World in Focus (MAY-JUN 2021) National & International With MCQs

World in Focus (MAY-JUN 2021)

National & International With MCQs

May 16: The widow of the Awami National Party (ANP) Rehbar-e-Tehreek Khan Abdul Wali Khan and former provincial president of the ANP Begum Nasim Wali Khan breathed her last. She was 85.
May 16: The United States Government, along with the Government of Pakistan, launched the first international shipment from Pakistan that is compliant with the United Nations’ “Transports Internationaux Routiers” (TIR) Convention, an international customs transit system that facilitates trade by expediting border checks between countries.
May 17: Veteran progressive Pashto research scholar and poet Salim Raz passed away.
May 17: 4G BaseTransceiver Station (BTS) was installed at K2 Base camp area of Concordia.
May 17: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfi Bukhari resigned amidst an ongoing inquiry of the Ring Road project scam.
May 17: European Union Ambassador Androulla Kaminara called on Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa at the General Headquarters (GHQ).
May 17: Prime Minister Imran Khan (PMIK) reconstituted the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec). Finance Minister Shaukat Fayaz Ahmed Tarin will be the chairman of the eight-member inter-provincial decision-making body on development.
May 18: A report by World Bank (wb) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Pakistan needs to increase investment on research and focus infrastructure development.
May 18: Saifullah Paracha, a 73-year-old from Pakistan, who is the oldest prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, was approved for release after more than 16 years in custody at the US base in Cuba
May 18: Justice Raja Saeed Akram Khan took oath as Chief Justice of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
May 18: PMIK appointed Dr Moeed Yusuf the National Security Adviser with the status of a federal minister.
May 19: The Punjab government appointed Dr Allah Bakhsh Malik the member of the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) for a period of three years.
May 20: FM Qureshi addressed a special session of the 193-member UN General Assembly wherein he urged the UNGA to call for a halt to the Israeli aggression in Gaza.
May 21: The ADB and Pakistan signed a $300 million loan to finance the construction of a 300 megawatt hydropower plant in Balakot, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
May 21: Pakistan marked “Palestine Day” to show solidarity with the people of Palestine.
May 21: Pakistan was added to the sellers list of Amazon.
May 21: PMIK addressed the 26th International Conference on the Future of Asia in Japan via video link.
May 21: Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) Kamra formally handed over three JF-17 Thunder aircraft to Nigerian Air Force.
May 23: WHO’s Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean announced the ‘World No Tobacco Day 2021 Award’ for Pakistan for its effective anti-tobacco steps.
May 23: Pakistan’s Social and Living Standard Measurement (PSLM) survey for 2019-20 was issued.
May 23: Three Pakistani universities, including PMAS-Arid Agriculture University and Bahauddin Zakariya University, joined the SCO Agricultural Universities Alliance (SCO-AUA).
May 24: The Water & Power Development Authority (Wapda) listed the Indus Bond, a green Eurobond (GEB) on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) to raise $500 million to finance mega hydropower projects.
Wapda is the country’s first public sector entity that has launched the GEB.
May 24: National Security Advisers of the United States and Pakistan, Jake Sullivan and Dr Moeed Yusuf, met in Geneva, Switzerland.
May 25: The High Court of Justice in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) lifted the attachment orders on PIA’s offshore assets—Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan, Scribe Hotel in Central Paris and Minhal Incorporated—in the US$6 billion Reqo Diq case against Pakistan.
About the case
Pakistan had applied against the award order before an ICSID committee. In October, the committee ruled that Tethyan could collect up to half the amount of the award. The long-running dispute arose after Balochistan refused TCC a mining lease for the development of a USD$3.3 billion copper-gold mine at Reko Diq in 2011. After failing to find a resolution, the TCC filed a case against Pakistan with the ICSID in 2012. On 12th July 2019, the ICSID rendered an award of USD$5.976 billion, which included USD $4.08 billion penalty and USD $1.87 billion in interest.
May 25: The first ever Covid-19 vaccine developed in Pakistan ‘PakVac’ passed testing.
May 25: Former Balochistan finance secretary Mushtaq Raisani and former advisor to the chief minister Khalid Lango were awarded jail sentence in a graft case.
May 25: The federal government posted Chief Secretary Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Dr Shahzad Khan Bangash, as Secretary Water Resources.
May 25: The government appointed Capt (retd) Munir Azam the chairman of Pakistan Tobacco Board.
May 26: President of the 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Volkan Bozkir, reached Islamabad for a three-day official visit.
May 26: Justice Sadaqat Hussain Raja took oath as Chief Justice of the High Court of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
May 27: The government replaced Secretary Finance Kamran Ali Afzal and appointed Yousaf Khan the Additional Secretary In charge with immediate effect. Kamran Ali Afzal was appointed the Secretary Industries.
May 27: Dr Muhammad Sohail Rajput was appointed Secretary Information Technology and Telecommunication Division.
May 27: The KSE 100-index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) set a new record by crossing the trading volume of 2.2 billion shares for the first time in history.
May 27: The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority got a legal cover with the unanimous passage of the CPEC Authority Bill by the Senate.
May 28: The opening ceremony of Pakistan-Egypt first joint air defence exercise ‘Sky Guard-1’ 2021 was held at Cairo.
May 28: The first shipment of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 mRNA vaccine comprising 106,000 doses through COVAX reached Islamabad.
May 28: Pakistan and the Russian Federation signed the amended Inter Governmental Agreement for North South Gas Pipeline (NSGPP) of 1,122 kilometres from Port Qasim (Karachi) to Kasur (Punjab).
May 28: Air Vice Marshal Irfan Ahmad was promoted to the rank of Air Marshal.
May 29: Prime Minister’s wife Bushra Imran inaugurated the Shaikh Abul Hasan Ash Shadhili Research Hub, in Lahore.
May 30: PML-N MPA from Sialkot Chaudhry Khush Akhter Subhani breathed his last.
May 30: Responding to queries from callers in a live television programme, PMIK said normalising relations with India in the present situation would be tantamount to betrayal of Kashmiris.
May 30: After a decade-long suspension, Kuwait announced immediate resumption of different visas including family and business categories for Pakistani citizens.
June 01: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa directorate of archaeology and museums took the possession of ancestral homes of Bollywood legends Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar inside the walled city of provincial capital.
