World in Focus (SEP-OCT 2021)

National & International With MCQs

Sept. 16: Pakistan and China signed an agreement to promote two-way tourism in Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) countries.
Sept. 16: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, called on Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa (COAS Bajwa) at the GHQ.
Sept. 16: Afghanistan’s immediate neighbours — Pakistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan — met in Dushanbe to deliberate on how to engage with the Taliban from the platform of SCO.
Sept. 16: Prime Minister Imran Khan (PMIK) held several meetings with the international leaders on the sidelines of the 20th SCO-CHS meeting in Dushanbe.
Sept. 16: Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) published the Labour Force Survey (LFS) according to which the number of people actively looking for jobs increased by 0.92 million to 4.71m in FY19 from 3.79m the previous year as the number of the country’s total workforce rose to 68.73m from 65.5m during the period under review.
Sept. 17: New Zealand unilaterally pulled out of their cricket series against Pakistan over security concerns.
Sept. 17: Pakistan-Tajikistan Joint Business Forum was held in Dushanbe.
Sept. 17: The National Assembly unanimously passed a resolution paying rich tributes to veteran Kashmiri leader, Syed Ali Geelani.
Sept. 18: Argentina, in a draft budget for 2022 presented to its Parliament, officially included $664 million (Rs111.6 billion) in funding for the purchase of JF-17 Thunder fighter jets from Pakistan.
Sept. 18: PMIK announced that he has initiated dialogue with Taliban for formation of an inclusive government in Afghanistan, representing multiple ethnic groups.
Sept. 18: The Pakistan Army troops participated in the multinational UN Peacekeeping Exercise ‘Shared Destiny-2021’ conducted at Queshan Training Base of Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
Sept. 19: World-renowned scholar and former judge of Federal Shariat Court Maulana Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani was elected as the president of Wafaqul Madaris Arabia.
Sept. 19: Murad Ali (NBP) and Mahoor Shahzad (WAPDA) took the singles titles of the All Pakistan National Ranking Badminton tournament.
Sept. 19: A contingent of Pakistan Army, Navy and Air Force participated for the first time since 2009 in multinational exercise ‘Bright Star 2021’ at Mohamed Naguib Military Base, Egypt. Troops from Egypt, United States, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Cyprus, Iraq, Bahrain, Sudan, Morocco, Kenya, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Greece, Kuwait, UA E, Tunisia, Nigeria, Tanzania and France participated in this two-week-long exercise.
Sept. 20: England cricket chiefs withdrew their men’s and women’s teams from white-ball series in Pakistan citing “increasing concerns about travelling to the region”.
Sept. 20: PMIK addressed an informal meeting on Climate Change through video link. The meeting was convened jointly by the Prime Minister of UK and the UN Secretary General.
Sept. 21: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Power and Petroleum, Tabish Gauhar, was sacked.
Sept. 21: Punjab CM Usman Buzdar appointed Syed Tariq Mahmood-Ul-Hassan the Vice Chairperson of Punjab Overseas Commission.
Sept. 21: In its latest report titled ‘Freedom on the Net 2021: The Global Drive to Control Big Tech’, the Washington-based Freedom House found Pakistan among top 10 countries in the world where internet freedom has been on the decline.
Sept. 22: The two-week-long Trilateral Exercise of the special forces of Pakistan, Turkey and Azerbaijan, Three Brothers -2021, culminated at Baku, Azerbaijan.
Sept. 23: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi (FM Qureshi) met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and discussed bilateral relations and the situation in Afghanistan.
Sept. 23: PMIK announced bifurcation of South Waziristan into two districts.
Sept. 23: The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) ruled that women can only claim inheritance within their lifetime, and their children would have no rights in this regard later.
Sept. 24: PMIK addressed the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly and told the world that humanitarian assistance has to be given to Afghanistan immediately.
Sept. 24: One of the most stylish television actors of his time, Talat Iqbal, died.
Sept. 24: Retired Lt Gen Ishfaq Nadeem Ahmed, former Chief of the General Staff (CGS) and ex-Director General Military Operations (DGMO) passed away at the age of 62.
Sept. 24: The Paris Club of creditor countries gave Pakistan another extension to service its debt.
