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November 07, 2019: National Current Affairs
1. Inflation clocks in at 11pc in October
• Prices of seasonal essential goods continued to rise as inflation clocked in at 11 per cent in October 2019 from a year ago, reported the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on November 6, 2019.
• Inflation, measured through the Consumer Price Index (CPI), edged up by 1.8pc over the previous month after the PBS revised its calculation methodology by setting the new base year 2015-16 instead of the previous 2007-08 financial year.
• The change in base year means the economy`s price levels in FY16 will now be the base against which all existing prices will be calculated for the CPI.
• Based on the new base year, October inflation came in at 11.04pc, versus 11.4pc in the previous month.
2. World powers welcome Kartarpur initiative
• Top world powers – the United States, China and Russia – have hoped that the Kartarpur corridor between Pakistan and India will help ease the Pak-India tension that has endangered the regional peace.
• The US, China and Russia had supported Pakistan’s gesture to open the Kartarpur corridor for the Sikh community.
• “They all believe it will help defuse the (Pak-India) tension and gradually revive the dialogue process,” said one official, citing the regular government-level contacts.
• Three powers had urged Pakistan to persist with the positivity to move forward. “They have acknowledged our efforts so far to maintain peace (in the region). Apart from these powers, we have received messages from around the world. They (the whole world) have supported our struggle for peace
3. WB to launch livelihood project in Balochistan
• The World Bank will assist the Balochistan government in launching a livelihood and entrepreneurship project aimed to create employment opportunities for rural communities and achieve sustainability of enterprises in eight districts, including the five affected by the prolonged presence of Afghan refugees.
• Rates of poverty in the eight districts of northern Balochistan namely, Zhob, Chagai, Nushki, Sherani, Killa Saifullah, Killa Abdullah, Pishin and Mastung are high since long and the presence there of refugees for about 40 years, has put an unsustainable strain on resources of the province.
• A World Bank report says that the $50 million project expected to be approved next month by the bank`s executive board, includes grant assistance worth $35m from the International Development Association (IDA) and another of $15m from MDTF, the World Bank-administered trust fund for crisis-hit areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan
4. Bapsi, Kamila, Mohsin on BBC list of influencing writers
• Three Pakistani writers, Bapsi Sidhwa, Kamila Shamsie and Mohsin Hamid, have been included in BBC`s list of 100 novels that shaped the world.
• Sidhwa`s Ice Candy Man, Hamid`s novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist are featured in the `Crime & Conflict` category while Shamsie`s Home Fire is included in the `Politics, Power & Protest` category.
• The works have been organised into themed categories, such as identity, adventure and love, sex and romance.
• Modern works such as Bridget Jones`s Diary and His Dark Materials made the cut along with classics like Pride & Prejudice and Middlemarch
5. Mahira Khan appointed UNHCR national goodwill ambassador
• UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, announced on Wednesday that Pakistani actress Mahira Khan has been appointed a UNHCR national goodwill ambassador.
• Ms Khan had been supporting UNHCR activities for a few years and spoke about Afghan refugees in Pakistan prior to this appointment.
• At the appointment ceremony in Islamabad on Wednesday, Ms Khan said: `I feel privileged to have been chosen to serve this noble cause.
• UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Operations George Okoth-Obbo, Minister of State for States and Frontier Regions Shehryar Khan Afridi, UNHCR Director of the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific Indrika Ratwatte, UNHCR Representative in Pakistan Ruvendrini Menikdiwela and other guests attended the ceremony
6. Xi, Macron unite on climate after US withdraws from Paris pact
• Chinese leader Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron declared on November 6, 2019 that the Paris climate pact was `irreversible` showing a united front after Washington formally withdrew from the accord this week.
• The joint declaration came at the end of Macron`s second visit to China, which started on Monday in Shanghai and included talks on trade and the Iranian nuclear issue.
• The French leader also said he told Xi there was a need for dialogue to resolve months of unrest in Hong Kong ignoring Beijing`s prior warning that such sensitive topics should not be on the agenda. But Xi and Macron found common ground on climate change.
• Major powers expressed regret and concern after President Donald Trump went ahead with the pullout from the Paris accord despite mounting evidence of the reality and impact of climate change
7. Extinction Rebellion wins court challenge to London police ban
• Extinction Rebellion climate change activists won a legal challenge in London`s High Court on November 6, 2019 against a police-imposed blanket ban on protests during its `Autumn Uprising` in the British capital in October.
• The court said separate gatherings, even if coordinated by one organisation, could not be defined as a single `public assembly` and the officer who set the ban was not present at the scene.
• Therefore barring any Extinction Rebellion protest in London other than at Trafalgar Square was unlawful and would be quashed, it said.
• Extinction Rebellion blocked roads, targeted financial institutions, sprayed paint on the government`s Treasury and disrupted transpon during two weeks of direct action.
8. Democrats defeat Trump-backed Kentucky governor, take hold of Virginia legislature
• US Democrats claimed an upset win in Kentucky on November 5, 2019 over a Republican governor backed by President Donald Trump and seized control of the state legislature in Virginia, where anti-Trump sentiment in the suburbs remained a potent force.
• The outcomes of elections in four states, including Mississippi and New Jersey, could offer clues to how next year`s presidential election could unfold, when Trump will aim for a second four-year term.
• In Kentucky, Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear, whose father, Steve, was the state`s last Democratic governor, scored a narrow victory over Governor Matt Bevin despite an election-eve rally headlined by Trump.
9. Turkey captures slain IS leader al-Baghdadi’s wife: Erodgan
• Turkey has captured a wife of the slain leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said November 6, 2019.
• Erdogan made the announcement while delivering a speech in the capital of Ankara but gave no other details. He did not say when or how the woman was captured or identify her by name.
• Al-Baghdadi was known to have four wives. One of his aides has said he the shadowy IS leader had four wives, the maximum number he can have at one time under Islamic law.
• “We caught his wife, but we didn’t make a fuss about it. I am announcing this today for the first time,” Erdogan said, while criticizing the United States for leading a “communications campaign” about Baghdadi’s slaying
10. Facebook reveals privacy flaw in Groups
• US-Facebook says it has discovered a new privacy flaw on its platform that lets some app developers access data in Groups that they should not have. The social network restricted how much information app developers could gather from Groups, following the Cambridge Analytica data scandal.
• But it said about 100 developers had retained access to Group data, such as people’s names and photos.
• Facebook did not say how many members had been affected by the flaw.
• Like other social networks, Facebook provides an application programming interface (API) that lets app developers connect their own creations to Facebook.
• But in 2018, it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica had harvested the personal data of millions of people by creating a personality quiz on Facebook – and used the data to target political advertising.
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November 2019:
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October 2019:
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