailing a diplomatic victory ahead of a planned summit with Kim Jong-un.
• Pyongyang granted the three men `amnesty`, a US official said, and were on their way back to the United States with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
• Two of the men, agricultural expert Kim Hak-song and former professor Tony Kim were arrested in 2017, while Kim Dong-chul, a South Korea-born American businessman and pastor in his 60s, was sentenced to 10 years` hard labour in 2016.

8. East Asian powers back North Korea denuclearization

• East Asian powers on May 9, 2018 threw their weight behind breakneck diplomacy to rid North Korea of nuclear weapons, setting aside their differences on the process to endorse an intra-Korean deal.
• Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is hosting his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang and South Korean President Moon Jae-in as preparations for a summit between Washington and Pyongyang heat up. On May 9, 2018, top US diplomat Mike Pompeo was in Pyongyang to prepare for the summit, which builds on talks between the two Koreas and a deal signed in the truce village of Panmunjom last month.

9. Google unveiled an artificial intelligence tool

• Google unveiled on May 8, 2018 an artificial intelligence tool capable of handling routine tasks such as making restaurant bookings as a way to help people disconnect from their smartphone screens.
• Kicking off the tech giant`s annual developers conference, Google chief executive Sundar Pichai argued that its AI-powered digital assistant had the potential to free people from everyday chores.
• Pichai played a recording of the Google Assistant independently calling a hair salon and a restaurant to make bookings interacting with staf f who evidently didn`t realise they were dealing with artificial intelligence software, rather than a real customer.

10. Flying doctors group awarded top prize

• Amref Health Africa, a Kenya-based flying doctors group, was awarded on May 9, 2018 Spain’s prestigious Princess of Asturias award for international cooperation for their efforts “to respond to the needs of millions of people on the African continent”.
• “By means of this initiative, it has been possible to reach the most vulnerable and remotest populations that would not have regular access to health services, in particular, thanks to its flying doctors piloting light aircraft-ambulances,” the jury said in a statement.
• “This organisation also develops distance training programmes to strengthen local capacities in the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
• Based in Nairobi, Amref was founded in 1957 as the Flying Doctors of East Africa and claims to be the oldest and largest indigenous African health organisation.

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