June 01: Pakistan inaugurated an antisera processing plant and launched 120,000 doses of PakVac produced from the concentrate of Cansino vaccine.
June 02: The second conference of the Parliamentary Assembly of Economic Cooperation Organisation (PAECO) countries was held with delegates from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan.
June 02: Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon reached Islamabad on a two-day official visit.
June 02: The California state parliament passed a resolution to make California, the United States, and Punjab, Pakistan, as ‘Sister Provinces’.
June 02: Tajikistan agreed to buy weapons from Pakistan as the two countries vowed to upgrade their strategic cooperation.
June 03: A division bench of the Lahore High Court acquitted a Christian couple – Shagufta Masih and her husband Shafqat Emmanuel – who were sentenced to death more than seven years ago for committing blasphemy.
June 03: Addressing an event on Green Financing Innovations organized by the Ministry of Climate Change in connection with the World Environment Day, PMIK said that through “future green financing”, Pakistan is proud to take a lead in conservation of ecological systems and ensure a secure and liveable environment for its coming generations.
June 03: The 4th session (virtual) of China–Afghanistan–Pakistan Foreign Minister’s Dialogue was held.
June 03: The government approved a new visa policy regarding CPEC projects for Chinese nationals. The minimum period of new visas for Chinese nationals has been set at two years under the new policy.
June 03: Sindh government declared vaccination against Covid-19 mandatory for all citizens
June 04: The Asia Pacific Group, a regional body of FATF, in its second Mutual Evaluation Report (MER), found that out of 40 recommendations, Pakistan was declared compliant or largely compliant on 31 recommendations.
June 04: Pakistan demanded a thorough investigation into the reports of illegal uranium trade in India.
June 05: PMIKaddressed the main ceremony of the World Environment Day hosted by Pakistan. In his address, the PM said apart from measures introduced by Pakistan, some issues needed world’s attention to reduce carbon emission leading to glacier melting posing threats to countries like Pakistan and Central Asia where rivers were fed by glaciers.
June 05: PMIK instructed that all events organised in his honour be conducted in Urdu.
June 05: Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Gulzar Ahmad, inaugurated the country’s first commercial court at Lahore Judicial Complex.
June 05: Renowned singer Sunny Benjamin John, known in showbiz circles and among his admirers as S.B. John, passed away.
June 06: Renowned Pashto fiction writer Turkistan aka Tahir Afridi passed away at the age of 82.
June 07: Educational activities were restored across the country.
June 07: Fifty-six passengers were killed and nearly 150 others injured when Sargodha-bound train Sir Syed Express collided with a derailed wagon of Millat Express lying on the track near Dharki in the Ghotki district of Sindh.
June 07: Prolific singer of radio, TV and stage, Naeem-Ul-Hassan Bubloo, passed away.
June 07: District Government Lahore established Pakistan’s first drive-through vaccination center at Nishter Park Sports Complex, Lahore.
June 08: The sixth edition of HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) recommenced in Abu Dhabi.
June 09: Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani inaugurated a modern data command and communication centre at Central Police Office in Quetta.
June 09: PMIK inaugurated the first one-window Ehsaas centre, in Islamabad.
June 09: Pakistan Navy appointed Rear Admiral Naeem Sarwar the new Director General Public Relations who would serve as its official spokesperson.
June 09: Pakistan and the United Nations jointly launched the “2021 Pakistan Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP)”.
June 09: The government transferred Wajid Zia from the office of Director General, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and appointed Inspector General of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police Sanaullah Abbasi the FIA chief with immediate effect.
June 09: Frontier Constabulary (FC) Moazzam Jah Ansari was made the IG KP while Salahuddin was appointed the Inspector General FC.
June 10: Minister for Finance Shaukat Tarin unveiled Economic Survey 2020-21.
June 10: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) issued Rs70 commemorative coin to mark 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Pakistan.
June 10: The Pakistan-Afghan Joint Ulema Conference in Saudi Arabia endorsed initiatives such as the ‘Pakistan Message’, ‘the Bogor Declaration’, ‘the Reconciliation Fatwa’, issued in Afghanistan, and ‘the Makkah Declaration’, and all other similar initiatives undertaken by the scholars of the Muslim world to achieve peace in Afghanistan.
June 11: The government promoted four Pakistan Air Force (PAF) officers to the rank of air vice marshal (AVM). The promoted officers include AVM Khalid Mehmood, AVM Asad Amir Pirzada, AVM Salman Abbas Shah and AM Mohammad Irfan.
June 11: The government announced its third budget with an expansionary and feel-good approach, significantly increasing subsidies and incentives for big business, manuf acturing, corporate market and agriculture sectors and proposing about 24 percent hike in revenues, including Rs506bn worth of additional measures.
June 11: The Governor SBP, Dr. Reza Baqir, was appointed the Chairman of the General Assembly of Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) for the year 2022.
June 12: In an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), PMIK called on world leaders to crack down on hate speech and extremism on social media in the wake of growing Islamophobia, as this divides the humanity.
June 12: A tsunami early warning system was set up at the Pakistan Meteorological Department’s Pasni office.
June 13: Russia allowed import of Pakistan’s rice from June 11. Initially four firms were allowed and more would be granted permission after virtual inspection by Russian authorities.
June 13: Humayun Mirza, the only surviving son of Pakistan’s first president Iskander Mirza, died at 93.
June 14: Punjab Finance Minister Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht presented Rs2683 billion budget for financial year 2021-22, with a development outlay of Rs560 billion.
June 14: Pakistan was elected as a regular member of the Governing Body of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
June 15: Uber, the global ride-hailing platform that seamlessly connects drivers with riders, announced the appointment of Shahid Khan as the new country head for Pakistan.
June 15: Comstech announced 500 scholarships for Palestinian students and scholars in partnership with Association of Private Sector Universities of Pakistan (APSUP), and member institutions of Comstech Consortium of Excellence.
June 15: Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah presented a Rs1.47 trillion provincial budget for the fiscal year 2021-22 with an estimated 19 percent growth in revenue collection.
June 15: Pakistan’s female athlete Najia Rasool won bronze medal in the Asian Taekwondo Poomsae, Over-17 Women Individual Freestyle category.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) gave a nod to ‘forced’ retirement of senior bureaucrats by dismissing identical petitions that challenged the Civil Servants (Directory Retirement from Service) Rules, 2020.

