NATIONAL

Aug 16: Former ambassador Mohammad Masood Khan, a PML-N candidate, was elected as the president of AJK.

Profile of Masood Khan

1. Masood Khan was born in Rawalakot, Poonch.
2. Before joining the Foreign Service of Pakistan in 1980, he was a Lecturer in English.
3. He was a TV presenter and newscaster with Radio Pakistan.
4. He was Pakistan’s Ambassador to China (2008-2012).
5. He served as Pakistan’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva (2005 to 2008).
6. He was also the Chief Negotiator on Nuclear Security, Pakistan’s Sherpa (Chief Negotiator) for the Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) process from 2009 to early 2014.

Aug 16-18: The first-ever SAARC Youth Parliamentarians Conference was held in Islamabad.

Key Facts

1. Theme: ‘Peace and Harmony for Development’.
2. 28 parliamentary delegates from 8 SAARC member countries participated in the conference.
3. Hosted by the National Assembly, the Conference was inaugurated by NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq.

Aug 17: Pakistan won the World Junior Team Squash Championship.

Aug 18: The Supreme Court ruled that no prime minister can move any legislation, finance or fiscal bill or approve any budgetary or discretionary expenditures without taking cabinet into confidence first.

Key Points

1. The power to take decisions is vested with the federal government i.e. the cabinet.

2. Any decision taken by the prime minister on his own initiative lacks the authority of the law.

3. PM is not mandated to authorise expenditure on his own.

4. Any rule which enabled the prime minister to dispose of matters by bypassing the cabinet was ultra vires.

5. An ex post facto approval by the cabinet would not suffice since money once spent could not be unspent.

Aug 20: PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan became President of Asian Cricket Council (ACC).

Aug 21: The OIC voiced its concern over excesses of the Indian military and the paramilitary forces in Kashmir.

What is OIC?

The OIC is an international organization founded in 1969.

Members: 57 member states; 5 observer states

Headquarters: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Objectives: (i) Raise the collective voice of the Muslim world; and (ii) Collectively work to safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony.

Note: OIC has permanent delegations to United Nations and the European Union.

Aug 22: Wapda chairman, Zafar Mahmood, resigned from his post.

Aug 22: MQM chief, Altaf Hussain, delivered a highly provocative speech and raised anti-Pakistan slogans.

Aug 22: Pakistan became the world’s No. 1 Test side for the first time since the ICC introduced the rankings system in 2003.

Aug 22: M. Asif won the NBP Ranking Snooker Championship.

 Aug 24: MQM’s Waseem Akhtar won the election of Karachi mayor .

Profile

1. Born on November 25, 1955, in Karachi, Waseem Akhtar, is the son of a senior police officer Akhter Muhammad Khan.
2. He has a degree in Telecommunication Engineering.
3. Akhtar worked at AT&T in Saudi Arabia in 1976.
4. He formally joined the MQM in 1988 and was elected as MPA for the first time in 1993.
5. He was an MNA from NA-251 (Karachi-XIII) constituency.
6. He was arrested on July 19 on suspicion of sheltering and providing medical treatment to militants and criminals.

Aug 24: Lt Gen Muzamil Hussain assumed the charge of office as chairman Wapda. He is the 22nd Wapda chairman.

Aug 25: Lt Gen (retd) Zamirul Hassan Shah was appointed as defence secretary.

Aug 26: The Interior Ministry allowed 46 INGOs to operate in the country.

Aug 27: The PM nominated 20 MPs as special envoys to lobby for Kashmir cause in important world capitals.

Aug 30: National Health Vision (NHV) Pakistan 2016-2025 was launched.

Objectives of NHV

(a) Provide a unified vision to improve Health while ensuring provincial autonomy and diversity.
(b) Build coherence to Federal & Provincial efforts in consolidating the progress, learning from experiences and moving toward the universal health coverage.
(c) Facilitate synchronization for commonality across international reporting and international treaties.
(d) Facilitate coordination for regulation, information collection, surveillance and research for improved systems.
(e) Provide a foundational basis for charting and implementing SDGs, in partnership with other sectors.

Health Sector in Pakistan

1. Pakistan spends US$ 37 per capita on health which is lower than the WHO’s prescribed level of per capita US$ 44.
2. The current expenditure on health amounts to Rs 133.9 billion or 0.45 percent of GDP.
3. Currently, the public healthcare system comprises 1167 hospitals, 5695 dispensaries, 5464 basic health units, 675 rural health centres, 733 mother and child health centres and allied medical professionals i.e. doctors, nurses, etc.
4. As of FY2016, there are 184711 doctors, 16652 dentists and 118869 hospital beds in the country.
5. There is 1 doctor per 1038 persons, 1 hospital bed for 1613 persons and 1 dentist for 11513 persons shows in Pakistan.

Aug 30: Players from Pakistan won the highest number of awards at the 11th World Youth Scrabble Championship.

Pakistani World Champions

1. Monis Khan: Under-10 category
2. Imaad Ali: U-12 category
3. Hasham Hadi: U-14 category
4. Sohaib Sanaullah: highest score in a single move; 158 points for his word BASCINET.

Aug 31: The Pakistan Navy inducted its third latest ATR aircraft and Scaneagle UAV in the navy’s aviation fleet.

