World in Focus (OCT-NOV 2021)

National & International With MCQs

Oct. 16: Anthropologist Samar Minallah Khan won the Commonwealth Innovation Award for successfully using truck art to highlight social issues in Pakistan.
Oct. 16: National champion Aqeel Khan won the Sapphire National Open Tennis Championship.
Oct. 16: Abdul Qadir and Fazal Mahmood, two of the greatest bowlers, were inducted into the PCB Hall of Fame.
Oct. 16: The Pakistan Navy detected and blocked an Indian submarine from entering the Pakistani waters.
Note: The UN Convention on Law of Sea does not allow a state to carry out manoeuvres or exercises in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and in the continental shelf of another coastal state without its consent. EEZ signifies an area of coastal water and seabed within a certain distance of a country’s coastline that cannot be entered without permission or prior information. Pakistan’s territorial waters are spread over 12 nautical miles while its seabed territory (EEZ) grew to 290,000 square kilometres in 2015.
Oct. 17: Matloob Ahmed of Lahore Garrison lifted the 40th Punjab Open Golf Championship trophy.
Oct. 17: Renowned journalist, columnist, poet and intellectual Dr Ajmal Niazi passed away.
Oct. 18: The World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index 2021 report ranked Pakistan 130th out of 139 nations.
Oct. 18: The government appointed Shaukat Fayaz Ahmed Tarin the Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenues with the status of Federal Minister.
Oct. 18: After approval by Punjab chief minister, Usman Buzdar, the Local Bodies Department issued the notification to activate the local bodies and resign the administrators.
Oct. 20: After a three-year hiatus, US President Joe Biden nominated Donald Blome as ambassador to Pakistan.
Oct. 20: Wifaqul Madaris Al-Arabia (WMA) announced that JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman will be the body’s patron-in-chief.
Oct. 20: Commodore Habib ur Rehman of Pakistan Navy was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral.
Oct. 20: Veteran politician and National Assembly’s former deputy speaker Sardar Mohammad Yaqoob passed away.
Oct. 21: Despite complying with four out of seven points combined action plans, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) kept Pakistan on the grey list and asked Islamabad to investigate and prosecute commanders and leaders of UN-designated entities.
Oct. 21: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi visited Kabul, the first high-level visit by Pakistan after the Taliban formed the new caretaker government. DG ISI General Faiz Hameed also accompanied him. The FM announced in-kind assistance of Rs 5 billion, besides announcing multiple measures to ease border movement and trade.
Oct. 21: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) agreed to loan Pakistan $600 million to support the government’s social protection and poverty-reduction initiative through the Ehsaas programme.
Oct. 22: Muhammad Zaman Khan, a senior member of the present governing council of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), passed away.
Oct. 23: The 2021 International Conference on China-Pakistan Cooperation kicked off in Chengdu, Sichuan province of China.
Oct. 23: The Pakistan-Morocco Bilateral Joint Exercise 2021 concluded at National Counter Terrorism Centre, Pabbi.
Oct. 23: PML-N MPA from Khanewal, Nishat Ahmad Khan Daha, died.
Oct. 24: Captain Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan smashed unbeaten half-centuries as Pakistan crushed India by 10 wickets to register their first win over their arch-rivals in a Twenty20 World Cup.
Oct. 24: Senior Pashto writer and poet Abdur Rahim Majzoob died.
Oct. 24: The International Olive Council formally recognized Pakistan as its member.
About IOC
The International Olive Council is the world’s only international intergovernmental organisation in the field of olive oil and table olives. It was set up in Madrid, Spain, in 1959, under the auspices of the United Nations. Currently, the IOC has 17 member countries which include the leading international producers and exporters of olive oil and table olives. The IOC producer-members account for 98pc of world olive production, located primarily in the Mediterranean region.
Oct. 24: Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani stepped down.
Oct. 25: The Punjab government launched Reach Every Door (RED) vaccination campaign.
Oct. 25: The Balochistan cabinet was dissolved after the resignation of Chief Minister Jam Kamal was approved.
Oct. 25: PMIK met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud on the sidelines of the Middle East Green Initiative (MGI) Summit.
Oct. 25: Rear Admiral Mian Zakirullah Jan assumed the responsibilities as Commander Karachi (COMKAR).
Oct. 25: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Sardar Abdul Qayoom Niazi inaugurated first women police station of the region at Rawalakot, the headquarter of Poonch division.
Oct. 26: PMIK approved the appointment of Lieutenant General Nadeem Ahmed Anjum as the new Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) with effect from Nov 20.
Oct. 26: In a telephonic talk, PMIK and Chinese President Xi Jinping called on the international community to provide immediate humanitarian and economic assistance to the people of Afghanistan to alleviate their sufferings, prevent instability and flight of people as well as continued engagement for rebuilding of the country.
Oct. 26: Saudi Arabia agreed to provide $3 billion deposits for the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in order to shore up the country’s foreign exchange reserves.
Oct. 26: The Punjab Assembly adopted a resolution seeking inclusion of oath of Khatm-i-Nabuwat in the Nikah (marriage) documents.
Oct. 27: Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) and across the World observed Black Day.
Why Oct. 27?
On 27 October 1947, the Indian troops had invaded Jammu and Kashmir and occupied it in violation of the Partition Plan of the Sub-continent and against the Kashmiris’ aspirations.
Oct. 27: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Board of Revenue and Estate Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) signed an MoU for sharing data in a bid to broaden the narrowed tax base.
Oct. 27: The Federal Shariat Court held that transgender people are a reality and it is incumbent upon every individual to give them respect as they are the citizens of the country and have equal rights in the Constitution.
Oct. 28: Ahsan Bhoon of the Asma Jahangir Group won the seat of president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) 2021-22.
Oct. 28: Pakistan and Germany signed an agreement for suspension of debt service of 26.213 million euro under the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI).
Oct. 28: Sindh Governor Imran Ismail and Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu agreed to declared Karachi and Istanbul as sister cities.
Oct. 29: Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) leader Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo took oath as the new Balochistan chief minister.
Oct. 29: The government appointed Shaukat Tarin the head of a sub-committee of the Economic Coordination Committee.
Oct. 29: PMIK reconstituted the ECC of the cabinet and made Economic Affairs Minister Omar Ayub the head of the committee in place of Shaukat Tarin.
Oct. 29: Extremely rare and critically endangered longcomp sawfish was caught by a fisherman near the Pak-Iran border.
Oct. 30: The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) decided to roll back all Covid-19-related restrictions from cities where at least 60 percent of the population gotten itself vaccinated against the disease.