May 16: A virtual open-ended extraordinary meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Executive Committee at the level of foreign ministers was held upon the request of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Chair of the Islamic Summit.
May 17: British Prime Minister Borris Johnson honoured the ‘One Million Meals’ campaign founded by four Pakistanis – Bilal Bin Saqib, Momin Saqib, Raja Suleman Raza and Muhammad Arif Anis – through the ‘Points of Light Award’ for their extraordinary services for the National Health Services (NHS), key workers, homeless and people in need in the United Kingdom.
May 17: Rafael Nadal beat world number one Novak Djokovic to win a 10th Italian Open title.
May 18: The UN appealed for $943 million to cope with the Rohingya Muslim humanitarian crisis.
May 18: Nigeria received 4.2 million pounds ($5.9 million) looted by a former governor, who was jailed in Britain for money laundering and fraud.
May 19: Feminist icon Gloria Steinem, one of the leaders of the American women’s movement in the 1970s and 1980s, was awarded Spain’s prestigious Princess of Asturias communications and humanities prize.
May 19: Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping launched, via videoconference, work on Russian-built Tianwan and Xudabao nuclear power plants in China.
May 19: The US State Department banned Sali Berisha, a former President of Albania, from travelling to the United States because of his links to “significant corruption.”
May 20: The Israeli government agreed to a mutual ceasefire with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, proposed by Egypt.
May 20: Microsoft Corp. announced that Internet Explorer 11 desktop application will go out of support on June 15, 2022, for certain versions of Windows 10.
May 21: International Hockey Federation (FIH) announced the winners of its annual awards.
The Winners
Polish Hockey Association (Theo Ikema Award for various hockey development projects).
The Pablo Negre Award (Uzbekistan Hockey Federation).
Hockey India (Etienne Glichitch Award).
England and Great Britain striker Sam Ward (Super Fair Play Trophy René G Frank).
The Guust Lathouwers Memorial Trophy — for an individual who has made a significant mark on the development of umpiring —went to Croatia’s Ivona Makar.
Sharon Williamson of New Zealand (HRH Sultan Azlan Shah Award).
May 21: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards unveiled a new combat drone dubbed “Gaza”.
May 21: A Canadian court ruled that the downing of a Ukrainian airliner in Iran last year was deliberate and an ‘act of terrorism’.
May 21: The bosses of Coronavirus vaccine producers Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson announced, at a G20 health summit, to supply around 3.5 billion vaccine doses at cost or discount to low-and middle-income countries this year and next.
May 21: Nigeria’s army chief Lt Gen Ibrahim Attahiru died in a plane crash.
May 22: A Polish company launched the world’s first industrial production line of solar panels based on groundbreaking perovskite technology, which could revolutionise access to solar power.
May 22: Yuan Longping, a Chinese scientist who developed higher-yield rice varieties that helped feed people around the world, died. He was 91.
May 23: Max Verstappen won Monaco Grand Prix and went top of the drivers’ world championship for the first time.
May 23: Belarus forced an Athens-to-Vilnius Ryanair flight carrying a wanted opposition activist Roman Protasevich to Minsk.
May 23: Narinder Batra secured a second term as President of the International Hockey Federation (FIH).
May 24: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed David Barnea the new head of the Mossad intelligence agency.
May 24: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced that the world is “at war” against Covid-19, calling for the application of wartime logic to the inequitable access to the weapons needed to fight the pandemic.
May 24: Max Mosley, the former head of Formula One’s governing body, died at the age of 81.
May 24: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern appointed Cindy Kiro the country’s Governor General, making her the first Indigenous woman appointed to the role as Queen Elizabeth II’s representative.
May 25: Bangladesh thrashed Sri Lanka in second one-day international to clinch the series.
May 25: Iraq’s top court stripped lawmakers of their parliamentary immunity.
May 25: Australia abruptly announced to shutter its embassy in Afghanistan.
May 26: Amazon announced that it made a deal to acquire MGM, the home of James Bond and one of the most iconic movie studios in Hollywood, in a $8.45 billion deal.
May 26: A Dutch court ordered oil giant Shell to slash its greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent by 2030.
May 26: WHO members opted to exclude Myanmar from their 74th annual assembly.
May 27: Villarreal won their first major trophy by beating Manchester United in the Europa League final.
May 27: The UN Security Council unanimously voted to extend the mandate of its mission in Iraq, known as the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), to May 27, 2022.
