Jahangir's World Times First Comprehensive Magazine for students/teachers of competitive exams and general readers as well.
National, International News & MCQs
NATIONAL
June 16: PPP Co-Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari lashed out against what he called “the character assassination of his party” and warned the military leadership that if they did not stop, he would expose the misdeeds of many generals.
June 16: The heads of higher education commissions from eight member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) decided to work together to achieve the common objective of socio-economic and leadership development in the region.
June 16: The government approved 1,400MW power project to be set up on Thar coal by the Shanghai Electric Group of China. The project, one of the ‘prioritised projects’ under the CPEC, will start power generation in 2017-18.
June 17: The government has decided to give a 30 percent rebate to thousands of defaulters who agree to clear their outstanding bills by July 31st.
The government also increased import duties on sugar and wheat to discourage decline in their prices.
June 18: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar unveiled major budget changes in the National Assembly, including a Rs 20 billion farm subsidy fund, withdrawal or reduction of some duties and a higher raise in the salary of government employees.
June 19: The Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) accorded approval to the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report of the K-2 and K-3 power plants. Both plants are of 1,100MW each.
June 19: The Supreme Court unseated PML-N’s Omar Ayub Khan from the NA-19 Haripur in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and ordered the ECP to hold a by-election there.
June 21: The first-ever stroke centre in the country was inaugurated at the Lahore General Hospital.
June 22: A leading British Pakistani businessman and philanthropist Zameer Choudrey, who is also the Chief Executive of the Bestway Group and Trustee of its charitable arm the Bestway Foundation, announced the establishment of £1.8 million endowment fund with the world renowned Oxford University to sponsor two Pakistani students at the university every year.
June 23: The new federal budget of more than Rs4 trillion was rushed through the National Assembly after the opposition parties boycotted the process.
June 23: China moved to block India’s resolution at the United Nations Sanctions Committee which demanded action against Pakistan over the release of Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.
China took the plea that India had provided insufficient information in this regard.
June 24: Based on the statement of an unnamed ‘authoritative Pakistani source’, a BBC report said that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement had been receiving funds from the Indian government; a charge categorically rejected by the MQM.
June 24: Acting President Raza Rabbani approved 23 more election symbols to be allotted to new political parties and those awaiting the allocation.
The number of registered parties has reached 305, while in the 2008 general elections there were 173 registered election symbols.
When some parties raise objection to any symbol, the ECP refers the matter to the presidency for its rejection or deletion.
June 24: The Balochistan Assembly passed a Rs229.67 billion budget for the year 2015-16 with Rs175.16bn being allocated for non-development expenditure and Rs54.50bn for development works.
Adviser to Chief Minister on Finance Mir Khaliq Lango presented one by one 54 demands for grants which were approved by the house.
June 25: The Supreme Court (SC) bound the high courts and subordinate judiciary to give judgements within the time prescribed by the judgement.
In the judgement, the civil courts are directed to deliver their judgements within 30 days after the conclusion of the trial. Similarly, the district courts will have to deliver their judgements within 45 days and the time frame for high courts has been prescribed as 90 days.
The Supreme Court had also recommended disciplinary action against the judges who would fail to meet this timeline.
June 25: Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq relinquished his recruitment powers in Grade-16 and above in the National Assembly Secretariat and handed it over to the Federal Public Service Commission.
June 25: A controversy erupted over class 8th Geography textbook of Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board (PCTB), as the book shows “Seraikistan” and “Hazara” as provinces of Pakistan.
June 26: The Balochistan Apex Committee announced a general amnesty for militants who stop armed activities against the state and surrender.
June 27: Pakistanis give Rs 650 billion in charity every year to mosques, madaris, poor and homeless people, needy relatives, victims of terrorism and hospitals, revealed a nationwide study on charity trends conducted this year.
June 27: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) was delegated more power through an amendment in the Protection of Pakistan Act 2014 in order to reduce crimes.
Under this amendment, the agency will have the power to investigate crimes and keep the accused in its custody for 90 days to interrogate them.
June 27: The Punjab University (PU) syndicate quashed the bachelor’s degree of Abdul Qadir Gilani, the son of former Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani.
June 27: Pakistan ranks 9th among the least peaceful countries in the world, while it is also on the list of countries where the security situation is rapidly deteriorating, according to a global peace index released by the Institute for Economics and Peace.
June 30: President Mamnoon Hussain approved extension of the 7th National Finance Commission (NFC) award to provide due fiscal shares to provinces allocated in the federal budget for FY 2015-16.
June 30: President Mamnoor Hussain accorded assent to the Finance Bill 2015.
June 30: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved $220 million to Pakistan to help it rebuild and upgrade roads, bridges and other high-priority infrastructure damaged by the devastating 2014 floods.
June 30: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) suspended the operation of Air Indus from all airports of Pakistan due to consistent safety regulation violation.
July 01: Punjab formally introduced the injectable Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) in routine immunisation in all 36 districts across the province.
The IPV has been made part of the larger plan for nine vaccine preventable diseases, under the umbrella of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation.
July 02: Seventeen people, 11 of them army personnel, lost their lives and almost 90 were injured when the locomotive and three carriages of a special train carrying soldiers to Kharian from Pano Aqil plunged into a canal after a pre-Partition bridge collapsed near Wazirabad.
July 02: The military successfully brought to a close a massive offensive in Khyber tribal region, effectively flushing out militants and blocking their crossing points on borders with Afghanistan.
July 02: The federal government removed the DG of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), retired Air Marshal Mohammad Yusuf.
July 03: The inquiry commission constituted to inquire into allegations of rigging in the 2013 general elections completed hearing in its 39th sitting.
July 06: Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani ruled that the entire process for holding of local bodies elections in Islamabad carried out by the ECP on the Supreme Court’s orders was without lawful authority and an attempt to “hinder parliament in performing its duty to legislate”.
July 06: The government informed the Senate that 12 million people across Pakistan were suffering from hepatitis and this number was the highest in the world.
