Daily Top-10 Current Affairs MCQs / News (June 21, 2020) for CSS, PMS

WELCOME TO CSS TIMES DAY BY DAY CURRENT AFFAIRS, YOUR BEST SOURCE FOR UP-TO-DATE AND DAILY TOP CURRENT AFFAIRS 2020 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

June 21, 2020: National / International Current Affairs

1. Balochistan`s Rs465.5bn budget faces 19pc deficit

• Balochistan`s consolidate budget outlay of Rs465.5 billion for the next financial year faces a massive resource shortfall (deficit) of R s87.6bn which is about 19 per cent of the total size. An amount of Rs118.2bn has been set aside for the development programme.
• The budget proposes to create 6,840new jobs in the public sector and provide provincial services tax relief of Rs680 million to the businesses affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The government has also set aside Rs8bn for the disaster response fund established to fight off the impact of the health crisis and natural disasters and Rs2.5bn to acquire an air ambulance for shoring up emergency response.
• Additionally, the development programme has allocated Rs4.5bn to cope with the impacts of the Covid-19 crisis in the province

2. ADB signs $359m loan agreements for Sindh projects

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the government have signed two loan agreements amounting to $359 million relating to the bus rapid transit (BRT) project in Karachi and the Sindh secondary education improvement project.
• Secretary of Economic Affairs Division Noor Ahmed and ADB Country Director for Pakistan Xiaohong Yang signed the agreements here on Saturday. Minister for Economic Affairs Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar witnessed the signing of documents.
• For the development of 26.6km BRT Red Line corridor, the ADB signed financing agreement of $284m. The ADB has committed to providing $235m as loan while Green Climate Fund (GCF) will provide $37.2m as loan and $11.8m as grant for the BRT project. The project will feature innovative energy and climate resilience characteristics that will enhance access to quality public transport for the port city

3. Pakistan`s $2.41bn debt payments to be rescheduled

• Pakistan will reschedule $2.41 billion worth of debt repayments in 2020 under the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI).
• The initiative will help the country `enable an effective crisis response.
• Borrowers therefore commit to use freed-up resources to increase social, health, or economic spending in response to the [Covid-19] crisis,` the World Bank said in a statement accompanying the release of the country specific data on the rescheduling.
• Pakistan is the second largest beneficiary of the initiative following Angola

4. Mufti Naeem of Jamia Banoria passes away

• Mufti Mohammad Naeem, a prominent cleric, scholar and one of the founders of Jamia Banoria, died here on June 20, 2020 after suffering cardiac arrest, his family and the Jamia announced.
• They said the 62-yearold cleric had been suffering from cardiac disease for a long time. On Saturday evening, Mufti Naeem was being moved to a hospital after he complained of feeling unwell, but died on way to the hospital.
• He was born in 1958 and has been survived by wife, three sons and two daughters.

5. China says brawl with Indian troops occurred in its territory

• China has said the Galwan Valley high up in the Himalayan border region where Chinese and Indian troops engaged in a deadly brawl recently falls entirely within China, laying claim to the area as the Asian giants continued using military and diplomatic channels to reduce tensions.
• The confrontation in the Galwan Valley, part of the Ladakh region along the Himalayan frontier, was the deadliest in 45 years. India accused China of instigating the fight by developing infrastructure in the valley, which it alleged was a breach of the agreement of what area remained in dispute.
• Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said in a statement on Friday that the Galwan Valley is located on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control in the west section of the China-India boundary.

6. World Refugee Day 2020: UNHCR marks the day with `every action counts` theme

• Conflict, hunger and economic upheaval had displaced nearly 80 million people worldwide, half of them children, by the end of 2019 nearly twice as many as a decade ago, says the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
• The world body marked this year`s World Refugee Day with the message that `every action counts`, as it faces the challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic and record numbers of people forced from their homes by war and extreme weather.
• Refugees protest in Athens Around 2,000 people gathered across central Athens on Saturday to mark World Refugee Day and protest the Greek government`s policies for migrants

7. China to set up `security agency` in Hong Kong

• China will set up a `national security agency` in Hong Kong to oversee a forthcoming new law aimed at cracking down on dissent in the city, state media said on June 20, 2020.
• The new law also would override any existing Hong Kong laws that may conflict with it once it is implemented, Xinhua news agency said in a report detailing the draft legislation.
• The report followed the conclusion of a meeting in Beijing of China`s top law-making committee that reviewed draft provisions aimed at snuf fing out the pro-democracy movement that has rocked the semi-autonomous city.

8. `Ring of fire` solar eclipse to dim Africa, Asia

• Skywatchers along a narrow band from west Africa to the Arabian Peninsula, India and southern China will witness on June 20, 2020 a dramatic `ring of fire` solar eclipse.
• So-called annular eclipses occur when the Moon passing between Earth and the Sun is not quite close enough to our planet to completely obscure sunlight, leaving a thin ring of the solar disc visible.
• They happen every year or two, and can only been seen from a narrow pathway across the planet

9. Lenin statue unveiled in Germany

• A divisive new monument to Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin was unveiled in Germany on June 20, 2020, in the middle of a global row over the controversial background of historical figures immortalised as statues.
• More than 30 years after the post-World War II communist experiment on German soil ended, the tiny Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany (MLPD) installed Lenin`s likeness in the western city of Gelsenkirchen.
• A few hundred gathered for the ceremony, marked by fluttering red flags and the smell of grilled sausages

10. Poet Manzar Ayubi passes away

• A known name in Urdu literature and also a well-respected educationist, Prof Aziz Ahmed alias Manzar Ayubi passed away on June 20, 2020.
• Ayubi had a long teaching career, serving at different colleges across the province, while his last stint was at Karachi University`s Urdu department, from where he retire d as a professor only a few years ago.
• Well respected for his competence as a teacher, Ayubi was a prominent poet who managed to carve a niche in the genre of short poems. Many of his ghazals helped him gain distinction among fellow poets

Check our daily updated ‘s Complete Day by Day Current Affairs Notes

May 2020:
[catlist name=”May 2020″]

April 2020:
[catlist name=”April 2020″]

March 2020:
[catlist name=”March 2020″]

February 2020:
[catlist name=”February 2020″]

January 2020:
[catlist name=”January 2020″]