May 27: The UN Human Rights Council decided to create an open-ended international investigation into violations surrounding the latest Gaza violence, and into the “systematic” abuses in the Palestinian territories and inside Israel.
May 28: The WHO’s European director warned that the Covid-19 pandemic won’t be over until at least 70 percent of people are vaccinated.
May 28: Germany recognised it had committed genocide in colonial-era Namibia and promised a billion euros in financial support to descendants of the victims.
May 28: Biden administration announced to not return to the Open Skies Treaty, which Donald Trump left.
May 28: Hina Bokhari, a Pakistani school teacher’s daughter, made history by becoming the first-ever Muslim Pakistani female elected member of the London Assembly.
May 28: A Russian Soyuz rocket carrying 36 UK telecommunication and internet satellites blasted off from the Vostochny cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East.
May 28: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad won the presidential election with 95 percent of the vote.
May 29: Chelsea won the Champions League for the second time by defeating Manchester City in the final.
May 29: China successfully launched an automated cargo resupply spacecraft Tianzhou-2 (or ‘Heavenly Vessel’ in Chinese) to rendezvous with an orbiting module.
May 30: The 2021 Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030, or P4G, summit started in Seoul, South Korea.
May 30: US singer BJ Thomas, known for his popular song “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” died at the age of 78.
May 30: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his fiancee Carrie Symonds got married.
May 30: MotoGP world championship leader Fabio Quartararo won the Italian Grand Prix.
May 30: Former Hong Kong schoolteacher Tsang Yin-hung set a new record for the fastest ascent of Everest by a woman. She scaled the 8,848.86-metre (29,031 feet) mountain in 25 hours and 50 minutes.
May 31: American Ally Ewing earned her second LPGA Tour win at the LPGA Match-Play championship.
May 31: India’s economy contracted 7.3 percent in 2020-21, official data showed , its worst recession since independence as coronavirus lockdowns put millions out of work.
May 31: China announced to allow couples to have three children, after a census showed its population is rapidly ageing.
May 31: WHO members agreed to strengthen the global body at the heart of the pandemic response and give it a more secure financial base from which to tackle future health crises.
June 01: WHO approved a Covid-19 vaccine made by drugmaker Sinovac Biotech for emergency use listing, paving the way for a second Chinese shot to be used in poor countries.
June 01: The WHO revealed the new names amid criticism that those given by scientists to strains such as the South African variant which goes by multiple names including B.1.351, 501Y.V2 and 20H/501Y.V2 were too complicate d.
June 02: The French government announced to set up an agency to combat foreign disinformation and fake news that aims to “undermine the state”.
June 02: Iran navy’s British-built fleet replenishment vessel Kharg, which measured more than 200 metres long, sank after catching fire in Gulf of Oman.
June 02: Isaac Herzog was elected as the 11th president of Israel. Isaac is a scion of one of Israel’s most prestigious families, sometimes referred to as Israel’s version of the Kennedys.
June 03: The EU’s top court ruled that Germany continually violated upper limits for nitrogen dioxide, a polluting gas from diesel motors that causes major health problems, over several years.
June 04: Facebook banned former US president Donald Trump for two years.
June 04: A new United Nations report on Afghanistan highlighted the continued and ever-growing cross-border terrorist threat posed by proscribed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which according to the report, continues to operate from the eastern Nangarhar province of neighbouring country.
June 04: Envoys from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) held talks with Myanmar’s junta.
June 04: President Vladimir Putin said that European nations should pay for Russian gas in euros, as the Kremlin moves to dump the dollar following rounds of US sanctions.
June 04: The European Union and Britain launched parallel competition probes into whether Facebook uses data from advertisers to unfairly dominate the online classified market.
June 05: Finance ministers from wealthy G7 nations pledged to commit to a global minimum corporate tax of at least 15 percent, rallying behind a US-backed plan.
June 06: Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands set a new world record in the women’s 10,000m. She clocked 29min 06.82sec at the Hengelo meet, smashing the previous best set by Ethiopian Almaz Ayana (29:17.45) in winning gold at the 2016 Rio Games.
June 06: Red Bull’s Sergio Perez won a chaotic Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
June 06: Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann FraserPryce became the second-fastest woman of all time behind 100 metres world record holder Florence Griffith-Joyner when she clocked 10.63 seconds at a meet in Kingston .
