Daily Top-10 Current Affairs MCQs / News (January 04, 2022) for CSS, PMS

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January 04, 2022: National / International Current Affairs

1. FM concedes discord exists with Taliban over border fence

• Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on January 3, 2022 vowed to press ahead with fencing of the border with Afghanistan while hoping that contentious issues would be resolved with the Taliban authorities through diplomatic channels.
• Speaking at a media briefing at the Foreign Office, Mr Qureshi, while responding to a question about fresh reports of Taliban removing the border fence, said: `We have erected the fence and we will continue to fence the border.
• Reports about Taliban preventing fencing and taking away spools of barbed wire first emerged last month. A senior Pakistani official had after that incident claimed that the matter had beenresolved and that the two sides had decided that further fencing would be done through mutual agreement.
• However, more reports of Taliban pulling down the fence and preventing Pakistani soldiers from erecting the barbed wire surfaced over the past few days

2. PM`s tax payment rises during first year in office

• Prime Minister Imran Khan`s first year in office saw his income tax payment surge from Rs282,449 in the tax year 2018 to Rs9.85 million in 2019, while Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif`s tax payments saw a decline during the same period.
• Mr Sharif, who is also the president of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), paid Rs8.242 million in tax year 2019, compared to Rs9.73m in the previous tax year and Rs10.29m in 2017 a decline of 15.3 per cent. His son Hamza Shehbaz paid Rs7.104m in tax year 2019 against Rs8.70m in 2018, a decline of 18.34pc.
• The highest taxpayer among the parliamentarians is Pakistan Tehreek-iInsaf (PTI) MNA Muhammad Najeeb Haroon who paid Rs140.749m in tax year 2019, almost the same amount he paid a year ago. He is followed by Senator Talha Mehmood who paid Rs32.280m and Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin at Rs26.627m

3. First Islamabad-Istanbul train reaches Turkey

• After a pause of around a decade, the first freight train between Istanbul and Islamabad via Tehran reached Ankara via Lahore, Taftan and Zahedan on January 3, 2022, completing its 17-day journey in 13 days. A second train is already on its way to Turkey.
• `The first train that departed on Dec 21 from Islamabad carrying goods (mainly pink salt) reached Ankara (Turkey) on Monday evening. Before reaching its destination, the goods loaded onto the train were shifted to other bogies (trans-shipment) compatible with the Iranian and Turkish rail/gauge system,` Pakistan Railways Director (Operations) Imtiaz Ahmad told Dawn. `The train consisted of eight wagons carrying pink salt weighing 150 tonnes.

4. Pakistan saw upsurge in violence-related fatalities in 2021: report

• Though violence-related casualties in Pakistan declined at a steady rate since 2015, remained somewhat unchanged in 2020 but seemed to have accelerated dramatically last year.
• With an increase of roughly 42pc in 2021, Pakistan suffered 853 fatalities (up from 600 last year) and 1,690 injuries directly linked to violence-related incidents. Nearly 75pc of all violence-related fatalities were recorded in KP including erstwhile Fata and Balochistan. Of the total fatalities, Punjab accounted for 8pc followed by Sindh.
• Compared to the fatalities in 2020, all regions except Islamabad and Gilgit Baltistan suffered an exponential surge in violence with Balochistan accounting for a net 80pc increase.
• These are the crux of the annual security report (2021) released by Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS).

5. PIA begins international flight operations from Quetta, Sialkot

• Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) began its international flight operations from Quetta and Sialkot on January 3, 2022.
• The first Sialkot-Dubai flight, with 165 passengers on board, took off from the Sialkot International Airport on Sunday night.
• A PIA spokesman said that a simple ceremony was held at the Sialkot International Airport for the PK179. The national flag carrier is operating twice a week flights from Sialkot to Dubai.
• On the other hand, the Quetta-Dubai flight PK232 took off from Karachi due to heavy rains and snowfall in Quetta.

6. World powers make rare pledge to prevent spread of nuclear weapons

• Five global nuclear powers pledged on January 3, 2022 to prevent atomic weapons spreading and to avoid nuclear conflict, in a rare joint statement setting aside rising West-East tensions to reaffirm a goal of a nuke-free world.
• `We believe strongly that the further spread of such weapons must be prevented, said permanent UN Security Council members China, France, Russia, the UK and United States, adding: `A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.
• The statement was issued after the latest review of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) which first cameintoforcein1970-waspostponedfrom its scheduled date of January 4 to later in the year due to the Covid-19 pandemic

7. Houthis seize UAE ship off Yemen`s coast

• Yemen`s Houthi rebels seized a ship in the Red Sea, armed drones targeted Baghdad`s international airport, and hackers hit a major Israeli newspaper on January 3, 2022 in a string of assaults that showed the reach of Iran-allied militias on the anniversary of America`s killing of a top Iranian general.
• All three coincided with a massive memorial in Tehran for Qassem Soleimani, the general killed by a US drone strike in 2020 in Iraq. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi demanded former US president Donald Trump be prosecuted and killed.
• `If not, I`m telling all American leaders, don`t doubt that the hand of revenge will come out of the sleeves of ummah,` Raisi said, referring to the worldwide community of Muslims

8. Over 4,000 migrants died trying to reach Spain in 2021

• Over 4,000 migrants died or disappeared trying to reach Spain by sea in 2021, twice as many as in the previous year, a migrant rights group said on January 3, 2022.
• Migrant arrivals in Spain`s Canary Islands in the Atlantic have increased since late 2019 after increased patrols along Europe`s southern coast dramatically reduced crossings to the continent via the Mediterranean.
• This route is fraught with dangers due to strong currents and the greater distances involved.
• A total of 4,404 migrants perished or vanished in attempts to reach Spain last year, up from 2,170 in 2020, according to Spanish non-governmental organisation Caminando Fronteras, which tracks data from boats in distress.

9. Church built by NGO inaugurated at Malir jail

• The pavements lining the well manicured lawns of Malir District Prison had pink and blue arrows painted on them. Following them one arrived at a white pillared enclosure decorated with blue and white balloons. Right in the middle of the place stood a small limestone building with a white cross above its entrance. It was the King of Kings Church that was inaugurated here on January 3, 2022.
• There was the cutting of the ribbon by Inspector General of Prisons Kazi Nazir Ahmed following which bunches of balloons were released into the air along with several white doves as the prisoners looked on with broad smiles on their faces. The Malir prison has some 140 Christian prisoners who will now have accessto this little church

10. `Professor` Hafeez calls time on Pakistan career

• The `Professor` will no longer play for Pakistan.
• Instead, veteran allrounder Mohammad Hafeez will keep plying his trade in franchise leagues including the Pakistan Super League.
• The 41-year-old Hafeez announced his decision to retire from international cricket at a press conference at the Gaddafi Stadium on Monday, bringing the curtain down on a career spanning nearly two decades in which he represented Pakistan in 392 matches across all formats.
• Hafeez had quit Test cricket in 2018 and played his last One-day International at the 2019 World Cup. He was recalled to Pakistan`s Twenty20 squad in 2020 and finished the year as the world`s leading run scorer in the calendar year and his last match for the national team came in the Twenty20 World Cup semi-final loss to eventual champions Australia in November last year.

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