July 07: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) informed the Supreme Court that it is pursuing 150 mega scams involving approximately Rs428.3 billion in financial and land irregularities and abuse of power. The list implicates big guns like Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and two former premiers, Yousuf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervez Ashraf, a caretaker prime minister, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, and former president Asif Ali Zardari.
July 07: The Punjab government promulgated an ordinance to make all departments concerned sit together under the banner of an authority and ensure transparent and quick establishment of a Rs10 billion sophisticated watch-and-react security system, initially in Lahore.
The Punjab Safe Cities Authority, to be established under the Punjab Safe Cities Ordinance 2015, will ensure establishment, development and maintenance of a command, control and communications system (IC3) in major towns in the province for people’s security.
July 08: The Sindh government extended the Rangers’ stay in Karachi by one month late.
July 08: The Supreme Court allowed the completion of a Rs1.5 billion 7km signal-free corridor from Qartaba Chowk, Jail Road, to Liberty Chowk (Main Boulevard, Gulberg) in Lahore.
But the short order, issued by a three-judge bench headed by Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, put a condition that the project should provide additional facilities for pedestrians, including road crossing and passes at intervals of one kilometre or less along the project road distance.
July 08: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed warned the federal government against any attempt to convert Gilgit-Baltistan into a province of Pakistan.
July 09: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission (KPEC) arrested provincial Minister for Minerals Development Ziaullah Afridi on charges of misusing authority and allowing illegal mining in various areas.
July 09: Shahidullah Shahid, a former chief spokesman of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, who later defected to the self-styled Islamic State, was killed along with a deputy leader and several other militants in a drone strike close to Pakistan’s border in the eastern Nangrahar province of Afghanistan.
July 09: The Sindh police used a robot to detect improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and clear the route of a mourning procession for the first time as part of comprehensive security arrangements on the occasion of Yaum-i-Ali.
July 09: The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap), responsible for monitoring the quality of medicines in the country, is not recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and resultantly Pakistani companies are unable to export to developed countries.
July 09: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf won 256 of the total of 978 district council seats in the May 30 local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
July 09: Federal Ombudsman Salman Faruqui inaugurated one-window facilitation desk at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport for overseas passengers.
July 09: In international ranking of more than 20,000 universities of the world conducted by Cybermetrics Lab, a research group belonging to the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), the largest public research body in Spain, Punjab University has secured 15th position in South Asia, which is a landmark achievement while it has topped among all Pakistani universities.
July 10: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held nearly an hour-long meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Ufa, Russia. Both premiers agreed to restart the stalled peace dialogue process. They also agreed on a roadmap for future meetings, which will also see Modi in Pakistan next year.
July 10: Pakistan became permanent member of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
July 10: The Supreme Court was informed that the government has declared Urdu as official language and now heads of the country including the president, prime minister, federal ministers as well as high government officials will deliver speeches in Urdu in the country and during foreign tours.
July 11: Hafiz Saeed, the head of the self-styled Islamic State group in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region was killed in a drone strike in eastern Afghanistan.
July 14: The Lahore High Court granted bail to fashion model Ayyan Ali in a money laundering case.
July 14: Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa said the operation against terrorists in the Khyber Agency had been completed and the Pakistan Army also wanted to complete the Operation Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan Agency as early as possible.
July 15: The army shot down an Indian unmanned aerial vehicle on spy mission near the Line of Control. The Foreign Office summoned the Indian high commissioner to lodge a protest over the incident.
July 15: In a baffling move which critics are viewing as the PML-N’s aversion to freedom of information, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif travelled to an important summit without being accompanied by journalists from the state-run television, news agency or radio.
July 15: Pakistan and China signed a $10 million agreement to support efforts to rehabilitate people of Federally Administered Tribal Areas and promote social development.
ECONOMY
June 19: The World Bank approved a $500 million loan to support privatisation and revenue mobilisation efforts but delayed the second tranche of the same amount that was due for energy sector reforms.
June 20: The World Bank approved a $188 million loan for consolidation of Guddu Barrage, the most strategic component of the Indus Basin irrigation system.
International Development Association, the low interest arm of World Bank, approved the funding to increase the barrage’s lease of life by another 50 years.
June 27: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released the eighth tranche of $506.4 million to Pakistan, bringing total disbursements under an extended loan facility to $4.05 billion.
The IMF executive board completed the seventh review of Pakistan’s economic performance under a three-year programme supported by this arrangement.
June 27: Arif Habib Dolmen REIT Management Limited, South Asia’s first Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), was listed at the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) and Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE).
June 30: Ogra imposed a Rs17.8 million fine on five oil marketing companies for not maintaining sufficient stocks of petroleum products in violation of their licence requirements which led to the country’s worst petrol crisis in January.
July 03: Pakistan signed an agreement with the IMF to privatise as well as undertake strategic sale of 12 public sector enterprises (PSEs) during the ongoing financial year 2015-16, including the sale of 26 percent shares of the national flag-carrier PIA.
July 09: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a $218 million loan agreement with Pakistan for the Flood Emergency Reconstruction Resilience Project.
The agreement was signed by Mohammad Saleem Sethi, Secretary of Economic Affairs Division, and Werner E. Liepach, Country Director of the ADB.
July 11: President Mamnoon Hussain promulgated an ordinance on reduction of withholding tax on banking transactions to 0.3 pc from 0.6pc for non-filers of income tax returns.
EDUCATION
July 01: The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) stopped 17 public and private sector medical colleges from admitting students for the 2015-16 session for being critically deficient in faculty and other facilities.
Besides, the PMDC has recommended to the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination to order closure of four of the colleges for constantly violating rules and regulations.
ELECTIONS & APPOINTMENTS
June 24: The newly-elected 33 members of the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly (GBLA) took oath of office.
The outgoing GBLA Speaker Wazir Baig administered the oath to the members.
June 25: Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly (GBLA) unanimously elected PML-N members Fida Muhammad Nashad as Speaker and Jaffarullah Khan as Deputy Speaker.
June 26: Pakistan Muslim League-N’s Hafeezur Rehman took oath as chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan.
Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Barjees Tahir administered the oath to Mr Rehman.