Oct. 30: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Gulzar Ahmed floated the name of Justice (retd) Faisal Arab as the new member of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP).
Oct. 30: Vice Admiral Ovais Ahmed Bilgrami assumed the command of Pakistan Fleet.
Oct. 30: BAP chief organiser Mir Jan Mohammad Jamali was elected unopposed as the Balochistan Assembly speaker.
Oct. 31: Pakistan Navy participated in 8th multinational special operations exercise ‘NUSRET 2021’ at Canakkale, Turkey.
Oct. 31: The government and the Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) reached an agreement.
Nov. 01: President Dr Arif Alvi promulgated the National Accountability (Third Amendment) Ordinance, 2021, through which the powers of removing the NAB chairman were withdrawn from the Supreme Judicial Council and vested in the President.
Nov. 01: National Highways & Motorway Police (NHMP) Inspector General (IG), Dr Syed Kaleem Imam, handed over command to new NHMP Inspector General Inam Ghani.
Nov. 01: A two-member bench of the Lahore High Court acquitted Czech model Teresa of the charges in a drug trafficking case.
Nov. 01: KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan inducted two more ministers – Kamran Bangash and Arshad Ayub – into the provincial cabinet and elevated his three special assistants as advisers.
Nov. 01: Shabbir Iqbal won the inaugural Defence Raya Open Professional Golf Tournament title.
Nov. 02: China’s Hubei province signed an MoU with Sindh province of Pakistan for the establishment of a sister-province relationship.
Nov. 02: Britain’s first-ever Pakistani-origin and Muslim Queen’s Counsel (QC), Barrister Sibghat Kadri, passed away.
Nov. 02: Pakistan and Uzbekistan signed a Protocol on the Establishment of Joint Security Commission which was followed by the inaugural session of the Commission formed under the protocol.
Nov. 03: PMIK announced Rs120 billion worth Ehsaas Rashan programme to provide relief to 20 million families.
Nov. 03: The three-day Star Pakistan Property Show kicked off in the Festival Arena of Dubai’s Festival City.
Nov. 03: PMIK directed appointing BS-19 facilitation officers in 39 federal ministries and divisions for the facilitation of overseas Pakistanis.
Nov. 03: Former president of the AJK, Masood Khan, was named as Ambassador to the United States.
About Masood Khan
Masood Khan joined the Foreign Service of Pakistan in 1980 and went on to serve in various diplomatic positions till 2015. The former AJK president also served as the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from August 2003 to March 2005, before becoming Pakistan’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations and International Organisations in Geneva, Switzerland, from 2005 to 2008.
A vocal and strong advocate of Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan, Masood Khan effectively highlighted sufferings of the oppressed Kashmiris that warrant an effective strategy to end the never-ending holocaust.
He was also Pakistan’s Ambassador to China between September 2008 and September 2012 and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, New York, between October 11, 2012 and February 7, 2015.
Nov. 03: The government barred all federal institutions from acquiring land for housing purposes, besides abolishing all quotas in the government housing schemes, except for its own employees.
Nov. 04: The Punjab government appointed Justice (R) Azmat Saeed Sheikh the Chairman of Punjab Commission on Irregular Housing Societies in order to regularize more than 6,000 illegal housing societies in the province.
Nov. 04: The Board of Directors of the National Academy of Performing Arts appointed Junaid W. Zuberi its new CEO.
Nov. 06: The federal cabinet approved the de-proscription of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).
Nov. 06: The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) said that inflation will remain high in Pakistan for the next six months and the rupee is likely to continue on a depreciatory path despite a support package from Saudi Arabia.
Nov. 06: Pakistan and Iran agreed to take measures to expand the annual trade exchanges to $5 billion by the year 2023.
Nov. 07: A new 14-member Balochistan cabinet took oath.
Nov. 07: Leading drummer Pappu Sain died.
Nov. 08: Lt. Gen. Nadeem Ahmed Anjum handed over the command of Karachi Corps to Lt. Gen. Muhammad Saeed.
Nov. 08: Rear Admiral Javaid Iqbal assumed command as Commander Coast (COMCOAST). He is now Commander of all Coastal units of Pakistan Navy.
Nov. 08: Provincial Minister for EPD M. Rizwan inaugurated first electrical vehicle charging station in Lahore.
Nov. 08: Pakistan Navy’s first frigate of Type 054A/P, the PNS Tughril, was commissioned at the Hudong Zhonghua Shipyard in China.
Nov. 09: Nobel laureate and education activist Malala Yousafzai got married to Asser Malik, who is the general manager high performance at the (PCB.
Nov. 09: The ADB announced to provide Pakistan with about $10 billion in fresh assistance for development projects.
Nov. 09: Pakistani pinch-hitter Asif Ali was voted as the ICC’s Player of the Month for October 2021.
Nov. 10: PMIK appeared in the Supreme Court after the court while hearing the Army Public School (APS) case summoned him on a short notice.
Nov. 10: Acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan Amir Khan Muttaqi reached Islamabad on his first visit to Pakistan to discuss ways to facilitate transit trade, cross-border movement and support for the people of Afghanistan.
Nov. 11: The ninth meeting of Troika Plus was held in Islamabad. The meeting sent a loud and clear message to the caretaker Afghan government to take a friendly approach towards neighbouring countries.
Nov. 11: Australia beat Pakistan to qualify for the Twenty20 World Cup final.
Nov. 11: Pakistan approved two Chinese vaccines — Sinopharm and Sinovac — for children above 12 years of age.
Nov. 12: PTI bagged four seats of the Gilgit-Baltistan Council while the opposition PML-N and Pakistan Peoples Party could secure one seat each.
About GB Council
1. The Council was established under the GB Empowerment and Self-Governance Order, 2009.
2. It consists of 12 members, besides (a) Prime Minister of Pakistan; (b) Governor GB; (c) the Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan and the Minister of State for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan (he is an ex officio, non-voting member).
3. Among the 12 members, six members are nominated by the Prime Minister of Pakistan from time to time from amongst Federal Ministers and members of Parliament.
4. Six members are elected by the GB Assembly in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote.
5. With prime minister as its chairman and GB governor vice-chairman, the council has the powers to legislate on important regional subjects, including power and forest.
Nov. 13: Renowned actor Sohail Asghar passed away.
Nov. 13: The United States navy ship USS Pearl Harbor visited the Karachi port
Nov. 13: The Federal Ministry of Information Technology & Telecommunication established Pakistan’s first studio for digital media practitioners at the Karachi Press Club.
Nov. 14: West Indies women beat Pakistan women in the third ODI, winning the series 3-0.
Nov. 15: The FBR placed a Track and Trace System on all 78 sugar mills across the country to ensure electronic stamps on all produced sugar bags to gauge the real production of this tax evading sector.
Nov. 15: During a meeting between Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhr Imam and Australian Trade Commissioner in Pakistan John Cavanaghon, Pakistan and Australia agreed to review and work towards relaxing trade regulations for importing and exporting fruits and agricultural products.