Key Facts ATR  

1. ATR is a widely operated twin-engine turboprop aircraft.
2. It is equipped with state-of-the-art ‘traffic collision avoidance system’ (TCAS) as well as autopilot and high efficiency 6-blade propellers.
3. The average ground speed of the aircraft is 250 knots with an endurance of about 6 hours.
4. These UAVs can monitor entire coastline including creeks area round the clock.
5. Induction is part of Pakistan Navy’s aviation vision 2030.

Aug 31: KP government launched the Sehat Insaf Card.

Highlights of the Programme

·    The programme covers 50% population of the province through provision of free treatment.
·    2-year programme would cost Rs5362.2 million.
·    Health insurance cards will be issued to 1.8 million households through which 8 individuals will stand entitled to free medical treatment up to Rs540,000.
·    Premium for health insurance card is around Rs1,700 for household, which will be paid by the provincial government.
·    In case of death of people in hospital, Rs10,000 will be paid as funeral charges, while Rs1,000 in case of pregnancy or delivery as travelling allowance under the scheme.

Aug 31: Pakistan won a case in the permanent court of arbitration in London filed by LPG terminal company Progas with $573 million in damages claims against the government.

Aug 31: Nine records were made or bettered during the third ODI between England and Pakistan. Here is a list of them:

1. Highest team total in ODIs: England scored 444-3 to surpass Sri Lankan total of 443.
2. Highest individual score for England: Alex Hales scored 171 off 122 balls — England’s highest individual score in ODIs. The previous best was Robin Smith’s 167*.
3. Most sixes by England in an innings: 16 sixes were hit by England – the highest number of sixes by any English ODI team in a single match.
4. Fastest ODI fifty for England: Buttler’s 22-ball fifty was the fastest by any English player in the 50-over format.
5. Consecutive fifties: Joe Root joined the league of Geoffrey Boycott, Graham Gooch, Alec Stewart, Jonathan Trott and Hales to score five consecutive fifties for England.
6. Highest ODI partnership at Trent Bridge: The 248-run Hales-Root partnership for the second wicket was the best score a pair has compiled at Trent Bridge for any wicket.
7. Highest partnership in an England-Pakistan ODI: Hales’ and Root’s 248 for the second wicket also became the highest partnership score for any wicket in a Pakistan-England match.
8. Most runs conceded by a Pakistani bowler: Wahab Riaz gave 110 runs in his 10 overs with an economy of 11 runs per over – most runs conceded by any Pakistani bowler in ODIs.
9. Highest score by a number eleven: Mohammad Amir’s score of 58 off only 28 balls is the highest ever score by a number eleven batsman. It was also the fastest fifty on the aforementioned position.

Aug 31: Two sisters, Maryam Masood and Erum Masood, made history as they operated an airplane at the same time. They flew the coveted Boeing-777 aircraft to several local and international destinations concurrently.

Sep 01: Zahid Malik, the editor-in-chief of Pakistan Observer, passed away. He was 78.

Sept 01: According to a UNICEF report, Pakistan is among the top 10 countries with the highest rates of children missing out on primary education; nearly 2 in every 5 children – 18 million – are out of school.

Sep 02: All MQM lawmakers signed the NA resolution that condemned Altaf Hussain’s anti-Pakistan tirade.

Sep 02: Pakistan raised a Special Security Division (SSD) to ensure security of 15,000 foreigners working on CPEC.

Sep 03: The FBR started issuing notices to Pakistani residents named in the Panama Papers.

Sep 03: The CEO of the Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project, Lt Gen (retd) M. Zubair, resigned.

Sep 03: Project Solar Bibi, a joint venture of the Pakistan Council of Renewable Energy Technologies (PCRET) and Ministry of Science & Technology, was launched.

Highlights of Project Solar Bibi

1. Solar Bibi is the flagship project of the E-Solar Programme of Centre for Information Technology, a department under the Ministry of Science & Technology.
2. The reason for the unique name is because the project targets women of remote areas.
3. The Solar Bibis, after necessary training, will teach using solar-energy-run equipment in their respective communities.

Sep 05: The NA Speaker rejected all references against PM Sharif and Mehmood Achakzai but forwarded those against PTI chief Imran Khan, and Jahangir Tareen to the ECP.

Sep 05: Sabeen Mehmood’s PeaceNiche/The Second Floor (T2F) won this year’s Prince Claus award.

About Prince Claus  Award

1. The Prince Claus Awards annually honour outstanding achievements in the field of culture and development.
2. Awards are presented to individuals and organisations from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.
3. The Awards are presented to the Laureates in Amsterdam by the Fund’s Honorary Chairmen in the presence of members of the Dutch Royal Family.
4. The Awards are then presented by the Dutch ambassador to the Laureates in the countries where they live and work in order to increase local impact.
5. The Prince Claus Fund, named in honour of Prince Claus of The Netherlands, was inaugurated in 1996.

Previous Pakistani Laureates: Arif Hasan (2000); Madeeha Gauhar (2006); Naiza Khan, (2013)

Sep 06: The Sindh High Court (SHC) lifted a ban on the screening of the film Maalik.

Sep 06: Karamat Hussain Niazi was appointed as the federal secretary Ministry of Law and Justice for the next two years.

Profile

1. Karamat Hussain Niazi joined the lower judiciary in 1973 and rose to the rank of Secretary National Assembly.
2. He joined the parliament on deputation in the mid-90s.
3. He served for five years as judicial member of the Ministry of Law and Justice.
4. He superannuated in 2006 but got extensions by the successive NA speakers until 2014.
5. He had also served as secretary of the Committee on 18th Amendment in last government’s tenure.

