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 September 29, 2018: National Current Affairs

1. Army chief, PM discuss security

• Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa called on Prime Minister Imran Khan and discussed `security and regional stability situation` with him on September 28, 2018.
• Director General of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt Gen Naveed Mukhtar accompanied the army chief during his third visit to PM House since the assumption of office by Imran Khan on Aug 18.
• A statement issued by the PM office said `security and regional stability situation` were discussed in the meeting.
• Threats emanating from New Delhi and the state of preparedness of the armed forces to respond to any misadventure also came under discussion. This was the first meeting between the PM and the COAS after India backtracked on its commitment for foreign ministers` talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York.
• Gen Bajwa had first visited the PM on Aug 27 when the civil and military leadership expressed their resolve to bring about enduring peace in the country and continue to make efforts towards regional peace.

2. Japan pledges $2.7m aid for repatriation of Afghan refugees

• The Japanese government will donate $2.7 million to support the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees` programme in Pakistan, said a statement issued on September 28, 2018.
• The donation was announced two days after the visit of Japanese Ambassador Takashi Kurai to the UN voluntary repatriation centre at Azakhel in Nowshera district.
• It said Ambassador Kurai and UN Agency Country Representative in Pakistan Ruvendrini Menikdiwela would sign an agreement in this regard on Oct 3.
• The ambassador visited the repatriation centre at Azakhel and interacted with the refugees who got their documents processed. Officials said the ambassador was briefed about the registration process and management of the refugees in Pakistan.
• Afghan director general of the commissioner Waqar Maroof while briefing the ambassador said the repatriation process would be suspended ahead of winter in the host country. He said the repatriation process would resume in March 2019.

3. Six promoted to lieutenant general rank

• Six Major Generals of Pakistan Army have been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General.
• The promoted General Officers include Maj Gen Shaheen Mazhar, Maj Gen Nadeem Zaki Manj, Maj Gen Abdul Aziz, Maj Gen Asim Munir, Maj Gen Adnan and Maj Gen Waseem Ashraf.
• On the hand, some star generals including Commander Peshawar Corps and Director General are due to retire next month.
• In June, Pakistan Army’s Promotion Board had also approved promotion of 37 brigadiers, including nine from the Army Medical Corps to the rank of major general

4. War with India not an option, says Qureshi

• War with India is not an option, says Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, as a senior US official urges Pakistan to work for promoting peace in South Asia.
• Mr Qureshi said the new government had inherited strained relations with two key countries India and the United States and was working to improve ties with both.
• In an interview to BBC Urdu, US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells said that peace in South Asia was key to the region`s prosperity and urged Pakistan to work for it.
• Referring to Prime Minister Imran Khan`s July 26 peace offer to India, Mr Qureshi said that seeking a constructive dialogue with India was a key component of the new government`s policies. `What we did…we thought made sense. Two neighbours with outstanding issues, atomic powers. How do you fix things? War is no option. There is no military solution: the only solution is a dialogue,` he emphasised.

5. Ch Ahmad Saeed passes away

• Former PIA managing director/ Chairman Chaudhry Ahmad Saeed died on September 28, 2018. He was around 80.
• Mr Saeed died of cancer in a private hospital of Karachi.
• Mr Saeed remained PIA MD (2001-03) and chairman (2003-05) during the Musharraf regime. He was the brother of former defence minister Ahmad Mukhtar

September 29, 2018: International Current Affairs

6. India`s top court lifts Hindu temple ban on women of menstruating age

• India`s Supreme Court lifted a ban rooted in a centuries-old tradition that prevented women of menstruating age from entering a prominent Hindu temple in southern Kerala state, upholding rights to equality of worship.
• The authorities at the Sabarimala temple, which attracts tens of millions of pilgrims every year, have said the ban on women and girls aged from 10 to 50 was essential to the rites related to the temple`s chief deity Ayyappan, considered eternally celibate.
• In some Hindu communities, menstruating women are regarded as unclean, leading to restrictions and in a few cases outright bans on women of child-bearing age from entering certain places.
• Lifting the ban, the Chief Justice of India said `restrictions put by Sabarimala temple can`t be held as essential religious practice`.
• `No physiological and biological factor can be given legitimacy if it does not pass the test of conditionality,` Justice Dipak Misra said in the judgment.

7. Taliban meet Afghan officials in Saudi Arabia ahead of election

• Representatives from the Taliban met an Afghan government delegation in Saudi Arabia this week to discuss security ahead of next month`s parliamentary elections and a limited prisoner release, three Taliban officials said.
• The meeting comes less than a month before voters are due to go to the polls on Oct 20 to elect a new Afghan parliament, a process which has been hampered by fears of attacks on polling stations and campaign rallies.
• Ensuring the election passes off smoothly and without violence has been a top priority for the Afghan government and its international partners.
• `They requested us to help them conduct peaceful elections,` said one of the Taliban leaders.

8. World`s first human case of rat hepatitis found

• A Hong Kong man has developed the world`s first ever human case of the rat version of the hepatitis E virus, according to new research from one of the city`s leading universities.
• There had previously been no evidence the disease could jump from rats to humans, the University of Hong Kong said on September 28, 2018, warning the discovery had `major public health significance` `This study conclusively proves for the first time in the world that rat HEV can infect humans to cause clinical infection,` the university added.
• Rat hepatitis E virus is very distantly related to human hepatitis E virus variants, HKU said.
• The disease was found in a 56-year-old man who persistently produced abnormal liver function tests following a liver transplant.

9. Up to 50m Facebook accounts breached

• Facebook announced on September 28, 2018 that up to 50 million accounts were breached in a security flaw exploited by hackers.
• The leading social network said it learned this week of the attack that allowed hackers to steal `access tokens`, the equivalent of digital keys that enable them to access their accounts.
• Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said engineers discovered the breach on September 25, 2018, and patched it on September 27, 2018 night. `We don`t know if any accounts were actually misused,` he said.
• As a precaution, Facebook is temporarily taking down the `view as` feature described as a privacy tool to let user see how their own profiles would look to other people.
• The breach is the latest privacy embarrassment for Facebook, which earlier this year acknowledged that tens of millions of users had personal data hijacked by a political firm working for Donald Trump in 2016.

September 29, 2018: Sports Current Affairs

10. India beat BD in thriller, retain Asia Cup

• India retained the Asia Cup in Dubai on September 28, 2018 with a three-wicket win off the last ball against a fighting Bangladesh, who were anchored by a maiden hundred from opener Liton Das.
• India made heavy weather of a modest 223-run target as Bangladesh fought for every run before the title holders achieved victory off the last ball, watched by a capacity 25,000 holiday crowd.