Sept. 25: Pakistan’s permanent mission for the United Nation’s counselor Ms Saima Saleem turned up the first visually impaired diplomat of the world who spoke to the world body by using brail system of reading/writing.
Sept. 25: Pakistan and China agreed to include multi-billion dollar Karachi Coastal Comprehensive Development Zone (KCCDZ) under the CPEC framework.
Sept. 25: Huawei, a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices, announced its Cloud Consulting partnership with Techaccess Pakistan, an innovative technology and consulting company.
Sept. 25: Nineteen-year-old Shehroze Kashif became Pakistan’s youngest mountaineer to scale Manaslu, the world’s eighth highest peak.
Sept. 26: Oldest Pak army veteran Lt Col Sultan Mohammed Khan Mengal (retd) passed away. He was 103.
Sept. 26: Brig Mohsin Farooq won the 11th President SGA Cup.
Sept. 27: Miraj Gul was appointed the managing director of National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC).
Sept. 28: A team of students from Pakistan Navy Engineering College of NUST won overall second position at the Formula Student Russia ’21 (FSR), thereby securing first-ever podium for Pakistan in any Formula Student Competition.
Sept. 28: Pakistan’s former High Commissioner in Britain and veteran journalist Wajid Shamsul Hasan passed away.
Sept. 28: Former national badminton champion Tania Mallick was appointed the PCB’s Head of Women’s Cricket.
Sept. 28: During a meeting between FM Qureshi and UK Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women and Equality Liz Truss, Pakistan and the United Kingdom agreed to form a joint working group to formulate a strategy for strengthening bilateral ties in multiple spheres, including trade and investment.
Sept. 29: The government appointed Dr Asif Mahmood Jah the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) for a period of four years.
Sept. 29: The opening ceremony of Druzhba VI, a joint exercise of special forces of Pakistan and the Russian federation, was held at the Molkino Trg Area, Krasnodar, Russia.
Sept. 30: The government promoted three officers of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) – Chaudhary Ahsan Rafiq, Waqas Ahmed Sulehri and Ahmad Hassan – to the rank of Air Marshal.
Oct. 01: In an unprecedented move, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Shah Farman surrendered Rs96.021 million discretionary funds available in the designated accounts to the national exchequer.
Oct. 01: Danish Foreign Affairs Minister Jeppe Kofod called on COAS Bajwa at GHQ.
Oct. 01: Mountaineer Sirbaz Khan scaled the 8,167-metre-high Dhaulagiri mountain in Nepal, becoming the first Pakistani to climb nine of the world’s highest 14 peaks — each of which has a height of more than 8,000 metres.
Oct. 01: The first Pakistan-China technical vocational institute was inaugurated in Gwadar.
Oct. 02: Veteran actor, King of comedy and living legend, Umer Sharif, passed away in Germany. He was 66.
Oct. 03: The Pandora Papers revealed that Pakistanis were ranked fifth among those buying properties in London through offshore companies.
Oct. 03: Major joint ‘Naval Exercise Naseem Al Bahr XIII’ between Pakistan Navy and Royal Saudi Naval Forces (RSNF) commenced at Karachi.
Oct. 03: The opening ceremony of 53rd World Military Shooting Championship (Shotgun) 2021 was held at Lahore under the auspices of Conseil International du Sport Militaire, commonly known as International Military Sports Council.
Oct. 04: PMIK set up three-member high level investigation cell on the matter of Pandora Papers.
Oct. 04: Closing ceremony of the Joint Anti-Terrorist Exercise (JATE-2021) was held at the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC), Pabbi.
Oct. 04: PMIK announced a 40 percent targeted subsidy for the poor on purchase of essential food items.
Oct. 05: In his address to the World Leaders Summit Dialogue, organised on the occasion of 15th Quadrennial Meeting of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), PMIK called for prioritising vaccine equity, debt relief, climate finance and return of stolen wealth to developing countries as part of global economic recovery from the devastating effects of Covid-19 pandemic.
Oct. 05: During the 11th Session of Pakistan-Iran Bilateral Political Consultations, Pakistan and Iran agreed to coordinate closely at bilateral and regional level to reinforce efforts for peace and stability in Afghanistan.
Oct. 05: Pakistan’s Abdul Waheed bagged gold medal in the 50+ category at the World Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Championship in Tashkent.
Oct. 06: Karachi Corps Commander Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmed Anjum was appointed the new Director General of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), replacing Lt Gen Faiz Hameed who was posted as Corps Commander Peshawar.
