Day by Day Current Affairs (August 18, 2018) | MCQs for CSS, PMS, NTS

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 August 18, 2018

1. The Change has come! Imran elected as the country`s 22nd prime minister

• Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan was formally elected country’s 22nd prime minister on August 17, 2018, promising a new era of responsibility and prosperity in a fighting speech in the National Assembly amid hostile sloganeering by the opposition members.
• The cricketer-turned politician secured 176 votes against PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif who could bag 96 votes only.
• Besides 151 votes of his own party, Mr Khan also received votes from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), Balochistan National Party (BNP), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid and one-man parties Awami Muslim League and Jamhoori Watan Party.

2. Mahmood Khan sworn-in as Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

• Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf`s Mahmood Khan sworn-in as Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on August 18, 2018.
• Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra administered oath to Mahmood who was elected Leader of the House in the provincial assembly on August 16, 2018 after he secured 77 votes against opposition nominee Mian Nisar Gul`s 33 votes.
• The oath-taking ceremony was held at the Governors House.

3. Jhagra resigns as KP governor

• Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra on August 17, 2018 resigned from his post after administering the oath to newly-elected Chief Minister Mahmood Khan of PTI.
• He was appointed governor in March 2016.
• Jhagrah said that he is a democratic person and had worked as general secretary for the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy, the alliance of opposition parties which had worked hard for the restoration of democracy in the country.

4. SC gives voting rights to overseas Pakistanis

• The Supreme Court has directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to ensure that overseas Pakistanis exercise their right to vote in the upcoming by-polls in the country as a pilot project.
• A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar passed the order on August 17, 2018 while hearing over a dozen petitions seeking directions for the ECP to make arrangements to enable overseas Pakistanis to exercise their right to vote.
• Initially, these petitions were moved by solicitor Muhammad Dawood Ghaznavi and other expatriates in 2015 while Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan became party to the proceedings in January 2018.
• During proceedings at the Lahore registry of the apex court, ECP secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh told the bench that rules had been framed in the light of its power enshrined under Section 239 of the Elections Act 2017.
• The chief justice directed the ECP and Nadra chief to complete the pilot projects in view of the election law and malce sure that the process of i-voting was foolproof and flawless.
• The chief justice also ordered the ECP to conduct pilot projects for i-voting by overseas Pakistanis in by-polls to ascertain the technical efficacy, secrecy and security of voting and present the results before parliament as required under section 94 of the Elections Act 2017.

5. Oct 14 fixed for by-polls in 41 NA, PA constituencies

• By-polls in 41 national and provincial assemblies` constituencies will be held on Oct 14, as per the schedule announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on August 17, 2018.
• Eleven National Assembly and 26 provincial assembly seats fell vacant due to different reasons, including resignations by those elected on more than one seat and death of some contesting candidates.

6. Pak minister meets Sushma Swaraj

• Pakistan’s Minister for Law and Information Syed Ali Zafar on August 17, 2018 met Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and extended Pakistan’s condolence on the death of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale was also present at the meeting.
• Zafar was among the foreign dignitaries who attended Vajpayee’s funeral.
• The meeting came on a day Imran Khan was voted as Pakistan’s new prime minister by the National Assembly of that country

7. Saudi Arabia pledges $100m to US-backed Syria campaign

• Saudi Arabia on August 17, 2018 announced a $100 million contribution to a US-backed campaign to “stabilise” northeastern Syria, once a bastion of the radical Islamic State group.
• The 88 million euro contribution is the biggest single cash injection yet for reconstruction efforts in areas formerly controlled by the jihadists.
• The group declared a “caliphate” after seizing swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014, but has since been ousted from most of that territory including its former de facto Syrian capital Raqa and a pocket of Damascus.
• Saudi Arabia, the United States’ most powerful Arab ally, is a member of the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, another acronym for the jihadist group.
• Riyadh’s contribution aims to support “stabilisation projects” and “will play a critical role in the coalition’s efforts to revitalise communities, such as Raqa, that have been devastated by ISIS terrorists,” read a statement by the Saudi embassy in Washington.

8. US sanctions Myanmar military commanders over Rohingya abuses

• The US government on August 17, 2018 hit four Myanmar military commanders and two military units with punitive sanctions, accusing them of `serious human rights abuses` and `ethnic cleansing` in violently expelling minority Rohingya from their homes.
• Military and border guard commanders Aung Kyaw Zaw, Khin Maung Soe, Khin Hlaing, and Thura San Lwin were accused of leading violent campaigns against the Muslim Rohingya in Rakhine state as well as minorities in Kachin and Shan states.
• `Burmese security forces have engaged in violent campaigns against ethnic minority communities across Burma, including ethnic cleansing, massacres, sexual assault, extra-judicial killings, and other serious human rights abuses,` said Sigal Mandelker, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence in the US Treasury, which announced the sanctions.
• The US Treasury said the sanctions on individuals were meant as a warning to security forces to cease abuses of ethnic and reli-gious minorities and to respect their rights.

9. US ends funding for reconstruction in Syria

• The Trump administration is ending funding for Syria stabilisation projects as it moves to extricate the US from the conflict, citing increased contributions from antiIslamic State coalition partners.
• US officials said the administration notified Congress on August 17, 2018 that it would not spend some $200 million that had been planned for Syria programmes and would instead shift that money to other areas. Nearly all of that money, initially pledged by former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in February, had been on hold and under review since he was fired in March. A small fraction of that amount was released in June.
• The cut will be more than offset by an additional $300 million pledged by coalition partners, including $100 million that Saudi Arabia announced it had contributed late. The State Departmentimmediately welcomed the Saudi contribution, which is intended to help revitalise communities liberated from the militant Islamic State group like Raqqa.

10. Nasir Jamshed banned for 10 years for spot-fixing

• The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Anti-Corruption Tribunal August 17, 2018 handed a 10-year ban to Nasir Jamshed for his involvement in the spot-fixing row during the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2016-17 season.
• Cricketer Nasir Jamshed banned for 10 years by Anti Corruption Tribunal. Details to follow,” the PCB said in a statement on Twitter. The ban means Jamshed will be out from any form of cricket during the aforementioned period. He was banned for the second time in the last two years.
• Jamshed, 28, is the sixth player to be banned following the scandal that tainted the Twenty20 tournament in only its second year, and was described by cricket authorities as its lynchpin.
• “PSL 2017’s fixing trial has concluded,” the PCB lawyer Tafazzul Rizvi said after the verdict. “There are a few cases you really don’t rejoice after winning; instead you feel sad about it because it ends with another career destroyed. It’s painful to see a player who didn’t have his conduct right and didn’t fulfil his responsibilities according the anti-corruption code of conduct. Our stance from the first day was he was the linchpin and he is the one who recruited players.