Day by Day Current Affairs (April 08, 2020) MCQs for CSS, PMS

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April 08, 2020: National / International Current Affairs

1. Rs10bn released for utility stores

• The ministry of finance on April 7, 2020 released Rs10 billion for the Utility Stores Corporation (USC) as part of the government scheme to protect vulnerable sections of society from the current inflationary impact.
• USC Managing Director Omar Lodhi said in a statement that Rs50bn had been allocated for utility stores and out of it Rs10bn had been released by the finance ministry.
• He said because there was a significant difference between prices of different items in the open market and at utility stores the number of customers at the latter had increased remarkably.
• Due to subsidy on sugar it was being sold at Rs67 per kilogram at utility stores, whereas its price in the open market was above Rs80 per kg, he added

2. SC overturns high courts` orders on release of undertrial prisoners

• The Supreme Court on April 7, 2020 overturned the March 20 Islamabad High Court and March 26 Sindh High Court orders by recalling their directives to release under trial prisoners (UTPs) in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
• Consequently, the prisoners released in pursuance of these directives are required to be taken into custody again, except those falling within the categories suggested by Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan.
• Authored by Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed but announced by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, the SC judgement, however, made it clear that the observations made in the order would not cast shadow on pending or future cases.

3. Govt decides to enhance Covid-19 testing capacity

• A day after police crackdown on Quetta doctors protesting against unavailability of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), the federal Minister for Planning and Special Initiatives Asad Umar has said the Centre will start providing protective gear to hospitals directly.
• The supply would start on April 9 as the government considered health professionals the frontline heroes in the war against Covid-19, the federal minister told a press conference on Tuesday. Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza accompanied him.
• Mr Umar announced that the government had decided to enhance the coronavirus testing capacity from 6,584 to 25,000 tests a day by the end of April.

4. Balochistan govt extends lockdown till April 21

• The Balochistan government has extended the lockdown till April 21 as precautionary measures amid the fear of spread of coronavirus in the province.
• According to a notification issued on Monday night by the provincial home department, the lockdown is being extended due to a rise in the number of locally transmitted coronavirus cases in the province which is alarming and highly dangerous for the health of its people.
• `People are requested to follow the guidelines issued by the government and ensure that they don`t leave home unless necessary

5. FATF grants unexpected relief to Pakistan amid pandemic

• Pakistan on April 7, 2020 received an unexpected relief when it was given a five-month grace period by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to submit its performance report on 13 outstanding benchmarks for foolproof arrangements against money laundering and terror financing.
• `We have just received an intimation from FATF through the State Bank of Pakistan that our review scheduled for June 21-26 in Beijing has been postponed, a senior government official. The country`s performance would now be reviewed in October.

6. Japan to provide $250,000

• The Japanese government plans to provide a grant of $250,000 through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to Pakistan to curb the spread of coronavirus infections in the country.
• Japan`s assistance would be $2.45 million in total including the amount of $0.25 million through the IFRC, according to a press release issued by the Japanese embassy on Tuesday.
• With IFRC`s support, the Pakistani government would be strengthened in surveillance, contact tracing and screening, said the statement. It will also be equipped with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), medical consumables and medical equipment to prevent the spread of Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

7. Germany launches smartwatch app to monitor spread

• Germany`s public health authority launched a smartwatch app on April 7, 2020 in partnership with health tech startup to help monitor the spread of Covid-19 and analyse whether measures to contain the novel coronavirus pandemic are working.
• The app gathers vital signs from volunteers wearing smartwatches or fitness trackers including pulse, temperature and sleep to analyse whether they are symptomatic of the flu-like illness.
• Results will be represented in an interactive online map that would make it possible together with other data inputs for the health authorities and the general public to assess the prevalence of infections down to postcode level

8. State of emergency declared in Japan, but no lockdown

• Japan on April 7, 2020 declared a month-long state of emergency over a spike in coronavirus cases, ramping up efforts to contain infections but stopping short of the strict lockdowns seen in other parts of the world.
• The government has come under mounting pressure to tackle an outbreak that remains small by global standards but has raised concerns among Japanese medical experts, with warnings that local healthcare systems are already overstretched.
• Announcing the measures, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urged the Japanese people to draw on the sense of togetherness seen after the country`s devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown in 2011.

9. Taliban break off talks with Afghan government on prisoner exchange

• The Taliban on April 7, 2020 broke off talks with the Afghan government on a prisoner exchange, a main step in

peace talks being brokered by the United States after it agreed on a troop withdrawal pact with the militants.
• Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the insurgent group`s political office in Qatar, said on Twitter a technical team would not participate in `fruitless meetings` and the release of their prisoners was being `delayed under one pretext or another`.
• The late February pact between the United States and the Taliban, under which US-led international forces will withdraw in exchange for Taliban security guarantees, is the best chance yet of ending the 18-year war

10. US, Iraq to hold talks on troop presence

• The United States will hold talks with Iraq in June on the future of its troop presence in the country, whose parliament has voted to expel them, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on April 7, 2020.
• With Iraq increasingly becoming a proxy battleground between Iran and the United States, President Donald Trump has refused to pull the 5,200 US troops and earlier even threatened sanctions on Baghdad if it moved forward.

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