WELCOME TO CSS TIMES DAY BY  DAY CURRENT AFFAIRS, YOUR BEST SOURCE FOR UP-TO-DATE AND DAILY TOP CURRENT AFFAIRS 2018 FOR PREPARATION OF CSS, PMS, BANKING, NTS, RAILWAYS AND ALL COMPETITIVE EXAMS.  “DAY TO DAY CURRENT AFFAIRS” BASICALLY IS TOP 10 NEWS SUMMARY ON CURRENT HAPPENINGS OF NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL IMPORTANCE FOR ALL EXAMINATIONS

 October 26, 2018: National Current Affairs

1. Pakistan eyes `integrated` deal with China

• Pakistan is seeking an integrated economic package from China envisaging financial support, increase in trade and investment and cooperation in agricultural research and will go ahead with an arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) among various other funding avenues.
• Announcing this at a joint news conference after a meeting of the federal cabinet, Finance Minister Asad Umar said the financing support package from Riyadh was not based on any conditions, adding that Pakistan would stand behind Saudi Arabia under difficult circumstances.
• The finance minister also formally announced an increase in power tariff after cabinet approval and responded to criticism over `indecisiveness and lack of planning` of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government over the past two months. He said it would have been easier to request for an IMF bailout and increase utility prices at the outset like previous governments, but that was not what his party had promised before coming to power.

2. Afghan Taliban say Mullah Baradar set free by Islamabad

• Afghan Taliban on October 25, 2018 said that their former deputy chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar had been set free by Pakistani authorities.
• `It is stated with great pleasure that former deputy of the Islamic Emirate Alhaj Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who had been imprisoned in Pakistan for the last nine years, was released from jail,` a Taliban spokesman said in a statement sent to media. It did not say when he was released and whether or not he had returned to Afghanistan.
• The statement noted that he was `healthy` and that `no compromise` had been made to secure his freedom.
• Mullah Baradar was the deputy head of the Taliban movement in Afghanistan at the time of his arrest in a joint ISI-CIA raid in Karachi in February 2010 and was believed to have then been working for apolitical settlement.
• Five years ago, even Pakistan had officially announced Sept 21, 2013, as the date for Mullah Baradar`s release. He was then supposed to be the first Taliban prisoner to be set free by Pakistan under the revised mechanism agreed between Islamabad and Kabul at the Chequers Summit for the release of the detainees associated with the Afghan insurgent group. There was then also talk about sending him either to Turkey or Saudi Arabia so that he could contribute to the talks` process. However, due to unknown reasons he was not released on that occasion.

3. JuD, FIF no more on list of banned outfits, court told

• The Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) and Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF) headed by Hafiz Mohammad Saeed are no more on the list of banned outfits after the presidential ordinance that proscribed the mundera UN resolution lapsed.
• During the hearing on October 25, 2018 of a petition filed by Hafiz Saeed, his counsel informed the Islamabad High Court that the presidential ordinance had lapsed and it had never been extended.
• The petitioner had challenged the ordinance under which his organisations had been banned for being on the watch list of the United Nations Security Council.
• In February this year, former president Mamnoon Hussain promulgated an ordinance amending the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, with regards to proscription of terrorist individuals and organisations to include entities listed by the UN Security Council in a move to declare JuD and FIF as proscribed groups.
• According to a list updated on Sept 5 on the National Counter Terrorism Authority`s website, 66 organisations have been banned in the country and JuD and FIF are not among them. However, the two Hafiz Saeed-linked organisations are `under watch by the ministry of interior` under Section 11-D-(1), read with Schedule-II of the ATA

October 26, 2018: International Current Affairs

4. Pentagon to send 800 troops to Mexico border

• The Pentagon is expected to deploy about 800 troops to the US-Mexico border, two US officials said on October 25, 2018, after President Donald Trump said the military would be used there to tackle a `national emergency.
• The active-duty troops would augment the 2,000 or so National Guardsmen already deployed to support operations on the border, and could come from multiple military bases around the US.
• Defence Secretary Jim Mattis was expected to sign orders at some point on October 25, 2018 for the new deployment.
• The troops would include doctors and engineers and would be used mainly to provide logistical support including tents, vehicles and equipment.