Oct. 06: National Defence University (NDU), Islamabad, President Lt Gen Muhammad Saeed was posted as Karachi Corps Commander. Lt. Gen Nauman Mehmood, serving as Peshawar Corps Commander, was posted as NDU President.
Oct. 06: Gujranwala Corps Commander Lt Gen Syed Asim Munir Shah (former ISI chief) was made the Quarter Master General, replacing Lt Gen Amir Abbasi who along with Inspector General Arms Lt Gen Majid Ehsan and Commander Army Air Defence Command Lt Gen Hamooduz Zaman Khan is to retire.
Oct. 06: Adjutant General Lt Gen Muhammad Amir was posted as Gujranwala Corps Commander.
Oct. 06: Vice Chief of the General Staff Maj Gen Muhammad Asim Malik of Baloch Regiment was promoted to the three-star rank and posted as Adjutant General.
Oct. 06: President Dr Arif Alvi promulgated the National Accountability (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021 paving the way for continuation of the incumbent Chairman Justice (R) Javed Iqbal on the post till the appointment of his successor.
Oct. 06: The last survivor of Pindi Conspiracy Case, Zafarullah Poshni, passed away. He was 95.
Oct. 06: Provincial minister Fayyazul Hassan Chohan was removed as spokesperson of the Punjab government and was replaced by Hassan Khawar.
Oct. 06: Pakistan’s Shehzad Qureshi won a silver medal in the 80kg event at the World Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Championship at Tashkent.
Oct. 07: Ejaz Ahmad, one of the tallest men in Pakistan with eight feet and two inches height, died. He was 42.
Oct. 08: During a meeting with Wendy R. Sherman, US deputy secretary of state, COAS Bajwa emphasised maintaining meaningful bilateral engagement for an enduring multi-domain relationship between Pakistan and the USA.
Oct. 08: PMIK ordered setting up of a special body for coordinating Afghanistan-related matters.
Oct. 08: The federal government issued a commemorative coin of Rs 70 to mark the 70-year diplomatic relations with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Oct. 09: The closing ceremony of military exercise “Druzhba-VI” was held at Molkino Training Area, Krasnodar, Russia.
Oct. 09: President Alvi formally inaugurated Pakistan Pavilion at the Dubai Expo 2020.
Oct. 09: Former president and prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan passed away.
Oct. 10: Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, celebrated as the father of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme, died at 85.
Oct. 10: PMIK inaugurated the Ashra of Rehmatul lil Alameen (Peace be Upon Him) and announced the establishment of Rehmat-lil-Alameen Authority to make the country and the world aware of Islam and the life of the Holy Prophet (PBUH).
Oct. 10: Mohammad Shabbir Iqbal won the 29th Prime Minister Open Golf Championship 2021.
Oct. 11: PML-N Lahore President, Member National Assembly and former Federal Minister, Pervaiz Malik, passes away.
Oct. 11: Mohammad Sajjad won the fourth overall national snooker title.
Oct. 12: President Alvi appointed Zahir Shah the deputy chairman of NAB.
Oct. 13: Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Chief of the General Staff (CGS) of Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, along with a high-level delegation, separately called on Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Nadeem Raza and COAS Bajwa.
Oct. 14: State-of-the-art Chinese-origin HQ-9/P HIMADS (high to medium air defence system) was commissioned into the Pakistan Army Air Defence.
Oct. 14: Former SAPM Zulfi Bukhari won his defamation case against Reham Khan.
Oct. 14: The Ministry of Information Technology & Telecommunication notified “Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content (Procedures, Oversight, and Safeguards) Rules 2021″ for streamlining the functioning of social media companies in Pakistan.
Oct. 14: Syed Khalid Siraj Subhani was appointed the acting Managing Director of Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL).
Oct. 14: President Alvi promulgated an ordinance for the establishment of the Rehmatul-lil-Alameen Authority.
Oct. 14: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa won, for the second consecutive time, the National T20 title.
Oct. 15: PMIK launched Kisan Portal.
Oct. 15: The Aiwan-e-Sadr was awarded an international certification of ISO 50001 EnMS, making it the world’s first President Secretariat to go green.
Oct. 15: The SC directed the Punjab government to ensure until October 20 the restoration of local government system in the province.
Oct. 15: Pakistan ranked 92nd out of the 116 countries, with a score of 24.7, on Global Hunger Index, 2021.

