Day by Day Current Affairs (June 25, 2018) | MCQs for CSS, PMS, NTS

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June 25, 2018

1. KP Advocate General resigns

• Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Advocate General Abdul Lateef Yousafzai has resigned after around five years on the job.
• Mr Yousafzai, an advocate in the Supreme Court, submitted his resignation to KP Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra on June 24, 2018. He was appointed by the former KP government in Sept 2013.
• Among legal circles Mr Yousafzai is regarded as a competent lawyer. He defended the KP government in a number of high-profile cases, especially on petitions challenging the enactment of the Ehtesab Commission Act, 2014, and the KP Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act, 2015.

2. Erdogan declares victory in Turkey`s presidential polls

• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared victory in a tightly-contested presidential election on June 24, 2018 in the face of a revitalised opposition.
• Erdogan had just under 53 per cent while Ince, of the secular Republican Peoples Party (CHP), was on 31 percent, based on a 96 percent vote count.
• Turkish voters had for the first time cast ballots for both president and parliament in the snap polls, with Erdogan looking for a first round knockout and an overall majority for his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
• The stakes in this election are particularly high as the new president will be the first to enjoy enhanced powers under a new constitution agreed in an April 2017 referendum strongly backed by Erdogan.

3. Pakistan to launch observatory satellite next month

• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on June 24, 2018 announced the launch of Pakistan`s indigenously developed 285kg PakTES-1A observatory satellite in July.
• Fitted with sensors and cameras, PakTES-1A will remain stationary 610km in space and its position relative to the sun will not change.
• Foreign Office spokesman Dr Muhammad Faisal congratulated Pakistani scientists in a tweet, saying they had made Pakistanis proud.
• Known as the Remote Sensing Satellite (RSS) it can be used to study various features of Earth, determine mineral deposits, and depending on the kinds of sensors and gadgets fitted, the RSS technology can also help study impacts of climate change such as recession of melting glaciers, green house gasses, detect foresthres and even solve problems related to agriculture as well as forestry, besides a whole range of passive and active tasks. The navigation technology for the satellite was acquired from China back in 2012.
• India has been launching such observatory satellite since the 1970s.

4. Saudi women hit the road with a vengeance

• Saudi women steered their cars through busy streets for the first time on June 24, 2018 after the world`s last remaining ban on women driving was lifted.
• It`s a historic moment for women who have had to rely on their husbands, fathers, brothers and drivers to run basic errands, get to work, visit friends or even drop kids off at school. The ban had relegated women to the backseat, restricting when and how they move around.
• But after midnight on June 24, 2018, Saudi women finally joined women around the world in being able to get behind the wheel of a car and simply drive.
• In 1990, during the first driving campaign by activists, women who drove in the capital, Riyadh, lost their jobs, faced severe stigmatization and were barred from travel abroad for a year.

5. Pak soldier martyred in cross-border firing

• A soldier of Pakistan Army embraced martyrdom during a cross-border fire on a border fencing party along Pak-Afghan border in North Waziristan on June 24, 2018.
• The martyred soldier, sepoy Niaz Ali, 29, hailed from Mardan. The attack also left a junior commissioned officer injured.
• DG ISPR Asif Ghafoor said that; a total of 2,611 kilometres of Pak-Afghan border will be fenced, which include 1,43 kilometres in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 1,268 kilometres in Balochistan. Fencing of 225 kilometres has been completed, while another patch of 397 kilometres will be completed this year.
• 443 forts and border check posts are being constructed along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. 156 forts and check posts have been completed, while 30 others are under construction.

6. China, Tajikistan launch $200m mining venture

• China and Tajikistan embarked on a new $200 million gold and antimony mining venture June 24, 2018, the Tajik presidential press service said, as Beijing expands its hold over the impoverished Central Asian country’s mineral resources.
• On June 24, 2018 a groundbreaking ceremony was held for a mine that is expected to produce its first gold and antimony in 2020. The venture between Tajikistan’s state-owned aluminium smelter Talco and Chinese company Tibet Huayu Mining Co., Ltd is expected to produce 1.5 tons of gold annually and 16,000 tons of antimony.
• China has acquired rights to a number of mineral concessions in Tajikistan in recent years, some in exchange for Chinese loans and investment in other areas of the economy.
• This year another Chinese company TBEA acquired the rights to operate a mine in Tajikistan’s northern Sugd region as partial compensation for its construction of a power plant.

7. Singapore spent $12m on US-N Korea summit

• Singapore said June 24, 2018 it spent Sg$16.3 million ($12 million) on the historic US-North Korea summit, adding it was less than initially anticipated after some in the city-state complained about the high cost.
• US President Donald Trump and the North’s leader Kim Jong Un met in Singapore on June 12 for talks aimed at ending a tense nuclear standoff.
• The meeting was the culmination of a rapid detente between Pyongyang and Washington and saw Kim commit to working towards denuclearisation, although critics noted the summit agreement was vague and non-binding.
• Singapore, an affluent financial hub, was seen as a good choice for the summit due to its warm ties with both the US and North Korea, and reputation for strict order. But some Singaporeans thought welcoming the mercurial leaders was more an annoyance than an honour, particularly when Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong estimated the tiny state would have to shell out Sg$20 million ($14.7 million) to host the meeting.

8. William heads for historic ME tour

• Prince William flies to Jordan on June 24, 2018 on a trip that will see him become the first member of Britain’s royal family to pay an official visit to both Israel and the Palestinian territories.
• The 36-year-old Duke of Cambridge touches down in Amman for a first leg billed as a chance to bond with Jordan’s Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah, 23, a fellow graduate of Britain’s Royal Sandhurst Military Academy.
• The second in line to the British throne will then head to Israel to begin his history-making visit to the Jewish state and occupied West Bank. He will hold talks with both Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.
• Kensington Palace has underlined the “non-political nature of His Royal Highness’s role — in common with all royal visits overseas”. But the region is a minefield of sensitivities. The visit comes at a particularly volatile time after US President Donald Trump recognised Occupied al-Quds as capital of Israel and moved Washington’s embassy there, sparking Arab outrage and deadly clashes.

9. Pro-Palestinian, Shoah survivor Langer dies at 87

• Felicia Langer, an Israeli-German Holocaust survivor who won both plaudits and attacks for her activism and legal work in defence of Palestinians, has died aged 87 in Germany
• She rose to prominence in the 1960s and 70s defending Palestinian detainees from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, also authoring several books highly critical of Israeli forces. The left-wing activist — who drew much scorn for calling Israel an “apartheid” state — in 1990 emigrated to Germany, where she became a citizen in 2008. Langer was awarded the 1990 Right Livelihood award, sometimes dubbed the Alternative Nobel Prize, and in 2009 Germany’s Federal Cross of Merit by then president Horst Koehler.

10. Bangkok hosts Indian film industry’s biggest annual event

• Thailand’s capital hosted the Indian film industry’s biggest annual event, with awards given to top Bollywood actors and movies, and dazzling performances by Indian artists.
• The International Indian Film Academy Awards has been held in cities around the world since its inception in 2000 to celebrate the Hindi-language film industry globally.
• This year’s three-day extravaganza, which ran June 22 through June 24, 2018 in Bangkok, witnessed the star-studded presentation of awards to Bollywood’s outstanding films and performers of 2017.
• Past editions of the IIFA Awards were held in places including New York, Toronto, Johannesburg, Amsterdam, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Dubai.
• The highly acclaimed actress Rekha was among the participants this year. The 64-year-old star is known as Bollywood’s timeless beauty and has acted in more than 180 films in a career spanning over 50 years.