Day by Day Current Affairs (June 02, 2018) | MCQs for CSS, PMS, NTS

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 June 2, 2018

1. PN signs accord with China for two frigates

• The Pakistan Navy announced on June 1, 2018 that it was purchasing two multirole Type 054A frigates from China for bolstering its war-fighting capability.
• The contract for the acquisition of two warships from China Shipbuilding Trading Company Ltd (CSTC) was signed at the Ministry of Defence Production.
• Pakistan`s fleet of Type054A warships would grow to four by 2021.
• `The induction of these ships will substantially enhance Pakistan Navy`s war fighting capabilities while effectively contributing towards maritime security operations in the region.
• The ship has a stealthy design and is primarily designed for air defence.
• The frigates are also equipped to conduct anti surface and anti-submarine warfare missions.
• Type 054A has a length of 134m and abeam of 16m. The standard displacement is 3,600t, while the full displacement is around 4,000t. Each vessel is estimated to cost $250 million.

2. AJK Legislative Assembly, council sitting approves amendments to constitution

• The AJK Council on June 1, 2018 approved amendments to the AJK Constitution abolishing the council`s administrative and financial powers and reducing it to an advisory body.
• The process had started on May 28, 2018, when the 13th constitutional amendment bill was tabled by the government in the Legislative Assembly amid objections by the opposition that under section 33 of AJK`s interim constitution, no amendment could be made in sections 31, 33 and 56 without the prior approval of the government of Pakistan.
• An undeterred AJK government pinned its hope on the next federal cabinet meeting the last day of the PML-N government, but the agenda for the meeting had no mention of constitutional reforms in AJK.

3. MoU signed to work on harassment against women

• The Centre for Research and Security Studies and the Federal Ombudsperson Secretariat for Protection against Harassment have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to work on harassment against women.
• Under the agreement, both the organisations will seek collaboration to promote a mechanism for the enforcement of the Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2010 and carry out independent research, awareness campaigns and development in the country.

4. United Nations medals for 7 fallen Pakistani peacekeepers

• The UN has honoured at a solemn ceremony 128 military, police and civilian personnel from 38 countries, including seven Pakistanis, who lost their lives while serving in peacekeeping operations during 2017.
• June 2, 2018 ceremony marked the annual International Day of Peacekeepers during which the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal was awarded posthumously to the peacekeepers who have given their lives for the cause of peace, during the preceding year.
• This year also marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of UN Peacekeeping, the world body’s flagship enterprise described by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as “a proven investment in global peace, security and prosperity”.
• Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi, accepted the awards on behalf of the families of the seven fallen Pakistani peacekeepers. They are: Sepoy Hazrat Bilal, Naik Abdul Ghafoor, Naik Muhammad Ali, Sepoy Muhammad Ishtiaq Abbasi, Sepoy Tariq Javed, Naik Attaur Rehman and Sepoy Yassir Abbas.

5. Suhail replaces Fawad as secy to PM

• Reshuffle in bureaucracy started just after oath-taking ceremony of Justice Nasir ul Malik as caretaker Prime Minister as Fawad Hassan Fawad, Secretary to PM, was removed from his position and posted him as Director General Civil Services Academy.
• Suhail Aamir, a BS-22 officer of Secretariat Group, has been posted as Secretary to PM. The Establishment Division has issued notifications in this regard
• On the other hand, Muhammad Abu Akif, a grade-22 officer has been posted as Secretary Cabinet Division.

6. National Transport Policy 2018 approved

• The National Transport Policy 2018 approved by the PML-N’s last federal cabinet meeting seeks overhauling rail, air, trucking, mass transit, pipeline network, urban transport, maritime business in an integrated mode to meet challenges of the growing population and developing national economy.
• The National Transport Policy has recommended that Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority will be restructured, separating its regulatory and service provision responsibilities.
• Work on the National Transport Policy was initiated by the Ministry of Planning, Development & Reform in collaboration with Department for International Development (DFID) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) in February, 2017.

7. Spain`s Prime Minister Rajoy voted out, Socialist rival takes over

• Spain`s parliament on June 1, 2018 ousted Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in a no-confidence vote sparked by fury over his party`s corruption woes, with his Socialist arch-rival Pedro Sanchez taking over.
• An absolute majority of 180 lawmakers voted for the motion to loud applause and shouts of `Yes we can,` even if Sanchez faces a tough road ahead as he will govern with an even smaller minority than Rajoy.
• The veteran bespectacled 63-year-old leader got up and shook hands with Sanchez before leaving the lower house without a word.
• Rajoy had already admitted defeat minutes before the vote, knowing that an absolute majority of lawmakers as diverse as Catalan separatists and Basque nationalists had pledged their support for the no-confidence motion.
• Sanchez, Spain`s 46-year-old opposition leader, instigated the no-confidence motion last week after a court confirmed that a vast system of bribes given to former PP officials in exchange for lucrative public contracts was implemented between 1999-2005.

8. Anti-establishment coalition takes office in Italy

• Italy`s new antiestablishment government took power on June 1, 2018, ending months of deadlock that saw the eurozone`s third largest economy narrowly avoid snap elections after a last-gasp coalition deal.
• New Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, 53, was sworn in at the head of the first populist government in an EU founding member that was forged by the Five Star Movement and the farright League.
• The handover of power follows an inconclusive March election and months of political turmoil which had spooked global financial markets and spread unease among Italy`s EU partners.
• Reaction to the new government was wary, with concerns still running high about Italy`s massive debt mountain and the future of the EU and its single currency.
• The coalition which faces a parliamentary confidence motion early next week that it is set to win plans to boost public spending and wants to renegotiate EU treaties and review the bloc`s economic governance.

9. `Surprising` methane dunes found on Pluto

• Pluto is covered with surprising dunes made of methane ice, which have formed relatively recently despite the frigid dwarf planet`s very thin atmosphere, international researchers said.
• Pluto`s atmosphere has a surface pressure 100,000 times lower than Earth`s, which researchers suspected might be too little to allow tiny grains of solid methane to mobilise and become airborne.
• Yet mild winds blowing across Pluto`s surface at speeds of some 19-25 miles (30-40 kilometres) per hour have forged these ripples at the border of an ice plain and mountain range, said the report in the journal Science.
• The dunes are scattered across a belt-like area some 45 miles (75 kilometres) across, and were spotted with Nasa`s New Horizonsspacecr af t when it flew by in 2015, said the report.

10. World`s largest freshwater pearl goes for 320,000 euros

• The world`s largest known freshwater pearl, which once belonged to Catherine the Great, was sold on May 31, 2018 in the Netherlands for 320,000 euros ($374,000), auction house Venduehuis said.
• Known as the Sleeping Lion pearl due to its distinctive shape, the pearl was likely formed in the first half of the 18th century in Chinese waters, possibly even the Pearl River.
• The auctioneers said the jewel weighs some 120 grams (around 4.2 ounces) and is almost seven centimetres (about 2.7 inches) long making it one of the three largest known pearls in the world.
• The pearl, bought by a Japanese trader for 320,000 euros, had been valued 340,000 and 540,000 euros.
• Around 1765, the pearl was shipped to Batavia, now known as Jakarta, by a Dutch merchant of the United East Indies Company.