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
September 9, 2018: National Current Affairs
1. CPEC top priority, Qureshi assures Chinese minister
- The government on September 8, 2018 said it would continue to accord top priority to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
- The assurance was extended to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi by his host Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who noted that his government saw it as a significant project for the socioeconomic development of the country.
- Mr Wang is on a three-day visit to Pakistan the first by a senior Chinese official since the Pakistan Tehreeki-Insaf-led government assumed office last month.
- The visit is meant to engage with the new government, re-emphasise the importance of bilateral ties and learn about its position on relations particularly with regard to CPEC.
- Diplomatic observers are taking a keen interest in the project because of the evolving regional situation in which new alignments are emerging. Pakistan and China, which have a longstanding relationship, are seen to be getting further closer.
2. Four more members to be inducted into federal cabinet
- Prime Minister Imran Khan has decided to expand his cabinet with the inclusion of four new ministers, taking the total number of cabinet members to 25.
- According to an official announcement by the Prime Minister Office, the four new members of the federal cabinet will be former Senate chairman Muhammed Mian Soomro, Syed Ali Haider Zaidi, Murad Saeed and Umar Ayub Khan.
- Mr Soomro will be made minister for privatisation, Mr Ayub is to be allocated the portfolio of energy and Mr Zaidi will assume the charge of maritime affairs ministry.
- However, the portfolio of Mr Saeed will be announced later, says the official announcement.
3. Cabinet okays reunification of health department
- The Punjab government has decided in principle to converge the bifurcated health department into a unified entity to improve governance, save resources and end culture of blame-game.
- It was bifurcated into specialised healthcare and medical education as well as primary and secondary healthcare departments by the last government in October 2015.
- The Punjab cabinet, which met under Chief Minister Usman Buzdar at his office, constituted a committee headed by health minister Dr Yasmin Rashid to debate the issue and come up with concrete recommendations for the reunification of the department. The law minister will also be included in the committee.
- The cabinet also decided to continue the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Transplant Institute and a committee was formed consisting of health and law ministers for suggesting measures to make the institution more effective.
4. Two ministers inducted into Balochistan cabinet
- Two ministers were inducted into the cabinet of Balochistan on September 8, 2018.
- They are Mir Asadullah Baloch of the Balochistan National Party-Awami (BNP-A) and Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran of the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP).
- Acting Governor Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo administrated the oath to the new ministers at a ceremony held in Governor House.
- With the induction of two more ministers the strength of the provincial cabinet has risen to 16, 12 ministers and four advisers to the chief minister.
- Mr Alyani can induct two more ministers and an adviser in to his cabinet, as according to the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, Balochistan`s cabinet can have 15 ministers, including the chief minister, and five advisers.
5. First tax recovery made under Panama Papers investigation
- Exactly two years after starting the exercise, the tax authorities have reported their first recoveries under the investigations into assets held by individuals named in the Panama and Paradise papers.
- Data from the Federal Board of Revenue, shows that the Karachi and Islamabad LTU have made the first recovery of tax since the start of the exercise.
- The FBR has recovered a total amount of Rs6.2 billion out of total demand created in 15 cases.
- The recovery of the remaining amount of Rs4.64bn remains under process.
- The break up shows that in six cases notices were issued to members of a single leading business family by the Islamabad LTU.
- The tax demand raised from the family was about Rs4.6bn out of which only Rs15m has been recovered from them.
- The single largest tax demand of Rs3.164bn was raised from a Karachi based individual, which has been recovered in full by the Karachi LTU.
- The second largest recovery of Rs2.691bn was made from another Karachi-based individual where the tax demand was also recovered in full, followed by another amount of Rs350m from a third individual also based in Karachi.
- In Sept 2016, the FBR Intelligence Directorate issued 444 notices to owners of the offshore companies mentioned in the Panama Papers.
September 9, 2018: International Current Affairs
6. Turkmenistan to double power exports, eyes Pakistani market
- Turkmenistan completed an upgrade of its largest electric power plant on September 8, 2018, which it hopes will help boost exports and eventually allow supplies to Pakistan, which would require the construction of a new transmission line.
- The Central Asian nation, which sits on the world`s fourth-biggest natural gas reserves, has been hit hard by the plunge in global hydrocarbon prices and is seeking to diversify exports in order to increase its hard currency earnings.
- Launching the upgraded gas and steam-turbine plant in the southern Mary province, Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said it would boost power exports by three billion kilowatt hours (kWh) from the current 3.3bn kWh a year.
- `In the future, we plan to build a gas turbine power plant on the Turkmen-Afghan border together with Japan`s Sumitomo,` he said. In addition to its current customers Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey Ashgabat plans to tap Pakistan`s market by building a power transmission line through Afghanistan, where it is already laying a gas pipeline in the same direction.
7. US govt misleading Americans on Afghanistan: report
- The US government misleads its public to justify the 17-year-old war in Afghanistan, routinely using inflated data to justify its stay, The New York Times reported on September 8, 2018.
- The report compares the US government`s data with those provided by various international aid agencies and with NYT`s own research and concludes that Washington does not want Americans to know the real situation in Afghanistan.
- While the US government says the Taliban control or contest 44 per cent of districts in Afghanistan, the NYT report claims that the insurgents actually control or contest about 61pc area.
- Since 2017, the Taliban have held more Afghan territory than at any stage since the American invasion in October 2001.
8. US to cut $25m in aid to hospitals serving Palestinians
- The United States plans to cut $25 million in aid to six hospitals primarily serving Palestinians in Jerusalem, a State Department official confirmed September 8, 2018.
- The official said the decision followed a President Donald Trump-directed review of assistance to the Palestinian Authority and in the West Bank and Gaza “to ensure these funds were being spent in accordance with US national interests and were providing value to the US taxpayer.”
- “As a result of that review, at the direction of the president, we will be redirecting approximately $25 million originally planned for the East Jerusalem Hospital Network. Those funds will go to high-priority projects elsewhere.”
9. Egypt sentences 75 to death
- An Egyptian court handed a five-year jail sentence to award-winning photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid on September 8, 2018 and confirmed death sentences against 75 people in one of the largest mass trials since the 2011 uprising.
- The same court that handed Shawkan a five year term on Saturday also confirmed death sentences initially issued in July against 75 defendants, including leaders of Morsi’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
- They include senior Brotherhood members Mohamed el-Baltagui, Issam al-Aryan and Safwat Hijazi.
- Of the 75 defendants facing the death penalty, 44 were in the dock while the rest were tried in absentia.
- Forty-seven were handed life sentences, while 347 were given 15 years in prison, and 22 minors received 10-year terms.
- Five-year terms were handed to 215 people. The court also sentenced Morsi’s son, Ossama, to 10 years in jail.
September 9, 2018: Sports Current Affairs
10. Pakistan qualify for SAFF Cup semi-finals after 13 years, beat Bhutan 3-0
- Pakistan made it to the SAFF Cup semi-finals for the first time since 2005 after they beat a struggling Bhutan side 3-0 at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka on September 8, 2018.
- The Green Shirts` status in the last-four was confirmed later when hosts Bangladesh were knocked out on goal difference after Nepal beat them 2-0 and went through to the semis courtesy goals by Bimal Gharti Magar and Nawayug Shrestha.
- Jose Antonio Nogueira`s men fared way better than their opponent s in their third and last Group `A` match after poor performances with the ball in their first two outings in the tournament.