Oct. 16: Representatives of the Taliban visited neighbouring Uzbekistan for talks on humanitarian aid and trade.
Oct. 16: French President Emmanuel Macron condemned as ‘inexcusable’ a deadly crackdown by Paris police on a 1961 protest by Algerians.
Oct. 16: The United States and Greece signed a deal expanding their defence cooperation agreement to grant American forces broader use of Greek bases.
Oct. 16: Nasa launched a spacecraft called Lucy on a 12-year mission to explore Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids.
Oct. 16: Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing was excluded from upcoming Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit.
Oct. 16: A former governor of Iran’s Central Bank, Valiollah Seif, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on corruption charges.
Oct. 17: Russian actress Yulia Peresild and film director Klim Shipenko returned to Earth after spending 12 days on the International Space Station (ISS) shooting scenes for the first movie in orbit.
Oct. 17: The Financial Times reported that China tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in August, showing a capability that caught the US intelligence by surprise.
Oct. 17: The Grand Mosque in the holy city of Makkah operated at full capacity with worshippers praying shoulder-to-shoulder for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic began.
Oct. 17: Microsoft heiress Jennifer Gates married the Egyptian equestrian Nayel Nassar.
Oct. 17: Bangladesh star Shakib Al Hasan became the leading wicket-taker in Twenty20 internationals.
Oct. 18: Colin Powell, a US war hero and the first black Secretary of State who saw his legacy tarnished when he made the case for war in Iraq in 2003, died. He was 84.
Oct. 18: Russia announced to suspend its mission to NATO and close the alliance’s offices in Moscow.
Oct. 18: Cameron Norrie became the first Briton to win the ATP Indian Wells title.
Oct. 18: An MoU was signed between the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the government of Dubai to build infrastructure, real estate development, building industrial parks, IT towers, multipurpose towers, logistics, medical college, super speciality hospital and more.
Oct. 18: The Olympic flame for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games was lit in Ancient Olympia, Greece.
Oct. 18: Bandula Warnapura, who played in two World Cups and led Sri Lanka in their first cricket Test, died. He was 68.
Oct. 19: World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released its new report wherein it warned that Africa’s rare glaciers are going to disappear in next two decades because of climate change.
Oct. 19: President of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, announced a 60-day state of emergency because of crime wave.
Oct. 20: The European Parliament awarded the Sakharov Prize for Human Rights to jailed Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny.
Oct. 20: North Korea successfully tested a new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile.
Oct. 21: South Korea launched its first domestically developed space rocket but failed to put its dummy payload into orbit.
Oct. 21: Barbados elected its first president, a key step in preparations to become a republic and remove Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II as head of state of the Caribbean island.
Oct. 21: Russia’s Angelina Melnikova won the women’s all-around title at the world gymnastics championships in Japan.
Oct. 21: Germany set a new world record in the three-rider women’s team sprint final at the track cycling world championships.
Oct. 21: Nato defence ministers agreed a new master plan to defend against any potential Russian attack on multiple fronts.
Oct. 21: New Zealand’s first indigenous Maori woman to be named Governor-General, Dame Cindy Kiro, was formally sworn in.
Oct. 21: The IIOJK administration declared Kalij Pheasant as the bird of the Jammu and Kashmir. The Hangul will continue to be the animal of the territory.
The IIOJK had the black-necked crane and Kashmir stag as its State Bird and State Animal respectively. But the black-necked crane is found only in Eastern Ladakh and the Hangul in Kashmir Valley only. So, following the bifurcation, new options for the bird and animal symbols were needed for the newly created union territory. Recently the Ladakh administration declared black necked crane as its state bird and Snow leopard as its new state animal.
Oct. 21: The United Nations set up a special trust fund to provide urgently needed cash directly to Afghans through a system tapping into donor funds frozen since the Taliban takeover in August.
Oct. 22: Hollywood star Alec Baldwin fatally shot a cinematographer and wounded a director when he fired a prop gun on a New Mexico movie set.
Oct. 22: Dr Anita K. M. Zaidi, president of gender equality and director of vaccine development, surveillance and enteric and diarrheal diseases at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was elected to the US National Academy of Medicine (NAM).
Oct. 22: Nasa announced to launch its uncrewed lunar mission Artemis 1 in February next year, the first step in America’s plan to return humans to the Moon.
Oct. 24: France successfully launched a state-of-the-art satellite – Syracuse 4A satellite – into orbit, designed to allow all of France’s armed forces across the globe to communicate swiftly and securely.
Oct. 24: A team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) won a $1 million prize in the first Indy Autonomous Challenge, an event dedicated to self-driving cars, when their car clocked an average speed of 218 km/h (135 mph), at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to become the winner.
Oct. 24: Fabio Quartararo won his first MotoGP world title.
Oct. 24: American Vincent Zhou snatched the Skate America crown.
Oct. 24: Dairo Antonio Úsuga, Colombia’s most wanted drug trafficker and the leader of the country’s largest criminal gang, was captured.