Sept. 16: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson nominated Liz Truss to be Britain’s new foreign secretary, making her only the second woman to hold this post.
Sept. 16: The United States announced a new alliance with Australia and Britain –­ dubbed AUKUS – to strengthen military capabilities in the face of a rising China.
Sept. 16: The European Parliament called on the 27-nation bloc to strengthen its defence cooperation and investment to become more independent of the United States after the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Sept. 17: UK’s Secretary of State for Transport R. Hon Grant Shapps announced to remove Pakistan from the United Kingdom’s red list on September 22.
Sept. 17: France recalled its ambassadors to the United States and Australia.
Sept. 17: Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth after completing the country’s longest-ever crewed mission – 90 days at the Tiangong space station.
Sept. 17: The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) new prosecutor named prominent rights lawyer Amal Clooney as a special adviser on Sudan’s Darfur conflict.
Sept. 17: The US State Department approved a potential agreement covering up to $500 million in military support services for Saudi Arabia.
Sept. 17: Taliban replaced Afghanistan’s Ministry of women with “Ministries of Prayer and Guidance and the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice”.
Sept. 17: Clive Sinclair, the British inventor and entrepreneur, who arguably did more than anyone else to inspire a whole generation of children into a life-long passion for computers and gaming, died. He was 81.
Sept. 17: While asking the Afghan Taliban to yield power to a ‘more inclusive government’, leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the 20th SCO’s Council of Heads of State meeting in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, reminded the West in general and the United States in particular that it was their responsibility to help avert a humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan.
Sept. 17: US President Joe Biden launched ‘Global Methane Pledge’ initiative to slash methane gas emissions and cut warming by at least 0.2 degrees Celsius by 2050.
Sept. 17: Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who ruled Algeria for two decades before resigning in 2019, died aged 84.
Sept. 18: Members of the SCO endorsed Iran’s future membership in the bloc. Iran, one of four SCO observer states, had applied for full membership in 2008 but its bid was slowed by UN and US sanctions imposed over its nuclear programme.
Sept. 18: Khadija Patel, the head of programmes for the International Fund for Public Interest Media and former editor-in-chief of South Africa’s Mail & Guardian newspaper, was elected as the 35th chair of the International Press Institute (IPI)’s global executive board.
Sept. 19: Jimmy Greaves, the former Tottenham and England striker, died aged 81.
Sept. 21: The Taliban nominated their Doha-based spokesman Suhail Shaheen as Afghanistan’s UN ambassador.
Sept. 21: Field marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, who headed the military junta that ruled Egypt after President Hosni Mubarak’s ouster in the Arab Spring protests, died at age 85.
Sept. 21: The Taliban sacked the head of Afghanistan’s cricket board Hamid Shinwari, replacing him with Naseebullah Haqqani, a member of the Haqqani network.
Sept. 21: Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau was reelected, but without a clear majority in the country’s snap elections.
Sept. 22: The opening ceremony of the exercise ‘Peace Mission’ under the ambit of SCO was held in Russia. Troops from all SCO member states participated in the exercise.
Sept. 22: Chinese president Xi Jinping announced to stop his country’s funding to coal projects overseas.
Sept. 23: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) issued its yearbook 2021 according to which India is the second biggest importer of arms, after Saudi Arabia, whereas Pakistan is ranked at the 10th position.
Sept. 24: During the first in-person summit of the Quad group was held in the White House, the leaders of member states – United States Australia, India and Japan – discussed their Covid vaccines drive, regional infrastructure, climate change and securing supply chains for the vital semiconductors used in computer technology.
Sept. 24: China’s central bank declared all financial transactions involving cryptocurrencies as illegal.
Sept. 25: Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was headed home from Vancouver as two Canadians were released from prison in China, ending a bitter diplomatic row that has poisoned ties for three years.
Sept. 25: Pak-India women’s rights icon Kamla Bhasin passed away.
Sept. 26: Final results of election in Iceland gave women more than half of the seats in the new parliament – a first in Europe.
Five other countries that currently have parliaments where women hold at least half the seats, are: Rwanda (61 percent), Cuba (53 percent), Nicaragua (51 percent) and Mexico and the United Arab Emirates (50 percent).
Sept. 26: Oleksandr Usyk ended Anthony Joshua’s reign as world heavyweight champion in boxing.
Sept. 26: In a referendum, nearly two-thirds of Swiss voters backed the government’s plan to introduce same-sex marriage.
