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

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August 21, 2020: National / International Current Affairs

1. Prime Minister unveils health insurance scheme for KP

• Prime Minister Imran Khan on August 20, 2020 inaugurated the Sehat Insaf Card (SIC) scheme for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under which deserving families would be provided insurance cover of one million rupees.
• Terming it a historic development, Mr Khan noted that KP would be the first province where every family would be given the health insurance facility.
• At a separate ceremony, the prime minister instructed the banks to simplify the process to apply for house-building loan to facilitate the low and middle income groups across the country.

2. All businesses to operate from 8am to 10pm

• All businesses will be allowed to operate from 8am to 10pm but clinics, pharmacies and groceries have been exempted from the timing, says an official handout.
• A decision to the effect was taken here on August 20, 2020 in a meeting held on the instructions of Chief Minister Usman Buzdar.
• Law Minister Raja Basharat chaired the meeting and Minister for Industries Aslam Iqbal, the chief secretary, additional chief secretary (home), the industries secretary and other respective officials were also present on the occasion.

3. 11pc Pakistanis have developed protective immunity: study

• A study conducted in 25 cities shows that almost 11 per cent of Pakistanis have developed protective immunity across the country against coronavirus.
• The `National Seroprevalence Study` was initiated in July this year by the Health Services Academy in collaboration with multiple partners, including Aga Khan University, and with technical support from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
• It is part of the WHO Unity Study being conducted simultaneously in 25 other countries, the Ministry of National Health Services said in a statement on Thursday.
• Seroprevalence studies are carried out with an objective to assess as to what percentage of population has developed protective immunity (antibodies) to the virus.

4. FM in China for strategic dialogue

• Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi August 20, 2020 flew to China on a two-day visit (August 20-21) to participate in the second round of China-Pakistan Foreign Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue.
• The FM is accompanied by senior officials, said a foreign ministry statement.
• Qureshi would lead Pakistani side in the dialogue to be held in Hainan, China, while Chinese side would be led by State Councillor and Foreign Minster Wang Yi. The first meeting of the dialogue was held in March last year, a Foreign Office press release said.
• During the dialogue, both the sides will, inter alia, discuss cooperation on COVID-19, bilateral relations and regional and international issues of mutual interest

5. Senate Chairman addresses 5th World Speakers Conference

• Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani on August 20, 2020 said that parliamentarians can steer parliamentary action towards ensuring inclusive and sustainable economies that deliver well-being and justice for all.
• Addressing the 5th World Speakers Conference – attended by parliamentary leadership from around the world – through a virtual link, he said that road ahead would not be easy, especially under the new realities of COVID-19, but they must be hopeful that by joining hands and learning from each other’s experiences nothing was impossible.

6. NA legislation increased by 200pc in 2nd year: PILDAT

• The 15th National Assembly has passed 30 laws in its second parliamentary year, posting an increase of 200 per cent as compared to the first year when only 10 legislative bills were approved.
• “Within legislation, 15th National Assembly has passed three times or 200 per cent more bills than in the first year by passing 30 laws in the second year,” the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT), in a press release, said August 20, 2020. Out of the total passed bills, it said only 21 became acts of the Parliament after getting approval from both the houses of the Parliament and presidential assent.
• Around 31 ordinances were promulgated during the period under review, it added

7. Senator Hasil Bizenjo passes away

• Senator Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, a seasoned politician of Balochistan and son of illustrious leader Mir Ghaus Bux Bizenjo, passed away at a private hospital here on August 20, 2020, according to friends and leaders of his party. He was 62.
• Mir Hasil, chief of the National Party (NP), was suffering from lung cancer. He was diagnosed with the disease in January 2019 and undergoing chemotherapy and had also visited the United States for treatment. He was admitted for chemotherapy to the Karachi hospital on Wednesday morning but his health deteriorated and he breathed his last on August 20, 2020.
• He is survived by a son and a daughter

8. Iran unveils 2 long-range missiles, plans 5 satellites into space by year end

• Iran on August 20, 2020 unveiled two new long-range missiles on the occasion of National Defense Industry Day, Tasnim news agency reported.
• The missiles, named after former commander of Iran’s IRGC Quds Force Qassem Soleimani and deputy chief of Iraq’s Hashd Shaabi forces Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, were unveiled during a virtual ceremony attended by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Defense Minister Amir Hatami.
• The ballistic missile, named after Soleimani, has a range of 1,400 km, and the other one given the name of al-Muhandis is a cruise missile with a range of 1,000 km, according to the report. At the ceremony, Hatami said that Iran is self-sufficient in producing over 90 percent of its defense hardware, official IRNA news agency reported.
• He noted that Iran has made significant achievements in defense industry despite the U.S. sanctions over the past years. Also, Rouhani said that developing Iran’s military products, including ballistic missile program, is aimed at deterrent purposes, IRNA reported

9. Russia to test coronavirus vaccine on 40,000 people

• Russia said on August 20, 2020 it would start clinical trials of its controversial coronavirus vaccine next week, involving tens of thousands of people.
• President Vladimir Putin said earlier this month that Russia had become the first country to register a coronavirus vaccine, though the announcement was met with caution from scientists and the World Health Organisation who said it still needed a rigorous safety review.
• Russia`s sovereign wealth fund, which unances the vaccine project, said in a statement on Thursday that tests of the `immunogenicity and safety of the Sputnik V vaccine` will begin next week involving more than 40,000 people

10. British Army trials hybrid-powered military vehicles

• Hybrid technology is being tested by the British Army in two of its armored vehicles as a way to improve sustainability and enhance stealth capabilities.
• The Jackal 2 mobile weapons platform and the Foxhound protected patrol vehicle will be refitted with the new hybrid systems – with testing starting in November.
• Prototype hybrids of each vehicle are being built as part of a £3 million investment from the Ministry of Defence to find ways to reduce its carbon footprint. The vehicles will keep their diesel-driven internal combustion engines along with batteries and electronics for the first prototypes, but that could change in future versions. The MoD said the vehicles self-charge from the diesel engine, which runs a generator providing electricity to the battery, so don’t need to be plugged in

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