April 2019

Day by Day Current Affairs (April 17, 2019) | MCQs for CSS, PMS

Day by Day Current Affairs
Written by Shahzad F. Malik
WELCOME TO CSS TIMES DAY BY  DAY CURRENT AFFAIRS, YOUR BEST SOURCE FOR UP-TO-DATE AND DAILY TOP CURRENT AFFAIRS 2018 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

April 17, 2019: National Current Affairs

1. Arbab elected chairman of parliamentary panel on CPEC

• Members of the newly constituted Parliamentary Committee on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) on April 16, 2019 elected Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) MNA from Peshawar Sher Ali Arbab as their chairman without waiting for nominations from the Senate.
• MNA Mehnaz Akber Aziz of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz proposed the name of Mr Arbab for the office of the committee`s chairman and it was seconded by independent MNA from Balochist an A slam Bhootani.
• The committee was to comprise 14 members of the National Assembly and seven senators belonging to all major parties having representation in parliament.
• The names of seven senators were to be included in the committee after receiving nominations from Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, according to a notification issued by the NA Secretariat.


2. Sohail takes over as foreign secy today

• Sohail Mehmood will take over as the new Foreign Secretary today (April 17) after the ‘inspirational’ Tehmina Janjua retired April 16, 2019.
• The outgoing top diplomat held a reception here for the journalists to bid farewell. Sources said she could get a new assignment as envoy to China in the coming days.
• Her predecessor Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry was also appointed straight as ambassador to the United States when he retired in February 2017.
• Earlier, Pakistan had named High Commissioner to India Sohail Mehmood, as the new foreign secretary of the country to replace Tehmina Janjua.
• Sohail Mehmood had remained the top contender since the turn of the year as Janjua prepared to retire. There were other candidates too but Mehmood always was the first choice.


3. Pakistan`s economy to weigh on region`s growth: IMF official

• Pakistan`s economy is projected to slow down significantly and weigh on the region`s aggregate growth rate, says Jihad Azour, director of the Middle East and Central Asia department at the International Monetary Fund.
• At a recent talk on the economic outlook for the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan (MENAP) region, Azour argued that global economic headwinds were making policy efforts more urgent and challenging for MENAP.
• For oil importers in this region, growth is expected to ease to 3.6 per cent this, from 4.2pc in 2018, in part due to weaker global economic environment.
• Azour noted that in many oil-importing countries, rising debt levels were becoming a more urgent challenge for macroeconomic stability and high debt was also limiting fiscal space for critical investments in health, education, infrastructure, and social programmes.
• These budget pressures underscored the urgency of lifting medium term growth with structural reforms such as measures to improve business environment and governance, enhance labour market flexibility, and strengthen market competition, the IMF argued.


4. Naval Chief confers awards on officers

• Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi has conferred military awards upon Pakistan Navy personnel.
• The impressive Investiture Ceremony was held at Bahria Auditorium on April 16, 2019. The recipients of Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Military) were Commodore Muhammad Arshad, Cdre M Abdul Rehman Qureshi, Cdre Masood-Ul-Hasan, Cdre Syed Faisal Hameed, Cdre Jamil Akhtar, Cdre Khalid Sammar, Cdre Zahid Iqbal, Cdre Asif Hussain Baig, Commodore Awal Khan, Commodore Mazhar Mahmood Malik, Commodore Muhammad Jahan Zeb Ahsan and Commodore Vaqar Muhammad, according to a press release issued by the Navy.
• It said the recipients of Tamgha-i-Imtiaz (Military) included Commander Muhammad Aslam PN, Commander Mudasir Javaid PN, Commander Jawad Hussain TBt PN, Commander Muhammad Amjad PN,C ommander Muhammad Fayyaz PN, Commander Rashid Hussain PN, Commander Naveed Aslam PN, Commander Faisal Imtiaz PN, Lt Commander Ajeebullah PN, Lt Commander Rashid Mumtaz Khattak PN and Lt Commander Qurrat ul Ain PN


5. China to offer Pakistan Asean-like market access

• Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce and Textile Abdul Razzak Dawood on April 16, 2019 said that China has agreed to offer Pakistan its market access similar to that offered to countries of Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) on Islamabad’s demand.
• He further said that Chinese government has also agreed to immediately reduce duties to zero percent on 313 tariff lines. Pakistan and China would sign the second phase of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) during the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan to Beijing later this month, the Advisor to Prime Minister said in National Assembly Standing Committee on Commerce and Textile. He said that the second phase of FTA fell into internal politics of China, as some of their Ministers were not in favour to revise the trade agreement with Pakistan. However, Chinese Prime Minister and Foreign Minister were in favour. However, the Chinese government had accepted our main demand of giving market access similar to that offered to countries of Asean, he added.