June 07: The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) revealed that even as the pandemic raged and economies around the world were devastated, nuclear-armed countries last year increased spending on atomic weapon arsenals by 1.4 billion dollars.
June 07: President Vladimir Putin signed legislation formalising Russia’s withdrawal from the Open Skies treaty.
June 07: The United States beat Mexico to win the inaugural CONCACAF Nations League.
June 07: Manchester City midfielder Kevin de Bruyne was named the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) Player of the Year for a second consecutive season.
June 07: Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, a cleric who as Iran’s ambassador to Syria helped found the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, died of the coronavirus. He was 74.
June 07: A unanimous Supreme Court ruled that thousands of people living in the US for humanitarian reasons are ineligible to apply to become permanent residents.
June 08: United Nations war crimes judges upheld a genocide conviction and life sentence against former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic, rejecting all grounds of appeal against a lower tribunal’s verdict.
June 08: The UNSC voted to give Secretary General Antonio Guterres a second term.
June 08: Richard Ernst, who won the 1991 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, died at the age of 87.
June 09: The US Senate voted 68-32 to approve a sweeping package of legislation intended to boost the country’s ability to compete with Chinese technology.
June 09: The US Senate confirmed Joe Biden’s first two judicial nominees onto federal benches.
June 09: Celebrated French writer Emmanuel Carrere was awarded Spain’s prestigious Princess of Asturias prize for literature.
June 10: India reported the highest single-day death toll from Covid-19 in the world, at 6,148.
June 11: Italy created a national cybersecurity agency to “protect national interests and the resilience of services and essential functions of the State from cyber threats.”
June 11: The United Arab Emirates was elected unopposed as a non-permanent member to the UNSC for the period 2022-2023.
June 11: The US Senate voted 81-16 to confirm Pak-origin Zahid Quraishi as a US district judge for the District of New Jersey, making him the first Muslim American federal judge in the country’s 244-year history.
June 12: Algeria voted in a parliamentary election.
June 12: The G7 unveiled US-led plans to counter China in infrastructure funding for poorer nations, and a new accord to prevent future pandemics.
June 12: Saudi Arabia announced it will allow 60,000 residents vaccinated against Covid-19 to perform this year’s Haj.
June 12: Barbora Krejcikova won her maiden Grand Slam singles title at the French Open.
June 12: Azerbaijan handed over to Armenia 15 prisoners of war captured during last year’s hostilities over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
June 13: Israel’s 120-seat legislative body, the Knesset, elected Mickey Levy as its new speaker.
June 13: Australia’s Kaylee McKeown broke American Regan Smith’s 100m backstroke world record. She touched in 57.45sec at the Australian Olympic trials in Adelaide, sweeping past Smith’s all-time mark of 57.57 set at the 2019 world championships.
June 13: Novak Djokovic won the French Open title to claim his 19th Grand Slam title. He is now the first man in 52 years to win all four majors twice.
June 13: Czech Barbora Krejcikova completed a singles-doubles title sweep at the French Open.
June 13: In a final communiqué issued at their first physical summit in nearly two years, the G7 leaders vowed to start delivering one billion doses of Covid vaccines and to step up action on climate change, in a summit call to arms by a revived democratic alliance that also confronted China and Russia.
June 13: An alliance of Israeli parties ousted Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, and formed a new government with Naftali Bennett, a right-wing Jewish nationalist and former tech millionaire, as prime minister.
June 13: New Zealand crushed hosts England in the second and final Test to seal a 1-0 series win.
June 14: Saudi Arabia allowed women to register for the annual Hajj pilgrimage without a male guardian.
June 14: Northern Irishman Jonathan Caldwell lifted the Scandinavian Mixed event trophy.
June 14: In a summit statement, Nato leaders declared that China poses a constant security challenge and is working to undermine global order.
June 14: Ziona Chana, the head of a local Christian sect that allows polygamy, and the man who had 39 wives and 94 children and was said to be the head of the world’s largest family, died.
June 15: Indonesian doubles badminton champion Markis Kido has died at the age of 36.
June 15: Deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi went on trial for sedition in a junta court.
June 15: A Vietnamese conservationist Nguyen Van Thai, director of Save Vietnam’s Wildlife (SVW), won Goldman Environmental Prize, known colloquially as the ‘Green Nobel’, for his role in rescuing over a thousand of one of the world’s most endangered creatures.

