Daily Top-10 Current Affairs MCQs / News (June 19, 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 19, 2020: National / International Current Affairs

1. Gwadar port contract is `confidential`, federal secretary informs Senate panel

• A Senate panel on June 18, 2020 was taken aback when a federal secretary declared that the contract governing affairs of the Gwadar port was `confidential` and its details could not be disclosed publicly.
• The Senate standing committee on finance led by Senator Farooq Hamid Naek on Wednesday had asked federal Secretary of Maritime Affairs Rizwan Ahmed to share copies of contracts and related documents on award of contracts and sub-contracts regarding Gwadar free zone. Mr Rizwan replied that the documents could not be shared with the Senate committee chairman and read out one paragraph from the agreement which says the contents of the agreement will be kept confidential.
• The issue has been under discussion at the standing committee for the last three days in the wake of the government`s inclusion of tax concession ordinance in the finance bill 2020. The bill has expired after a onetime extension.

2. No new tax in Rs139.5bn AJK budget

• With a record outlay of Rs139.5 billion, the annual budget of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) for the fiscal year 2020-21 proposes Rs115bn for recurring expenditures and Rs24.5bn for developmental activities.
• Finance Minister Dr Najeeb Nagi, who presented the budget in the AJK Legislative Assembly here on Thursday, claimed that it `reflected and represented the priorities of government and the aspirations of people` Unlike last year, when Mr Nagi`s budget speech was marred by unrelenting protest and commotion by the opposition, Thursday`s session remained peaceful by and large, after two out of four opposition lawmakers staged a walkout for not being allowed to speak on a point of order.
• However, their remaining two colleagues did not leave and attended the entire session, without disturbance. The strength of the combined opposition in the 49-member house is 12

3. Pakistan opens border with Iran to resume trade

• The federal government on June 18, 2020 opened the country`s border with Iran at Taftan to resume trade activities. The border will now remain open seven days a week.
• With the development, the export of Pakistani mangoes to Iran is now set to resume.
• Separately, the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has announced a drastic cut in freight charges for export of mangoes to the United Kingdom and rest of Europe

4. AIIB approves $500m loan for Pakistan`s Covid-19 response

• The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has approved a $500 million loan to help Pakistan effectively manage the Covid-19 outbreak and reduce its immediate social and economic impacts.
• In statement, the board of directors of the Beijing-based lending agency said the loan under Covid-10 Active Response and Expenditure Support (CARES) programme was a quick disbursing window with a total allocation of $5-10 billion created by the AIIB to co-finance immediate needs of the member countries with the support of multilateral lending agencies like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
• The loan is `to support the Government of Pakistan`s efforts to effectively manage the Covid-19 outbreak and reduce its immediate social and economic impacts`, the AIIB said. It noted that Pakistan`s ongoing economic recovery and ability to sustain high and inclusive growth have been significantly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

5. NAB recovered Rs141.54bn last year: chairman

• The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has recovered Rs141.54 billion, besides completing 747 inquiries and 269 investigations during last year, said the anti-graft watchdog`s annual report.
• NAB Chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal on June 18, 2020 presented the annual report for 2019 to President Dr Arif Alvi.
• According to the National Accountability Ordinance 1999, the NAB chairman has to present the annual report to the president every year. Usually, the report is presented to the president in March but this year it was a bit late

6. Rs920 billion KP budget today

• The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government will unveil over Rs920 billion budget for the next financial year today (June 19, 2020).
• A notification posted on the website of the provincial assembly declared that the budget session would begin at 3pm.
• Finance minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra will present the budget.
• Details available with Dawn show that the total outlay for the 2020-21 budget has been pitched at Rs923 billion, which is 2.4 per cent more than the Rs900 estimates for the current fiscal.

7. China frees 10 Indian soldiers after military talks

• Three days after clashes in the Galwan Valley of Ladakh left 20 Indian soldiers dead, the Chinese on June 18, 2020 evening released 10 Indian Army personnel, including a Lieutenant Colonel and three Majors, from their custody, The Hindu said.
• It quoted an unnamed security source as saying that all 10 persons were released around 5pm after an agreement was reached at the Major General-level talks on Wednesday evening and they were returned unharmed.
• Separately, the Army clarified in a statement that there were `no Indian troops missing in action`, The Hindu said

8. Canada to roll out tracing app as cases top 100,000

• Canada will soon roll out a COVID-19 tracing app for smart phones, developed with help from BlackBerry and Shopify, it was announced on June 18, 2020, as the number of cases topped 100,000.
• Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a daily briefing it will be `crucial` to increase testing and contact tracing going forward as pandemic restrictions start to be gradually eased.
• As part of that effort, he said `a mobile app that will notify users if they`ve been exposed to COVID-19` will be made available to as many as 30 million Canadian smart phone user s in early July.

9. Sri Lanka `sold` 2011 World Cup final: minister

• Sri Lanka `sold` the 2011 World Cup final to India, the country`s former sports minister said on June 18, 2020, reviving one of cricket`s most explosive match-fixing controversies.
• Mahindananda Aluthgamage, who was sports minister at the time, is the second senior figure to allege the final was fixed, after 1996 World Cup winning skipper Arjuna Ranatunga.
• `I tell you today that we sold the 2011 World Cup finals,` Aluthgamage told Sirasa TV. `Even when I was sports minister I believed this.` Aluthgamage, sports minister from 2010 to 2015 and now state minister for renewable energy and power, said he `did not want to disclose` the plot at the time.
• `In 2011, we were to win, but we sold the match

10. Last JFK sibling, Ireland envoy Jean Kennedy Smith dies

• John F Kennedy`s last surviving sibling, Jean Kennedy Smith, who was instrumental in bringing peace to Northern Ireland, has died aged 92.
• Smith, who served as US ambassador to Ireland for five years in the 1990s, passed away on June 17, 2020 at her home in Manhattan, New York. Born on Feb 20, 1928 in Boston, Massachusetts, Smith was the eighth of nine children born to Joseph P Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald.
• The family would become the United States` most famous political dynasty and an endless source of fascination to the American public.

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″]