Day by Day Current Affairs (July 11, 2018) | MCQs for CSS, PMS, NTS

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July 11, 2018

1. 13 killed in first major terror attack on election campaign

• In the first incident of terrorism targeting the ongoing election campaign, 13 people, including Awami National Party (ANP) senior leader and provincial assembly candidate for PK-78 Haroon Bilour, were killed and 34 others injured when a blast targeted a corner meeting of the party at around midnight
• The police said the blast took place in the Yakatut area of the city, where Mr Bilour was attending the corner meeting. However, the officials had not immediately ascertained the nature of blast.
• Mr Haroon was ANP`s provincial information secretary and son of ANP stalwart Bashir Ahmed Bilour, who was killed in a suicide attack in December 2012.
• Earlier a terror alert was issued by National Counter Terrorism Authority warning of attacks on politicians, most of them belonging to KP including ANP chief Asfandyar Wali Khan.
• Haroon`s uncle, Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, had survived a suicide attack.

2. ECP takes unprecedented step, suspends local govts till polling day

• In an unprecedented move, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has suspended all the local government functionaries across the country till the July 25 elections.
• `The provincial governments shall ensure that the normal functions of sanitation and cleanliness may not affect during the period of suspension,` a notification issued on July 10, 2018.
• It points out that the ECP is charged with the constitutional duty to organise and conduct elections in terms of Article 218 of the Constitution, and to make such arrangements that the election is conducted honestly, justly, fairly and in accordance with the law and corrupt practices are guarded against.
• The ECP had earlier barred the local government functionaries from taking part in election campaign of candidates.

3. PM cancels auction of historic Mercedes Benz 600 Pullman

• After cancelling the auction of a historic Mercedes Benz 600 Pullman, caretaker Prime Minister Justice Nasirul Milk has decided to place it in a museum.
• The Prime Minister`s Office was set to auction off the car on June 22 but when the matter was brought to the attention of the caretaker prime minister, he ordered for the cancellation of the auction and directed that the historical car be placed in a museum.
• The car in question has remained in use of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and former president Ziaul Haq.
• In May this year, during the PML-N government, the Prime Minister`s Office had advertised that it will auction the Mercedes Benz 600 Pullman 1970 on June 22.
• In their letter, the car enthusiasts pleaded that the car is one of the most expensive, sought after cars in the world and has been popular with world renowned celebrities and politicians including Leonid Brezhnev, Shah Mohammad Raza Pahlavi and King Khalid of Saudi Arabia.
• Most of these cars are now displayed in museums around the world and the particular model owned by the government is a long wheelbase door Pullman of which only 304 were made, they said.

4. China pledges $20b in loans to Arab states

• China will provide Arab states with $20 billion in loans for economic development, President Xi Jinping told top Arab officials July 10, 2018, as Beijing seeks to build its influence in the Middle East and Africa.
• The money will be earmarked for “projects that will produce good employment opportunities and positive social impact in Arab States that have reconstruction needs,” said Xi, without providing further details.
• It is part of a special Chinese programme for “economic reconstruction” and “industrial revitalisation,” Xi told participants at a China-Arab States forum in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.
• Beijing is also prepared to provide another one billion yuan to countries in the region to “build capacity for stability maintenance,” Xi said, using a term commonly associated with policing and surveillance.
• Since taking office, Xi has overseen a concerted effort to expand Chinese influence in the Middle East and Africa, including the construction of the country’s first military base in Arab League state Djibouti.
• China has already provided vast sums to Arab countries, with Djibouti alone owing some $1.3 billion, according to estimates from the US-based China Africa Research Initiative.