Sep 06: More than 80pc Pakistanis consume contaminated and unsafe water, Minister for Science and Technology Rana Tanveer said after PCRWR conducted various water quality monitoring projects in the country.

About PCRWR

1. The Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) is a research and development organisation of the Ministry of Science and Technology.
2. Established in 1964, PCRWR is an apex autonomous research organization.
3. It was first named as Irrigation, Drainage and Flood Control Research Council under the Ministry of Natural Resources.
4. It was brought under the control of Ministry of Science and Technology in 1970 and was given its present name in 1985.
5. The PCRWR conducts, organizes, coordinates and promotes research in all fields of water resources engineering, planning and management.

Sep 06: Pakistan is 50+ years behind in its primary and 60+ years behind in its secondary education targets, according to the UN Global Education Monitoring Report, 2016.

Educational Statistics

1. Literacy rate of the population (10 years and above) is 60%.
2. Literacy rate is higher in urban areas (76%) than in rural areas (51%).
3. Public Expenditure on Education as percentage to GDP is estimated at 2.2 percentage in FY2015.
4. The total number of institutes stood at 252.56 thousands during FY2015.

Sep 07: The Supreme Court ruled that NAB chairman’s authority to accept offer of voluntary return is prima facie in conflict with the Constitution.

Sep 08: PPP’s Ghulam Murtaza Baloch won Ps-127 by-election.

Sep 08: Former health secretary Dr Syed Mohsin Ali died.

Sep 08: Pakistan ranked 119 of 128 countries surveyed on the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2016. Switzerland topped the list for the sixth time in a row.

Sep 09: The registered Afghan refugees were granted extension to stay in Pakistan till March 31, 2017.

Sep 09: The FBR released third ‘Tax Directory’ and ‘Parliamentarians’ Tax Directory’. Senator Taj Muhammad Afridi emerged as the richest parliamentarian in the country while MNA Chaudhry Muhammad Ashraf the poorest.

Sep 10: Pakistan bagged two gold medals and one silver medal in the World Belt Wrestling Championships and Martial Arts Masterships held in South Korea.

Sep 15: Poet, prose wrier, critic and educationist Prof Husain Sahar died at 74.

Sep 15: Pakistan signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance (MCMAA) in Tax Matters of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris.

What is MCMAA?

1. The Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (“the Convention”) was developed jointly by the OECD and the Council of Europe in 1988 and amended by Protocol in 2010.
2. Convention is the most comprehensive multilateral instrument available for all forms of tax cooperation to tackle tax evasion and avoidance, a top priority for all countries.
3. It guarantees extensive safeguards for the protection of taxpayers’ rights.

MCMAA and Pakistan

1. Pakistan is 104th jurisdiction to join the Convention.
2. Pakistan is a member of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) framework and will automatically exchange country-by-country reporting as required by the BEPS package.
3. The convention was developed jointly by the OECD and the Council of Europe in 1988 and amended in 2010 to respond to the call by the G20 to align it to the int’l standard on the EOI.

Sep 15: Haider Ali, Pakistan’s only athlete at the Rio Paralympic Games, won country’s first medal.

Sep 15: Pakistan’s equity market has been outperforming China’s and India’s markets by a big margin in recent years, according to an article published in Forbes magazine.

Sep 15: Pakistani soldiers took part in a joint exercise, Inspired Gambit, with the US Army.

 INTERNATIONAL

Aug 16: China launched the world’s first satellite dedicated to testing fundamentals of quantum communication in space.

Key Features

1. The QUESS satellite has been nicknamed as Micius after a 5th century BC Chinese philosopher who is credited for conducting optical experiments,.
2. It will be located in sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 500 km and will circle the Earth once every 90 minutes.
3. The satellite will help China to establish hack-proof communications system by transmitting uncrackable keys from space to the ground.

What is Quantum Communication?

Quantum communication boasts ultra-high security communication. It uses subatomic particles to securely communicate between two points. In case intruder (hacker) tries to crack the message in Quantum communication, it will change its form in a way that would alert the sender and cause the message to be altered or deleted.

Aug 16: Joao Havelange, a Brazilian lawyer, businessman, and athlete who served as the 7th President of FIFA, died at 100.

Aug 17: John Ellenby, a computer engineer who played a critical role in paving the way for the laptop computer, died.

Aug 18: Neymar scored the fastest goal in Olympics history.

Aug 20: Urjit Patel was appointed as the new governor of the Reserve Bank of India. He has replaced Raghuram Rajan.

Aug 20: The world’s highest and longest glass-bottomed bridge was opened to visitors in central China.

Key Facts

1. The bridge connects two mountain cliffs: the Avatar Mountains in Zhangjiajie, Hunan province.
2. The bridge is 430 metres long and is 6 metres wide.
3. It stands 300 metre above a canyon in the Tianmenshan National Forest Park.
4. It has 99 panes of three-layered transparent glass.
5. It has been designed by Israeli architect Haim Dotan.
6. It has set 10 world records for design and construction.

Aug 20: Turkish parliament approved a deal to normalise ties with Israel.
Highlights of the Deal

1. Israel will pay $20 million as a compensation for lost lives during Mavi Marmara flottila raid and Turkey will drop all cases against the incident.
2. Israeli soldiers will be exempt from legal and criminal responsibility and individual Israeli nationals also would not be held criminally or financially liable for the incident.