Sept. 26: The US Treasury Department issued licenses to facilitate humanitarian aid and financial assistance to the people of Afghanistan, while upholding sanctions on the Taliban.
Sept. 27: German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives lost election to the Social Democrats in a tight race.
Sept. 27: The United States crushed Europe to recapture the Ryder Cup.
Sept. 27: The International Criminal Court’s new chief prosecutor said he wants to focus his investigation in Afghanistan on the Taliban and Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), and to “deprioritise” alleged war crimes by US forces.
Sept. 27: Representatives from Iran and Saudi Arabia held a new round of talks in Baghdad.
Sept. 27: Tessa Ganserer and Nyke Slawik, politicians from Germany’s Green Party, which came third in the election, made history by becoming the first transgender women to win parliamentary seats in Bundestag.
Sept. 28: A bill was introduced in the US Senate requiring assessments and imposition of sanctions on the Taliban and persons assisting them in Afghanistan.
Titled as the Afghanistan Counterterrorism, Oversight, and Accountability Act, the bill also seeks to establish a task force that will focus on continued evacuation of American citizens, legal permanent residents and Special Immigrant Visa holders from Afghanistan.
Sept. 28: The Taliban announced to temporarily adopt a 1964 constitution that granted women the right to vote, but eliminate any elements they disagree with.
Sept. 28: Nuclear-armed North Korea fired a short-range missile into the sea.
Sept. 28: England World Cup winner and Liverpool’s record league goalscorer Roger Hunt died at the age of 83.
Sept. 29: China revealed a drone concept similar in mission – and appearance – to the US-made Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie.
Sept. 29: Top Rohingya community leader Mohib Ullah was shot dead in a refugee camp in the Bangladesh resort district of Cox’s Bazar.
Sept. 29: North Korea announced to have successfully tested a new hypersonic gliding missile.
Hypersonic missiles are generally defined as travelling more than five times the speed of sound, or Mach 5.
Sept. 30: Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed deepening defence industry cooperation with Russia during talks with his counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Sept. 30: General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, conceded in a stark admission that the United States “lost” the 20-year war in Afghanistan.
Sept. 30: A French court handed former president Nicolas Sarkozy a one-year prison sentence for illegal financing of his 2012 re-election bid.
Oct. 01: Col Mamady Doumbouya was sworn in as Guinea’s interim president.
Oct. 01: After eight years of planning and billions of dollars in spending, Dubai Expo 2020 – the Middle East’s first world fair – opened.
Oct. 02: Qatar wrapped up its first legislative election to elect 30 members of the 45-strong Shura Council. The remaining 15 will be appointed by the emir.
Oct. 03: The Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) released a huge tranche of leaked data on offshore companies that is larger in size and scope than the Panama Papers, hit the global headlines.
This new leak has uncovered the finances of more leaders and public officials than did the Panama Papers and provides more than twice information about the ownership of offshore companies. In all, the new leaks uncover the real owners of more than 29,000 offshore companies from more than 200 countries with the largest contingents from Russia, UK, Argentina, China and Brazil. The highest number of companies linked with world leaders and other public officials were registered in the British Virgin Islands.
Oct. 03: French business magnate, actor and former politician Bernard Tapie died. He was 78.
Oct. 03: The European-Japanese BepiColombo spacecraft sent back its first images of Mercury, the nearest planet to the Sun.
Oct. 03: The Algerian government banned French military planes from its airspace.
Oct. 03: Austria’s government unveiled an “eco-social” reform of the tax system, a key promise of the conservative-green coalition. Under the measures, Austria will follow the example of neighbouring Germany and introduce a tax on carbon dioxide emissions.
Oct. 03: Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who had lived under police protection since making a derogatory sketch in 2007, died in a car crash
Oct. 04: Russia launched a new hypersonic cruise missile ‘Zircon’ from a submarine, the latest test of emerging weapons President Vladimir Putin has dubbed “invincible”.
Oct. 04: Marc Marquez won MotoGP’s Grand Prix of the Americas for the seventh time.
Oct. 04: Fumio Kishida was formally elected as the Prime Minister of Japan.
Oct. 05: Simon Gass, Britain’s special representative for Afghanistan, along with Martin Longden, charge d’affaires at the now-evacuated UK mission to Afghanistan, held talks with senior Taliban officials in Kabul.
Oct. 05: Russian actress Yulia Peresild and film director Klim Shipenko arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) in a bid to best the United States and film the first movie in orbit.
Oct. 05: Singapore passed a controversial law aimed at countering foreign interference in domestic affairs.