June 30: Dr Jahanzeb Jamaldini of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) was elected unopposed chairman of the Senate’s functional committee on rules and privileges as a result of an understanding between him and the ruling PML-N.
June 30: The Punjab government appointed Director General LDA, Ahad Khan Cheema, as CEO of Quaid-i-Azam Thermal Power (Private) Limited, a company owned by the provincial government.
July 01: Former military spokesman Maj Gen (R) Athar Abbas was named ambassador to Ukraine.
July 03: The Punjab government appointed Prof Dr Khalid Mahmood as principal of the Postgraduate Medical Institute (PGMI). Dr Mahmood will also look into the academic matters of under-graduation medical college Ameeruddin Medical College.
July 03: Prof Nadeem Hayat Malik was appointed as head of the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC).
July 06: Accountant General Pakistan Revenue (AGPR) Asif Ali was appointed as Controller General of Accounts (CGA), the highest office of accounting in the country.
July 07: A six-member cabinet of the ruling PML-N took oath. Gilgit-Baltistan Governor Chaudhry Barjees Tahir administered the oath.
SPORTS
June 24: Former captain Shoaib Malik became the first Pakistani, and 12th in the world, to complete 5000 runs in T20 cricket.
June 25: Former Pakistan captain Zaheer Abbas was named president of the International Cricket Council for the next year.
Zaheer, 67, filled the vacancy in the largely honorary role left by Bangladesh’s Mustafa Kamal.
July 03: Pakistan men’s hockey team slumped to a new low as it failed to qualify for 2016 Rio Olympics after suffering a shocking 0-1 defeat to Ireland.
July 06: Seasoned Pakistan batsman Younis Khan became the first man to score a fifth fourth innings Test century.
July 07: Younis Khan hit a brilliant unbeaten 171 as Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the third Test to win their first series on the island since 2006.
The tourists achieved the sixth highest successful chase in history when they surpassed the target of 377 runs, finishing on 382-3.
July 14: The Pakistan Cricket Board revamped format of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy — the country’s premier first-class competition — for the third time in the last four years.
The board overhauled last season’s 26-team tournament to introduce a new structure that comprises 16 teams — eight regional and eight department sides.
Of the 16 teams, 12 — six regional and six department — will gain automatic qualification on the basis of their performance last season. The last four places will be filled through a qualifying round introduced by the PCB, which will be played by 14 teams.
PEOPLE IN NEWS
Muhammad Humza Shahzad
June 29: A six-year-old British Pakistani boy, Muhammad Humza Shahzad, who became the youngest MS Office professional by passing the Microsoft certification in MS Office 2013, set another record by becoming the youngest person in the world by passing the MS PowerPoint Specialist examination.
Humza scored 850 points out of 1,000 while the required passing score for the Microsoft PowerPoint is 700.
Younis Khan
July 06: Seasoned Pakistan batsman Younis Khan became the first man to score a fifth fourth innings Test century.
The former captain, playing his 101st Test and 201st first-class game, completed his 30th hundred, which also enabled him to become the eighth Pakistani to score 50 or more centuries in first class cricket.
Zaheer Abbas, the newly-inducted president of the International Cricket Council, leads the list for Pakistan with 108 centuries in 459 first-class matches, followed by Javed Miandad (80 in 402 matches), Majid Khan (73 in 410), Mushtaq Mohammad (72 in 502), Hanif Mohammad (55 in 238), Shafiq Ahmed (53 in 266) and Sadiq Mohammad (50 in 387).
Younis went past India’s Sunil Gavaskar, Ricky Ponting of Australia, West Indies’ Ramnaresh Sarwan and Graeme Smith of South Africa who all scored centuries in the fourth innings of a Test match four times.
Mohsin Mustafa & Muhammad Sabir
July 08: Pakistan’s Mohsin Mustafa of the Strategy and Programme Development, Aman Foundation, and Muhammad Sabir, a community worker and founder of Slumabad, were named among 32 ‘young leaders’ of Asia 21 Young Leader Class of 2015 by the Asia Society in New York.
Abdul Malik
June 21: Pakistani bodybuilder Abdul Malik won a gold medal in ‘Muscle Mania’ bodybuilding championship held in Florida, USA.
PLACES IN NEWS
Islamabad
June 16: A two-day meeting of the committee of heads of Higher Education Commissions/ University Grant Commissions of the Saarc member states was held in Islamabad. The meeting was chaired by HEC Chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmed.
July 07: Representatives of the Afghan government and Taliban resumed their direct contact, marking a fresh start of the reconciliation process.
Officials from Pakistan, the US, China and other countries that had helped in the start of the process are also taking part in the talks.
OBITUARIES
June 16: Eminent essayist, author and academic Dr A H Khayal passed away in Lahore. He was 88.
June 21: Wahid Bashir, a revered trade unionist and veteran journalist, famous for being a member of a group of a dozen students who were expelled from Karachi for spearheading the 1962 student movement, passed away.
June 23: Former PPP member and ex-MPA Agha Riazul Islam passed away.
June 29: Former federal minister Chaudhry Ghias Ahmed Mela died. He was 53.
July 04: Renowned Urdu novelist Abdullah Hussain passed away. He was 84.
July 08: Renowned film director Yunus Malik who won acclaim for his trend-setting Punjabi blockbuster “Muala Jatt” passed away. He was 70.
July 10: Former president of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Abdul Qayyum passed away. Sardar Qayyum remained chairman of Kashmir Committee and was among the founders of Kashmiris’ struggle for freedom.
INTERNATIONAL
June 16: A US-based research firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG) revealed that China had four million millionaire households in 2014, the second-highest in the world after the United States. The report also said that one million new millionaires were created in the country last year, the highest increase among all nations.
June 16: An Egyptian court confirmed the death sentence of ousted President Mohamed Morsi over the mass 2011 prison break that eventually brought him to power.
June 16: A devastating earthquake that hit Nepal in April moved Mount Everest three centimetres (just over an inch) to the southwest, but did not change its height. The 7.8-magnitude quake reversed the gradual north-easterly course of the world’s highest peak, which straddles Nepal and China.