Aug 21: Australia’s Mitchell Starc became the fastest man to claim100th ODI wicket. He did it in his 52nd match, beating the previous record of Saqlain Mushtaq (53 matches).

Aug 22: Former Singapore President S.R. Nathan died at 92.

About S. R. Nathan

1. Sellapan Ramanathan was born on 3 July 1924 in the family of Indian Tamil descent in Straits Settlements of Singapore.
2. He had served as President of Singapore for two terms from 1999 to 2011 — for the first term, he was elected unopposed.
3. After stepping down he had worked as Distinguished Senior Fellow at Institute of Southeast Asian Studies and at Singapore Management University’s School of Social Sciences.
4. Prior to becoming President, he held key positions in the Singapore Civil Service and also in security, intelligence and foreign affairs.

Aug 22: Libya’s internationally recognised parliament voted against the UN-backed unity government.

Aug 22: Dr Donald A. Henderson, a key figure in WHO’s efforts for the eradication of smallpox, died at 87.

About Dr Henderson

1. Dr Henderson joined WHO’s war on the smallpox in 1966.
2. The last known smallpox case was in Somalia in 1977.
3. He was an adviser on bioterrorism to several presidents.

What is Smallpox?

1. Smallpox is an acute contagious disease caused by the variola virus, a member of the orthopoxvirus family.
2. It is thought to have emerged from a rodent virus more than 10,000 years ago, and signs of it are found in the mummy of Pharaoh Ramses V of Egypt.
3. Smallpox is transmitted from person to person via infective droplets during close contact with infected people.
4. It was declared eradicated in 1980.

Aug 23: Indian state of Andhra Pradesh became the first in the country to launch DNA Index System (DIS) for DNA (Deoxyribonucleac acid) profiling of criminals.

What is DNA profiling technology?

1. DNA fingerprinting or DNA profiling is a method of isolating and identifying variable elements within the base-pair sequence of DNA.
2. This technology is utilised by police for fool-proof identification of criminals from their traces at crime scene.
3. The technology plays a crucial role in solving crimes as it has potential to link a series of crimes by placing the suspects by linking them with the crime scene.
4. Leicester University geneticist Alec Jeffreys developed the technique called DNA fingerprinting in 1985.

Aug 23: Police Scotland made hijab a part of their uniform.  

Aug 24: Scientists announced the discovery of an Earth-sized planet named Proxima b, orbiting the star nearest our Sun. The planet is in a “temperate” zone compatible with the presence of liquid water a key ingredient for life.

Aug 24: Former West German president Walter Scheel died.

Aug 25: Airlander 10, the world’s largest aircraft, crashed during its second test flight.
Features of Airlander 10

1. It is a hybrid airship made by Hybrid Air Vehicles in UK.
2. Officially ‘the Martha Gwyn,’ it is nicknamed “The Flying Bum” because of its pert, round back.
3. It has 4 engines and no internal structure. It maintains its shape due to the pressure of 38,000 cubic meters of helium inside its hull, which is made from ultralight carbon fiber.
4. It is 92 metres long and 43.5m wide.
5. It can fly at up to 4,880 metres and reach speeds of 148 kilometres per hour. It can also carry a 10-tonne payload.
6. It can stay airborne for more than two weeks unmanned and up to five days if manned.
7. The aircraft was originally designed for US military surveillance but the project was grounded in 2013.

Aug 25: The world’s first self-driving taxi service was launched by Singapore-based nuTonomy, an autonomous vehicle software startup.

Key Facts

1. The Singapore government had given its approval to conduct the self-driving taxi trial for the public.
2. NuTonomy has started this service with small fleet of six cars. It includes modified versions of Renault Zoe and Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car.
3. Each car is fitted with six sets of Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging), a detection system that uses lasers to operate like radar that constantly spins on the roof.
4. There are also two cameras on the dashboard to scan for obstacles and detect changes in traffic lights.

Aug 26: France’s highest administrative court suspended a controversial ban on the burkini by a French Riviera town.

Aug 27: Tunisia’s new Prime Minister Youssef Chahed and members of his cabinet were sworn in.

Aug 29: The United States and India signed the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) that allows the two countries to use each other’s military facilities for checking China’s growing influence in Asia. Manohar Parrikar and Ashton Carter signed the pact.

What is LEMOA?

1. LEMOA facilitates the provision of logistical support, supplies and services between the US military and the armed forces of partner countries.
2. US aircraft and warships will have access to Indian military bases and vice versa for refuelling, repair and other purposes.
3. It would enable both countries in governing the use of each other’s land, air and naval bases for repair and resupply.
4. It also lays out the procedure for billing for these facilities as part of a larger accounting transaction and details are contained in clarifying protocols annexed to LEMOA.

What does LEMAO cover?

LEMAO facilitates support between India and USA and this may include food, water, billeting, transportation, petroleum, oils, lubricants, clothing, medical services, spare parts and components, repair and maintenance services, training services, and other logistical items and services.

Aug 29: Int’l Day against Nuclear Tests was observed.

Background

1. In order to raise awareness about the effects of nuclear weapon test explosions or any other nuclear explosions, the Day was instituted by the UN General Assembly through resolution 64/35 on 2 December 2009.
2. The resolution was initiated by the Kazakhstan with a view to commemorate the closure of the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test site on 29 August 1991.
3. The Day was first celebrated in 2010.

About Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test site

1. The Semipalatinsk Test Site (a.k.a. The Polygon) was the primary testing venue for the Soviet Union’s nuclear weapons.
2. The Soviet Union had conducted 456 nuclear tests here from 1949 until 1989.
Aug 30: The EU ordered tech giant Apple to pay a record 13 billion euros ($14.5bn) in back taxes in Ireland.

Aug 30: Gene Wilder, who established himself as one of America’s foremost comic actors, died. He was 83.

Aug 31: A JetBlue 387, the first commercial flight between the US and Cuba since 1961 landed in Santa Clara, Cuba.

Aug 31: Spain’s Tomatina festival, dubbed “the world’s biggest food fight”, was celebrated.

Highlights

1.  La Tomatina is held on the last Wednesday of August each year in the town of Bunol near Valencia in Spain.
2. The highlight of the festival is the tomato fight which takes place between 11am and 1pm on that day.
3. The tomato fight started in 1945 when youths brawling in the street seized tomatoes from a stall and let loose.
4. Bunol registered the festival as a brand in 2002.
5. About 150,000 kilos of tomatoes were used this year.

Aug 31: Bezwada Wilson, an activist who worked to restore the dignity of India’s low-caste Dalits, won Magsaysay Award.

Other 5 Winners are: Thodur Madabusi Krishna (India), Conchita Carpio Morales (Philippines), Dompet Dhuafa (Indonesia), Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (Japan) and Vientiane Rescue (Laos).

About Ramon Magsaysay Award

1. Ramon Magsaysay Award is Asia’s highest civilian honour and is regarded as the region’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize.
2. It was established in 1957 in the memory of Philippines’ third President Ramon Magsaysay.
3. It was established the New York City based Rockefeller Brothers Fund and Philippine government.
4. It is awarded annually to individuals or organizations from Asia for their altruistic and philanthropic service.
5. The award carries a medallion bearing the likeness of the late President Ramon Magsaysay, cash prize and a certificate.

Aug 31: Brazil’s Senate voted to remove President Dilma Rousseff from office. She is being accused of using state-controlled banks to finance popular social programmes without revealing she was doing so.

Aug 31: Gabon’s president Ali B. Ondimba won re-election.

Aug 31: IS’s spokesman and top strategist Abu Mohamed al-Adnani was killed in Syria.
Sep 01: Canada signed 56 deals with China worth more than C$1.2 billion.

Sep 01: Nicolas Sarkozy’s book entitled “Tout Pour La France” (All for France) became country’s bestseller within a week of its publication.

Sep 02: Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov died.

Sep 02: Australia’s oldest surviving Test cricketer, Len Maddocks, died aged 90.

Sep 03: The US and China formally joined the Paris climate change agreement.

Highlights

1. The move is a major step forward for the 180-nation deal, which sets ambitious goals for capping global warming and funnelling trillions of dollars to poor countries facing climate catastrophe.
2. The US and China are together responsible for some 40pc of the world’s emissions, so their participation is crucial.
3. Only 24 of the signatories had ratified the accord
4. Most of these countries are island states threatened by rising sea levels.
5. The Paris pact calls for capping global warming at well below two degrees Celsius, and 1.5 Celsius if possible, compared with pre-industrial levels.

Sep 03: Bangladesh hanged Mir Quasem Ali, a key leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, for war crimes.

Sep 03: For another year, Muhammad topped the list for the most popular name for new born babies in England and Whales. Officially, however, the name doesn’t make it to the top because there are so many different ways to spell it.

Sep 04: Pope Francis proclaimed Mother Teresa a saint.

Profile of Mother Teresa

1. Mother Teresa (Aug 26, 1910 to Sep 5, 1997) was born to Kosovan Albanian parents in Skopje, then part of the Ottoman empire (now the capital of Macedonia).
2. She was baptized as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu.
3. She won the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize.
4. She was the founder of the Order of the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic congregation of women dedicated to helping the poor.
5. Her order established a hospice; centres for the blind, aged, and disabled; and a leper colony.
6. She was beatified as “Blessed Teresa of Calcutta” on October 19, 2003 in a ceremony led by Pope John Paul II.

Sep 04: With 116th cap, Wayne Rooney became England’s most capped outfield player.
Sep 05: The two-day G20 Summit concluded in Hangzhou, China. It was the eleventh meeting of the G20 — the first-ever to be hosted in China and second in an Asian country after 2010 G20 Seoul summit.

Key Highlights

Theme: “Toward an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy”.

1. G-20 leaders have pledged to continue to work for a globally fair and modern international tax system, foster growth and refrain from competitive devaluation of currencies.
2. They will continue the work on addressing cross-border financial flows derived from illicit activities, including deliberate trade mis-invoicing, which hampers the mobilisation of domestic resources for development.
3. They vowed to go ahead on the ongoing cooperation on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS), exchange of tax information, tax capacity-building of developing countries and tax policies to promote growth and tax certainty.
4. They vowed to use all policy tools to achieve strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth.
5. They agreed that refugees are a global issue and the burden must be shared.
6. They called for strengthening humanitarian assistance for refugees.
7. The 2017 G20 summit will be held in Hamburg, Germany from 7-8 July 2017.

Note: The G-20 represents over 85% of the world’s economy and two-thirds of global population.

Sep 05: North Korea test-fired 3 ballistic missiles into the sea.

Sep 05: Lindsay Tuckett, the former South Africa fast bowler and the world’s oldest surviving Test cricketer, died aged 97.

