Day by Day Current Affairs (July 03, 2018) | MCQs for CSS, PMS, NTS

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

July 3, 2018

1. Pakistan for int’l cooperation to wipe out terrorism

• Pakistan has gained “tremendous success” in combating terrorism in recent years, but stressed the need for more international cooperation to eliminate the hydra-headed scourge from across the world, Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi.
• “Terrorism and Extremism remain among today’s biggest security challenges, feeding off instability in many parts of the world and also fueling it,” she said in the course of a thematic debate at the first-ever high-level United Nations Counterterrorism Conference at UN Headquarters in New York.
• Ambassador Lodhi said the gains Pakistan had made in its counter-terrorism operations had come at a high human and financial cost but this had not diminished the country’s resolve to fight on.
• Convened by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, under the overarching theme of “strengthening international cooperation to combat the evolving threat of terrorism”, the conference was aimed at forging a new partnership for multilateral cooperation to strengthen the international community’s counter-terrorism efforts. In his concluding address to the two-day conference, the UN chief told delegates from member states that he was committed to meeting the challenge of “keeping your citizens safe.”

2. US asks Pakistan to squeeze Taliban

• The United States July 2, 2018 asked Pakistan to make the life of Taliban difficult for pushing them to talks table and improve prospects of peace in Afghanistan.
• US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells, who arrived here earlier in the day, met Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua to discuss the regional situation and efforts for peace in Afghanistan.
• Wells had a ‘polite message’ but she definitely repeated the age-old mantra of the US – asking Pakistan to ‘do more.’
• Wells made it clear that for peace in Afghanistan, Pakistan had to play a more proactive role. She said the US does acknowledge Pakistan’s sacrifices but the job was still not done.
• Tehmina Janjua presented Pakistan’s point of view and highlighted the nation’s losses in the war on terror. “She asked the US envoy to understand Pakistan’s position instead of making more demands when one job is done,”.
• Alice Wells, who was in Afghanistan before the visit to Pakistan, had said before flying to Islamabad that Pakistan needed to do more on Taliban and take decisive action. She pressed Pakistan to squeeze the Taliban.

3. 11,855 in the run for 849 NA, PA seats

• With the election fever yet to pick up in most parts of the country, 11,855 candidates have been left in the run for 849 general seats of national and provincial assemblies after withdrawal of nominations and scrutiny by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
• According to the data released by the ECP, 3,459 candidates will contest 272 general seats of the national assembly, while 8,396candidates will fight for 577 general seats of the four provincial assemblies.
• The figures show a significant decrease in the number of contestants as compared to the 2013 general polls when 15,629 candidates 4,671 for national assembly and 10,958 for provincial assemblies were in the field after the completion of scrutiny process.
• This time, a total of 3,459 candidates 1,623 from Punjab, 824 from Sindh, 725 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 287 from Balochistan are in the run for the 272 general seats of the national assembly.
• The ECP data of election for general seats of provincial assemblies shows that a total of 4,036 candidates will fight for 297 general seats of the Punjab Assembly; 2,252 candidates will contest 130general seats of the Sindh Assembly; 1,165 will compete for 99 KP Assembly seats and 943 will vie for 51 general seats of the Balochistan Assembly

4. UN Under Secretary General calls on COAS

• Under Secretary General, United Nations Department of Peace keeping Operations, Jean Pierre Lacroix July 2, 2018 called on Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Qamar Javed Bajwa at General Headquarters, Rawalpindi.
• The visiting dignitary acknowledged and appreciated Pakistan Army’s sincere efforts and sacrifices in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations.
• The COAS affirmed that Pakistan would continue to play its positive role being one of the highest troop contributing nation for maintaining international peace and security under United Nations Flag

5. New head office of PHDEC inaugurated

• Commerce secretary Younus Dagha has inaugurated the new head office of the Pakistan Horticulture Development and Export Company (PHDEC) at the FPCCI’s capital office in Islamabad.
• PHDEC is a public sector organisation established by the Ministry of Commerce as Pakistan Horticulture Development Board in 2003, later converted into a Section-42 Company in 2009.
• Due to several administrative and financial constraints, the company’s performance gradually deteriorated and there was serious consideration of its closure in 2015. In 2017, when Dagha took over as secretary commerce, he instructed to conduct a need analysis of PHDEC as an organisation before taking the final decision on the future of the organisation. It emerged that there was nothing wrong with the company’s institutional rationale; the cause of its poor performance was gross mismanagement and lack of financial sustainability. The ministry, therefore, decided to revitalise and restructure the organisation by correcting its administrative malaise and providing a viable financial stream rather than closing it.