June 16: President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would boost its nuclear arsenal by more than 40 intercontinental missiles this year.
June 17: Human activity is leading to the rapid draining of about one-third of the planet’s largest groundwater reserves and it is unclear how much fluid remains in them, two new studies found.
Consequently, huge sections of the population are using up groundwater without knowing when it will run out.
June 18: A white gunman killed nine people at a historic African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina.
June 19: Prince Harry ended his career with the British army after 10 years’ service that saw him fight on the front line twice in Afghanistan.
June 20: Earth is embarking on its sixth mass extinction phase with animals disappearing about 100 times faster than they used to, scientists have warned, and humans could be among the first victims.
June 20: Almost 60 million people worldwide were forcibly uprooted by conflict and persecution at the end of last year, the highest ever recorded number, the UN refugee agency said.
More than half the displaced were children from crises-hit countries including Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in its annual Global Trends Report.
June 22: Taliban militants launched a brazen assault on the Afghan parliament, triggering gunfire and explosions and sending lawmakers scurrying for cover in an attack that killed two civilians.
June 22: A much-awaited UN report, commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), held that both Israelis and the Hamas group committed war crimes during last year’s Israeli action in Gaza Strip.
June 23: The World Bank announced the launch of a new ‘Commission on Global Poverty’ to prepare a report by April next year on the best ways to measure and monitor poverty around the world.
The new commission, made up of 24 leading international economists will be chaired by Sir Anthony Atkinson, a leading authority on the measurement of poverty and inequality.
June 24: Saudi Arabia signed agreements worth billions of dollars to buy helicopters, Airbus jets and two possible nuclear reactors from France.
June 24: A Dutch court ordered the state to slash greenhouse gas emissions nationwide by at least 25 per cent by 2020, in a case that could serve as a blueprint for activists around the world.
June 24: France summoned the US ambassador to complain about “unacceptable” spying on President Francois Hollande and his two predecessors that was apparently revealed in leaked documents.
June 24: Iran’s parliament voted overwhelmingly against impeaching the education minister Ali Asghar Fani, in a victory for President Hassan Rouhani over hardliners.
June 25: The Palestinian Authority made its first submission of evidence of alleged Israeli war crimes to the International Criminal Court, trying to speed up an ICC inquiry into abuses committed during last year’s Gaza conflict.
June 25: The US Supreme Court upheld a disputed portion of President Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare reform.
By a margin of six to three, the judges ruled in favour of allowing the federal government to subsidize health insurance by giving tax credits to consumers nationwide.
June 25: The Senate gave final approval to legislation, granting President Barack Obama enhanced power to negotiate major trade agreements with Asia and Europe.
June 26: A wave of grisly strikes in Kuwait, Tunisia, France and Somalia shocked the world days after the self-styled Islamic State (IS) group urged supporters to carry out attacks during Ramadan.
June 26: According to a report by the Watson Institute’s Costs of War Project, an American think-tank, wars in Pakistan and Afghanistan have killed at least 149,000 people between 2001 and 2014 whereas another 162,000 have been wounded since then.
June 26: The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) launched a new vehicle to help developing countries speed up ratification and acceptance of the World Trade Organisation’s ‘Agreement on Trade Facilitation’.
The agreement aims at cutting red tape in cross border trade in goods and services among the 161 countries that are members of the WTO.
June 26: Italy initiated international arbitration proceedings in the case of two of its marines facing trial in India for the 2012 killing of two fishermen.
June 26: Opium cultivation and production in Afghanistan have reached record levels, triggering “a large increase” in cheaper heroin supply in the US, the United Nations said.
As the world’s largest opium producer, Afghanistan’s steady increase has had a direct impact on global opium cultivation, which with 310,891 hectares is now at its highest since the late 1930s,
June 26: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena dissolved parliament after failing to get passed a constitutional amendment on electoral reforms due to a lack of majority.
June 26: The Vatican signed its first treaty with the ‘State of Palestine’, calling for “courageous decisions” to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and backing a two-state solution.
June 26: The US Supreme Court made same-sex marriage legal throughout the nation.
In a 5-4 ruling, the highest court in the United States said the Constitution requires all 50 states to carry out and recognize marriage between people of the same sex.
June 29: Countries from five continents formally signed up to the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a potential rival to the Washington-based World Bank.
Australia was the first country to sign the articles of association creating the AIIB’s legal framework.
June 29: Egypt’s state prosecutor, Hisham Barakat, was killed in a powerful bombing that hit his convoy in Cairo following jihadist calls for attacks on the judiciary to avenge a crackdown on Islamists.
June 30: At least 116 people were killed when an Indonesian air force transport plane crashed into a major city shortly after take-off and exploded in a fireball.
June 30: US President Barack Obama and his Brazilian Counterpart, Dilma Rousseff, agreed to create 20 per cent of domestic electricity from non-hydropower renewable sources by 2030 and vowed to fight for an “ambitious global climate accord”.
June 30: The United States lifted a ban on security assistance to Bahrain, withheld since 2011 when the Gulf state put down mass Shia protests.
June 30: David Cameron called on the chief British broadcaster, the BBC, to stop using the phrase ‘Islamic State’ when referring to the terror group operating in Iraq and Syria.
The prime minister – who calls the group ‘ISIL’ – said Muslims would ‘recoil’ at the phrase being used to justify the ‘perversion of a great religion’.
July 01: The United States and Cuba revived diplomatic relations.
July 01: Ismet Yilmaz, the defence minister from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party, was elected parliament speaker.
He was elected speaker in the fourth and final round of voting with support from 258 deputies — all from his Justice and Development Party (AKP) — in the 550-seat parliament.
July 01: The Chinese government enacted a new national security law, one that amounts to a sweeping command from President Xi Jinping to maintain the primacy of Communist Party rule across all aspects of society.
July 02: The UN Security Council imposed sanctions on six commanders from South Sudan — three from the government forces and three from the rebels. They were also punished with a global travel ban and an assets freeze for their role in the conflict.
July 03: At 62 years of age, Swiss Solar Impulse 2 pilot Andre Borschberg made aviation history with a record breaking solo flight across the Pacific that he has called “an interior journey”.