MCQs/National

1. Former provincial president of the ANP, Begum Nasim Wali Khan, breathed her last on ______.
(a) May 16 (b) May 17
(c) May 18 (a) May 19

2. On May 16, the governments of Pakistan and ______, launched the first international shipment from Pakistan that is compliant with the UN’s “Transports Internationaux Routiers” Convention.
(a) China (b) Japan
(c) USA (d) Turkey

3. UN’s “Transports Internationaux Routiers” Convention was concluded on 14 November 1975 at ______.
(a) Paris (b) Geneva
(c) Bonn (d) New York

4. On May 17, 4G Base Transceiver Station (BTS) was installed at K2 Base camp area of ______.
(a) Concordia (b) Throne Room
(c) Biale Peak (d) Gilkey

5. On May 17, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on ______ Zulfi Bukhari resigned.
(a) Overseas Pakistanis
(b) Political Communication
(c) Foreign Affairs (d) Youth Affairs

6. The current chairman of the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) is ______.
(a) Imran Khan (b) Shaukat Tarin
(c) Hammad Azhar (d) Asad Umar

7. Ecnec is an inter-provincial decision-making body on development, having______ members.
(a) 6 (b) 7
(c) 8 (d) 10

8. The oldest prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, who was recently approved for release, was ______.
(a) Saifullah Paracha
(b) Abdul Sattar Khan
(c) Shabidzada Usman
(a) Abdul Satar Nafeesi

9. Pakistan’s current National Security Adviser, Dr Moeed Yusuf, was appointed to this post, having the status of a federal minister, on _____.
(a) May 16 (b) May 17
(c) May 18 (d) May 20

10. On May 19, Dr Allah Bakhsh Malik was appointed the member of ______ Public Service Commission for a period of three years.
(a) Sindh (b) Federal
(c) Punjab (d) Balochistan

11. On May 20, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi addressed a special session of UN ______ wherein he called for a halt to the Israeli aggression in Gaza.
(a) Security Council
(b) General Assembly
(c) Human Rights Commission
(d) None of these

12. Pakistan marked “Palestine Day” to show solidarity with the people of Palestine on ______.
(a) May 21 (b) May 22
(c) May 23 (a) May 24

13. On May 21, PM Imran Khan addressed the 26th International Conference on the Future of Asia, which was held in ______, via video link.
(a) Japan (b) China
(c) Belgium (d) Switzerland

14. Pakistan was officially added to the sellers list of Amazon on ______.
(a) May 18 (b) May 20
(c) May 21 (a) May 24

15. On May 21, Pakistan Aeronautical Complex Kamra formally handed over three JF-17 Thunder aircraft to ______ Air Force.
(a) Turkish (b) Qatari
(c) Nigerian (d) Saudi

16. On May 24, Wapda listed the ______ Bond, a green Eurobond (GEB), on the London Stock Exchange.
(a) Islamic (b) Pakistan
(c) Sukuk (d) Indus

17. Wapda has listed its GEB to raise ______ to finance mega hydropower projects.
(a) $200 million (b) $300 million
(c) $400 million (d) $500 million

18. On May 24, National Security Advisers of the United States and Pakistan, Jake Sullivan and Dr Moeed Yusuf, met in ______.
(a) Brussels (b) Kabul
(c) Geneva (d) Dubai

19. On May 25, the High Court of Justice in the ______ lifted the attachment orders on PIA’s offshore assets in the US$6 billion Reqo Diq case against Pakistan.
(a) The Hague
(b) British Virgin Islands
(c) Australia (d) Canada

20. PIA’s Roosevelt Hotel is in New York while Scribe Hotel is in ______.
(a) Paris (b) Chicago
(c) Sydney (d) London

21. On ______, the first ever Covid-19 vaccine developed in Pakistan named ‘PakVac’ passed testing.
(a) May 25 (b) May 26
(c) May 27 (d) May 28

22. On May 26, Justice Sadaqat Hussain Raja took oath as Chief Justice of the ______ High Court.
(a) Islamabad (b) AJK
(c) Sindh (d) Balochistan

23. On May 28, the opening ceremony of Pakistan-Egypt first joint air defence exercise ‘Sky Guard-1’ 2021 was held at ______.
(a) Alexandria (b) Karachi
(c) Cairo (d) Sargodha

24. The first shipment of Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 mRNA vaccine through COVAX reached Islamabad on ______.
(a) May 25 (b) May 26
(c) May 27 (d) May 28

25. On May 28, Pakistan and the Russian Federation signed the amended Inter Governmental Agreement for North South Gas Pipeline (NSGPP) of 1,122 kilometres from Port Qasim (Karachi) to ______ (Punjab).
(a) Depalpur (b) Okara
(c) Kasur (d) Rawalpindi

