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October 15, 2019: National Current Affairs
1. British royal couple arrives on five-day trip
• Britain`s Prince William and Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton arrived on October 15, 2019 night on a five-day trip aimed at strengthening relations between the two countries.
• The royal couple was received at Nur Khan Airbase by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
• Two children in beautiful traditional dress presented bouquets of flowers to the royal couple. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge exchanged pleasantries with the children.
• It is the couple`s first trip to Pakistan. It is also the first royal visit to the country in 13 years. They are visiting Pakistan at the request of Britain`s Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
• The royal couple will during its stay in Pakistan meet President Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Imran Khan. They will also meet a number of leading Pakistani personalities at a reception on Tuesday. The couple will attend public events on youth empowerment and climate change.
2. CII ratifies 100 fatwas in support of polio vaccination
• The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) has validated around a hundred fatwas, also known as religious edicts, in support of polio vaccination, sparking hopes that religion-based resistance against vaccinations will decrease.
• According to a CII document available with Dawn, the council`s apex body unanimously decided to ratify fatwas by ulema in support of polio eradication.
• The document said that the CII was concerned that Pakistan was facing travel restrictions due to polio cases, and could face further financial problems in the future as such restrictions could be increased.
• This was the first time the government tried to seek the CII`s help in controlling the polio virus.
• `Since 2014, refusals against the polio vaccine began increasing on a religious basis due to which the polio programme began getting fatwas from religious scholars, madressahs and even from the Al-Azhar University in Cairo [stating] that the vaccine is not against Islam.
3. Pakistan offers Afghan MPs to benefit from its institute
• National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser has offered to help Afghan parliamentarians and parliamentary officials to enhance their capacity through the Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services.
• An important breakthrough in bilateral relations took place when Mr Qaiser met his Afghan counterpart Rahman Rahmani on the margins of the 141st assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Belgrade, said a press release received on October 14, 2019.
• The two sides decided to hold bilateral talks at the parliamentary level to promote cooperation and understanding as well as to evolve trust-based strategy for fostering people-to-people contacts.
• The Afghan speaker appreciated the efforts of the government and parliament of Pakistan for improving the state-of-affairs between the two countries.
4. Poultry farming initiative launched in KPK
• Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on October 14, 2019 launched the prime minister`s Backyard Poultry Initiative in the province under the National Agricultural Emergency programme.
• A statement issued here said around 1,000,000 chickens would be distributed to eligible families at subsidised rates in the province during the next four years.
• It said a unit comprising a rooster and five hens would be sold for Rs1,050 and 40,000 such units would be given away to families every year.
• Addressing a ceremony, the chief minister said his government had focused its attention on the development of the downtrodden segments of the society and the chicken farming initiative would help economically develop farmers, especially women.
October 15, 2019: International Current Affairs
5. Trio wins Nobel economics prize for work on poverty
• A trio of American economists on October 14, 2019 won the Nobel Economics Prize for their work in the fight against poverty, including novel initiatives in education and healthcare, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.
• Indian-born Abhijit Banerjee of the US, his French-American wife Esther Duflo a former adviser to ex-US president Barack Obama and Michael Kremer of the US were honoured `for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty,` the jury said.
• `This year`s laureates have introduced a new approach to obtaining reliable answers about the best ways to fight global poverty, the jury said.
• The science academy said that `more than 700 million people still subsist on extremely low incomes,` and that around five million children under the age of five still die every year from preventable or curable diseases.
6. Outsider Saied elected Tunisia`s president
• Kais Saied, a political outsider who is backed by Islamists and leftists and wants to remake national
politics, won a landslide victory in Tunisia`s presidential election on October 13, 2019. He hailed the result as a `new revolution`.
• Saied won 73 percent of the votes cast, according to preliminary official results released by the electoral commission on Monday, and turnout was 55 percent. His opponent, Nabil Karoui, had already conceded defeat.
• Saied`s victory is a stinging rebuke for a governing elite that has failed to improve living standards or end corruption since the 2011 revolution in the North African country that introduced democracy and ushered in the `Arab Spring`.
• Saied, a 61-year-old retired law professor, wants to introduce an experimental form of direct democracy. But he has no political party of his own and f aces big challenges including high inflation and unemployment
7. Mobile phones back in held Kashmir, but internet still down
• Mobile phone networks were restored in held Kashmir on October 14, 2019 after a 72-day blackout, authorities said, but the internet remains off-limits to the region`s seven million-plus people.
• India cut access to mobile networks in the restive Kashmir valley in early August citing security concerns as it scrapped the region`s semi-autonomous status and imposed a lockdown.
• The easing on Monday covers around four million post-paid mobile phone contracts, but only for calls and text messages. The internet is still unavailable both on cellphone and fixed line networks.
• Landlines were restored previously, although residents say connections are erratic.
8. 14pc of food lost world over before reaching retailer: report
• The State of Food and Agriculture 2019, a report published by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations on October 14, 2019, said that globally around 14 per cent of the world`s food is lost after harvesdngand before reaching the retail level, including through on-farm activities, storage and transportation.
• Losses and waste are generally higher for fruits and vegetables than for cereals and pulses at all stages in the food supply chain, with the exception of on farm losses and those during transportation in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia.
• The report highlights the need, and offers a new methodology, to measure carefully losses at each stage in the food supply chain.
October 15, 2019: Sports Current Affairs
9. Zimbabwe readmitted as ICC member after three-month suspension
• Cricket chiefs readmitted Zimbabwe as an International Cricket Council (ICC) member on October 14, 2019 following a three-month suspension over political interference.
• An ICC statement said the move followed a meeting in Dubai involving the Zimbabwe Cricket chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani and sports minister, Kirsty Coventry.
• `I would like to thank the Zimbabwe sports minister for her commitment to the reinstatement of Zimbabwe Cricket,` said ICC chairman Shashank Manohar. `Her desire to work in support of Zimbabwe Cricket was clear
10. Biles sets all-time medal record at gymnastics worlds
• Everyone counts Simone Biles` medals except Simone Biles.
• Winning her 24th and 25th world championship medals in beam and floor on October 14, 2019 put the United States gymnast top of the all-time medal charts for the championships.
• Biles won five gold medals this week. If she can repeat that at next year`s Olympics it would be a feat no female gymnast has managed at a single Games.
• But for Biles, it`s not about the statistics.
• `I can`t be more thrilled with the performance that I put out at this world championships,` she said.
• The medal record? `I`m not a number person.` Aged 22, she`s a hero to younger gymnasts who grew up watching her routines.
