Day by Day Current Affairs (June 15, 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

June 15, 2018

1. UN calls for major probe into abuses in held Kashmir

• Following the launch of the first-ever United Nations report on the human rights situation in Kashmir that pointed to impunity for rights abuses and lack of access to justice in India-held Kashmir, the world body`s human rights chief on June 14, 2018 said he would ask the Human Rights Council to set up a `commission of inquiry` the UN`s highest-level probe to investigate the rights violations in the held valley.
• `I will be urging the UN Human Rights Council to consider establishing a commission of inquiry to conduct a comprehensive independent international investigation into allegations of human rights violations in Kashmir,` UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra`ad Al Hussein said in a statement issued by his office from Geneva.
• Mr Hussein said the Kashmir conflict had `robbed millions of their basic human rights, and continues to this day to inflict untold suffering` and it was one reason why he was `urging the UN Human Rights Council to consider establishing a commission of inquiry`.
• His office earlier released a 49-page document on the situation in both parts of Kashmir. The report notes that while it discusses the situation in both parts of the disputed region, its focus was on the happenings in India-held valley from where widespread reports of human rights violations were received between July 2016 and April 2018.

2. Army to guard all polling stations

• The Army will be deployed in and outside all the around 85,000 polling stations being established for the coming general elections while security cameras will be installed at over 20,000 sensitive polling stations.
• The decision was taken at a meeting held here with Chief Election Commissioner Sardar Muhammad Raza in the chair to put the finishing touches to security arrangements for the elections. The meeting was attended, besides others, by the newly appointed chief secretaries and inspectors generals of police and representatives of the army, security agencies and provincial election commissions.

3. Mulla Fazlullah ‘killed’ in drone strike

• Emir of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan Maulvi Fazlullah commonly known as Mulla Radio was killed in a US drone strike in Afghanistan’s Kunar province on June 14, 2018.
• In the past, TTP chief Mullah Fazlullah had also been reportedly killed in drone strikes several times. After the death of Hakimullah Mehsud in a drone attack, Fazlullah was appointed as the new ‘Emir’ (chief) of the TTP on 7 November 2013.

4. KP interim cabinet sworn in

• A 10-member interim cabinet of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa took oath on June 14, 2018 at a ceremony held in Governors House.
• Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra took oath from the cabinet members. The 10-member cabinet consists of Akbar Jan Marwat, Muhammad Rashid Khan, Dr Saira Safdar, Muqadasullah, Abdul Rauf Khan, Muhammad Sanaullah Khan, Zafar Iqbal Banghash, Anwarul Haq, Fazl Elahi and Justice (Retd) Asadullah Khan Chamkhani.
• Dr Saira is the only female member in the cabinet while Akbar Jan Marwat has served as a provincial caretaker minister in the past. Besides others, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Justice (Retd) Dost Muhammad Khan, who had taken oath of his office on June 6, was also present on the occasion.

5. Leading Journalist in Indian-occupied Kashmir, Shujaat Bukhari shot dead

• A leading newspaper journalist and editor in Indian-occupied Kashmir, Shujaat Bukhari, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Srinagar on June 14, 2018.
• Bukhari was attacked in his car near the office of the Rising Kashmir newspaper, which he edited, when he left for Iftari.
• Shujaat Bukhari had just entered his vehicle outside his office in the city’s press enclave when assailants fired several shots from close range.
• Another police guard and the vehicle driver were critically wounded in the attack.

6. Russian embassy holds first party in Jerusalem

• The Russian embassy in Israel hosts a reception for its national day in Jerusalem for the first time on June 14, 2018, instead of Tel Aviv.
• It comes in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s transfer of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May, after he recognised the disputed city as capital of Israel.
• Before that decision the Russian government last year said it views “west Jerusalem as the capital of Israel”.
• The same statement also recognised “east Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestinian state”.

7. 120 countries at UN condemn Israel over Gaza violence

• The UN General Assemblyadopted by a strong majority of 120 countries an Arab-backed resolution condemning Israel for Palestinian deaths in Gaza and rejected a US bid to blame Hamas for the violence.
• The resolution deplores Israel’s use of “excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate force” against Palestinian civilians and calls for protection measures for Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
• At least 129 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire during protests near the border with Gaza that began at the end of March. No Israelis have died.
• Presented by Algeria and Turkey on behalf of Arab and Muslim countries, the measure won a decisive 120 votes in the 193-member assembly, with 8 votes against and 45 abstentions.

8. North, South Korea hold military talks amid US plan to stop drills

• North and South Korea failed to reach any concrete agreement during their military talks on June 14, 2018, as two-star generals from both sides met just two days after US President Donald Trump floated his plan to halt joint exercises with South Korea.
• The talks, their first in more than a decade, held in the border village of Panmunjom in the demilitarised zone (DMZ), followed on from an inter-Korean summit in April at which leaders of the two Koreas had agreed to defuse tensions and cease `all hostile acts`.
• They agreed to implement a 2004 agreement, in which the two sides` militaries vowed to work to prevent unexpected clash in the West Sea, a joint statement said. They also discussed the planned establishment of a hotline between the two militaries, but failed to set the specific time table for its reinstatement.

9. US returns stolen 525-year-old Columbus letter to Vatican

• A 525-year-old copy of a letter by Christopher Columbus that was stolen from the Vatican was returned on June 14, 2018 after joint sleuthing by US Homeland Security agents and Holy See antiquity experts.
• It’s the third such return in recent years after US investigators determined that several authentic copies of the letter had been stolen from libraries across Europe and replaced with forgeries without library officials’ knowledge.
• The authentic letter had ended up in the possession of an Atlanta actuary who purchased it from a rare book dealer in New York in 2004, unaware it had been taken from the Vatican. His widow returned it.

10. 2018 FIFA World Cup kicks off in Moscow

• The 2018 World Cup, the most thrilling football event in the world, kicked off in Russia June 14, 2018 in presence of President Vladimir Putin and other high ups, as the host nation took on Saudi Arabia in front of 80,000 people in Moscow