Oct. 25: Afghanistan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock launched a nationwide work program to prevent a food crisis, reduce poverty and create job opportunities for the people.
Oct. 25: The first deputy of the prime minister, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, met with the director of the UN Development Program (UNDP), Achim Steiner, in Doha, Qatar.
Oct. 25: Greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere reached record levels last year, the United Nations said, in a stark warning ahead of the COP26 summit about worsening global warming.
Oct. 25: Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev cruised to victory in the election.
Oct. 25: Sudan’s top general declared a state of emergency, dissolved the government leading country’s democratic transition, and announced the formation of a new government.
Oct. 25: Max Verstappen won the United States Grand Prix.
Oct. 25: Denmark’s Jeff Winther clinched his maiden European Tour title.
Oct. 25: World bronze medallist Alexandra Trusova won Skate America in Las Vegas.
Oct. 25: China’s top legislature voted to adopt the country’s first national law on the protection and exploitation of the country’s land border areas.
Oct. 25: The Middle East Green Initiative (MGI) Summit, hosted by Saudi Arabia, was launched.
Oct. 26: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named Mélanie Joly as foreign minister and Anita Anand as defense minister.
Oct. 26: The US and Bahrain navies conducted a joint exercise at sea, launching a series of drills integrating unmanned systems into regional maritime operations.
Oct. 26: Germany’s newly-elected parliament held its first meeting and elected Baerbel Bas, a lawmaker from the center-left Social Democratic Party, as speaker of the 736-member lower house, or Bundestag.
Oct. 26: Former South Korean president and General Roh Tae-woo, who was instrumental in crushing the Gwangju Uprising at a cost of hundreds of lives, died aged 88.
Oct. 27: The United States announced its first passport with “X” for gender.
Oct. 27: The EU’s top court ordered Poland to pay one million euros a day for not suspending a controversial “disciplinary chamber” at the heart of a bitter feud between Warsaw and Brussels.
Oct. 27: A meeting of foreign ministers of Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries was held in Tehran.
Oct. 27: The Italian Senate blocked a controversial draft law against homophobia that sought to punish acts of discrimination and incitement to violence against gay, lesbian, transgender and disabled people.
Oct. 28: China submitted a renewed emissions cutting plan that promised to peak carbon pollution before 2030.
Oct. 28: Facebook changed its corporate name to Meta, as part of a major rebrand.
Oct. 28: Cook Islands was named best place to visit in 2022 by Lonely Planet.
Oct. 28: A group of 60 countries signed up to a pledge led by the European Union and United States to cut emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane.
Oct. 28: Palestinian authorities unveiled one of the largest floor mosaics in the world, in the occupied West Bank city of Jericho.
Oct. 28: India tested a ballistic missile Agni-5 that is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead up to 5,000 kilometres.
Oct. 29: Polish lawmakers gave the go-ahead to build a controversial wall on the EU member’s eastern border with Belarus.
Oct. 30: Leaders of the world’s major economies met at the G20 summit in Rome.
Oct. 30: The Office of the US Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) said in a declassified report that a natural origin and a lab leak are both plausible hypotheses for how SARS-COV-2 first infected humans. But, it said, analysts disagree on which is more likely or whether any definitive assessment can be made at all.
Oct. 30: G20 leaders formally endorsed the global agreement for a minimum 15 percent corporate tax.
Oct. 31: The preliminary State of the Climate report, by World Meteorological Organisation was launched as the UN COP26 climate conference opened.
The report said that years from 2015 to 2021 are on track to be the seven hottest on record.
Oct. 31: Meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome, the US President Joe Biden and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged to improve bilateral ties following a particularly tense period between Washington and Ankara.
Oct. 31: Taliban supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada addressed supporters in the southern city of Kandahar, his first public appearance since taking control of the group in 2016.
Nov. 01: More than 120 heads of state and government gathered in Glasgow for a two-day summit at the start of the UN’s COP26 conference.
Nov. 01: Anett Kontaveit defeated top seeded home hope Simona Halep to win the Transylvania Open.
Nov. 01: Gary Freedman became the first person to fly across New Zealand’s Cook Strait in an electric plane.
Nov. 02: At the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow more than 100 nations agreed to end deforestation by 2030. But Russia, China and India — some of the top methane emitters — are not part of the US and EU-led plan.
Nov. 02: The chief military strategist for the Taliban, Qari Hamdullah Mohlis, was killed in an attack on a Kabul military hospital carried out by the Islamic State.
Nov. 02: The Taliban government announced a ban on the use of foreign currencies.
Nov. 03: The United States health authorities allowed start of giving children aged 5-11 the Pfizer-BioNtech Covid vaccine.
Nov. 03: South African author and playwright Damon Galgut won the Booker Prize 2021.
Nov. 04: The WHO announced that the rising number of cases of Covid-19 in Europe was of “grave concern” and the region could see another half a million deaths by early next year.
Nov. 04: Pope Francis appointed Franciscan sister Raffaella Petrini as the new secretary general of the governorate, making her the first woman to ever hold the post.