July 04: Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi declared a state of emergency to give his government more powers following an Islamic militant attack on a beach hotel, where 38 foreign tourists, mostly Britons, were killed.
July 04: Japan pledged $6.1 billion in financial aid to the “Mekong Five” countries as it pushes infrastructure exports and courts influence in a region where rival China has an increasing presence.
July 05: Greeks voted overwhelmingly to reject terms of a bailout, risking financial ruin in a show of defiance that could splinter Europe.
July 06: The climate change scenarios predict that heatwaves will become more intense, more frequent and longer.
It is notable that the time between major heatwaves (2003, 2010 and 2015) is getting shorter,” a United Nations World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) spokesman said.
July 06: Greek combative finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, who took a strong stand in demanding that creditors write off some of his country’ debts, resigned.
July 07: President Barack Obama and the leader of Vietnam’s Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong, held discussions on human rights during a historic White House meeting as the onetime enemies seek to bolster ties.
July 08: The World Health Organisation (WHO) called on world governments to impose heavy taxes on tobacco products in order to reduce consumption of products that kill one person every 6 seconds.
July 08: Kazakhstan signed an agreement with India to supply New Delhi with 5,000 tonnes of uranium over the next five years.
July 08: A United Nations panel concluded that the World Health Organisation did not take timely action to contain the Ebola outbreak even after repeated alerts.
July 08: Russia vetoed a draft UN resolution recognising the Srebrenica massacre as genocide.
July 09: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) trimmed down its global growth forecast for 2015 to 3.3 per cent, citing weaker-than-expected economic activity in North America during the first quarter.
July 09: IBM unveiled a powerful new chip which the company says could boost computing power of “everything from smartphones to spacecraft”.
The company unveiled the industry’s first seven-nanometer chip that could hold more than 20 billion tiny switches or transistors for improved computing power.
July 09: South Carolina lawmakers agreed to banish the Confederate flag from the grounds of the Statehouse.
July 10: Airbus flew its electric plane across the English Channel for the first time hours after an independent French pilot made a similar voyage, beating the aeronautics giant in this symbolically important step towards making electronic flight viable in the long term.
July 10: Myanmar became the 191st country to sign the treaty that bans chemical weapons.
July 10: Pope Francis offered a direct apology for the complicity of the Roman Catholic Church in the oppression of Latin America during the colonial era.
July 11: Typhoon Chan-Hom, one of the most powerful typhoons to strike eastern China in decades, disrupted air, rail and sea transport after forcing the evacuation of more than a million people from the provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangsu.
July 12: Iraq and the World Bank signed a $350 million loan agreement to fund emergency reconstruction in towns recaptured from Islamic State group (IS) militants.
July 13: Greece clinched a preliminary bailout agreement with its European creditors that will, if implemented, secure the country’s place in the euro and help it avoid financial collapse.
July 13: Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari sacked his army, navy, air force and defence chiefs, as the former general has made crushing Islamist militant group Boko Haram his top priority.
July 14: Major powers clinched a historic deal aimed at ensuring Iran does not obtain the nuclear bomb, opening up Tehran’s stricken economy and potentially ending decades of bad blood with the West.
Reached on day 18 of marathon talks in Vienna, the accord is aimed at resolving a 13-year standoff over Iran’s nuclear programme after repeated diplomatic failures and threats of military action.
July 15: Taliban chief Mullah Omar endorsed the recently started peace talks with the Afghan government and assured his fighters that he would not negotiate to the detriment of their interests.
July 15: Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a programme aimed at imparting skill training to more than 400 million Indians over the next seven years “to make India the world’s human resource capital”.
July 15: China began building a 314-metre (1,030-ft) high dam which will be among the world’s tallest, as the country massively expands hydropower. The Shuangjiankou dam on a tributary of China’s mighty Yangtze river will be completed in 2022. The facility, costing 36 billion yuan ($5.8 billion), will be higher than the world’s current tallest dam, the 305-metre Jinping-1, also in China.
ECONOMY
June 17: Australia and China signed a landmark trade deal after a decade of talks, providing a boon for growth and jobs by abolishing tariffs across a raft of sectors.
June 27: Venezuela signed an agreement with Iran for a $500 million credit line to fund joint investments and help improve supplies of goods “necessary for the Venezuelan people.”
July 08: China stocks took another plunge, as the securities regulator warned the market was in the grip of “panic” selling after fresh government moves failed to arrest a rout that has now infected regional markets.
July 09: Chinese stocks stormed into positive territory in volatile trade as Beijing unveiled new measures to halt a dramatic sell-off, prompting Asian markets to rebound.
ELECTIONS & APPOINTMENTS
June 30: The United States appointed Lee Wolosky, a lawyer who was the White House’s director of transnational threats under both presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, as a new special envoy to lead the Obama administration’s efforts to close the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
July 09: President Barack Obama nominated Peter Bodde, a career diplomat with extensive experience in global hot spots, to head the sensitive post of ambassador to Libya. If the nomination is approved, Peter Bodde will replace Deborah Jones.
SPORTS
June 17: Bridge was included in 2018 Asian Games to be staged in Indonesian capital Jakarta.
June 21: Bangladesh sealed the three match One-day International series against India with a six-wicket win in Dhaka.
June 25: British women’s boxing great Nicola Adams became the inaugural European Games flyweight champion.
June 27: The Italian racer, Valentino Rossi won the Dutch MotoGP at Assen. Rossi started on his Yamaha from pole and led almost all the way.
July 01: Sweden won their first European Under-21 title in Prague with a victory over Portugal.
July 05: Chile won the Copa America for the first time.
July 06: The United States trounced Japan by 5-2 to win FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015.
The United States, winners in 1991 and 1999, became the first nation to win the crown three times.
July 11: Serena Williams claimed a sixth Wimbledon title and fourth successive grand slam crown by defeating the 20th seeded Spaniard Garbine Muguruza.
July 12: Novak Djokovic won a record eighth Wimbledon title.
July 12: Martina Hingis won her first Wimbledon title since 1998 when she and her partner Sania Mirza captured the women’s double trophy.