5. ECP gives extended powers to army

• The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has given enormous powers, including some relating to election processes, to army personnel to be deployed for election duties like never before.
• In certain situations, the army personnel deployed outside or inside the polling station for security reasons will act as monitor to watch the election processes, including even the conduct of the Presiding Officer and other election staff. Designated army personnel will also be given magistrate powers, which when used could not be questioned as have been linked with Article 245 of the Constitution.
• In certain pure election matters, the army personnel will act as partners to the election staff. For example, the Election Act 2017 says, “The Presiding Officer shall immediately take snapshot of the Result of the Count and, as soon as connectivity is available and it is practicable, electronically send it to the Commission and the Returning Officer before sending the original documents under Section 90.”

6. Swiss Consulate in Karachi shuts down on Dec 31

• The government of Switzerland is closing its consulate in the economic hub of Pakistan on December 31, 2018.
• The Swiss Embassy in Islamabad is taking over the consular activities of the representation in the port city. The Swiss governemnt has also decided to auction the consulate’s property in Karachi.
• The decision to shut down was made on a recommendation by the Foreign Ministry of Switzerland , which said the consulate general no longer provided consular services and had limited opportunities to promote Swiss business interests, trade and tourism. Meanwhile, business community has expressed its dismay over the closure of the consulate in Karachi terming it a bad decision.

7. Scientists find ‘world’s oldest’ biological colours

• Australian researchers have uncovered the world’s oldest biological colour in the Sahara desert, in a find they said Tuesday helped explain why complex lifeforms only recently emerged on earth.
• The pink pigments were produced by simple microscopic organisms called cyanobacteria more than 1.1 billion years ago, some 500 million years older than previous colour pigment discoveries. That makes the samples around “fifteen times older” than the Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur species, according to senior Australian National University researcher Jochen Brocks. Earth itself is about 4.5 billion years old and researchers said the latest find shed light on why more sophisticated plant and animal life only came into existence 600 million years ago.

8. 4-million-year-old exoplanet discovered

• Using a powerful telescope located in Chile, astronomers have discovered and characterised an extremely young exoplanet which is thought to be just 5.4 million years old.
• This exoplanet, dubbed PDS 70 b, with a mass equivalent to that of several Jupiters, is detected orbiting the star PDS 70 which is located 370 light-years from Earth, according to a new study to be published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. “The detection of a young protoplanet within the gap of the transition disk around PDS 70 opens the door to a so far observationally unexplored parameter space of planetary formation and evolution,” wrote the researchers

9. Fossil of first giant dinosaur discovered in Argentina

• They are the biggest animals to have walked the Earth, with some weighing as much as a space shuttle.
• However, it is unclear how dinosaurs grew to such massive proportions.
• A new dinosaur discovery from Argentina gives fresh evidence on the rise of the giants.
• The animal used a novel strategy to become super-sized, involving very fast growth spurts and efficient bird-like lungs, say palaeontologists.
• The fossil was found in the northwest of Argentina during a field trip. The scientists found four skeletons in all, one of a new species and three of related dinosaurs.
• The dinosaur dates back to the Triassic, about 47 million years before the iconic long-necked plant-eaters Diplodocus and Brachiosaurus appeared on the scene. It wasn’t as large, weighing about 10 tonnes. But its discovery is a surprise, coming so early in dinosaur evolution.

10. France beat Belgium in thriller, enter final

• Samuel Umtiti headed France into the World Cup final in Saint Petersburg on July 10, 2018 with a 1-0 win, consigning Belgium’s ‘golden generation’ to another bitter disappointment.
• France’s own supremely talented young squad will aim to make amends for defeat on home soil in the final of Euro 2016 in Sunday’s showpiece against England or Croatia.
• In a World Cup replete with set-piece goals, a corner again proved decisive when Umtiti timed his run perfectly to meet Antoine Griezmann’s delivery six minutes into the second half.
• France were thankful for fine saves from goalkeeper Hugo Lloris either side of half-time. Belgium’s Kevin De Bruyne warned Kylian Mbappe was ready to take the world by storm on the eve of the game and the most expensive teenager in the history of football showed why inside the first 60 seconds.