Day by Day Current Affairs (August 11, 2018) | MCQs for CSS, PMS, NTS

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August 11, 2018

1. US cuts military training programme for Pakistan

• US military institutions are struggling to fill the 66 slots they had kept aside for officers from Pakistan for the next academic year, as the Trump administration refused to provide funds for their training.
• The fund for training Pakistani officers came from the US government`s International Military Education and Training Programme (IMET) but no funds were made available for Pakistan for the next academic year.
• The NDU is one of several US military institutions that train officers from Pakistan. The Trump administration announced early this year that it was suspending security assistance to Pakistan over differences on Afghanistan but indicated that training programmes for military of ficers will continue.
• The cancellation of slots kept aside for Pakistani officers, however, shows that the suspension now also applies to training programmes.
• Pakistani ofhcers have been receiving military training and education in the United States since early 1960s, which were suspended in the 1990s but restored af ter the Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.The decision to suspend military training for Pakistani of ficers was also reported by an international news agency, Reuters, which observed that both the US and Pakistani officials were criticising the move, privately.

2. President cancels Ireland visit for PM`s oath-taking

• President Mamnoon Hussain has shelved his three-day visit to Ireland, apparently to be available on Aug 18 to administer the oath to Imran Khan as the 21st prime minister of the country.
• Mr Hussain had earlier decided to proceed to Ireland on Aug 16 to attend the award-distribution ceremony of Royal College of Physician where he too had to receive an honorary degree.
• However, he cancelled the visit on the request of caretaker Prime Minister Nasirul Mulk.
• Caretaker Information and Law Minister Ali Zafar met the president and conveyed the message of the prime minister to him.
• The president, on the recommendation of the interim prime minister, has already summoned a session of the National Assembly on Aug 13 so that the process of formation of the new government could start.

3. Senate body passes bill for ban on smoking in cinemas

• The Senate Standing Committee on Health on August 10, 2018 passed a legislative bill calling for a ban on smoking in cinemas across the country.
• The Senate committee, which met at Parliament Lodges with Senator Mian Mohammad Ateeg Sheikh in the chair, passed the bill titled The West Pakistan Prohibition of Smoking in Cinema Houses (repeal) Bill, 2018.
• The meeting also discussed various issues related to the health ministry, including the nominations for an upcoming WHO conference on health in Geneva.

4. Javed Mehmood Bukhari made Bahawalpur corps commander

• The Pakistan Army on August 10, 2018 announced that Lt Gen Javed Mehmood Bukhari has been appointed corps commander of Bahawalpur.
• `Lt Gen Javed Mehmood Bukhari [has been] appointed Commander Bahawalpur Corps,` the Inter-Services Public Relations, the media affairs wing of the military, said in a brief statement.
• Gen Bukhari was previously posted as Quarter Master General at the General Headquarters. He has replaced Lt Gen Sher Afgun in Bahawalpur.
• Gen Afgun has been posted as inspector general arms at GHQ

5. Sindh Assembly`s new members to take oath on August 13

• The inaugural session of the 15th provincial assembly of Sindh, which came into being following the July 25 general elections, is scheduled to begin on August 13, 2018.
• According to an order of acting Governor Agha Siraj Durrani, as notified on August 10, 2018 by the provincial assembly`s secretariat, the session of the new 166-strong legislature has been convened on August 13, 2018 at the Sindh Assembly building.
• Mr Durrani, speaker of the former assembly, assumed the governor`soffice after Muhammad Zubair`s resignation as governor of Sindh.

6. India to step up use of biofuels

• India aims to increase the use of biofuels to cut its oil import bill by 120 billion rupees ($1.7bn) by 2022 and reduce carbon emissions.
• India is the world`s third-biggest oil importer and consumer and ships in about 80 per cent of its crude needs, butis gradually building capacity toincreaseits output of biofuels.
• The South Asian nation plans to build 12 bio-refineries costing 100bn rupees to produce fuel from items including crop stubble, plant waste and municipal solid waste.

7. Nasa counts down to launch of first spacecraft to explore Sun

• Nasa counted down on August 10, 2018 to the launch of a $1.5 billion spacecraft that aims to plunge into the Sun`s sizzling atmosphere and become humanity`s first mission to explore a star.
• The car-sized Parker Solar Probe is scheduled to blast off on a Delta IV Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
• By coming closer to the Sun than any spacecraft in history, the probe`s main goal is to unveil the secrets of the corona, the unusual atmosphere around Sun.
• Not only is the corona about 300 times hotter than the Sun`s surface, it also hurls powerful plasma and energetic particles that can unleash geomagnetic space storms, wreaking havoc on Earth by disrupting the power grid. But these solar outbursts are poorly understood.

8. N Korea will preserve nuclear know-how

• North Korea will preserve its nuclear know-how despite its promise of denuclearisation to the United States, Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said during a visit to Tehran.
• Despite the agreement to denuclearise the Korean peninsula struck during a landmark summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and US President Donald Trump, “we preserve our nuclear science as we know that the Americans will not abandon their hostility toward us,” Ri said, according to the conservative Mehr news agency.
• “Dealing with Americans is difficult, and as our main goal is total disarmament of the whole Korean Peninsula, it is necessary that the Americans also abide by their commitments but they refuse to do so.” At the June summit with Trump, Kim made a vague commitment to denuclearisation – far from the longstanding US demand for the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantling of Pyongyang’s atomic arsenal.
• Ri was meeting with Iran’s influential parliament speaker Ali Larijani on the third day of an official visit.

9. Norway to test free heroin for drug addicts

• Norway, which has one of the highest deadly drug overdose rates in Europe, will test prescribing free heroin to the most serious addicts to improve their living conditions, the government said on August 10, 2018.
• The Norwegian Directorate for Health and Social Affairs has been tasked with proposing an experimental project to identify patients likely to benefit from the programme, to examine the implementation method, and to calculate the costs.
• Norway has one of the highest overdose mortality rates in Europe, with 81 deaths per million in 2015 after Estonia (132 deaths per million) and Sweden (88 deaths per million).
• Medical heroin therapy is controversial, but supporters argue that in addition to improving the quality of life of addicts and lowering overdose mortality, it reduces crime and the costs associated with it.
• The first treatments under the project will begin in 2020 at the earliest.
• The initiative could benefit up to 400 drug addicts, according to the daily Aftenposten

10. Mekhissi wins fifth Euro gold as world champions shine

• France`s Mahiedine Mekhissi joined an elite band of athletes after he claimed his fifth European title on a scintillating night of track and field in Berlin that saw a trio of world champions shine.
• Mekhissi, a three-time Olympic and two-time world medallist, was imperious as he eased to a fourth victory in the 3000m steeplechase in 8min 31.66sec, having already won the discipline three times (2010, 2012, 2016) and the 1500m once (2014).
• The 33-year-old Frenchman joined the trio of German Harald Schmid and British pair Roger Black and Mo Farah as the sole athletes to have won five outdoor golds on the continental stage.
• Mekhissi, who was controversially stripped of the 2014 steeplechase title for having stripped off his singlet before he crossed the finish line in first place, has the chance for an unprecedented sixth gold when he competes in Saturday`s 5000m.