Daily Top-10 Current Affairs MCQs / News (December 17, 2020) for CSS, PMS

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December 17, 2020: National / International Current Affairs

1. Pakistan returns $1bn of S. Arabia`s soft loan

• Pakistan has returned $1 billion to Saudi Arabia as a second instalment of a $3bn soft loan, as Islamabad reaches out to Beijing for a commercial loan to help it offset pressure to repay another $1bn to Riyadh next month, officials said on December 16, 2020.
• Analysts say it is unusual for Riyadh to press for the return of money. But relations have been strained lately between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, historically close friends.

2. Police corruption cases will be referred to NAB

• The regional police officers conference has decided to refer financial irregularity cases of the Punjab police to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
• The RPO conference chaired by Inspector General of Police Inam Ghani also took many other important decisions here on Wednesday.
• All RPOs, district police officers and other command officers attended the conference

3. World Bank, govt sign $304m loan agreement

• The World Bank signed an agreement with Pakistan on December 16, 2020 for a loan of $304 million for the Punjab Resource Improvement and Digital Effectiveness Programme (PRIDE) at the Economic Affairs Division.
• The programme aims to help the Punjab government to increase its revenue and to improve reliability of resource allocation and access to digital services for people and firms in the province

4. UNESCO lists couscous as intangible world heritage

• Couscous, the Berber dish beloved across northern Africa`s Maghreb region and beyond, December 16, 2020 joined the UN list of the world`s intangible cultural heritage.
• The countries that submitted the listing to UNESCO Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Mauritania may have their differences, but their common love of the grain staple runs deep.

5. Chinese space probe carrying lunar samples returns to Earth

• An unmanned Chinese spacecraft carrying rocks and soil from the Moon returned safely to Earth early on December 17, 2020 in the first mission in four decades to collect lunar samples, the Xinhua news agency said.
• The return module of the space probe known as Chang`e-5 landed in northern China`s Inner Mongolia region, Xinhua said, quoting the China National Space Administration

6. 5,000-year-old Great Pyramid artefact found in Scotland

• One of only three artefacts ever recovered from inside Egypt`s Great Pyramid has been found in a misplaced cigar tin in a Scottish university collection, academics revealed on December 16, 2020.
• The fragment of cedar wood, which has been found to date back 5,000 years to the building of the pyramid at Giza, was first discovered in the late 19th century but had been missing for more than 70 years.

7. Pompeo goes into quarantine

• Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has come into contact with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus and has gone into quarantine although he has tested negative, the US State Department said on December 15, 2020.
• `Secretary Pompeo has been identified as having come into contact with someone who tested positive for Covid. For reasons of privacy we can`t identify that individual,` a spokes-person for the State Department said

8. Columnist Irfan Husain passes away

• Columnist, author and a global citizen as he used to describe himself, Irfan Husain, passed away early December 16, 2020 in Dorset, England. He was 76.
• Husain wrote weekly columns for Dawn and in one such write-up published in August, he shared with readers that he had been diagnosed with a rare type of cancer three years ago.
• He wrote for weekly Outlook, The Star and later Dawn under various pseudonyms. His writings were never soft on governments and often evoked strong reactions

9. Film legend Firdous is no more

• Iconic actor Firdous, most popularly known for her portrayal of `Heer` on the silver screen, died at the age of 73 here on December 16, 2020.
• Firdous won millions of hearts through her remarkable performances in around 160 Punjabi, Urdu and Pashto films over four decades.
• She was admitted to a local hospital three days ago after suffering a brain haemorrhage. She is survived by two sons and a daughter

10. Doha to host 2030 Asian Games, Riyadh get 2034 edition

• Doha will host the 2030 Asian Games, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) announced on December 16, 2020, while Riyadh was named as host of the 2034 edition under a compromise agreed between the rivals.
• An executive board meeting of the OCA unanimously approved the proposal to name the runner-up in the two-horse race for the 2030 games as 2034 hosts.

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