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 October 13, 2018: National Current Affairs

1. Ready to boost security ties with UK: COAS

• Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on October 12, 2018 said that Pakistan is ready to take its bilateral relationship with the United Kingdom to the “next level” for mutual benefit as the country moves towards enhanced stability.
• “Pakistan is moving steadily towards enhanced stability and is ready to take Pakistan-UK bilateral security relationship to the next level for mutual benefit, and in other fields of common interest,” the COAS told his British counterpart Chief of Defence Staff General Sir Nicholson Carter.
• Discussions with his UK counterparts touched on the bilateral bond created by the Pakistani diaspora in Britain and the two country’s shared interests in global politics and economics.
• The army chief who is on an official visit to United Kingdom has discussed evolving global geo-political and geo-economic environment, security environment and cooperation.

2. Unregistered mobile phones to become unusable after 20th: PTA

• The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) announced on October 12, 2018 that the long-anticipated Device Identification, Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS) would become functional on October 20 after which all unregistered mobile phones would become unusable.
• The DIRBS is an indigenous solution aimed to combat the use of smuggled or counterfeit sets which either serve to reduce tax revenues for the state or pose health problems to unsuspecting consumers.
• The technology will help the authorities counter the issue of counterfeit devices that adversely affects the government, mobile phone operators, distributors and consumers, according to Mr Dogar.

3. Pakistan terms SCO vital to achieving peace, stability

• Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has highlighted the importance of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) as a vital platform to achieve the objectives of peace, security and stability across Eurasia.
• He underscored the need for upholding peace in an increasingly tense international environment, a Foreign Office statement issued on October 12, 2018 said.
• The foreign minister stated this while participating in the sessions of the 17th meeting of the Council of Heads of Government (CHG) of the member states of SCO at Dushanbe in Tajikistan on the invitation of Tajik Prime Minister Qohir Rasulzoda.
• Mr Qureshi conveyed greetings of Prime Minster Imran Khan to all leaders participating in the meeting.
• He emphasised on cooperation among the SCO countries in the field of multilateral trade and removal of tariff and nontariff barriers.

4. GB schools, colleges affiliated with federal education board

• The Gilgit-Baltistan cabinet on October 11, 2018 approved affiliation of schools and colleges with the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Islamabad.
• The cabinet also approved Food Bill, 2018, under which a food authority would be set up in GB. The meeting was held here with Chief Minister Hafeezur Rehman in the chair.
• The cabinet approved hydropower policy and imposition of federal government electricity laws in the region.
• The chief minister has constituted a committee headed by law minister Aurangzeb Khan to prepare recommendations in this regard within four weeks.
• The cabinet also approved upgradation of Chorbat as a subdivision of Ghanche district, Miniarg of Astore and Goharabaf of Diamer.

5. National Water Council to mull over strategy to end inter-provincial rifts

• The government has decided to call the first meeting of the National Water Council led by Prime Minister Imran Khan in the last week of this month to set water sector targets for the country and resolve inter-provincial disputes.
• The country`s first-ever National Water Policy approved by the Council of Common Interests (CCI) in April this year required the creation of a National Water Council to address the country`s water issues, including development of reservoirs.
• Headed by the prime minister, the council also includes the four chief ministers and the federal ministers for water resources, finance, power and planning and development. The group will also include five private sector water experts. The prime minister of Azad Kashmir and the chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan are required to attend the council meetings as well.
• A host of water sector issues and future challenges will be discussed, including the allocation of 1,200 cusec water for Karachi.
• When Sindh`s case for the 1,200 cusec water supply to Karachi came up before the CCI meeting, most of the members of the CCI particularly the representatives of the other three provinces opposed the proposal.

6. Anti-terror court issues death warrants for Zainab`s killer

• An anti-terrorism court issued death warrants on October 12, 2018 for the execution of Imran Ali, who was sentenced to death on four counts in the rape and murder case of seven-year-old Zainab of Kasur.
• `You are required to hang Imran Ali by neck until he be dead at central jail, Lahore, on Wednesday, 17th day of October, and to return this warrant to this court with and endorsement certifying that sentence has been executed,` ATC judge Sajjad Ahmad ordered the jail superintendent.
• All appeals by the convict against his sentence had been dismissed by the Lahore High Court and the Supreme Court. President Dr Arif Alvi also rejected the mercy petition of the convict on Oct 10.
• The ATC had on Feb 17 this year awarded death sentence on four counts to Imran Ali, 24, following a four-day jail trial at Kot Lakhpat Central Jail. The death penalty was awarded under four different laws sections 364-A (kidnapping a person under the age of14), 376 (rape), 302-B (murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code and section 7 (creating terrorism by his act) of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.
• The court had further awarded life imprisonment to the convict under section 377 of PPC (unnatural offence/sodomy) and seven-year jail term under section 201 of PPC (dumping the body).

October 13, 2018: International Current Affairs

7. US to review Chinese debt before decision on Pakistan`s loan request

• The United States said that it will examine closely Pakistan request for a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), adding that `part of the reason that Pakistan found itself in this situation is Chinese debt`.
• State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said: `In all cases, we examine that closely from all angles of it, including Pakistan`s debt position, in evaluating any type of loan programme`.
• Ms Nauert also blamed Pakistan`s loan arrangement with China for the country`s economic woes.
• Recently, a bipartisan group of 16 US senators claimed in a joint statement that China`s Belt and Road Initiative, which also funds projects in Pakistan, was a debt-trap. The recipients often found themselves deeply in debt to China and were forced to make painful concessions, they warned. In an interview to a US television network CNBC in July, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the United States would not allow Pakistan to use the US taxpayers` dollars to repay China.

8. Plane lands in US after world`s longest flight

• An Airbus jetliner arrived in Newark on October 12, 2018 after a nearly 18-hour trip from Singapore, completing the world`s longest commercial flight.
• It marked the revival of a route that had been eliminated in 2013.
• Singapore Airlines Flight SQ22 arrived at 5.29am (0929 GMT), having left Singapore`s Changi airport at 11.23pm on October 11, 2018.
• That made for a flight of 17 hours and 52 minutes.
• The flight had been scheduled to take 18 hours and 25 minutes.
• The plane carried 150 passengers and 17 crew members as it travelled 10,250 miles (16,500 kilometres).

9. S. Africa`s apartheid-era foreign minister dies

• Former South African foreign minister Roelof `Pik` Botha, whose long career in government straddled both the apartheid era and the presidency of Nelson Mandela, has died aged 86, on October 12, 2018.
• Botha served as foreign minister for 17 years until the end of apartheid in 1994, and then joined Mandela`s cabinet after the end of white-minority rule and the country`s first non-racial election in 1994.

October 13, 2018: Sports Current Affairs

10. Youssef crowned FMC squash champion

• Egypt`s Youssef Soliman stunned Ivan Yuen of Malaysia to win the final of the FMC International Men`s Squash Championship in Lahore on October 12, 2018.
• The 21-year-old Youssef, ranked 48th in the world, spent 50 minutes on the court to overpower Yuen, ranked 40th,8-11,11-6, 11-8,9-11,11-8.
• It is Youssef`s seventh international title as left-handed Yuen again f ailed to win a final despite qualifying for it for the fifth time. The latter has won the title just once so far.