Sep 06: Glenn Maxwell’s 65-ball 145 helped Australia make a new T20 world record of 263 runs. Australia broke Sri Lanka’s nine-year record of 260/6 against Kenya in 2007.

Sep 07: President Obama nominated Abid Riaz Qureshi, a Pakistani-American, to serve as federal judge for the first time in American history.

About Mr Qureshi

1. Mr Qureshi is the first Muslim and a Pakistani-American to get this nomination.
2. He did his J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1997 and B.A. summa cum laude from Cornell University in 1993.
3. He specialized in cases involving securities violations, False Claims Act, and health care fraud.
4. He has served on the District of Columbia Bar Association’s Legal Ethics Committee since 2015.
5. From 2006-2011, he served as co-chair of the Litigation Department in Washington.
6. He currently serves at Latham & Watkins LLP as the global chair of the firm’s pro bono committee.
7. He is the recipient of the “Champions of Justice” Award in 2012 by the National Law Journal’s Legal Times for upholding the profession’s core values through public service, pro bono work and advocacy for civil liberties.

Sep 07: Former England fast-medium bowler Ken Higgs died.

Sep 08: The 28th and the 29th ASEAN Summit concluded in Vientiane, the capital of Laos.

About the Summit

1. The ASEAN Summit is a semiannual meeting held by the ASEAN member states in relation to economic, and cultural development of Southeast Asian countries
2. Thongloun Sisoulith, Prime Minister of the Laos, was the Chairperson of the summit.
3. The Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) Work Plan III and the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity 2025 was adopted.
4. Leaders also signed the ASEAN Declaration on One ASEAN, One Response: ASEAN Responding to Disasters as One in the Region and Outside the Region.

Theme: Turning Vision into Reality for a Dynamic ASEAN Community.

About ASEAN

Member States: (10); Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Viet Nam, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Cambodia.

Established: August 8, 1967

Sep 08: Uzbekistan’s parliament named Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev as country’s interim president.

Sep 09: North Korea conducted its fifth nuclear test on the 68th anniversary of its founding.

Sep 09: Bakytzhan Sagintaev was appointed as the prime minister of Kazakhstan.

Sep 09: Sylvia Gore, who scored England’s first goal in women’s international football, died.

Sep 10: World’s first daily driver-less bus service was launched in Lyon, France.

Key Facts

1. The buses are electric and they can hold up to 15 people.
2. It has features like LIDAR radar technology and motion sensors that will help to avoid accidents.
3. The LIDAR technology allows the buses to know exactly where they are and to detect what’s happening around them.

What is LIDAR?

1. LIDAR is acronym of Light Detection And Ranging.
2. It was created as a portmanteau of “light” and “radar”.
3. It is a surveying technology that measures distance by illuminating a target with a laser light.
4. It is sometimes simply referred to as 3D scanning or laser scanning with terrestrial, airborne and mobile applications.
5. It is popularly used to make high-resolution maps, with applications in geodesy, geomatics, archaeology, geography, geology, geomorphology, forestry, atmospheric physics, etc.

Sep 11: Germany’s Angelique Kerber won her first US Open title and the second major trophy of the 2016 season.

Sep 12: Stan Wawrinka from Switzerland won the 2016 US Open men’s singles title.

About US Open

1. The US Open is played on outdoor hard courts.
2. The 2016 season was the 136th edition of the US Open and the fourth and final Grand Slam event of the year.

Sep 15: Britain’s former prime minister David Cameron resigned from his seat in the House of Commons.

Sep 15: UEFA elected Aleksander Ceferin as its new president.

Sep 15: The British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Simon Collis, performed Haj after converting to Islam. He is the first UK ambassador to perform Haj.

Sep 15: The International Democracy Day was observed.

2016 Theme: “Democracy and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development“.
Background

1. United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in November 2007 had decided to observe ‘International Democracy Day’ every year on September 15.
2. It was observed for first time in 2008. In this regard a resolution was passed by UNGA in 2007 to strengthen national programmes devoted to the promotion and consolidation of democracy.

MCQs

National

1. On Aug 16, Masood Khan was elected as the ______ president of AJK.
(a) 22nd        (b) 24th
(c) 25th        (d) 27th

2. The first-ever SAARC Youth Parliamentarians Conference, in which 28 parliamentary delegates participated, was held in ______
(a) Dhaka    (b) New Delhi
(c) Islamabad    (d) Kabul

3. On Aug 17, the UNDP Pakistan launched the suppliers’ development programme in ______.
(a) AJK        (b) KP
(c) Punjab    (d) Sindh

4. ______ won the World Junior Team Squash Championship 2016.
(a) Malaysia    (b) Pakistan
(c) England    (d) Egypt

5. On Aug 18, the Supreme Court ruled that no prime minister can move any legislation, finance or fiscal bill or approve any budgetary or discretionary expenditures on his own without prior approval from the ______.
(a) Federal Cabinet
(b) President of Pakistan
(c) Council of Common Interests
(d) The Senate & National Assembly

6. Matthew Craig Barrett, an American citizen who was arrested for entering Pakistan despite being blacklisted, was deported on ______.
(a) Aug 16    (b) Aug 18
(c) Aug 20    (d) Aug 24

7. On Aug 22, chairman ______, Zafar Mahmood, resigned.
(a) Wapda    (b) FIA
(c) SNGPL    (d) Ogra

8. The Asian Cricket Council is headquartered at ______.
(a) Dhaka    (b) Colombo
(c) Islamabad    (d) New Delhi

9. The current President of Asian Cricket Council is ______.
(a) Thilanga Sumathipala
(b) ‎Shaharyar Khan
(c) Ravi Sehgal    (d) Anurag Thakur

