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September 19, 2019: National Current Affairs
1. Pakistan denies use of airspace to Modi
• Pakistan has decided not to grant India`s request for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to use its airspace for his flight to Germany in the last week of September.
• Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said in a video statement that the decision had been made keeping in view of the situation in Indian occupied Kashmir.
• A request was received from India that Prime Minister Modi for his flight to Germany seeks to use Pakistani airspace on Sept 20 and for return flight on 28, said the foreign minister.
• India has made a formal request to Pakistan to allow the use of its airspace for Indian PM Narendra Modi`s VVIP flight to Germany on his way to the US and back. At the conclusion of his US visit, Modi will address the United Nation General Assembly on September 27. Prime Minister Imran Khan will also address the global forum on the same day. Earlier this month, Pakistan had refused to grant permission and clearance to Indian President Ram Nath Kovind to use its airspace during an official trip to Iceland.
2. Evaluation criteria for Govt servants approved
• The federal cabinet has approved new evaluation criteria for federal government employees based on recommendations made by Dr Ishrat Husain, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms and Austerity, who also heads the Institutional Reforms Cell.
• In order to enhance the efficiency of the federal government, Prime Minister Imran Khan is in contact with each minister to monitor performance of their ministries.
• Under the new criteria Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) have been created for all federal government employees driven by a set of objectives and targets mutually agreed by the officer and the supervisor. The KPIs will be measurable and verifiable and they will help determine if desired goals have been achieved or not.
3. Privatisation of Balloki, Haveli power plants approved
• The Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCOP) approved on September 18, 2019 a hybrid option for the privatisation of RLNG-based 1,223MW Balloki and 1,230MW Haveli Bahadur power plants being managed by the National Power Parks Management Company (NPPMCL).
• Chairing the committee meeting, Finance Adviser Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh directed the Ministry of Privatisation to complete the bidding process by the end of December.
• Under the approved plan, if the highest bidder for both plants remains the same, the bidder would be offered to buy the combined entity and in case the highest bidder for both plants is different, the demerger would become a `Condition Precedent` (CP) to `Transaction Closing`.
• It also approved inclusion of State Life Insurance Company, Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) and part of Lahore Electric Supply Company in `active list` of privatisation programme.
• The meeting removed Telephone Industries of Pakistan (TIP) from the privatisation programme in view of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication`s plan to revive it through a joint venture.
September 18, 2019: International Current Affairs
4. Trump names hostage negotiator O`Brien national security aide
• President Donald Trump on September 18, 2019 named Robert O`Brien, his chief hostage negotiator and an established figure in Republican policy circles, as his new national security adviser.
• O`Brien, the fourth person in two years to hold the job, becomes the administration`s point person on national security amid rising tensions with Iran following the weekend attack on Saudi oil installations and fresh uncertainty in Afghanistan after the halt in peace talks with the Taliban.
• The announcement of O`Brien`s selection comes a week after Trump ousted John Bolton from the post, citing policy disagreements . O`Brien, who made headlines in July when he was dispatched to Sweden to monitor the assault trial of American rapper A$AP Rocky, was among five candidates Trump said on Tuesday were under consideration.
5. US imposes more curbs on Iran, Saudis show attack `evidence`
• US President Donald Trump on September 18, 2019 said he ordered a major increase in sanctions on Iran as Saudi Arabia displayed remnants of drones and missiles it said Tehran used in a crippling weekend attack on its oil facilities.
• Trump gave no explanation in a brief Twitter posting announcing the order, but the initiative follows repeated US assertions that the Islamic Republic was behind Saturday`s attack on the kingdom, a close US ally.
• Iran, however, again denied involvement in the Sept 14 raids, which hit the world`s biggest crude processing facility and initially knocked out half of Saudi production.
• `They want to impose maximum … pressure on Iran through slander, Iran`s President Hassan Rouhani said.
6. NY Times ends Spanish-language operation
• The New York Times is shutting down its Spanish-language service called NYT en Espanol, saying it was not “financially successful.” The service launched in 2016 had included around 10 “high-quality original and translated” New York Times stories a day in Spanish.
• “We launched NYT en Espanol as part of an experiment to reach and engage more international readers by extending our coverage to different languages,” the newspaper said in a statement.
• “While the Espanol site did attract a new audience for our journalism and consistently produced coverage we are very proud of, it did not prove financially successful. Our strategy is now focused on our subscription-driven core news report for a global audience.” The Times said that editors “will continue to translate signature journalism into more than a dozen languages — including Spanish,” following the shutdown of the service
7. UN chief calls for respect for human rights in IOK
• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres September 18, 2019 underscored the need for respecting human rights in Indian Occupied Kashmir, which is under repressive lockdown for over six weeks now, and urged India and Pakistan to find a solution to the grave crisis through dialogue.
• Responding to a question from a Pakistani journalist at his crowded press conference marking the start of the General Assembly’s 74th session, he said he would continue to advocate for the peaceful settlement of the decades-old Kashmir dispute.
• The question he was asked was about the important statement he made after India scrapped occupied Kashmir’s special status on August 5 and followed up by blocking communication access and has imposed curfews to thwart any protests by the oppressed people. In that statement the UN chief said, “The position of the United Nations on this region is governed by the (UN) Charter…and applicable Security Council resolutions”. Today, he was asked that Kashmiris continue to suffer under the military lockdown and there has been no change in the situation and no movement towards an India-Pakistan dialogue and how he intended to bring it about.
8. EU MPs slam India for denying rights to Kashmiris
• Members of the European Parliament strongly censured the Indian government’s continuous obduracy in denying the Kashmiris their fundamental right to self-determination as guaranteed by the United Nations Security Council resolutions.
• According to Kashmir Media Service, in a special debate of the plenary of the European Parliament held at Strasbourg, France on the issue of Kashmir after 12 years, members of the European Parliament demanded immediate lifting of lockdown, restoration of normalcy, fundamental rights, communication blackout, freedom of movement and release of political prisoners in the Indian-occupied Kashmir.
• Council of the European Union’s Tytti Tuppurainen who read out a statement on behalf of the vice-president of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, on the situation in Kashmir, said India’s steps on August 5, continued to violate the fundamental human rights in the Occupied Kashmir
9. First measurements of ‘interstellar comet’
• Astronomers are gathering measurements on a presumed interstellar comet, providing clues about its chemical composition.
• The object, C/2019 Q4 (Borisov), is only the second interstellar object ever identified, after ‘Oumuamua, which was spotted in 2017. Telescopes across the world are being trained on the object.
• Early results suggest its make-up might not differ that much from comets in our cosmic neighbourhood.
• One expert told the BBC that the object was about to become one of the most famous comets in history.
• The team used the Osiris instrument at the 10.4m Gran Telescopio Canarias in La Palma, Spain, to obtain visible spectra – measurements of sunlight reflected by Borisov.
• By studying these spectra, scientists can draw conclusions about its chemical composition, including how it might differ from comets that were “born” around the Sun.
10. World’s tallest residential building has 112th floor penthouse
• Thrill-seekers (and billionaires) will get the chance to live in the world’s tallest residential building from next year.
• Those who are scared of heights should look away now – Central Park Tower on so-called Billionaire’s Row in New York City’s Manhattan district has 112 floors and reaches 1,550 feet (472 metres).
• It will overtake the world’s current tallest residential building, 432 Park Avenue, which is 0.6 miles (97 metres) away, by 152.5ft (46.5 metres).
• With views of Central Park and landmarks like the Chrysler Building and the George Washington Bridge, owners of the 179 flats will literally be able to reach for the sky.
