Day by Day Current Affairs (May 24, 2018) | MCQs for CSS, PMS, NTS

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May 24, 2018

1. First ever SCO meeting held in Pakistan since becoming member

• Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua May 23, 2018 said Pakistan was ready to work with regional countries under the umbrella of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation to defeat terrorism.
• Inaugurating the three-day meeting of the Legal Experts Group of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation – Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure, she said Pakistan was cognizant of the threats posed by terrorism, separatism and extremism to the region and beyond.
• This is the first ever SCO meeting being held in Pakistan since becoming member of the SCO in June last year. Legal experts from the eight member states, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan, as well as representatives of the SCO and Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure Executive Committee are participating in the meeting. They will discuss terrorist threats facing the region and ways and means to enhance counter-terrorism cooperation among the SCO member states.
• The SCO is an important forum for global and regional peace and security and promoting mutually beneficial cooperation between member states.
• The SCO, in which China and Russia play an influential role, specialises in regional security, counter-terrorism and related issues. The organisation consists of China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

2. Spadework for first local iron-ore steel mill complete

• The planning work, including the financial model, for building the country`s first ever local iron-ore steel mill at Chiniot has been finalised and the government is ready for holding a road show for international and local investors.
• `The spadework for the mining, processing and (building) a steel mill complex at Chiniot has been completed and is ready for exposure to the world,` said Mines Secretary Dr Arshad Mahmood, who is also the head of the Punjab Mineral Company, which is carrying out the project.
• The total proposed amount for mining, processing and steel production is around $1.2 billion. This includes $150 million for mining, $250 million for processing and the rest for the steel mill. The proposed investor internal rate of return is around 20 per cent

3. Heritage museum opens in Laspur valley

• A heritage museum showcasing the 11th century artifacts, weaponry and other objects of artistic, cultural and historical importance has been established in Laspur valley of Chitral district.
• Aga Khan Rural Support Programme and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sustainable Tourism Foundation with the financial support of Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation under its WES project established the museum to promote ecotourism in the district, according to a press release issued here on Wednesday by Tourism Corporation Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
• The museum is located in Harichan area and tourists and visitors from entire Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan can easily reach the venue via Shandur Pass. A camping site is also under construction to accommodate at least 30 tourists while visiting the museum.

4. Govt hires UAE banks to raise $200m loan

• The Government of Pakistan is raising a $200 million syndicated loan with three United Arab Emirates (UAE) banks, as Islamabad clings to external funding to stave off the pressure on balance of payments.
• The loan, with a one-year maturity, is being arranged by Commercial Bank of Dubai, Emirates NBD, and Noor Bank.
• Pakistan needs to raise funds to offset a drop in international reserves and to fill a fiscal deficit which the International Monetary Fund estimates at 5.5 per cent of gross domestic product this year.
• Pakistan`s Finance Minister Miftah Ismail confirmed Pakistan was borrowing $200 million and said it would help the country`s debt repayments.
• Pakistan raised a $2.5bn bond late last year through a $1bn sukuk and a $1.5bn conventional bond.
• The country has been very active in the loan market recently, as balance of payments pressure mount. It raised a $700m 10-year loan late last year with a partial guarantee from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, a unit of the World Bank.

5. Egypt, Russia sign 50-year industrial zone agreement

• Egypt and Russia signed a 50-year agreement on May 23, 2018 to build a sprawling industrial zone that Egypt hopes will attract up to $7 billion in investments.
• The 5.25 million square metre (57 million square foot) industrial zone will be located east of Port Said in the new Suez Canal Economic Zone, a mega project launched by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
• The construction of the first phase of the Russian industrial zone is expected to cost around $190m, according to a statement from Egypt`s trade ministry announcing the signing of the agreement.

6. Water talks failed to produce agreement: World Bank

• The World Bank on May 23, 2018 announced that two days of talks with a Pakistani delegation did not lead to an agreement on the way forward in Pakistan`s water dispute with India.
• A four-member Pakistani delegation arrived in Washington on May 20, 2018, a day after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a controversial dam in India-held Kashmir, for talks with senior World Bank officials. Pakistan fears the dam will reduce its share in the waters of the Indus and its tributaries and will also damage the ecosystem of the Neelum and Jhelum rivers.
• The World Bank said that senior bank officials met the Pakistani team, at their request, on May 21-22 and discussed issues regarding the Indus Waters Treaty and opportunities within the treaty to seek an amicable solution to the India-Pakistan water dispute.
• The Pakistani agenda for the talks included four key points: the height of the dam built on the Kishanganga River, its capacity to hold water, Pakistan`s demand for setting up a court of arbitration to settle the dispute and India`s counter demand for an international expert, instead of the court.
• The 1960 Indus Waters Treaty gives Pakistan exclusive use of the western rivers, the Jhelum, Chenab and Indus, while the eastern rivers Ravi, Beas and Sutlej go to India.

7. ECP unveils draft polling scheme for elections

• The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on May 23, 2018 unveiled the draft polling scheme on its website for General Elections 2018.
• According to the details, there are 86,436 polling stations including 48,667 in Punjab and 18,647 in Sindh. In Fata and K-P, 14,655 polling stations will be established and 4,467 in Balochistan
• The polling scheme provides constituency wise details of polling stations, number of polling booths there and the number of voters assigned to each polling station.

8. Giuseppe Conte approved for Italian prime minister

• Italy’s president on May 23, 2018 approved little-known lawyer Giuseppe Conte’s nomination to be prime minister of a government formed by far-right and anti-establishment parties.
• Conte’s appointment could herald an end to more than two months of political uncertainty in the eurozone’s third-biggest economy – but the coalition’s eurosceptic and anti-immigrant stance has alarmed senior European officials.
• President Sergio Mattarella met on May 23, 2018 afternoon with Conte, “to whom he gave the mandate to form a government,” said Ugo Zampetti, General Secretary of the Italian presidency.
• The talks with the president had been delayed amid a furore over claims that Conte had exaggerated his academic experience on his CV.

9. Polish writer wins Man Booker prize

• Poland’s first ever writer to win the Man Booker International Prize on May 22, 2018.
• Olga Tokarczuk won the prize on May 22, 2018 with the English translation of her novel Flights, which charts multiple journeys in time, space and human anatomy.
• The 56-year-old author is among Poland’s top writers. Her liberal views and perspectives on Polish history especially on the Holocaust, including her criticism of Polish antisemitism have clashed with those of the ruling conservative party. She has received death threats in the past.

10. American literary giant Philip Roth passes away

• Prolific novelist Philip Roth, a dominant force in American literature throughout the latter half of the 20th century, has died at the age of 85.
• Roth won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his acclaimed novel American Pastoral. A prolific essayist and critic, Roth was best known for mining the Jewish-American experience in his work. He first achieved f ame for his 1969 novel Portnoy`s Complaint, about a horny teenager named Alexander Portnoy.
• His titanic stature on the post-World War II literary scene came from the universality of his message in his own words: `I don`t write Jewish, I write American.