10. The ICC rankings system was introduced in ______.
(a) 2000        (b) 2001
(c) 2002        (d) 2003

11. New Mayor of Karachi had served as an MNA from ______ (Karachi-XIII) constituency.
(a) NA-246    (b) NA-248
(c) NA-250    (d) NA-251
12. On Aug 24, Lt Gen (retd) Muzamil Hussain became ______ chairman Wapda.
(a) 21st        (b) 22nd
(c) 23rd        (d) 24th

13. Pakistan spends US$ 37 per capita on health which is lower than the WHO’s prescribed level of _____.
(a) US$ 44    (b) US$ 46
(c) US$ 53    (d) US$ 65

14. KP government launched the Sehat Insaf Card on ______.
(a) Aug 28    (b) Aug 31
(c) July 01    (d) July 04

15. On Aug 31, Mohammad Amir scored ______ which is the highest-ever score by a No. 11 batsman.
(a) 49        (b) 58
(c) 67         (d) 96

16. “A History of the Judiciary in Pakistan” has been written by ______.
(a) Hamid Khan    (b) Asthma Jahangir
(c) Iftikhar Ch.    (d) S.M. Zafar

17. Zahid Malik, who passed away on Sep 01, was the editor-in-chief of ______.
(a) Daily Times    (b) Pakistan Today
(c) The Frontier Post
(d) Pakistan Observer

18. According to a UNICEF report released on Sep 01, nearly ______ Pakistani children are out of school.
(a) 18 million    (b) 20 million
(c) 23 million    (d) 29 million

19. On Sep 03, the ______ started issuing notices to Pakistani residents named in the Panama Papers.
(a) Supreme Court (b) FBR
(c) NAB        (d) FIA

20. On Sep 03, Project Solar Bibi, a joint venture of the PCRET and Ministry of_____, was launched.  
(a) Finance    (b) Water & Power
© Interior
(d) Science & Technology

21. On Sep 05, PeaceNiche/The Second Floor (T2F), won this year’s Prince Claus award which will be presented to them in ______.
(a) New York     (b) Amsterdam
(c) The Hague    (d) Karachi

22. The Prince Claus Fund, named in honour of Prince Claus of The Netherlands, was inaugurated in_____.
(a) 1996        (b) 1998
(c) 2001        (d) 2004

23. On Sep 06, Karamat Hussain Niazi was appointed as the federal secretary Ministry of ______.
(a) Defence    (b) Human Rights
(c) Law & Justice    (d) Water & Power

24. Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) was established in ______.
(a) 1947        (b) 1964
(c) 1971        (d) 2002

25. Literacy rate of the population 10 years and above in Pakistan is______.
(a) 48%        (b) 52%
(c) 60%        (d) 63%

26. Pakistan has ranked ______ of 128 countries surveyed on the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2016.
(a) 100        (b) 108
(c) 112        (d) 119

27. On Sep 09, the government allowed registered Afghan refugees to stay in Pakistan till ______, 2017.
(a) January 31    (b) February 28
(c) March 31    (d) June 30

28. On Sep 15, Pakistan became the ______ jurisdiction to join the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters of the (OECD).
(a) 100th        (b) 104th
(c) 108th        (d) 110th

29. ______ holds the record for winning the squash world championship eight times.
(a) Jansher Khan    (b) Jahangir Khan
(c) Hashim Khan    (d) Qamar Zaman

30. Pak-US joint army exercise 2016 has been named as ______.
(a) Closing Circles
(b) Winners of Frontiers
(c) Inspired Gambit
(d) Final Blow

31. To oversee the British withdrawal from India, Lord Mountbatten reached Delhi on______, 1947.
(a) Feb 22    (b) March 22
(c) April 01    (d) April 21

 International

1. China launched the world’s first satellite dedicated to testing the fundamentals of quantum communication in space, on ______.
(a) Aug 16     (b) Aug 17
(c) Aug 18    (d) Aug 19

2. The fastest goal in Olympics history has been scored by ______.
(a) Messi     (b) Suárez
(c) Neymar    (d) Beckham

3. The theme of the 2016 World Humanitarian Day was ______.
(a) Share humanity (b) One Humanity
(c) People Helping People
(d) Inspire the World’s Humanity

4. On Aug 20, ______ was appointed as the new Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
(a) R Gandhi     (b) Urjit Patel
(c) S. S. Mundra     (d) S. Vishwanthan

5. On Aug 20, the world’s longest and highest glass-bottomed bridge opened in ______.
(a) Unied States     (b) UK
(c) China     (d) France

6. The world’s highest and longest glass-bottomed bridge connects two mountains, known as the ______.
(a) Avatar Mountains
(b) Winding Stair Mountains
(c) Gladiator Mountains
(b) Mariana Mountains

7. The World Mosquito Day is observed on ______.
(a) August 21     (b) August 22
(c) August 20     (d) August 23

8. On Aug 20, ______ was bestowed with the Olympic Order award.
(a) Joachim Low     (b) Carolina Marin
(c) Thomas Bach     (d) N Ramachandran

9. “Yongzin” the Tibetan-language search engine was launched by ______.
(a) Japan     (b) China
(c) Singapore     (d) Thailand