6. Imam-e-Kaaba lauds Pak role in war on terror

• Imaam-e-Kaaba Sheikh Abdullah Awad Al-Juhany met Acting Punjab Governor Chaudhry Parvez Elahi and discussed matters of mutual interest besides challenges faced by the Muslim Ummah during a meeting at the Governor’s House here April 16, 2019.
• Venerated Imam-e-Kaaba Sheikh Abdullah said that he had brought a message of love from Khadim-e-Harmain Sharifain King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, Ameer Muhammad Bin Salman, religious scholars, intellectuals and people of Saudi Arabia.


April 17, 2019: International Current Affairs

7. Egypt parliament votes to extend Sisi rule till 2030

• Egypt`s parliament on April 16, 2019 approved constitutional amendments allowing general-turned-president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to stay in power until 2030, state media reported.
• Deputies also backed other sweeping changes to the constitution including to give the military greater influence in political life as well as granting Sisi more control over the judiciary.
• The amendments are expected to be put to a public referendum later this month.


8. Russia jails Norwegian Frode Berg for spying on submarines

• A Moscow court has sentenced a 63-year-old Norwegian, Frode Berg, to 14 years in a strict-regime labour camp for spying on Russian navy submarines.
• Berg, arrested in Moscow in 2017, denied the accusation. He formerly worked as a guard on the Norwegian-Russian border, and had been actively promoting closer ties.
• Berg admitted acting as a courier for Norwegian intelligence, but said he had little knowledge of the mission. The case remains shrouded in secrecy. Berg’s lawyer, Ilya Novikov, said his client would not appeal against the verdict but would seek a pardon from President Vladimir Putin.Norway – a Nato member – shares an Arctic border with Russia and for decades their relations were amicable, even during the Cold War. But ties have worsened since 2014, when Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula.


9. DNA reveals origin of Stonehenge builders

• The ancestors of the people who built Stonehenge travelled west across the Mediterranean before reaching Britain, a study has shown.
• Researchers compared DNA extracted from Neolithic human remains found across Britain with that of people alive at the same time in Europe. The Neolithic inhabitants appear to have travelled from Anatolia (modern Turkey) to Iberia before winding their way north. They reached Britain in about 4,000BC. Details have been published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.
• The migration to Britain was just one part of a general, massive expansion of people out of Anatolia in 6,000BC that introduced farming to Europe. Before that, Europe was populated by small, travelling groups which hunted animals and gathered wild plants and shellfish.


10. Workers questioned over Notre-Dame inferno

• French investigators probing the devastating blaze at Notre-Dame Cathedral on April 16, 2019 questioned workers who were renovating the monument while hundreds of millions of euros were pledged to restore the historic masterpiece.
• As firefighters put out the last smouldering embers, a host of French billionaires and companies stepped forward with offers of cash worth around 700 million euros ($790 million) to remake the global landmark.
• Most of the roof has been destroyed, its steeple has collapsed and an unknown number of artefacts and paintings have been lost. The main organ, which had close to 8,000 pipes, has also suffered damage.
• But the cathedral`s walls, bell towers and the most famous circular stainedglass windows at France`s most visited tourist attraction remain intact, leading the vicar general Philippe Marsset to call it `more than miraculous` `We`re all just dumbfounded. It`s more than miraculous, it`s heroic, Marsset said, who paid tribute to the more than 400 firefighters who toiled through the night.

Day by Day Current Affairs (April 17, 2019) | MCQs for CSS, PMS

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Shahzad F. Malik

Shahzad Faisal Malik is the administrator of CSSTimes.pk and is responsible for managing the content, design, and overall direction of the blog. He has a strong background in Competitive Exams and is passionate and sharing information with others.
Shahzad Faisal Malik has worked as a Graphic Designer/Content Creator at CSSTimes in the past. In his free time, Shahzad Faisal Malik enjoys watching Cricket, writing blogs for different websites and is always on the lookout for new and interesting content to share with the readers of this website.
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