Daily Top-10 Current Affairs MCQs / News (May 29, 2021) for CSS, PMS

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May 29, 2021: National / International Current Affairs

1. PSDP set at Rs900bn to achieve 4.8pc GDP

• The Annual Plan Coordination Committee (APCC) on Friday finalised Rs900 billion worth of Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) to achieve an economic growth rate of 4.8 per cent in the next fiscal year (2021-22).
• The PSDP for next year is over 38pc higher than the current year`s allocation of Rs650bn, while GDP growth target of 4.8pc is conservatively higher than the current year`s provisional output estimate of 3.94pc.
• The APCC meeting was presided over Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Jehanzeb Khan

2. First case of Indian variant detected in Pakistan

• After the UK variant made inroads into various cities of the country, Pakistan reported its first confirmed patient carrying the Indian strain.
• Meanwhile, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) decided to open walk-in vaccination for citizens aged 30 years and above as well as for teachers over 18 from May 29, 2021 (today).
• The National Institute of Health (NIH) on Friday announced that it had detected the first confirmed case of the Indian strain

3. Single curriculum for classes 6 to 8 approved

• Experts on May 28, 2021 approved a single national curriculum for Class VI to VIII which would be introduced from next year.
• The curriculum was adopted at the end of a five-day national conference on the single curriculum held at Allama Iqbal Open University.
• The single national curriculum for Class I to V will be introduced from the upcoming academic session starting from August this year

4. Russia, Pakistan agree to build gas pipeline

• Pakistan and Russia on May 28, 2021 signed an inter-government agreement (IGA) to develop Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline for gas transportation from Karachi to Kasur.
• Russian Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov and Pakistan`s ambassador in Moscow Shafqat Ali Khan signed a protocol on the amendments to the IGA on North-South Gas Pipeline Project in Moscow, according to the Pakistan Embassy in Russia.
• As per the protocol, the project has been renamed as `Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline`

5. FM arrives in Baghdad, will discuss host of issues with Iraqi leadership

• Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on May 28, 2021 arrived in Iraq`s capital where he will hold detailed discussions with the leadership of this country on bilateral cooperation and on the unity of Ummah.
• The foreign minister was received at the Baghdad International Airport by Iraq`s Deputy Foreign Minister Dr Saleh Al-Tamimi, Iraqi ambassador in Pakistan Hamid Lafta, Pakistan`s ambassador-designate to Iraq Ahmed Amjad Ali and senior Iraqi foreign ministry officials.
• The visit is taking place at the invitation of Iraq`s Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein

6. `Total lockdown` in Malaysia from June 1

• Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on May 28, 2021 announced a nationwide `total lockdown` starting in June as coronavirus infections in the country surged to record levels.
• Muhyiddin said the stricter lockdown from June 1 to 14 was for all social and economic areas, and that only essential services and economic sectors would remain in operation, which would be listed by the national security council.
• The Covid-19 spread in the Southeast Asian nation in recent weeks has been more severe, partly due to highly transmissible coronavirus variants. Hospitals are also strained.

7. Pandemic won`t be over until 70pc are vaccinated: WHO

• The WHO`s European director warned on May 28, 2021 that the Covid-19 pandemic won`t be over until at least 70 per cent of people are vaccinated, while deploring that the vaccine rollout in Europe is still `too slow`.
• `The pandemic will be over once we reach 70pc minimum coverage in vaccination,` the World Health Organisation`s regional director for Europe Hans Kluge said in an interview.
• Kluge also said that one of his main worries was the increased contagiousness of new variants of the novel coronavirus

8. 53 countries seek answers from WHO over abuse claims

• Dozens of countries voiced alarm on May 28, 2021 at reports that World Health Organisation leaders knew of sexual abuse allegations against the UN agency`s staff and f ailed to report them.
• Fifty-three countries, including the United States, the European Union, Britain and Japan, issued a joint statement demanding WHO chiefs display `strong and exemplary leadership` on preventing sexual abuse, following media reports WHO management knew of alleged cases in the DR Congo and did not act

9. Assad gets 95pc votes in presidential election

• Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on May 28, 2021 that those who voted in Wednesday`s presidential election have brought back the true meaning of revolution after it was tarnished by `mercenaries`.
• `You have saved its reputation and relaunched it,` Assad said in a televised speech one day after he was announced as the winner with 95 per cent of the vote.
• The government sees the election, dismissed by the opposition and the West as a farce, as a statement that Syria is functioning normally despite a decade old civil war, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and driven 11 million people about half the population from their homes

10. US ends `open skies` accord with Russia

• US President Joe Biden`s administration announced on May 28, 2021 it has decided not to return to the Open Skies Treaty, which Donald Trump left, saying Russia had violated the accord.
• The post-Cold War treaty was meant to build trust by allowing the two powers and their allies to monitor one another`s airspace.
• Trump left the accord in November citing Russian violations of it

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