10. On Aug 21, ______ paceman Mitchell Starc became the fastest man to claim 100th ODI wicket.
(a) S. African    (b) New Zealander
(c) English    (d) Australian

11. S. R. Nathan, who died on Aug 22, was the former President of ______.
(a) Thailand     (b) Singapore
(c) Malaysia     (d) Maldives

12. Dr Donald A. Henderson, who died on Aug 22, is best known for the eradication of ______.
(a) TB         (b) Polio
(c) Smallpox    (d) Measles

13. “Airlander 10” the world’s largest aircraft belongs to ______.
(a) United States    (b) UK    
(c) France     (d) Japan

14. The first Asian Science and Technology Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction was held in ______.
(a) Thailand     (b) Singapore
(c) Malaysia     (d) India

15. ______ won the UEFA Best Player in Europe Award for 2016.
(a) Cristiano Ronaldo (b) Lionel Messi
(c) Toni Kroos     (d) Gareth Bale

16. “Operation Euphrates Shield” in Syria to end Islamic State of Iraq and Syria rule was launched by ______.
(a) Jordon    (b) Israel
(c) Turkey     (d) Lebanon

17. The Durand Cup is associated with ______.
(a) Football     (b) Cricket
(c) Basketball     (d) Hockey

18. The world’s first self-driving taxi service has been launched in ______.
(a) Japan     (b) Singapore
(c) Malaysia     (d) China

19. ______ will hold the 19th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit 2016 in November.
(a) Maldives     (b) Pakistan
(c) Bangladesh     (d) Bhutan

20. On Aug 28, ______ won the 2016 Belgian Formula One Grand Prix.
(a) Sebastian Vettel (b) Daniel Ricciardo
(c) Lewis Hamilton (d) Nico Rosberg

21. The United Nations’ International Day against Nuclear test is observed on ______.
(a) August 28     (b) August 29
(c) August 27     (d) August 30

22. On August 29, the 2016 meeting of heads of SAARC Statistical Organizations (SAARCSTAT) started in ______.
(a) Bhutan     (b) Nepal
(c) India         (d) Pakistan

23. On Aug 30, India and ______ signed the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA).
(a) United States     (b) Russia
(c) France     (d) Japan

24. The 2016 Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) was held in ______.
(a) Zambia     (b) Morocco
(c) Kenya     (d) South Africa

25. On Aug 31, the world’s largest indoor theme park, called IMG Worlds of Adventure, was opened in ______.
(a) Dubai     (b) New York
(c) Paris         (d) Berlin

26. On Sep 01, ______ elected as the new President of Gabon.
(a) Daniel Ona Ondo
(b) Rose Francine Rogombe
(c) Jean Ping
(d) Ali Bongo Ondimba

27. La Tomatina, a Spanish food fight festival, is held on the last Wednesday of______.
(a) March    (b) July
(c) August    (d) September

28. International Day of Charity is observed annually on ______.
(a) Sep 05     (b) Nov 16
(c) Aug 28     (d) Oct 30

29. On Sep 05 ______ appointed an ambassador to Iran for the first time since 2011.
(a) US        (b) UK
(c) Germany    (d) Russia

30. On Sep 05, ______ was declared malaria-free by the World Health Organisation.
(a) Cambodia    (b) India
(c) China        (d) Sri Lanka

31. The 2016 G20 Summit was held in ______.
(a) Antalaya    (b) Hamburg
(c) Hangzhou    (d) Beijing

32. Islam Karimov, who died on Sep 02, was the President of ______.
(a) Tajikistan     (b) Uzbekistan
(c) Kyrgyzstan     (d) Turkmenistan

33. The 2016 ASEAN Summit was held in ______.
(a) Kuala Lumpur    (b) Langkawi
(c) Vientiane    (d) Cebu City

34. The theme for International Literacy Day 2016 was ______.
(a) Reading the Past, Writing the Future
(b) Education For All
(c) Literacy and Health
(d) Literacy and Empowerment

35. The UNESCO announced Sep 08 as International Literacy Day on ______, 1965 and it was first celebrated in 1966.
(a) 17 Oct    (b) 17 Sep
(c) 17 Nov     (d) 17 Dec

36. The Paralympic Games 2016 opened in Rio de Janeiro on_____.
(a) Sep 08    (b) Sep 10
(c) Sep 12    (d) Sep 15

37. The world’s first driver-less bus service has started in ______
(a) Japan     (b) France
(c) Germany     (d) Singapore

38. “Six Machine” is the autobiography of ______.
(a) Kapil Dev    (b) Chris Gayle
(c) Viv Richards    (d) AB de Villiers

39. On Sep 11, ______ won the 2016 US Open Women’s Singles title.
(a) Serena Williams (b) Venus Williams
(d) Ana Ivanovic    (d) Angelique Kerber

40. ______ won the 2016 US Open men’s singles tournament.
(a) Rafael Nadal     (b) Andy Murray
(c) Stanislas Wawrinka
(d) Novak Djokovic

41. On Sep 15, Aleksander Ceferin of Slovenia was elected as the president of ______.
(a) IOC         (b) UEFA
(c) WBO         (d) FIFA

42. The British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, ______, is the first UK ambassador to perform Haj.
(a) Simon Collis    (b) Michael Fillip
(c) Ashton Carter    (d) Gordon Chang

43. The theme for the International Day of Democracy 2016, was ______.
(a) Strengthening Voices for Democracy
(b) Space for Civil Society
(c) Democracy and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
(d)    Engaging Youth on Democracy