Nov. 04: Britain became the first country to approve an anti-Covid pill ‘molnupiravir’ that works by decreasing the ability of a virus to replicate, thereby slowing down the disease.
Nov. 05: China fully delivered on its accession commitments to World Trade Organization (WTO).
Nov. 05: Swedish group ABBA released their first studio album in 40 years.
Nov. 06: The United Nations warned that nearly 23 million people, or 55 per cent of the Afghan population, were in crisis or will experience emergency levels of food insecurity between now and March of next year.
Nov. 07: The Iranian army began drills in the southwest of the country, near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Nov. 07: Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi escaped unhurt from an “assassination attempt” in which an explosives-packed drone hit his Baghdad residence.
Nov. 08: Astronaut Wang Yaping became the first Chinese woman to walk in space.
Nov. 09: Bangladesh’s former chief justice Surendra Kumar Sinha was sentenced, in absentia, to 11 years in jail for corruption.
Nov. 09: The British government added Sinopharm, Sinovac and Covaxin Covid-19 vaccines to its approved list.
Nov. 10: Nepal Army Chief General Prabhu Ram Sharma became a “General of the Indian Army” after he was conferred with the honorary rank by Indian President Ram Nath Kovind.
Nov. 10: Afghanistan appointed former all-rounder Mirwais Ashraf as acting chairman of their Cricket Board to replace Azizullah Fazli.
Nov. 10: Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven resigned, paving the way for the country, a gender-equality champion, to finally have a woman prime minister – Magdalena Andersson.
Nov. 10: India hosted senior security officials from Russia, Iran and five Central Asian countries to discuss the ramifications of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
Nov. 10: Russia dispatched two nuclear-capable strategic bombers to patrol Belarusian airspace.
Nov. 11: In a fresh report, the United Nations refugee agency estimated that by the end of June, more than 84 million people worldwide were living as refugees, asylum seekers, or in so-called internal displacement within their own countries.
Nov. 11: Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis formally submitted his resignation to the president.
Nov. 11: Some 350 members of the powerful Central Committee passed China’s resolution on “Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party’s Centennial Struggle” — only the third of its kind in its 100-year history. The previous two resolutions were issued under former leaders Mao Zedong in 1945, and Deng Xiaoping in 1981.
The Party Central Committee called on the entire party, the entire army and people of all ethnic groups to unite more closely around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, to fully implement Xi Jinping’s new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Nov. 11: FW de Klerk, South Africa’s last white president, who freed anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela from jail, died. He was 85.
Nov. 12: The United States agreed to set up an interests section in Afghanistan under Qatar, assisting US citizens following the shuttering of the embassy during the Taliban takeover.
Nov. 12: The annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum was held online. It was hosted by New Zealand.
Nov. 13: A climate deal was reached at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow after nearly two weeks of negotiations.
Nov. 13: South Africa’s Shaun Pollock, Sri Lankan batsman Mahela Jayawardena and former England women’s batter Janette Brittin were inducted into cricket’s Hall of Fame.
Nov. 13: Zambian-born bestselling adventure author Wilbur Smith died. He was 88.
About Wilbur Smith
With 49 titles under his belt, Smith became a household name, his swashbuckling adventure stories taking readers from tropical islands to the jungles of Africa and even Ancient Egypt and World War II. His 1964 debut novel ‘When the Lion Feeds’, the tale of a young man growing up on a South African cattle ranch, became an instant bestseller and led to 15 sequels, tracing an ambitious family’s fortunes for more than 200 years. Born in Zambia in 1933 to a British family, he was also a big game hunter, having grown up experiencing the forest, hills and savannah of Africa on his parents’ ranch. He also held a pilot’s licence and was an ace scuba diver. As a conservationist, he managed his own game reserve and owned a tropical island in the Seychelles.
Nov. 14: Australia beat New Zealand by eight wickets to clinch their maiden Twenty20 World Cup title.
Nov. 14: Two Indian brothers Vihaan Agarwal and Nav Agarwal won a prestigious International Children’s Peace Prize for a project they launched that aims to reduce waste and pollution and plant trees in their home city of New Delhi.
Nov. 14: Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah accepted the resignation of the country’s government.
Nov. 14: Russia started supplying India with S-400 air defence missile systems.
Nov. 14: Denmark’s Joachim B. Hansen won the European Tour’s Dubai Championship.
Nov. 15: Austria became the first country in the European Union to impose a lockdown on the unvaccinated.
Nov. 15: US journalist Danny Fenster was “pardoned” before being deported from Myanmar where he had been sentenced to 11 years in jail.
Nov. 15: Lewis Hamilton won the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Nov. 15: The world’s highest infinity pool ‘The Aura Skypool’ opened in Dubai.
Nov. 15: President Joe Biden signed into law the biggest US infrastructure revamp in more than half a century.
The $1.2 trillion package will fix bridges and roads, as well as expand broadband internet across the United States.
Nov. 15: India’s Supreme Court told authorities to shut offices in the capital and nearby cities, allowing millions to work from home as officials seek ways to reduce hazardous air pollution that led to the closure of schools.

