Daily Top-10 Current Affairs MCQs / News (June 18, 2020) for CSS, PMS

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June 18, 2020: National / International Current Affairs

1. 18th Amendment needs to be `reviewed`: PM

• Amid growing concerns of opposition parties and speculation surrounding the fate of 18th Amendment after recent statements from key government functionaries, Prime Minister Imran Khan spoke his heart out on June 17, 2020 while ruling out any plan to roll back the devolution plan but clearly hinting at his intentions over the subject and called for reviewing the 10-year-old reforms which, he said `needed to be fixed` along with the concept of National Finance Commission (NFC) Award `that carries anomalies`.
• The PM openly shared his thoughts probably for the first time during the first leg of his visit to Sindh, where the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has vowed to resist any move against the 18th Amendment by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government at the centre.
• Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah was not invited to any official meetings that PM Khan held during his visit to the province.

2. No new taxes as Sindh presents Rs1.24tr budget

• Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad All Shah, who also holds the finance portfolio, presented a Rs1,241.13 billion budget with a deficit of Rs18.38bn for the financial year 2020-21 in the provincial assembly on June 17, 2020.
• Among the notable figures of the Sindh budget was a 10 per cent across the board increase in the salary of government employees up to grade 16 and five per cent increase in the salary of officials above grade 17.
• In his budget speech amid a noisy protest by opposition par-ties in the Sindh Assembly, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Grand Democratic Alliance, the chief minister said that no new tax had been introduced in the budget 2020-21 and the increase in non-development expenditure was restricted to seven per cent only.
• The chief minister said the total revenue receipts were estimated at Rs1,222.75bn, including federal receipts at Rs760.30bn (65 per cent), provincial receipts at Rs313.39bn (26.8pc), capital receipts at Rs25bn (2.1pc) and other receipts at (FPA & PSDP) Rs69.05bn (5.9pc).

3. Sindh reduces ADP to Rs232.9bn

• Due to low inflows from the centre, Sindh government has reduced its Annual Development Plan (ADP) to Rs232.9 billion for FY21, allocating Rs155bn to provincial and Rs15bn to schemes. The provincial government also expects Rs54.6bn from Foreign Projects Assistance and Rs8.3bn from the Federal PSDP for 10 schemes under execution by the Sindh administration.
• As per the document, the administrative department in Sindh was earlier advised to prepare proposals for provincial ADP FY21 at the size same as that of 2019-20 while allocating 85 per cent for ongoing schemes and 15pc for new ones.
• `The throw forward amount in Provincial ADP 2020-21 has reached Rs564bn, compared to Rs606bn in 2019-20,` said Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah.

4. Senate panel rejects amendment to introduce AEO programme

• The Senate Standing Committee on Finance on June 17, 2020 rejected three key proposals of the Finance Bill2020 and asked Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Ministry of Maritime Affairs top officials to identify real beneficiaries of the proposed amendments.
• The committee led by Senator Farooq Hamid Naek also gave a deadline to Maritime Affairs secretary to disclose names of contractors and sub-contractors of the Gwadar free zone areas, who are being considered for duty exemptions for a period of 40 years.
• Committee members were unsatisfied with secretary`s explanations who tried to justify the exemptions. On the intervention of Senator Mohsin Aziz, the committee asked secretary to provide contractors and sub-contractors names to the committee.

5. Covid-19 prompts over 16pc increase in provincial health budget

• In a bid to meet the challenge of Covid-19 in the province, the Sindh government has increased the allocation for the health sector by 16.1 per cent from Rs114.4 billion to Rs132.88bn in the provincial budget for financial year 2020-21.
• In addition to Rs132.88bn, Rs7bn has been allocated for nine vertical programmes, including polio control, AIDS, TB, thus making the total allocation for the health sector Rs139.17bn.
• Despite facing a serious financial crunch, the provincial government also increased health`s development portfolio.
• In his budget speech at the Sindh Assembly on Wednesday, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said that his government had earlier decided to keep the size of development budget for 2020-21 `nearly same as that of 2019-20`.

6. PTV legend Tariq Aziz passes away at 84

• Dekhti Ankhon aur Suntay Kanon ko Tariq Aziz ka Salam Pauhnchay the voice behind this memorable sound bite is gone. Tariq Aziz, the iconic television host, breathed his last in Lahore on June 17, 2020.
• He was 84.
• He was not feeling well since the previous night. His condition deteriorated in the morning and he was rushed to a nearby hospital, but did not survive. Tariq Aziz was diabetic and had a heart condition as well.

7. Beijing cancels flights, shuts schools over virus outbreak

• Beijing`s airports cancelled two-thirds of all flights on June 17, 2020 and schools in the Chinese capital were closed again as authorities rushed to contain a new coronavirus outbreak and warned infections might rise.
• The city reported 31 new cases while officials urged residents not to leave Beijing, with fears growing about a second wave of infections in China, which had largely brought the contagion under control since its emergence in Wuhan late last year.
• Hundreds of thousands of people have been tested so far following the fresh outbreak, which is believed to have started in the sprawling Xinfadi wholesale food market.

8. India, China agree to restore tranquillity on border

• Two days after deadly hand-to-hand clashes left 20 Indian soldiers dead on the Sino-Indian boundary in Ladakh, their foreign ministers spoke on the phone on June 17, 2020 and agreed to abide by existing bilateral agreements to ensure peace and tranquillity on their disputed Himalayan border.
• Indian analysts were divided on the next steps, but there are less strident voices that want New Delhi to refrain from joining a US-led anti-China bloc, not least because agreements with China were predicated on a presumption of neutrality.
• According to the Indian side, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi `agreed that the overall situation would be handled in a responsible manner, and both sides would implement the disengagement understanding of 6 June sincerely.

9. Antarctica`s `deflated football` fossil is world`s second-biggest egg

• A Mysterious 68-million-year-old fossil found on Seymour Island off Antarctica`s coast that looked like a denated football has turned out to be a unique find the second-largest egg on record and one that may have belonged to a huge marine reptile that lived alongside the dinosaurs.
• The fossilised egg measuring 8 by 11 inches (29 by 20 cm) is only slightly smaller than eggs of Madagascar`s giant flightless elephant birds that went extinct only in the past several centuries, scientists said on Wednesday.
• While birds, crocodilians and many dinosaurs laid hard-shelled eggs, the Antarctic egg had a soft, parchment-like shell.

10. Champions League to be completed with eight-team tournament in Lisbon

• This season`s Champions League, suspended in March because of the Covid-19 pandemic, will be completed with an eight team mini-tournament which will be held in Lisbon in August, European football`s governing body UEFA said.
• The quarter-finals and semi-finals will be staged over one leg, instead of the usual two, with the final to be held on August 23, UEFA deputy general secretary Giorgio Marchetti said after an executive committee meeting held by video conference.
• The four last-16, second leg matches which still have to be played Manchester City v Real Madrid, Bayern Munich v Chelsea, Juventus v Olympique Lyonnais and Barcelona v Napoli will take place on August 7/8, either at the originally scheduled venues or in Portugal.

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