July 14: The Indian Premier League (IPL) was thrown into turmoil when a Supreme Court-appointed panel suspended two of the eight teams after officials were found guilty of illegally betting on matches.
July 15: Bangladesh drubbed South Africa by nine wickets in the third and final One-day International to take the three-match series 2-1.
PEOPLE IN NEWS
Sabine Lisicki
June 18: German Sabine Lisicki blasted 27 aces in her second round Birmingham triumph over Belinda Bencic, a new record for a WTA tournament.
Abrar Shahin
June 29: Abrar Shahin, a hijab-wearing Muslim of Palestinian descent was named the best-dressed girl at Clifton High School in New Jersey state of the United States.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal
July 01: Saudi Arabia’s billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal pledged his entire $32bn fortune to charitable projects over the coming years.
Andre Borschberg
July 03: Swiss Solar Impulse 2 pilot Andre Borschberg, 62, made aviation history with a record-breaking solo flight across the Pacific after travelling more than 8,000 kilometres on the latest leg of the round-the-world trip.
His Pacific flight from Japan totalled 118 hours, almost five full days, smashing the previous record for the longest nonstop solo flight of 76 hours and 45 minutes set by US adventurer Steve Fossett in 2006.
Tupou VI
July 04: Tupou VI was formally crowned King of Tonga before thousands of people including heads of state and dignitaries from around the world. Because it is taboo for Tongans to touch their king’s head, a retired Australian minister was flown in to perform the crowning.
Carli Lloyd
July 06: Carli Lloyd became the first woman to score a hat-trick in a world cup final.
Floyd Mayweather
July 07: Floyd Mayweather was stripped by the World Boxing Organisation (WBO) of the welterweight world title he won by beating Manny Pacquiao.
Serena Williams
July 15: Serena Williams, who owns all four tennis Grand Slam titles for the second time in her career, achieved another historic milestone in the wake of her Wimbledon victory when it emerged that she is the first top-ranked player ever with more than twice as many points as her nearest rival.
Records dating to the WTA’s 1973 founding show the 33-year-old American’s domination to be the greatest of any point in the rankings’ history, with Serena on 13,161 points and Russia’s second-ranked Maria Sharapova on 6,490.
PLACES IN NEWS
Los Angeles, USA
July 02: The 24th annual Anime Expo, the largest Anime convention in North America, opened in Los Angeles.
Tokyo, Japan
July 04: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with his counterparts from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam during the seventh annual “Japan-Mekong” summit that was held in Tokyo, Japan.
Ufa, Russia
July 08: Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed the leaders of emerging powers for the 7th BRICS summit that was held in the Russian city of Ufa.
Oslo, Norway
July 11: Oslo Summit on Education for Development was held in the Norwegian capital. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was among the speakers at the summit. At the summit, it was revealed that education sector in Pakistan is in crisis and financing remains a critical issue.
Ufa, Russia
July 10: A summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) was held in Russian city Ufa. At the summit, the SCO decided to admit India and Pakistan as full members.
OBITUARIES
June 17: Turkey’s former president and Prime Minister Suleyman Demirel, a political giant who survived two military coups and a ban on holding office, died. He was 90.
June 17: Australia’s champion distance runner Ron Clarke died at the age of 78.
Largely self-coached, Clarke never won an Olympic gold medal despite officially breaking 17 world records and at one point holding records for every distance from two miles to 20 kilometres.
June 18: James B. Lee Jr., a pioneering deal maker and among the most influential Wall Street investment bankers of his era, died. He was 62.
June 23: Sister Nirmala Joshi, who succeeded Mother Teresa as head of her Missionaries of Charity in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, died at the age of 81.
June 23: James Horner, the celebrated composer of musical scores for several smash-hit movies, including “Titanic “and “Avatar,” died in a plane crash at the age of 61.
June 23: Famous Indian TV actor Sanjeet Bedi passed away. Popular for his role as Omi in Sanjeevani, Bedi was also later seen in Shweta Tiwari’s Jaane Kya Baat Hai.
June 25: Renowned Indian journalist, academic and activist Praful Bidwai died during a conference in Amsterdam. He was 66.
June 26: Russia’s former prime minister, Yevgeny Primakov, famed for turning around his US-bound plane over the Atlantic upon learning of Nato’s bombing of Serbia in 1999, died aged 85.
June 27: Jane Aaron, a filmmaker and children’s book illustrator who brought young viewers the letter “X,” the numbers 1 through 20 and other lessons in dozens of instructive animated shorts on “Sesame Street,” died. She was 67.
July 02: Matti Makkonen, the man who helped bring texting to the world, died at the age of 63. Mr Makkonen became known as the father of SMS after developing the idea of sending messages via mobile networks.
July 05: Actress Diana Douglas, the first wife of Kirk Douglas and the mother of Michael Douglas, died. She was 92.
July 09: Former Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal died. He was 75.
Prince Faisal was the world’s longest serving foreign minister when replaced on April 29, 2015 by Adel al-Jubeir.
July 10: Egyptian-born actor Omar Sharif, who starred in “Doctor Zhivago” and “Lawrence of Arabia”, died aged 83.
MCQs National
1. On June 16, the government approved ______ power project to be set up on Thar coal by the Shanghai Electric Group of China.
(a) 800MW (b) 1000MW
(c) 1,400MW (d) 2500MW
2. On June 19, the Supreme Court unseated PML-N’s Omar Ayub Khan from the ______ Haripur in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
(a) NA-17 (b) NA-18
(c) NA-19 (d) NA-20
3. On June 19, the _____ approved a $500 million loan to support privatisation and revenue mobilisation efforts.
(a) Asian Development Bank
(b) World Bank
(c) International Monetary Fund
(d) Islamic Development Bank
4. On June 20, International Development Association, the low interest arm of the ______, approved a $188 million loan for consolidation of Guddu Barrage.
(a) World Bank (b) ADB
(c) EU (d) IMF
5. On June 22, the Chief Executive of the Bestway Group announced the establishment of £1.8 million endowment fund with the ______ to sponsor two Pakistani students at the university every year.