Oct. 06: The World Health Organisation endorsed the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine, the first against the mosquito-borne disease.
Oct. 07: The England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Ian Watmore stepped down with immediate effect, following criticism of the decision to cancel a tour of Pakistan.
Oct. 07: The M100 Media Award, a German prize for democracy and freedom of expression, was awarded to imprisoned Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny and his FBK anti-corruption foundation.
Oct. 07: Japanese government appointed Mitsuhiro Wada its new ambassador to Pakistan.
Oct. 07: The European Union won its battle at the UN Human Rights Council to create a new special rapporteur on Afghanistan, despite opposition from China and Russia.
Oct. 08: A US nuclear submarine was damaged after hitting an unidentified object while operating underwater in Asia.
Oct. 08: Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio signed a bill abolishing the death penalty.
Oct. 08: Bangladesh sealed an agreement with the United Nations to provide help in resettlement of more than 80,000 Rohingya refugees to a remote island in Bhashan Char, in the Bay of Bengal.
Oct. 08: Bahrain, Russia and other members of the UN Human Rights Council pushed through a vote to shut down the body’s war crimes investigations in Yemen.
Oct. 08: In a landmark deal, a group of 136 countries set a minimum global tax rate of 15 percent for big companies and sought to make it harder for them to avoid taxation.
Oct. 08: The IMF approved a fourth round of debt relief for 24 poor nations, including new recipients Lesotho and Kyrgyzstan, to help them weather the Covid-19 pandemic.
Oct. 08: Indian giant Tata bought back Air India, 89 years after founding it as Tata Air and half a century following its nationalisation, in a $2.4bn deal with the Indian government.
Oct. 08: The UN Human Rights Council recognised access to a clean and healthy environment as a fundamental right, formally adding its weight to the global fight against climate change and its devastating consequences.
Oct. 09: During their first face-to-face talks since the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban warned the United States not to “destabilise” the regime.
Oct. 09: Iran’s first president after the 1979 Islamic revolution, Abolhassan Banisadr, died. He was 88.
Oct. 09: Prime Minister Andrej Babis’ centrist party narrowly lost the Czech Republic’s parliamentary election.
Oct. 09: Lebanon plunged into darkness by a power outage after the country’s two largest power stations – al Zahrani and Deir Ammar – were forced to shut down, reportedly owing to fuel shortages.
Oct. 09: Austria’s Sebastian Kurz announced he was stepping down as chancellor
Oct. 10: The Jordanian government’s ministers submitted their resignations.
Oct. 10: Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas claimed his first chequered flag of the season to win the Turkish Grand Prix.
Oct. 11: Tunisia got a new government after more than two months without one.
Oct. 11: Talks between Indian and Chinese army commanders to disengage troops from key friction areas along their border ended in a stalemate.
Oct. 11: Kylian Mbappe helped France win the Nations League.
Oct. 12: Ireland’s Amy Hunter became international cricket’s youngest centurion when she struck an unbeaten 121 against Zimbabwe on her 16th birthday.
Oct. 12: Iran’s army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched a joint military exercise with a focus on air defence.
Oct. 12: The EU pledged a one billion euro aid package for Afghanistan.
Oct. 12: The UN’s top court awarded Somalia control of most of a potentially oil- and gas-rich chunk of the Indian Ocean.
Oct. 12: The Biden administration appointed Elizabeth Jones, a veteran diplomat, to lead efforts for relocation and resettlement in Afghanistan.
Oct. 13: The Iranian military successfully tested anti-missile defences for “sensitive” sites during war games in central Iran.
Oct. 13: Star Trek’s William Shatner, one of science-fiction’s most recognisable characters, became a real-life space traveller when he went on Blue Origin’s second human mission. He also became the oldest-ever astronaut.
Oct. 13: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced to elevate its ambition to deliver climate financing to its developing member countries to $100 billion from 2019–2030.
Oct. 13: At a key UN conservation summit in Kunming (China), some 195 countries said they would support the ‘Kunming Declaration’ working to tackle issues around biodiversity and species protection.
Oct. 14: The United States was reelected to the UN Human Rights Council three-and-a-half years after its dramatic walkout, while the UN General Assembly also chose Eritrea, often criticised for alleged rights abuses, to take a seat.
Oct. 14: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida dissolved the House of Representatives for an upcoming general election.
Oct. 15: China launched a rocket carrying three astronauts to its new space station on what is set to be the country’s longest crewed mission to date.
Oct. 15: The COP15 gathering in South China’s Kunming saw the adoption of a declaration to recognise the importance of biodiversity in human health, strengthen species protection laws and improve the sharing of genetic resources.

