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 October 01, 2018: National Current Affairs

1. Indian army fires at AJK premier`s copter near LoC

• The Indian army opened fire at the helicopter of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider from a post when he was travelling to a village near the volatile Line of Control (LoC) on September 30, 2018.
• The prime minister was travelling with two ministers and his personal staff officer in the helicopter that narrowly escaped the attack near Abbaspur village.
• The incident took place in broad daylight when PM Haider was going to visit one of his cabinet members to condole the death of his brother.
• Only a day ago, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi while addressing the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York had highlighted the longstanding issue of Kashmir and held India responsible for terrorist attacks inside Pakistan.
• PM Haider said the incident took place at around 12:10pm.

2. Raja Jalal Hussain Magpoon sworn in as Gilgit-Baltistan governor

• Raja Jalal Hussain Magpoon of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) took the oath as the sixth governor of Gilgit-Baltistan on September 30, 2018.
• The chief judge of the GB Supreme Appellate Court, Javed Iqbal, administered the oath to Mr Magpoon during a ceremony held at the Governor House in Gilgit. GB Chief Minister Hafeezur Rehman, members of his cabinet, members of the GB Assembly, local leaders of the PTI and other officials attended the ceremony.
• Currently, GB is being ruled by the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz. The GB Assembly`s term will end in 2020.
• Mr Magpoon`s predecessor Mir Ghazanfar Ali Khan was appointed by the previous PML-N government at the Centre. Mr Khan had resigned after the PTI government asked him to quit the office of governor following the party`s victory in the July 25 general elections in the country.

3. Saudi team arrives, may sign four MoUs

• Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are expected to sign four memoranda of understanding (MoUs) for oil and mineral sector investment and trade cooperation that would ultimately extend the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) from Gwadar to Africa through Oman and Riyadh.
• The MoUs are planned to be signed on the conclusion of a four-day visit of Saudi delegation that arrived here on Sunday.
• The move will enable Islamabad to secure supply of petroleum products and crude oil on deferred payments and Riyadh will be looking into setting up of an oil refinery at Gwadar, invest in a copper and gold project in Balochistan`s Reko Dig and LNG-based power projects in Punjab.
• Led by the Minister for Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources, the visiting delegation would also have members from the Saudi national oil firm, Aramco, the sources said. Besides authorities of various ministries, state-run Pakistan State Oil (PSO) would be the only Pakistani firm to be part of a direct dialogue, the sources added.

4. KP Governor`s House opens to public

• The Governor`s House was opened to public here on September 30, 2018 and students of three government girls colleges were the first to visit the historic building and meet Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Shah Farman.
• The government had announced to open such historic government buildings to public and Sindh Governor Imran Ismail and then Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar welcomed public mostly female students of different public sector universities into the Governor`s House.
• Similarly, the KP governor also welcomed students of three government degree colleges into the Governor`s House.

5. New train from Lahore to Faisalabad

• A non-stop passenger train will start chugging between Lahore and Faisalabad while another express train will be leaving half-an-hour late from Lahore for Faisalabad from Monday (October 1, 2018).
• Comprising five or six economy, one each AC standard, AC parlour and AC business coaches, the Faisalabad Express (119-Up/120-Down) will cover the distance between Lahore and Faisalabad in two hours.
• The Faisalabad Express (119-Up) will be leaving Lahore at 8am daily to reach Faisalabad at 10am. The Faisalabad Express (120-Down) will depart Faisalabad at 2.30pm to reach Lahore at 4.30pm.
• The Badar Express (12-Down) will be departing Lahore at 9.30am to reach Faisalabad through Sheikhupura and Sangla Hills at 11.55am. Previously, the train was leaving Lahore at 9am to reach Faisalabad at 11.25am.

October 1, 2018: International Current Affairs

6. Merkel warns Trump against `destroying` UN

• German Chancellor Angela Merkel on September 30, 2018 warned US President Donald Trump against `destroying` the United Nations.
• `I believe that destroying something without having developed something new is extremely dangerous,` Merkel said at a regional election campaign event in Bavaria.
• The veteran leader a close ally of Trump`s bugbear Barack Obama while he was president added that she believed multilateralism was the solution to many of the world`s problems.

7. US `subsidising` Saudi, Asian militaries: Trump

• President Donald Trump complained that the US is `subsidising` the military of Middle East ally Saudi Arabia, as well as Japan and South Korea.
• The comment, at a West Virginia rally for local candidates of his Republican Party, follows similar jibes at European members of the NATO alliance.
• Saudi Arabia and Japan are major buyers of US-made weaponry, and the US provides intelligence and aerial refuelling support to a Saudi-led coalition fighting rebels in Yemen.
• Japan and South Korea host tens of thousands of American troops.

8. Paris names its first street after fashion designer

• In a city yet to name a back alley after Coco Chanel, Parisians stepped out on September 30, 2018 to do their organic shopping at a street market named after fashion designer Sonia Rykiel.
• Hours earlier the city’s mayor Anne Hidalgo — something of a fashionista herself — had declared Allee Sonya Rykiel open, with her label staging its Paris fashion week show between the twinkling lights of the market stalls.
• It is the first time the French capital has named any kind of thoroughfare after a fashion designer.
• “Sonia Rykiel gave us a taste for freedom, she was the most Parisian of Parisians,” said Hidalgo. Indeed, the designer opened her first shop a stone’s throw away in Saint Germain des Pres just as French students rose up in revolt in May 1968.

9. Low turnout as Macedonia votes on new name

• Macedonia`s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev voiced confidence that those who voted in national referendum have accepted the plan to rename the country and thereby end a decades-long spat with Greece.
• `I think the huge majority of the citizens who voted have chosen the European path for Macedonia,` the social democrat leader said, stopping short to explicitly announce the victory of the `yes` camp at a press conference held an hour after the polls closed at 7pm (1700 GMT).
• Two-thirds of voters stayed away from the polling stadons for the nonbinding referendum on whether to change the name of the country to `North Macedonia`.
• According to the electoral commission, a half an hour before the end of voting the turnout was less than 35 per cent.

10. White House adviser Conway says `I`m a victim of sexual assault`

• Kellyanne Conway, an adviser to President Donald Trump, said on September 30, 2018 that she was the victim of sexual assault and that women who survive such experiences should be heard.
• `I feel very empathetic, frankly, for victims of sexual assault and sexual harassment and rape,` Conway told CNN while defending the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, who has been accused of sexual assault by one woman and sexual misconduct by two other women. `I`m a victim of sexual assault,` Conway said.
• Conway and White House officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.