Daily Top-10 Current Affairs MCQs / News (March 17, 2021) for CSS, PMS

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March 17, 2021: National / International Current Affairs

1. Import bill of eatables up by 50pc amid farm sector woes

• The import bill of eatables ballooned by 50.29 per cent to $5.344 billion year-on-year during the first eight months of 2020-21 to bridge the short fall in domestic production of agriculture produce.
• The higher-than-expected food import bill also triggered trade deficit which would cause some uneasiness on the external side for the government, data compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed on March 16, 2021.
• The share of food items in the total import bill reached 15.76pc this year, compared to 11.29pc last year, making the country dependent on imports to ensure food security.

2. Pakistan gives another extension to helicopter deal with Turkey

• Pakistan has given another extension to a helicopter deal with Turkey, giving Ankara six more months to deliver the aircraft, a US defence publication reported this week.
• In July 2018, Pakistan signed a $1.5 billion deal with Turkey for buying 30 Turkish-made T129 Atak helicopters. The delivery date, however, has been pushed back due to the Pentagon`s refusal to issue export licenses for engines and other parts made in the US.
• `We have obtained a six-month extension from Pakistan,` Turkey`s top procurement official, Ismail Demir, told a US defence publication, Defense News.

3. KP govt reverts retirement age to 60 years

• Amid ever-growing pension liabilities, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on March 16, 2021 reversed its decision of increasing the retirement age by three years for government employees.
• The decision to revert the amendment which has been pending in court since its enactment in July 2019 and has created a number of legal and administrative issues for the provincial government was made in a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mahmood Khan.
• In a video briefing, KP Finance Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra said the retirement age would be reverted to 60 from 63 years through an amendment to the civil servants` law.

4. TikTok banned until content filtering mechanism in place: PHC

• The Peshawar High Court has ruled that indecent and objectionable material is being uploaded on TikTok without restriction in violation of Islamic moral values and ethics, so the ban on the popular video-sharing application will continue in the country until a mechanism is in place to filter such content.
• In the detailed order on a petition against TikTok, a bench consisting of Chief Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Mohammad Nasir Mehfooz directed the Pakistan telecommunication Authority to ban the Chinese-made app in the country until some mechanism was introduced to filter its material, which was immoral and indecent and violated social norms and ethics. It sought a progress report in this respect from the telecom regulator on Apr 6 and adjourned hearing until them

5. Textile exports fall by 3pc in February

• Textile and clothing exports shrank in February from a year ago on the back of a decline in value-added exports, data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on March 16, 2021 showed.
• The export value of these sectorsfellto$1.23 billion in February from $1.27bn over the corresponding month of last year, showing a decline of 3.12pc.
• Fall in exports of value added sectors contributed to a deadline in overall exports from the sectors

6. Delhi declared most polluted capital for third year running

• New Delhi was the world`s most polluted capital for the third straight year in 2020, according to IQ Air, a Swiss group that measures air quality levels based on the concentration of lung-damaging airborne particles known as PM2.5.
• India was home to 35 of the world`s 50 most polluted cities, according to IQ Air`s 2020 World Air Quality Report, which gathered data for 106 countries.
• The findings were based on the country`s annual average of particulate matter PM2.5, airborne particles with less than 2.5 microns in diameter

7. Israel unearths fragments of 2,000-year-old biblical scroll

• Israel on March 16, 2021 unveiled fragments of a biblical scroll dating back some 2,000 years, in what experts described as the most significant such find since the Dead Sea Scrolls.
• The artefacts were unearthed during excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) in the Judean desert, which spans parts of southern Israel and the occupied West Bank.
• In a site known as the `Cave of Horrors, archaeologists found fragments of a scroll with a Greek translation of the Hebrew bible, the first such find since the early 1960s.

8. US, Japan warn China on `coercion, destabilising behaviour`

• The United States and Japan warned China against what they called `coercion and destabilising behaviour` on March 16, 2021 after top-level diplomatic and defence talks aimed at bolstering their alliance against rising Chinese influence.
• Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin and top US diplomat Antony Blinken are on their first overseas trip, which began on Monday in Japan, looking to shore up regional alliances and send a robust message to Beijing.
• They will continue on to South Korea, and a policy review by the new administration of its approach to Pyongyang is also a key part of the diplomatic outreach.

9. Rahat Fateh Ali Khan given lifetime achievement award

• Renowned singer Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was given the lifetime achievement award and honorary membership of the Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi at a small but impressive ceremony in the council`s Jaun Elia lawn on March 16, 2021 evening.
• Speaking on the occasion, the council`s president Ahmed Shah went down memory lane to tell the audience how humble a person the artist is.
• He spoke about the time when the vocalist did a concert at the venue for the first time and there were too many people who wanted to gatecrash it.

10. ICC bans UAE duo for corruption

• Former United Arab Emirates (UAE) captain Mohammad Naveed and batsman Shaiman Anwar Butt have been handed identical eight-year bans by a tribunal for breaching the International Cricket Council`s (ICC) anti-corruption code, the governing body said on March 16, 2021.
• The independent tribunal found both guilty in January of attempting to fix matches of the Twenty20 World Cup Qualifier 2019 in UAE and not reporting corrupt approaches to the anti-corruption officials. Naveed was also found guilty of similar breaches during the Emirates Cricket Board`s T10 League that year.

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