1. On Oct. 16, Samar Minallah Khan won the ______ Innovation Award for successfully using truck art to highlight social issues in Pakistan.
   (a) Commonwealth (b) UN
   (c) Sakharov (d) UNESCO

2. On Oct. 16, ______ and Fazal Mahmood, two of the greatest bowlers of Pakistan, were inducted into the PCB Hall of Fame.
   (a) Imran Khan (b) Abdul Qadir
   (c) Waseem Akram (d) Sarfraz Nawaz

3. On ______, the Pakistan Navy detected and blocked an Indian submarine from entering the Pakistani waters.
   (a) Oct. 15 (b) Oct. 16
   (c) Oct. 17 (d) Oct. 18

4. The World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index 2021 has ranked Pakistan ______ out of 139 nations.
   (a) 112th (b) 125th
   (c) 128th (d) 130th

5. Renowned journalist, columnist, poet and intellectual Dr Ajmal Niazi, who passed away on Oct. 17, wrote columns regularly for ______ daily.
   (a) Nawa-i-Waqt (b) Jasarat
   (c) Khabrain (d) Jang

6. On Oct. 18, ______ Government’s Local Bodies Department issued the notification to activate the local bodies in the province.
   (a) Sindh (b) Punjab
   (c) KP (d) Balochistan

7. On Oct. 20, US President Joe Biden nominated ______ as ambassador to Pakistan, after a three-year hiatus.
   (a) Paul Jones (b) Angela Aggeler
   (c) Donald Blome (d) David Hale

8. The current Patron-in-Chief of Wifaqul Madaris Al-Arabia is ______.
   (a) Maulana Tahir Ashrafi
   (b) Mufti Munibur Rehman
   (c) Mufti Taqi Usmani
   (d) Maulana Fazlur Rehman

9. Sardar Mohammad Yaqoob, who passed away on Oct. 20, served as NA’s Deputy Speaker during the government of ______.
   (a) PML-Q (b) PML-N
   (c) PPP (d) IJI

10. On ______, the FATF announced to keep Pakistan on the grey list, despite the fact that it complied with four out of seven points of its action plans.
    (a) Oct. 21 (b) Oct. 22
    (c) Oct. 23 (d) Oct. 24

11. The Secretariat of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan is located in ______.
    (a) Islamabad (b) Karachi
    (c) Lahore (d) Quetta

12. Pakistan registered their first win over their arch-rivals India in a Twenty20 World Cup on ______.
    (a) Oct. 22 (b) Oct. 23
    (c) Oct. 24 (d) Oct. 25

13. On ______, Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani stepped down.
    (a) Oct. 20 (b) Oct. 21
    (c) Oct. 23 (d) Oct. 24

14. On Oct. 26, PM Khan approved the appointment of Lt. Gen. Nadeem Ahmed Anjum as the new Director General of ISI with effect from______.
    (a) Oct. 20 (b) Oct. 30
    (c) Nov. 10 (b) Nov. 20

15. On Oct. 26, ______ agreed to provide $3 billion deposits for the SBP to shore up Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves.
    (a) China (b) UAE
    (c) Saudi Arabia (d) Turkey

16. On Oct. 26, the ______ Assembly adopted a resolution seeking inclusion of oath of Khatm-i-Nabuwat in the Nikah (marriage) documents.
    (a) Sindh (b) Balochistan
    (c) GB (d) Punjab

17. Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) and across the world observe Black Day on ______.
    (a) Oct. 27 (b) Oct. 28
    (c) Oct. 29 (d) Oct. 30

18. The current president of Supreme Court Bar Association is ______.
    (a) Hamid Khan (b) Latif Khosa
    (c) Ahsan Bhoon (d) Latif Afridi

19. On Oct. 28, Pakistan and ______ signed an agreement for suspension of debt service of 26.213 million euro under the Debt Service Suspension Initiative.
    (a) France (b) EU
    (c) Germany (d) ECB

20. On Oct. 29, Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo was elected as the ______ chief minister of Balochistan.
    (a) 12th (b) 13th
    (c) 16th (d) 17th

21. On Oct. 29, the Economic Coordination Committee was reconstituted and ______ was made its new head.
    (a) Omar Ayub (b) Shaukat Tarin
    (c) Hammad Azhar(d) Fakhar Imam

22. The current Federal Minister for Economic Affairs is ______.
    (a) Omar Ayub (b) Shaukat Tarin
    (c) Hafeez Sheikh (d) Murad Saeed

23. On ______, Vice Admiral Ovais Ahmed Bilgrami assumed the command of Pakistan Fleet.
    (a) Oct. 28 (b) Oct. 30
    (c) Oct. 31 (d) Nov. 01