1. On Sept. 16, Pakistan and ______ signed an agreement to promote two-way tourism in SCO member states.
(a) China (b) Russia
(c) Iran (d) Uzbekistan

2. On Sept. 17, ______ unilaterally pulled out of a cricket series against Pakistan, over security concerns.
(a) England (b) New Zealand
(c) Australia (d) South Africa

3. The National Assembly passed a resolution paying rich tributes to veteran Kashmiri leader, Syed Ali Geelani, on ______.
(a) Sept. 15 (b) Sept. 16
(c) Sept. 17 (d) Sept. 18

4. Multinational UN Peacekeeping Exercise ‘Shared Destiny-2021’, in which Pak Army also participated, was held at a/an ______ training base.
(a) Australian (b) Turkish
(c) Russian (d) Chinese

5. The two-week-long military exercise ‘Bright Star 2021’ was held at Mohamed Naguib Military Base of ______.
(a) Egypt (b) Saudi Arabia
(c) Turkey (d) UAE

6. On Sept. 21, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on ______, Tabish Gauhar, was sacked.
(a) Food Security
(b) Power and Petroleum
(c) Finance and Revenue
(d) Climate Change

7. On Sept. 23, PM Khan announced bifurcation of ______ into two districts.
(a) North Waziristan
(b) Lower Dir
(c) South Waziristan
(d) Upper Dir

8. On ______, PM Imran Khan addressed the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly
(a) Sept. 20 (b) Sept. 22
(c) Sept. 23 (d) Sept. 24

9. The first visually impaired diplomat of the world who spoke to the world body by using brail system of reading/writing was ______.
(a) Saima Saleem (b) Maria Reisa
(c) Helen Keller (d) Samia Hassan

10. Pakistan and China, on ______, agreed to include multi-billion dollar Karachi Coastal Comprehensive Development Zone (KCCDZ) under the CPEC framework
(a) Sept. 25 (b) Sept. 26
(c) Sept. 27 (d) Sept. 28

11. Pakistan’s youngest mountaineer to scale Manaslu, the world’s eighth highest peak, is ______.
(a) Nazir Sabir (b) Ali Sadpara
(c) Shehroze Kashif (d) Samina Baig

12. National Telecommunication Corporation is headquartered in ____.
(a) Lahore (b) Karachi
(c) Islamabad (d) Quetta

13. On Sept. 28, veteran journalist Wajid Shamsul Hasan, who also served as Pakistan’s High Commissioner in _____, passed away.
(a) India (b) Australia
(c) Canada (d) UK

14. On Sept. 28, former national ______ champion Tania Mallick was appointed the PCB’s Head of Women’s Cricket.
(a) Table Tennis (b) Badminton
(c) Tennis (d) Squash

15. On Sept. 29, the government appointed ______ the Federal Tax Ombudsman for a period of 4 years.
(a) Dr Ishrat Husain
(b) Ali Nawaz Awan
(c) Dr Asif Mahmood Jah
(d) Dr Shoaib Suddle

16. Shah Farman is the current governor of ______ province.
(a) Sindh. (b) Balochistan
(c) GB (d) KP

17. On Oct. 01, Pakistani mountaineer ______ scaled the 8,167-metre-high Dhaulagiri mountain in Nepal.
(a) Sirbaz Khan (b) Shehroze Kashif
(c) Samina Baig (d) Mirza Ali Baig

18. The first Pakistani to climb nine of the world’s highest 14 peaks, each of which has a height of more than 8,000 metres, is ______.
(a) Nazir Sabir (b) Ali Sadpara
(c) Sirbaz Khan (d) Samina Baig

19. On Oct. 01, the first Pakistan-China technical vocational institute was inaugurated in ______.
(a) Lahore (b) Karachi
(c) Gwadar (d) Quetta

20. Veteran actor, king of comedy and living legend, Umer Sharif, passed away, on Oct. 02, in______.
(a) USA (b) Qatar
(c) France (d) Germany

21. The Pandora Papers, which were released on Oct. 03, revealed that Pakistanis were ranked ______ among those buying properties in London through offshore companies.
(a) Fifth (b) Sixth
(c) Seventh (d) Eighth