26. Shaikh Abul Hasan Ash Shadhili Research Hub is lcoated in ______.
(a) Sukkur (b) Islamabad
(d) Larkana (d) Lahore

27. On May 30, after a decade-long suspension, ______ announced immediate resumption of different visas for Pakistani citizens.
(a) Qatar (b) Kuwait
(c) Oman (d) Maldives

28. The second conference of the Parliamentary Assembly of Economic Cooperation Organisation (PAECO) countries was held in ______.
(a) Islamabad (b) Tehran
(c) Ankara (d) Baku

29. On June 02, _____ state parliament passed a resolution to make this American state and Pakistan’s Punjab as ‘Sister Provinces’.
(a) California (b) Philadelphia
(c) Georgia (d) Ohio

30. ______ agreed to buy weapons from Pakistan during President Emomali Rahmon’s two-day official visit to Islamabad.
(a) Turkmenistan (b) Tajikistan
(c) Azerbaijan (d) Uzbekistan

31. On June 03, ______ High Court acquitted a Christian couple – Shagufta Masih and Shafqat Emmanuel – who were named in the EU parliament’s resolution against Pakistan.
(a) Peshawar (c) Lahore
(c) Sindh (d) Islamabad

32. On June 03, ______ government declared vaccination against Covid-19 mandatory for all citizens.
(a) Punjab (b) Gilgit-Baltistan
(c) AJK (d) Sindh

33. PM Imran Khan addressed the main ceremony of the World Environment Day which was hosted by Pakistan on ______.
(a) June 02 (b) June 03
(c) June 04 (d) June 05

34. On June 05, Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Gulzar Ahmad, inaugurated the country’s first commercial court at ______ Judicial Complex.
(a) Hyderabad (b) Islamabad
(c) Lahore (d) Karachi

35. On June 07, District Government ______ established Pakistan’s first drive-through vaccination center.
(a) Peshawar (b) Lahore
(c) Islamabad (d) Karachi

36. On June 09, Pakistan and the ______ jointly launched the “2021 Pakistan Humanitarian Response Plan”.
(a) United Nations (b) World Bank
(c) WEF (d) ADB

37. On June 09, the government appointed ______ the new Director General of FIA with immediate effect.
(a) Kamran Ali Afzal
(b) Shahzad Khan Bangash
(c) Dr Muhammad Sohail Rajput
(d) Sanaullah Abbasi

38. According to Pakistan Economic Survey 2020-21, which was unveiled on June 10, the rate of the country’s economic growth in the outgoing fiscal was ______.
(a) 2.94% (b) 3.64%
(c) 3.79% (d) 3.94%

39. On June 10, the SBP issued ______ commemorative coin to mark 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Pakistan.
(d) Rs7 (b) Rs20
(c) Rs50 (d) Rs70

40. On June 14, Pakistan was elected as a regular member of the Governing Body of the ______.
(a) UNDP (b) ILO
(c) UNEP (d) WMO

MCQs International

1. On May 17, ______ beat world number one Novak Djokovic to win his 10th Italian Open title.
(a) Rafael Nadal (b) Andy Murray
(c) Roger Federer (d) Dominic Thiem

2. On May 19, noted American feminist icon Gloria Steinem was awarded ______ prestigious Princess of Asturias Communications and humanities prize.
(a) Belgium’s (b) Spain’s
(c) Poland’s (d) Sweden’s

3. On May 19, the US State Department banned Sali Berisha, a former President of ______, from travelling to USA.
(a) Serbia (b) Slovakia
(c) Albania (d) Belarus

4. On May 20, the Israeli government agreed to a mutual ceasefire with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, proposed by ______.
(a) UAE (b) Germany
(c) Morocco (d) Egypt

5. On May 21, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards unveiled a new combat drone dubbed ______.
(a) “Barq” (b) “Qassem”
(c) “Quds” (d) “Gaza”

6. On May 21, a ______ court ruled that the downing of a Ukrainian airliner in Iran last year was deliberate and an ‘act of terrorism’.
(a) Iranian (b) Ukrainian
(c) Canadian (d) Russian

7. On May 21, ______ army chief Lt Gen Ibrahim Attahiru died in a plane crash.
(a) Nigeria’s (b) Afghanistan’s
(c) Kuwait’s (d) Iran’s

8. Yuan Longping, a Chinese scientist who developed higher-yield rice varieties that helped feed people around the world, died on ______.
(a) May 18 (b) May 20
(c) May 21 (d) May 22

9. On May 23, Narinder Batra of ______ secured a second term as President of the International Hockey Federation.
(a) India (b) Malaysia
(c) Australia (d) England

10. On May 24, ______ was appointed the new head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.
(a) Yossi Cohen (b) David Barnea
(c) Cindy Kiro (d) Max Mosley

11. On May 24, Prime Minister of ______, Jacinda Ardern, appointed Cindy Kiro the country’s Governor General.
(a) Australia (b) Poland
(c) New Zealand (d) Norway