(a) Harvard University
(b) Oxford University
(c) Cambridge University
(d) Edinburgh University
6. The National Assembly approved federal budget for FY 2015-16 on ______.
(a) June 23 (b) June 24
(c) June 28 (d) June 30
7. On June 23, China blocked India’s resolution at the United Nations ______ which demanded action against Pakistan over the release of Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.
(a) Security Council
(b) Sanctions Committee
(c) Arms Committee
(d) General Assembly
8. On June 24, a ______ report said that the MQM had been receiving funds from the Indian government.
(a) CNN (b) Al-Jazeera
(c) BBC (d) Times of India
9. The number of political parties registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan is ______.
(a) 178 (b) 305
(c) 434 (d) 478
10. According to laws, if a political party raises objection to any election symbol, the ECP refers the matter to the ______.
(a) President (b) Supreme Court
(c) Senate (d) Prime Minister
11. Mir Khaliq Lango is the adviser to Chief Minister of ______ on Finance.
(a) Balochistan
(b) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
(c) Gilgit-Baltistan
(d) Sindh
12. The newly-elected 33 members of the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly (GBLA) took oath of office on ______.
(a) June 20 (b) June 22
(c) June 24 (d) June 26
13. On June 25, the Supreme Court of Pakistan bound the high courts to deliver their judgments within ______ days.
(a) 60 (b) 90
(c) 120 (d) 150
14. On June 26, the ______ announced a general amnesty for militants who stop armed activities against the state and surrender.
(a) Balochistan Apex Committee
(b) Balochistan Chief Minister
(c) President (d) Prime Minister
15. On June 25, it emerged that a class 8th Geography textbook of Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board (PCTB), showed Seraikistan and ______ as provinces of Pakistan.
(a) Multan (b) Hazara
(c) Bahawalpur (d) South Punjab
16. On June 26, PML-N’s ______ took oath as chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan.
(a) Fida Muhammad Nashad
(b) Jaffarullah Khan
(c) Hafeezur Rehman
(d) Wazir Baig
17. The incumbent governor of Gilgit-Baltistan is ______.
(a) Wazir Baig
(b) Ch. Mohammad Barjees Tahir
(c) Sardar Hasnain Bahadur
(d) Qamar Zaman Kaira
18. According to a nationwide study on charity trends conducted this year, Pakistanis give ______ rupees in charity every year.
(a) 450 billion (b) 550 billion
(c) 650 billion (d) 850 billion
19. According to a global peace index released by the Institute for Economics and Peace, Pakistan ranks ______ among the least peaceful countries in the world.
(a) 4th (b) 6th
(c) 7th (d) 9th
20. On June 29, a Pakistani child prodigy Muhammad Humza Shahzad became the youngest person in the world to pass the ______ Specialist examination.
(a) MS Office
(b) MS PowerPoint
(c) MS Visual Studio
(d) MS Outlook
21. President Mamnoon Hussain approved extension of the 7th National Finance Commission (NFC) award on ______.
(a) June 24 (b) June 28
(c) June 30 (d) July 01
22. On July 01, former military spokesman Maj Gen (R) Athar Abbas was named Pakistan’s ambassador to ______.
(a) Bosnia (b) Thailand
(c) Ukraine (d) China
23. On July 01, Civil Aviation Authority suspended the operations of ______.
(a) Air Indus (b) Air Asia
(c) Air Blue (d) Qatar Airways
24. The Judicial Commission constituted to inquire into allegations of rigging in the 2013 general elections held ______ sittings in total.
(a) 30 (b) 35
(c) 37 (d) 39
25. The Sindh government extended the Rangers’ stay in Karachi on ______.
(a) July 06 (b) July 08
(c) July 10 (d) July 12
26. On July 09, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission arrested provincial Minister for ______ Ziaullah Afridi on charges of misusing authority.
(a) Minerals Development
(b) Health
(c) Education (d) Finance
27. Pakistan became permanent member of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on ______.
(a) June 30 (b) July 05
(c) July 10 (d) July 12
28. On July 15, Pakistan and ______ signed a $10 million agreement to support efforts to rehabilitate people of FATA.
(a) China (b) Argentine
(c) Turkey (d) Japan
29. According to an international ranking of more than 20,000 universities of the world revealed by Cybermetrics Lab, Punjab University has secured ______ position in South Asia.
(a) 14th (b) 15th
(c) 16th (d) 18th
30. the incumbent Federal Ombudsman of Pakistan is ______.
(a) Dr Shoaib Suddle
(b) Salman Faruqui
(c) Iftikhar Chaudhry
(d) Khwaja Sharif
International
1. On June 16, a study revealed that ______ has the second highest number of millionaires in the world after the United States.
(a) Brazil (b) Japan
(c) China (d) Cuba
2. Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak, straddles Nepal and ______.
(a) India (b) Bhutan
(c) China (d) Myanmar
3. On June 19, Britain’s Prince Harry ended his career with the British army after serving for ______.
(a) 8 years (b) 10 years
(c) 12 years (d) 13 years
4. On June 20, in its annual Global Trends Report, the UNHCR said that almost ______ people worldwide were forcibly uprooted by conflict and persecution at the end of last year.
(a) 60 million (b) 80 million
(c) 90 million (d) 100 million
5. On June 23, the ______ announced the launch of a 24-member new ‘Commission on Global Poverty’ that will be headed by Sir Anthony Atkinson.
(a) UN (b) USA
(c) World Bank (d) BRICS
6. On June 24, Saudi Arabia signed agreements with ______ worth billions of dollars to buy helicopters, Airbus jets and two possible nuclear reactors.
(a) Germany (b) USA
(c) Norway (d) France
7. On June 24, a ______ court ordered the state to slash greenhouse gas emissions nationwide by at least 25 per cent by 2020
(a) French (b) Dutch
(c) Chinese (d) Indian
8. The Palestinian Authority submitted its first evidence of Israeli war crimes to the International Criminal Court on ______.
