Day by Day Current Affairs (June 30, 2018) | MCQs for CSS, PMS, NTS

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June 30, 2018

1. Amnesty pulls in Rs80bn tax amid massive response

• With the curtain set to drop on the amnesty scheme by the end of the day (June 30, 2018), nearly 5,000 people have filed returns declaring their foreign assets and deposited approximately Rs80 billion in taxes till June 28, Dawn has learnt through knowledgeable sources.
• However, the final amount is going to be much higher, since the sources confirm that more funds are in the pipeline based on payment slips issued.
• The tax amnesty scheme announced by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government, which got off to a lackluster start, saw a surge of interest since the last hearing in the case held in the Supreme Court`s Lahore registry on June 11.
• So far, two single largest declarants of foreign assets were from Karachi and Peshawar.
• A Karachi-based person has deposited Rs3.2 billion in tax on his foreign assets, while a woman hailing from Peshawar paid Rs1.2bn, also on her foreign assets.
• Another influential businessman from Karachi, who owns multiple businesses, paid an amount of Rs267 million on his undeclared foreign assets.
• The deadline of the scheme is June 30 which, according to the law, is nonexpendable. Pressure is mounting on the government from various sides to extend the deadline.
• The government has taken extraordinary precautions to keep information of declarants confidential. FBR chairman Tariq Pasha and his core team including member Policy Dr Muhammad Iqbal and Special Assistant to chairman Malik Amjad Zuball Tiwana are the only ones with access to the information submitted by declarants.

2. In a first, ECP allows 10-hour polling time on election day

• The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on June 28, 2018 announced extending polling time by an hour for the upcoming general elections.
• Polling time For the first time in the country`s history, the electorates will have 10 hours in a general election to cast their votes though earlier in some by-polls voters had been given 11 hours.
• Formally announcing to extend the previously fixed polling hours by an hour to make it 8am to 6pm, the ECP said the decision was meant to facilitate the polling and ensure maximum turnout.
• A proposal to extend time from nine hours had been under consideration for quite some time. The experiment of holding by-polls after the 2013 general elections by extending polling hours from 7am till 6pm was highly successful.

3. IB chief transferred in another round of bureaucracy shuffle

• Dr Muhammad Suleman Khan, a grade-22 officer of the police service who has been director general of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) since May 7 this year, was made national coordinator of the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta).
• His predecessor retired Lt Cdr Ihsan Ghani, who also belongs to the police service, will now head the IB. Mr Ghani is set to retire in August this year. The government reverted within three days its decision about the transfer of information secretary Sardar Ahmed Nawaz Sukhera because of the Supreme Court`s directives.
• Mr Sukhera, a grade-22 officer of the Pakistan Administrative Services (PAS) who had been transferred as education secretary on June 26, was made information secretary again.
• Arshad Mirza, also a grade-22 officer of PAS, who was posted as information secretary, has been made education secretary.
• Usman Alchtar Bajwa, a grade-20 officer of PAS who was working as Capital Development Authority (CDA) chairman, has been directed to report to the Establishment Division. Ishrat Ali, a grade-21 officer of PAS, who was working as director general passports, has been made CDA chairman.
• The interim government has formally appointed Muhammad Saleem new chairman of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA). The post had been lying vacant since December last year.

4. FATF notifies Pakistan on its `grey list`

• The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on June 29, 2018 officially notified Pakistan on its `grey list`.
• `FATF has identified Pakistan as a jurisdiction with strategic AML/CFT (anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism) deficiencies,` a statement issued by the FATF from Paris said.
• The decision to put Pakistan on the grey list had been taken at the FATF`s last plenary in February; however, it took effect after Pakistan successfully negotiated an action plan for overcoming those deficiencies.
• The National Security Council had earlier this month extended the commitment to implement the action plan.

5. US upgrades Pakistan on `human trafficking index`

• The United States has moved Pakistan from a watch list to another group of countries that have taken significant steps to curb human trafficking, says a report released on June 29, 2018.
• `The government of Pakistan does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so,` says the report released by the US State Department. `The government demonstrated increasing efforts compared to the previous reporting period, therefore, Pakistan was upgraded to Tier 2.
• The move came two days after an international financial watchdog placed Pakistan on its monitoring list known as the `grey list` for allowing terrorist groups to collect funds.
• Tier 2 on the State Department`s list includes countries that do not fully comply with these minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance while tier 2 watch list includes countries being monitored for compliance.

6. First Official Election 2018 Result: PPP`s Bijarani declared winner unopposed on PS-6

• Pakistan Peoples Party`s candidate Mir Shabbir Bijarani, has been declared winner unopposed on the Sindh Assembly`s constituency PS-6 (Tangwani) in Kandh kot Kashmore district, according to a notification issued on June 29, 2018.
• Returning Officer Attaullah Mahar rejected nomination papers filed for the constituency by two leaders of Jamiat Ulema-i-IslamFazl (JUI-F), Maulana Abdul Qayyum and Qari Kifayatullah Khoso, after the former did not declare his assets and the latter did not declare his salary drawn from a madressah.
• Mr Bijarani is the first candidate in the country who has been declared winner in the general elections 2018.

7. First Mobile hospital launched in GB

• Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Hafeezur Rehman on June 29, 2018 inaugurated a mobile hospital as part of the health reforms in GB.
• The inaugural ceremony was held in Kahorot area of Gilgit.
• Mobile hospital was equipped with the state-of-the-art facilities and medical tests facility was also available on the spot.
• In the first phase, three mobile hospitals had been purchased which would be provided to district administrations of Gilgit, Diamer and Baltistan.

8. UN migration agency rejects Trump-proposed leader

• The UN`s migration agency snubbed the Trump administration`s candidate to lead it on June 29, 2018, a major blow to US leadership of a body addressing one of the world`s most pressing issues and only the second time that it won`t be run by an American since 1951.
• Diplomats who took part in the first three rounds of voting on June 29, 2018 said that American Ken Isaacs was eliminated in the ongoing contest to elect the next director-general of the International Organisation of Migration. The race was so far led by Antonio Vitorino, a Portuguese Socialist, ahead of IOM deputy director-general Laura Thompson of Costa Rica.
• The `IOM Director is seen as an `American seat` and Trump was unable to place an American in it.

9. US ends 70 years of military presence in S. Korean capital

• The United States formally ended seven decades of military presence in South Korea`s capital on June 29, 2018 with a ceremony to mark the opening of a new headquarters farther from North Korean artillery range.
• The command`s move to Camp Humphreys, about 70 kilometres south of Seoul, comes amid a fledgling detente on the Korean Peninsula, though the relocation was planned long before that. Most troops have already transferred to the new location, and the US says the remaining ones will move by the end of this year.
• The US military had been headquartered in Seoul`s central Yongsan neighbourhood since American troops first arrived at the end of World War II. The Yongsan Garrison was a symbol of the US-South Korea alliance but its occupation of prime real estate was also a long-running source of friction.

10. SpaceX launches AI robot, strong coffee for ISS crew

• A SpaceX rocket that flew just two months ago with a Nasa satellite roared back into action on June 29, 2018, launching the first orbiting robot with artificial intelligence and other station supplies.
• The used Falcon rocket blasted off before dawn, hauling nearly 6,000 pounds of cargo including the spherical AI bot named Cimon, genetically identical mice and super-caffeinated coffee for the crew of the International Space Station.
• The shipment packed into a Dragon capsule that’s also recycled should reach the station on July 1, 2018.