24. On Oct. 31, Pakistan Navy participated in 8th multinational special operations exercise ‘NUSRET 2021’ at Canakkale, a city in ______.
    (a) Djibouti (b) Algeria
    (c) Oman (d) Turkey

25. The current Inspector General of National Highways & Motorway Police is ______.
    (a) Inam Ghani (b) Kaleem Imam
    (c) Kamran Khan (d) Shabbir Iqbal

26. On Nov. 02, China’s Hubei province signed an MoU with ______ province of Pakistan for the establishment of a sister-province relationship.
    (a) Punjab (b) Sindh
    (c) KP (d) Balochistan

27. On Nov. 02, Britain’s first-ever Pakistani-origin and Muslim Queen’s Counsel (QC), ______, passed away.
    (a) Barrister Rashid Ahmed
    (b) Barrister Saleem Khan Lodhi
    (c) Barrister Sibghat Kadri
    (d) Barrister Hussain Asghar

28. On Nov. 02, Pakistan and ______ signed Protocol on the Establishment of Joint Security Commission.
    (a) Afghanistan (b) China
    (c) Tajikistan (d) Uzbekistan

29. On Nov. 03, former president of the AJK, Masood Khan, was named as Pakistan’s Ambassador to ______.
    (a) USA (b) China
    (c) France (d) Switzerland

30. The federal cabinet approved the de-proscription of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan on ______.
    (a) Nov. 05 (b) Nov. 06
    (c) Nov. 08 (d) Nov. 10

31. On Nov. 06, Pakistan and ______ agreed to take measures to expand the annual trade exchanges to $5 billion by the year 2023.
    (a) Afghanistan (b) Uzbekistan
    (c) Iran (d) Iceland

32. On Nov. 08, Pakistan Navy’s first frigate of Type 054A/P, ______, was commissioned at the Hudong Zhonghua Shipyard in China.
    (a) PNS Barq (b) PNS Shamsheer
    (c) PNS Tughril (d) PNS Mujahid

33. On Nov. 09, Pakistan’s ______ was voted as the ICC’s Player of the Month for October 2021.
    (a) Babar Azam (b) M. Rizwan
    (c) Shadab Khan (d) Asif Ali

34. On ______, PM Imran Khan appeared in the Supreme Court after he was summoned on a short notice by the court while hearing of the Army Public School (APS) case.
    (a) Nov. 08 (b) Nov. 10
    (c) Nov. 11 (d) Nov. 12

35. On Nov. 11, the ninth meeting of Troika Plus was held in ______.
    (a) Washington DC(b) Moscow
    (c) Islamabad (d) Beijing

36. Renowned actor Sohail Asghar passed away on ______.
    (a) Nov. 10 (b) Nov. 11
    (c) Nov. 12 (d) Nov. 13

37. On Nov. 13, Pakistan’s first studio for digital media practitioners was established at the ______ Press Club.
    (a) Karachi (b) Lahore
    (c) Islamabad (d) Peshawar

38. On Nov. 14, ______ women beat Pakistan women in the third ODI, winning the series 3-0.
    (a) Australia (b) West Indies
    (c) Sri Lanka (d) Nepal

39. Pakistan’s territorial waters are spread over ______ nautical miles.
    (a) Twelve (b) Fifteen
    (c) Thirteen (d) Twenty

40. Pakistan’s seabed territory grew to 290,000 square kilometres in ______.
    (a) 2002 (b) 2010
    (c) 2015 (d) 2021

1. On Oct. 16, the United States and ______ signed a deal expanding their defence cooperation agreement to grant American forces broader use of the latter’s bases.
   (a) Greece (b) Iceland
   (c) Luxembourg (d) Lithuania

2. On Oct. 16, Nasa launched a spacecraft called Lucy on a 12-year mission to explore ______ Trojan asteroids.
   (a) Mars’s (b) Venus’s
   (c) Jupiter’s (d) Uranus’s

3. On Oct. 17, Microsoft heiress Jennifer Gates married the ______ equestrian Nayel Nassar.
   (a) Indian (b) Egyptian
   (c) Palestinian (d) Turkish

4. Former US Secretary of State – the first black to hold that position – Colin Powell died at the age of 84 on ______.
   (a) Oct. 18 (b) Oct. 19
   (c) Oct. 20 (d) Oct. 21

5. On Oct. 18, ______ announced to suspend its mission to NATO and close the alliance’s offices in its capital.
   (a) Turkey (b) Greece
   (c) Australia (d) Russia

6. On Oct. 18, the government of IIOJK signed an MoU with ______ to build a number of infrastructure projects.
   (a) China (b) Australia
   (c) Dubai (d) Turkey

7. On Oct. 18, the Olympic flame for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, to be held in ______, was lit in Ancient Olympia, Greece.
   (a) Canberra (b) Beijing
   (c) Montreal (d) Mumbai

8. On Oct. 20, the European Parliament awarded the Sakharov Prize for Human Rights to ______.
   (a) Alexei Navalny (b) Asma Jahangir
   (c) Peng Shuai (d) Edward Snowden

9. On Oct. 21, ______ launched its first domestically developed space rocket but failed to put its dummy payload into orbit.
   (a) Norway (b) Canada
   (c) India (d) South Korea

10. On Oct. 21, Barbados elected its first president, a key step in preparations to become a republic and remove Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II as head of state of the Caribbean island.
    (a) Cuba (b) Haiti
    (c) Barbados (d) Puerto Rico