6. Bhoja Air responsible for 2012 crash, SC told

• The Supreme Court was informed that the Bhoja Airline incident, which had claimed lives of 127 passengers, took place due to sheer negligence of the airline as the aircraft did not carry appropriate Airworthiness Certificate of the category of passengers.
• The top court was further informed that not only the airline but the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) was equally responsible for the incident as it committed series of violations and allowed the airline to carry out its operations.
• The revelation was made on Monday during the hearing before a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib NIsar which took the case pertaining to non-payment of compensation to the families of the victims of different air crashes, including the Air Blue crash of 2010 and PIA crash of 2016.
• The top court ruled for making the report of two–member Judicial Commission headed by former Justice Ghulam Rabbani in the above said incident part of record.
• Bhoja Airline’s Boeing 737-236A flew from the Jinnah International Airport Karachi for Benazir Bhutto International Airport Islamabad with 127 persons on board including 06 flight crew members. The ill-fated aircraft crashed about 4.2 miles short of runway while landing.
• All those on board lost their lives and the aircraft also destroyed. One Sardar Hussain and seven others, who had, according to them, lost their close relatives in the crash filed a writ petition before Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking a Commission to investigate the safety oversight procedure incorporated by the Civil Aviation Authority and to determine the reasons why the Bhoja Air was allowed a licence to operate in Pakistan once it did not have the required infrastructure aircraft and was defaulter of government dues.

7. Anti-Corruption Establishment DG removed

• The Punjab caretaker government has terminated the contractual appointment of Brig (retired) Muzaffar Ali Ranjha as director-general of the Anti-Corruption Establishment, Punjab, with immediate effect in lieu of one month’s salary.
• Additional Chief Secretary Tariq Najeeb Najmi has been assigned the additional charge of the post of the ACE DG in addition to his own duties, till the posting of a regular incumbent.

8. China aims to outstrip Nasa with super-powerful rocket

• China is working on a super-powerful rocket that would be capable of delivering heavier payloads into low orbit than Nasa.
• By 2030, the Long March-9 rocket under development will be able to carry 140 tonnes into low-Earth orbit – where TV and earth observation satellites currently fly – said Long Lehao, a senior official from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
• This compares to the 20 tonnes deliverable by Europe’s Ariane 5 rocket or the 64 tonnes by Elon Musk’s Falcon Heavy, which in February catapulted one of the US entrepreneur’s red Tesla Roadster cars towards Mars.
• It would also outstrip the 130 tonnes of Nasa’s Space Launch System, which is due to become operational in 2020.
• China’s Long March-9 would have a core stage measuring 10 metres (33 feet) in diameter and boast four powerful boosters, each with a diameter of five metres

9. Australia thrash Pakistan

• Australia fast bowler Billy Stanlake rediscovered his aggressive streak to demolish Pakistan’s top order and set up a nine-wicket win for his side in the second match of the T20 tri-series in Zimbabwe.
• It also ended Pakistan’s eight match winning streak.

10. Unesco marks Colombian national park for conservation

• Colombia’s massive Chiribiquete National Park has made Unesco’s World Heritage List, the United Nations body announced.
• With an area of 2.7 million hectares (6.7 million acres) covering five Amazonian municipalities in the southern Guaviare and Caqueta regions, Colombia’s largest natural park has rich biodiversity and is a sacred place for indigenous people. This is the ninth world heritage listing in Colombia, the second most biodiverse country in the world after Brazil. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said that his government will expand the protected territory in the area.
• The territory, which is considered a protected area since 1989, will be expanded by 1.5 million hectares on July 2, 2018, according to the presidency.
• For decades, war overshadowed the treasures that the park holds.
• But the peace agreement signed in 2016 with the then communist FARC guerrilla led to the discovery of the large tepuis mesas hundreds of meters (yards) high and wide that house more than 75,000-year-old cave paintings.