(a) June 22 (b) June 24
(c) June 25 (d) June 27
9. Majles-e Shoraye Eslami or Majles is the parliament of ______.
(a) Indonesia (b) Afghanistan
(c) Malaysia (d) Iran
10. The 10th and the incumbent United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, is a former prime minister of ______
(a) Luxembourg (b) Portugal
(c) Brazil (d) Finland
11. According to a report by the Watson Institute’s Costs of War Project, wars in Pakistan and Afghanistan have killed at least ______ people between 2001 and 2014
(a) 149,000 (b) 158,000
(c) 200,000 (d) 248,000
12. At present, the WTO has ______ members and 23 observer governments.
(a) 104 (b) 131
(c) 157 (d) 161
13. On June 26, ______ initiated international arbitration proceedings in the case of two of its marines facing trial in India for the 2012 killing of two fishermen.
(a) China (b) Italy
(c) Turkey (d) Pakistan
14. On June 26, ______ signed its first treaty with the ‘State of Palestine’, calling for “courageous decisions” to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and backing a two-state solution.
(a) The Vatican (b) Spain
(c) France (d) Sweden
15. On ______, through a 5-4 ruling, the US Supreme Court made same-sex marriage legal throughout the nation.
(a) June 22 (b) June 24
(c) June 26 (d) June 28
16. On ______, countries from five continents formally signed up to the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
(a) June 27 (b) June 29
(c) June 30 (d) July 04
17. On June 29, ______ was the first country to sign the articles of association creating the AIIB’s legal framework.
(a) China (b) Australia
(c) England (d) India
18. On June 30, presidents of USA and ______ agreed to create 20 per cent of domestic electricity from non-hydropower renewable sources by 2030.
(a) Brazil (b) China
(c) France (d) Cuba
19. On June 30, the US appointed ______ as a new special envoy to lead the efforts to close the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
(a) Ray Odierno (b) Ashton Carter
(c) Loretta Lynch (d) Lee Wolosky
20. On July 01, the United States and _____ revived their diplomatic relations.
(a) Bahrain (b) Cuba
(c) Iran (d) Ukraine
21. Ismet Yilmaz, who was elected as parliament speaker on July 01, was the ______ minister of Turkey during 2011-2015.
(a) Finance (b) Interior
(c) Defence (d) Foreign
22. The Grand National Assembly of Turkey (or Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi), the unicameral legislature of the country, consists of ______ seats.
(a) 550 (b) 600
(c) 645 (d) 750
23. Beji Caid Essebsi is the current President of ______.
(a) Nigeria (b) Algeria
(c) Tunisia (d) Niger
24. On July 08, ______ signed an agreement with India to supply New Delhi with 5,000 tonnes of uranium over the next five years.
(a) Turkmenistan (b) Iran
(c) Germany (d) Kazakhstan
25. On July 09, ______ lawmakers agreed to banish the Confederate flag from the grounds of the Statehouse.
(a) N. Carolina (b) S. Carolina
(c) California (d) New Jersey
26. On July 10, ______ became the 191st country to sign the treaty that bans chemical weapons.
(a) Myanmar (b) Sri Lanka
(c) Bangladesh (d) Maldives
27. Greece clinched a preliminary bailout agreement with its European creditors on ______.
(a) July 10 (b) July 12
(c) July 13 (d) July 14
28. On July 14, the historic deal between Iran and P5+1 was reached in ______.
(a) Bonn (b) Switzerland
(c) London (d) Vienna
29. The world’s current tallest dam is China’s 305-metre ______.
(a) Yangtze-I (b) Jinping-I
(c) Yangtze-II (d) Jinping-II
30. ‘Full Life Reflections at Ninety’ is written by former US president ______.
(a) G.W. Bush (b) Jimmy Carter
(c) Gerald Ford (d) Bill Clinton
Sports
1. 2018 Asian Games will be staged in ______.
(a) Shanghai (b) Kuala Lumpur
(c) Jakarta (d) Bangkok
2. On June 24, former captain ______ became the first Pakistani to complete 5000 runs in T20 cricket.
(a) Shahid Afridi
(b) Shoaib Malik
(c) Mohammad Hafeez
(d) Misbah-ul-Haq
3. The Italian racer, Valentino Rossi rides ______.
(a) Honda (b) Yamaha
(c) Suzuki (d) Aprilia
4. On July 01, Sweden won their first European Under-21 title in Prague with a victory over ______.
(a) Portugal (b) Spain
(c) Norway (d) France
5. On July 06, seasoned Pakistan batsman Younis Khan became the first man to score a ______ fourth innings Test century.
(a) Fourth (b) Fifth
(c) Sixth (d) Seventh
6. On July 06, the United States trounced ______ by 5-2 to win FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015.
(a) England (b) Brazil
(c) Japan (d) Spain
7. On July 11, Serena Williams won her ______ Wimbledon title and fourth successive grand slam crown by defeating the Garbine Muguruza.
(a) Fourth (b) Sixth
(c) Eighth (d) Tenth
Obituaries
1. Eminent Pakistani essayist, author and academic Dr A H Khayal passed away on ______.
(a) June 16 (b) June 19
(c) June 20 (d) June 22
2. ______ former President and Prime Minister, Suleyman Demirel, died on June 17.
(a) Turkey’s (b) Indonesia’s
(c) Afghanistan’s (d) Bangladesh’s
3. Renowned Indian journalist, academic and activist Praful Bidwai died on ______.
(a) June 25 (b) June 27
(c) June 29 (d) June 30
4. On July 02, ______, who came to be known as the father of SMS after developing the idea of sending messages via mobile networks, died.
(a) Leo Hildén
(b) Antti Linna
(c) Matti Makkonen
(d) Veikko Muronen
5. The real name of Abdullah Hussain, who was one of the most prominent Urdu novelists and short story writers of the post-independence era, was ______.
(a) Shaukat Ali
(b) Muhammad Khan
(c) Afsar Hameed
(d) Aizaz Ahmad
6. Former Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, who was the world’s longest serving foreign minister when replaced on April 29 by Adel al-Jubeir, died on ______.
(a) July 06 (b) July 08
(c) July 09 (d) July 10