12. On May 25, ______ top court stripped lawmakers of their parliamentary immunity.
(a) Sweden’s (b) Israel’s
(c) Kuwait’s (d) Iraq’s

13. On May 27, the UN Security Council unanimously voted to extend the mandate of its mission in ______, to May 27, 2022.
(a) Ghana (b) Somalia
(c) Libya (d) Iraq

14. On May 27, the UN ______ decided to create an open-ended international investigation into violations surrounding the latest Gaza violence, and into the “systematic” abuses in the Palestinian territories and inside Israel.
(a) General Assembly
(b) Security Council
(c) Human Rights Council
(d) None of these

15. On May 28, Germany recognised it had committed genocide in colonial-era ______.
(a) Rwanda (b) Namibia
(c) Algeria (d) Congo

16. On May 28, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad won the presidential election with ______ of the vote.
(a) 70% (b) 80%
(c) 90% (d) 95%

17. On May 29, Chelsea won the Champions League for the second time by defeating ______ in the final.
(a) Man. United (b) Arsenal
(d) Man. City (d) Liverpool

18. The 2021 Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030, or P4G, summit was held in ______.
(a) Bangkok (b) Seoul
(c) Tokyo (d) Colombo

19. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his fiancee Carrie Symonds got married on ______.
(a) May 26 (b) May 28
(c) May 30 (d) May 31

20. On May 31, China announced to allow couples to have ______ children, after a census showed its population is rapidly ageing.
(a) Two (d) Three
(b) Four (c) Five

21. On June 01, the WHO approved a Covid-19 vaccine made ______ by drug-maker Sinovac Biotech for emergency use listing.
(a) Japanese (b) Malaysian
(c) Russian (d) Chinese

22. On June 02, the ______ government announced to set up an agency to combat foreign disinformation and fake news that aims to “undermine the state”.
(a) US (b) German
(c) French (d) Canadian

23. On June 02, Isaac Herzog was elected as the 11th president of ______.
(a) Somalia (b) Israel
(c) Belgium (d) South Sudan

24. On June 03, the EU’s top court ruled that ______ continually violated upper limits for nitrogen dioxide.
(a) Germany (b) China
(c) India (d) USA

25. On June 04, ______ banned former US president Donald Trump for two years.
(a) Facebook (b) Twitter
(c) CNN (d) Instagram

26. On June 04, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that European nations should pay for Russian gas in ______.
(a) Gold (b) Euro
(c) Ruble (d) Pound

27. On June 06, Sifan Hassan of ______ set a new world record in the women’s 10,000m.
(a) Kenya (b) Netherlands
(c) Bangladesh (d) India

28. On June 07, the United States beat ______ to win the inaugural CONCACAF Nations League.
(a) Brazil (b) Chile
(c) Canada (d) Mexico

29. On June 07, Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, a cleric who as Iran’s ambassador to ______ helped found the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, died.
(a) Lebanon (b) Saudi Arabia
(c) Jordan (d) Syria

30. On June 08, United Nations war crimes judges upheld a genocide conviction and life sentence against former ______ military commander Ratko Mladic
(a) Russian (b) Belarusian
(c) Bosnian-Serb (d) Slovakian

31. The UNSC voted to give the incumbent Secretary General Antonio Guterres a second term on ______.
(a) June 06 (b) June 08
(c) June 10 (d) June 12

32. On June 08, Richard Ernst, who won the 1991 Nobel Prize in ______ for developing the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, died.______,
(a) Chemistry (b) Physics
(c) Physiology (d) None of these

33. On June 09, celebrated ______ writer Emmanuel Carrere was awarded Spain’s prestigious Princess of Asturias Prize for Literature.
(a) French (b) German
(c) Norwegian (d) Ghanaian

34. At its summit held in ______, the G7 unveiled US-led plans to counter China in infrastructure funding for poorer nations, and a new accord to prevent future pandemics.
(a) Bradford (b) Cornwall
(c) London (d) Birmingham

35. On June 11, the US Senate confirmed Pak-origin Zahid Quraishi as a US district judge, making him the ______ Muslim American federal judge in the country’s history.
(a) First (b) Second
(c) Third (d) Fourth

36. On June 13, Novak Djokovic won the ______ Open title to claim his 19th Grand Slam title.
(a) Swiss (b) Australian
(c) Qatar (d) French

37. On June 13, an alliance of Israeli parties formed a new government with ______ as prime minister.
(a) Mickey Levy (b) Regan Smith
(c) Benny Gantz (d) Naftali Bennett

38. On June 14, in a summit statement, Nato leaders declared that ______ poses a constant security challenge and is working to undermine global order.
(a) Russia (b) Iran
(c) China (d) Turkey

39. On June 15, a ______ conservationist Nguyen Van Thai, won Goldman Environmental Prize, known colloquially as the ‘Green Nobel’.
(a) Kenyan (b) Vietnamese
(c) Indonesian (d) Cambodian

40. President of the 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly was ______.
(a) Peter Thomson (b) Abdulla Shahid ‎
(c) Joseph Deiss (d) Volkan Bozkir