11. On Oct. 21, ______ first indigenous Maori woman to be named Governor-General, Dame Cindy Kiro, was formally sworn in.
    (a) Canada’s (b) New Zealand’s
    (c) Australia’s (d) Cuba’s

12. On Oct. 21, the IIOJK administration declared ______ as the bird of the Jammu and Kashmir.
    (a) Kalij Pheasant (b) Black Crane
    (c) Blue Crane (d) Indian Peacock

13. The state animal of IIOJK is ______.
    (a) Snow leopard (b) Kashmir stag
    (c) Cheetah (d) Hangul

14. On Oct. 22, Hollywood star _____ fatally shot a cinematographer Halyna Hutchins when he fired a prop gun on a New Mexico movie set.
    (a) Adan Mendoza (b) The Rock
    (c) Alec Baldwin (d) Maryann Gray

15. On Oct. 22, ______ born Dr Anita K. M. Zaidi was elected to the US National Academy of Medicine.
    (a) Libya (b) Pakistan
    (c) Bangladesh (d) India

16. The National Academy of Medicine was established in ______.
    (a) 1970 (b) 1972
    (c) 1975 (d) 1978

17. On Oct. 24, ______ successfully launched a state-of-the-art satellite – Syracuse 4A satellite – into orbit
    (a) Italy (b) Germany
    (c) Greece (d) France

18. On Oct. 24, Dairo Antonio Úsuga, ______ most wanted drug trafficker and the leader of the country’s largest criminal gang, was captured.
    (a) Cuba’s (b) Mexico’s
    (c) Colombia’s (d) Venezuela’s

19. On Oct. 25, ______ President Shavkat Mirziyoyev cruised to victory in the election.
    (a) Azerbaijan’s (b) Uzbekistan’s
    (c) Kazakhstan’s (d) Tajikistan’s

20. On Oct. 25, ______ top general declared a state of emergency, dissolved the government leading country’s democratic transition, and announced the formation of a new government.
    (a) Sudan’s (b) Ethiopia’s
    (c) Somalia’s (d) Mali’s

21. On Oct. 25, China’s top legislature voted to adopt the country’s ______ national law on the protection and exploitation of the country’s land border areas.
    (a) First (b) Second
    (c) Sixth (a) Seventh

22. On Oct. 25, the Middle East Green Initiative Summit, hosted by______, was launched.
    (a) UNEP (b) Arab League
    (c) Saudi Arabia (d) OIC

23. On Oct. 26, Germany’s newly-elected parliament held its first meeting and elected ______ as speaker of the Bundestag.
    (a) Nor Lammert (b) Baerbel Bas
    (c) Rita Süssmuth (d) Erich Köhler

24. On Oct. 27, ______ announced its first passport with “X” for gender.
    (a) USA (b) Italy
    (c) China (d) India

25. On Oct. 27, the EU’s top court ordered ______ to pay one million euros a day for not suspending the “disciplinary chamber”.
    (a) Poland (b) Latvia
    (c) Belgium (d) Greece

26. On Oct. 28, China submitted a renewed emissions cutting plan that promised to peak carbon pollution before ______.
    (c) 2030 (b) 2040
    (a) 2050 (d) 2100

27. On Oct. 28, ______ changed its corporate name to Meta, as part of a major rebrand.
    (a) AOL (b) Facebook
    (c) Nokia (d) Yahoo

28. On Oct. 28, India tested a ballistic missile ______ that is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead up to 5,000 kilometres.
    (a) Agni-5 (b) Akash-3
    (c) Surya-3 (d) Prithvi-9

29. Leaders of the world’s major economies met in ______ at the G20 summit.
    (a) Brussels (b) Bonn
    (c) Tokyo (d) Rome

30. On Nov. 01, Gary Freedman became the first person to fly across ______ Cook Strait in an electric plane.
    (a) Australia’s (b) Canada’s
    (c) New Zealand’s (d) Switzerland’s

31. On Nov. 03, _____ author and playwright Damon Galgut won the Booker Prize 2021.
    (a) Kenyan (b) South African
    (c) Malawian (d) Zambian

32. On Nov. 04, Pope Francis appointed Franciscan sister Raffaella Petrini as the new secretary general of the governorate, making her the ______ woman to hold the post.
    (a) First (b) Second
    (c) Third (d) Fourth

33. On Nov. 04, ______ became the first country to approve an anti-Covid pill named ‘molnupiravir’.
    (a) USA (b) India
    (c) Turkey (d) Britain

34. On Nov. 05, ______ group ABBA released their first studio album in 40 years.
    (a) Polish (b) Norwegian
    (c) Swedish (d) Dutch

35. On Nov. 07, ______ Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi escaped unhurt from an assassination attempt.
    (a) Iranian (b) Iraqi
    (c) Syrian (d) Jordanian

36. On Nov. 08, ______ became the first Chinese woman to walk in space.
    (a) Wang Yaping (b) Liu Yang
    (c) Chen Dong (d) Tang Hongbo

37. On Nov. 10, ______ hosted senior security officials from Russia, Iran and five Central Asian countries to discuss the ramifications of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
    (a) Pakistan (b) Iran
    (c) China (d) India

38. On Nov. 11, FW de Klerk, ______ last white president, died.
    (a) Zimbabwe’s (b) Ghana’s
    (c) South Africa’s (d) Cuba

39. The COP26 climate summit was held in Glasgow, ______.
    (a) Poland (b) Scotland
    (c) Iceland (d) Australia

40. On Nov. 14, Australia beat ______ by eight wickets to clinch their maiden Twenty20 World Cup title.
    (a) England (b) India
    (c) Pakistan (d) New Zealand