Daily Top-10 Current Affairs MCQs/News (April 16, 2020) for CSS, PMS

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April 16 2020: National / International Current Affairs

1. Japan offers $1m to help fight Covid-19

• The Japanese government has decided to provide another $1million to Pakistan through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to equip people and Afghan refugees to fight Covid-19.
• Prior to this, the Japanese government had provided $2.41m to Pakistan to support its efforts to combat the infection, including $1.62m through the United Nations Children`s Fund (UNICEF), $540,000 through the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and $250,000 through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), a press release of Japanese assistance said on Wednesday.
• Through the fresh grant assistance, the UNHCR will provide necessary technical assistance and equipment and material to prevent the spread of Covid-19 by considering the situation on the ground at the request of the government. The support will boost Pakistan`s capacity to quickly track the coronavirus-affected persons and treat them accordingly.

2. Pakistan included in G20 debt relief plan

• Pakistan has been included in the group of countries eligible for debt relief on all principal and interest payments to official bilateral creditors announced by the G20 countries in their Riyadh meeting on April 15, 2020.
• The G20 grouping had been urged by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to extend debt relief to the poorest countries to free up their resources for the Covid-19 related challenge instead.
• On Wednesday the G20 made the decision to include all countries grouped under the World Bank`s International Development Association (IDA) to be eligible for debt relief under the proposed plan. The IDA group contains 76 countries of which Pakistan is one. The G20 worked with a grouping of African countries as well as the multilateral lenders IMF and WB to decide on the terms of the debt relief.

3. Punjab extends lockdown till 25th April, allows low risk sectors to reopen

• Punjab government has extended lockdown in the province till 25th of April while deciding to immediately re-open the low-risk sectors by ensuring implementation of SOPs to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
• Decision to this effect was taken at a high-level meeting presided over by Chief Secretary Punjab Major (r) Azam Suleman Khan. Commissioner Lahore Saif Anjum, CCPO Zulfiqar Hameed and officers concerned attended the meeting whereas Inspector General of Police Shoaib Dastgir, divisional commissioners and regional police officers joined through video link.
• Chief Secretary announced that the lockdown in the province would continue till 25th of April and keeping in view financial problems of daily wagers decision had been taken to open several low-risk sectors including chemical industries, IT companies, individual shops (Standalone) of plumbers, electricians, carpenters, tailors, veterinary services, and offices of real estate and property dealers.

4. Brig Ahmed assumes charge as PM’s Military Secretary

• Brigadier Mohammad Ahmed, an AK-21 Regiment Officer, assumed the charge of new Military Secretary to Prime Minister Imran Khan for three years term on April 15, 2020.
• The outgoing Military Secretary Brigadier Waseem Iftikhar Cheema paid a farewell call on the Prime Minister. During the call, the Prime Minister appreciated the services of outgoing Military Secretary and wished him success in his professional career.
• Brig Waseem Iftikhar Cheema has been posted for his new assignment to command a brigade at Lahore Corps

5. Ex-CJP Bashir Jehangiri passes away at 83

• Former Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mohammad Bashir Jehangiri expired on 13 April 2020 after protracted illness. He was 83.
• Mr Jehangiri, who was hospitalised in Islamabad the other day, breathed his last there and was taken back home here for burial.
• Judges, lawyers and people from different walks of life attended his funeral prayers in Lohar Banda area.
• Born in Feb 1937 in Mansehra, he became Chief Justice of Pakistan on January 7, 2002, and held that office until January 31, 2002.

6. Veteran journalist Shahidur Rehman passes away

• Veteran journalist Shahidur Rehman passed away on April 15, 2020 due to cardiac arrest. He was 74.
• In a condolence message, Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) paid tributes to the senior journalist.

7. Trump freezes WHO funds as world weighs lockdown lift

• Donald Trump ordered a freeze on funding for the World Health Organization for “mismanaging” the coronavirus crisis, as world leaders weighed easing lockdowns that threaten to tip the global economy into a second Great Depression.
• The death toll from the pandemic has topped 125,000, with nearly two million people infected by the disease that has upended society and changed lives for billions around the globe confined to their homes.
• The planet, leaders are agonising over when to lift lockdown measures to jump-start devastated economies but still avoid a second wave of infections.
• And with the world battling to get on top of the pandemic, Trump fired his broadside at the WHO and halted payments that amounted to $400 million last year.

8. South Koreans back Moon in first pandemic poll

• South Korean voters turned out in force on April 15, 2020 to back President Moon Jae-in`s handling of the coronavirus epidemic, putting on compulsory face masks and gloves to give his Democratic party a parliamentary majority according to exit polls.
• South Korea was among the first countries with a major virus outbreak to hold a national election since the global pandemic began, and a raft of safety measures were in place around the vote.
• Turnout was the highest for a generation, and an exit poll by national broadcaster KBS projected the ruling Democratic party and a sister organisation would take between 155 and 178 places in the 300-seat National Assembly.

9. Google launches `journalism relief fund

• Google said on April 15, 2020 it will launch an emergency fund to help local news outlets struggling to maintain operations in the f ace of the coronavirus pandemic.
• The internet giant gave no specific figure for its fund, but said it would offer grants ranging from the `low thousands of dollars` for the smallest operations to `low tens of thousands for larger newsrooms.
• The move comes with the media sector facing deep cutbacks resulting from the global consumer lockdown, an intense economic slump and a retrenchment in advertising revenues that many news outlets depend on.

10. Greenland`s ice sheet shrinking faster than ever: study

• Last year Greenland`s ice sheet shrank by more than at any time since record-taking began, according to a study published on April 15, 2020 that showed climate change could cause sharp rises in global sea levels.
• The huge melt was due not only to warm temperatures, but also atmospheric circulation patterns that have become more frequent due to climate change, suggesting scientists may be underestimating the threat to the ice, the authors found.
• `We`re destroying ice in decades that was built over thousands of years,` Marco Tedesco, research professor at Columbia University`s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, who led the study, said

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