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May 25, 2018
- NA passes historic KP-Fata merger bill
- 31st constitutional amendment gets 229-1 votes
- JUI-F, PkMAP members tear copies, leave House in protest
- Fata will have one minorities, four women and 16 general seats in KP Assembly
- In a landmark development the National Assembly on Thursday passed a constitutional amendment, paving the way for the merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
- The 14th National Assembly in its last days managed to get the “Constitutional (31st amendment) Bill, 2018” passed with 229 votes in favour and only a single vote against.
- The new legislation also envisages amendment in article 246 and repeal of article 247 which place the tribal areas under the command and control of the president.
- US envoys treated badly in Pakistan, Pompeo tells Congress
- US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has informed the Congress that American officials are treated badly in Pakistan, adding that Washington released `far fewer funds` to Pakistan in 2018 and may give even less next year.
- The decision to raise the issue of mistreatment of US officials in Pakistan during a public hearing at the House Foreign Affairs Committee indicates that Islamabad`s once close relationship with Washington has almost ended and Pakistan is now treated as an adversary.
- Pakistan`s envoy meets Aafia at Texas prison
- Pakistan Consul General in Houston Aisha Farooqui has rejected rumours about Dr Aafia Siddiqui`s death as baseless and false, adding that she met Siddiqui on May 23, 2018 at a US federal facility.
- The two-hour meeting took place at the Federal Medical Centre, Carswell, which is a US federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas, for female inmates of all security levels with special medical and mental health needs.
- Recent rumours regarding Dr Aafia Siddiqui are completely baseless and false and are refuted. The Consul General met Dr Aafia in her prison cell inside the FMC Carswell complex. This was the Consul General`s fourth consular visit to Dr Aafia Siddiqui in the last 14 months.
- On Sept 23, 2010, a court in New York sentenced Dr Siddiqui, a neuroscientist, to 86 years in prison.
- Trump cancels summit with Kim, warns N. Korea against `foolish acts`
- US President Donald Trump on Thursday called off his planned June summit with Kim Jong Un, blaming `tremendous anger` and `hostility` from the North Korean regime and warning Pyongyang against committing any `foolish or reckless acts.
- In a letter to Kim, Trump announced he would not go ahead with the high-stakes meeting set for June 12 in Singapore, and would instead pursue Washington`s `maximum pressure campaign` through sanctions on Kim`s regime.
- Just before Trump announced the cancellation of the talks, North Korea declared it had `completely` dismantled its nuclear test site, in a carefully choreographed move portrayed by the isolated regime as a goodwill gesture ahead of the summit.
- Spy agency MI6 launches first-ever TV advert
- Britain`s MI6 launched its first TV advertising campaign on May 24, 2018 as part of a bid to cast off its macho James Bond image and recruit a more diverse workforce to the secret service.
- The brief commercial features a shark gliding through the waters of an aquarium in a shot deliberately intended to evoke the spy thriller genre.
- `We are intelligence officers but we don`t do what you think. It is not keeping your cool in the shark tank, it is picking up the silent cues that matter,` a voiceover intones.
- China gives Pakistan $1.6b credit line
- China has given Pakistan a credit line worth $1.6 billion to stave off a balance of payments crisis, two State Bank of Pakistan sources said on May 24, 2018, with cash earmarked for boosting fast-depleting foreign currency reserves.
- The credit facility that accompanies a currency swap agreement between SBP and China’s central bank has been hiked to 20b yuan ($3.13b) from 10b yuan.
- This arrangement has been finalized. Meanwhile, The People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, said May 24, 2018 it had extended a currency swap agreement with the State Bank of Pakistan. The swap is sized at 20 billion yuan (3.1b US dollars) or 351 billion Pakistani rupees, according to a statement from the bank.
- The two parties believe the extension will facilitate bilateral trade and investment to help economic development in the two countries.
- Venezuela’s Maduro sworn in for second six-year term
- Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro was sworn in May 24, 2018 for a second term as president of the crisis-wracked Latin American country, just days after winning an election boycotted by the opposition and decried abroad.
- Maduro swore “to respect and enforce the Constitution and lead all revolutionary changes” in a ceremony before the Constituent Assembly, which he set up himself last year and stacked with his supporters.
- The 55-year-old former bus driver was re-elected in a vote boycotted by the main opposition and widely condemned by the international community, including the United States, which denounced it as a “sham.”
- Lebanon’s Saad Hariri gets new term as PM
- Lebanese lawmakers designated Prime Minister Saad Hariri for a third term in office May 24, 2018, less than three weeks after elections that saw his movement lose ground in parliament.
- “The head of state summoned prime minister Saad Hariri and tasked him with forming a government,” said a statement by the office of President Michel Aoun.
- The presidency made the announcement after Hariri, 48, was endorsed by a vast majority of members of parliament after only a few hours of consultations. Hariri said in a statement that he would seek to form a new government as quickly as possible in order to implement some of the reforms pledged earlier this year to secure key foreign aid.
- Hariri has been prime minister since December 2016 and served his first term from 2009 to 2011. His father, who was assassinated in 2005, also served two terms between 1992 and 2004.
- UN chief calls for ‘total elimination’ of nuclear weapons
- The UN chief said May 24, 2018 the “total elimination” of nuclear weapons remained a UN priority, warning against a burgeoning new arms race.
- In a speech to students at Geneva University, Antonio Guterres presented a new disarmament agenda to face challenges emerging in a world where “Cold War tensions have returned.”
- “Today, the total elimination of nuclear weapons remains our priority,” he said, cautioning that long-championed global “efforts to achieve this goal are in state of severe crisis.”
- At the same time, around 15,000 nuclear weapons remained in stockpiles around the world, Guterres said.
- Malala elected Oxford college social secretary
- Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai is to help plan parties at her Oxford college, after being elected as a social secretary by her fellow students. The 20-year-old is currently finishing the first year of a degree at Lady Margaret Hall.
- She was chosen to join the Junior Common Room (JCR) Executive Committee in elections at the college last week
- Each Oxford College has a JCR committee to organise events and campaigns. Ms Yousafzai, who is studying politics, philosophy, and economics, will share the social secretary role with Tiger Akawin for the upcoming academic year.