5. Rashid Rana`s work sold for Rs34m

• Artist Rashid Rana`s work, Red Carpet Series, fetched the highest price of Rs 34.4 million (200,000 pounds) among all art works by Pakistanis at an auction of modern and contemporary South Asian art at Bonham`s on October 24, 2018.
• The second highest winner among Pakistanis was an untitled work by the late Sadequain, which was sold for Rs 12 million (75,000 pounds), according to a press release..
• Other notable works sold were Abdur Rehman Chughtai`s The Saqui for 48,000 pounds and a drawing by Gulgee for 5000 pounds.
• Rashid Rana holds the record for the highest priceever paid _ $623,000 _ for a work of art from Pakistan.
• Despite his acclaim on the international stage, he remains virtually unknown at home.

6. Ethiopia`s first woman president

• Ethiopian lawmakers on October 25, 2018 unanimously elected the country`s first female president, days after approving one of the world`s few `gender-balanced` cabinets.
• Seasoned diplomat Sahle Work Zewde succeeds Mulatu Teshome in the largely ceremonial post.
• `In a patriarchal society such as ours, the appointment of a female head of state not only sets the standard for the future but also normalises women as decision-makers in public life,` the chief of staff for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said.

7. Scientists unveil revolutionary TB test, could save thousands of children

• Scientists on October 25, 2018 unveiled a revolutionary way of screening children for tuberculosis, which they say will prevent hundreds of thousands each year from contracting the world`s deadliest infectious disease.
• A multinational team based at the KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation in The Hague have developed a simple way of testing the stool samples of children under five.
• The method, which can be carried out in remote communities, would replace the current practice, which is invasive and normally only available in larger hospitals.
• An estimated 240,000 children die from tuberculosis every year. The disease is curable and rarely deadly in infants if diagnosed and treated in time.
• As many as 90 per cent of tuberculosis deaths in children are untreated cases. The current test relies on the patient providing a sample of sputum phlegm from the lower windpipe.
• The sample is then analysed by a special machine, which then gives a result.
• But as children under five cannot spit up sputum, doctors have to submit them to an invasive and painful procedure that often requires staying the night in hospital.

8. Japanese PM makes rare trip to China

• Japan`s Shinzo Abe and his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang commemorated the 40th anniversary of a friendship treaty on October 25, 2018, at the start of a rare trip to Beijing by the Japanese prime minister, who is seeking to repair frayed relations.
• Abe`s visit is part of a painstaking courtship aimed at winning over the world`s second economy after a disastrous falungout in 2012, when Tokyo `nationalised` disputed islands claimed by Beijing.
• Slowly defrosting relations have warmed rapidly in recent months as the two countries face down huge tariffs from US President Donald Trump, who is set on reducing American trade deficits with both countries.

9. Saudi govt admits Khashoggi murder premeditated

• Saudi Arabia acknowledged on October 25, 2018 that the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi appeared to have been premeditated, based on information from Turkey, as it sought to draw a line under the crisis.
• It was the latest twist in the shifting official narrative of the Oct 2 killing which US President Donald Trump has derided as `one of the worst cover-ups` in history.
• The Saudi public prosecutor said he was making the latest assessment on the basis of evidence supplied by Turkey which has been the source of the spate of grisly revelations about the government critic`s death that triggered an international outcry.
• After first insisting Khashoggi left the consulate unharmed, Saudi authorities said he was killed in an argument that degenerated into a brawl, then admitted he was murdered before finally accepting what Turkey had said virtually from the start that he was killed in a premeditated hit.
• As the Saudi public prosecutor made the new admission on October 25, 2018, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Riyadh still needed to provide answers to remaining questions, such as who ordered the hit and what happened to Khashoggi`s body.

October 26, 2018: Sports Current Affairs

10. Dwayne Bravo quits playing internationals

• West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo announced his retirement from international cricket on October 25, 2018.
• The35-year-old Trinidadian, who made his West Indies debut in 2004, played 40 Tests, 164 One-day Internationals and 66 Twenty20 Internationals. His last appearance for his country came in the shortest format against Pakistan in Sept 2016.
• `Today I want to confirm to the cricket world that I have officially retired from international cricket in all formats of the game,` he said in a statement. `After 14 years when I made my debut for the West Indies, I still remember that moment I received the maroon cap before walking onto the Lord`s arena against England in July 2004. The enthusiasm and passion I felt then, I have kept with me throughout my career.
• Bravo, known for his big hitting ability and a wide range of slower deliveries, ends his international stint with 2,200 runs at an average of 31.42 in tests.
• In ODIs, he finished with 2,968 runs at 25.36, while claiming 199 wickets at an economy rate of 5.41.