22. On Oct. 03, major joint naval exercise ‘Naseem Al Bahr XIII’ between the navies of Pakistan and ______ commenced at Karachi.
(a) Kuwait (b) Qatar
(c) Saudi Arabia (d) UAE

23. On Oct. 03, the opening ceremony of 53rd World Military Shooting Championship (Shotgun) 2021, which was held under the auspices of Conseil International du Sport Militaire, was conducted at ______
(a) Gwadar (b) Lahore
(c) Quetta (d) Karachi

24. National Counter Terrorism Centre is located in ______.
(a) Rawalpindi (b) Peshawar
(c) Jhelum (d) Pabbi

25. The 11th Session of Iran-Pakistan Bilateral Political Consultations was held in ______.
(a) Islamabad (b) Karachi
(c) Tehran (d) Zahidan

26. President Dr Arif Alvi promulgated the National Accountability (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021 on ______.
(a) Oct. 05 (b) Oct. 06
(c) Oct. 07 (d) Oct. 08

27. The incumbent Chairman of National Accountability Bureau is ______..
(a) Munawar Rana (b) Saleem Shahzad
(c) Javed Iqbal (d) Hussain Afghar

28. On Oct. 06, ______ was appointed the spokesperson of the Punjab government.
(a) Sania Ashiq (b) Zafarullah Khan
© Fayaz Chohan (d) Hassan Khawar

29. On Oct. 08, the federal government issued a commemorative coin of Rs 70 to mark the 70-year diplomatic relations with ______.
(a) Germany (b) South Korea
(c) France (d) Switzerland

30. The closing ceremony of military exercise “Druzhba-VI” was held at Molkino Training Area, Krasnodar, Russia on ______.
(a) Oct. 08 (b) Oct. 09
(c) Oct. 10 (d) Oct. 11

31. Pakistan Pavilion at the Dubai Expo 2020 was formally inaugurated by ______.
(a) Shaukat Tarin (b) Imran Khan
(c) Arif Alvi (d) Razak Dawood

32. Former president and prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan, passed away on ______.
(a) Oct. 07 (b) Oct. 08
(c) Oct. 09 (d) Oct. 10

33. On ______, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, celebrated as the father of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme, died at 85.
(a) Oct. 07 (b) Oct. 08
(c) Oct. 09 (d) Oct. 10

34. On Oct. 12, President Alvi appointed ______ the deputy chairman of NAB.
(a) Hussain Agha (b) Zahir Shah
(c) Ayesha Khan (d) Saleem Shahzad

35. On Oct. 14, the state-of-the-art ______-origin HQ-9/P HIMADS (high to medium air defence system) was commissioned into the Pakistan Army Air Defence.
(a) Russian (b) German
(c) Chinese (d) French

36. Chief of the General Staff of Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, called on COAS Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa on ______.
(a) Oct. 10 (b) Oct. 11
(c) Oct. 12 (d) Oct. 13

37. On Oct. 14, Syed Khalid Siraj Subhani was appointed the acting Managing Director of ______.
(a) OGDCL (b) SNGPL
(c) PEMRA (d) NEPRA

38. On Oct. 14, ______ won, for the second consecutive time, the National T20 title.
(a) Punjab (b) KP
(c) Sindh (d) Balochistan

39. On Oct. 15, the Aiwan-e-Sadr was awarded an international certification of ISO 50001 EnMS, making it the world’s ______ President Secretariat to go green.
(a) First (b) Second
(c) Third (d) Fourth

40. Pakistan has ranked ______ out of the 116 countries, with a score of 24.7, on Global Hunger Index, 2021.
(a) 87th (b) 91st
(c) 92nd (d) 112th

1. On Sept. 16, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson nominated Liz Truss to be Britain’s new foreign secretary, making her only the ______ woman to hold this post.
(a) Second (b) Third
(c) Fourth (d) Fifth

2. On ______, the United States announced a new alliance –­ dubbed AUKUS – with Australia and United Kingdom.
(a) Sept. 14 (b) Sept. 15
(c) Sept. 16 (d) Sept. 17

3. On Sept. 17, three ______ astronauts returned to Earth after completing the country’s longest-ever crewed mission.
(a) Russian (b) Chinese
(c) Indian (d) Japanese

4. On Sept. 17, ICC named prominent rights lawyer Amal Clooney as a special adviser on ______ conflict.
(a) Darfur (b) Tigray
(c) Kashmir (d) Yemen

5. On Sept. 17, Clive Sinclair, the ______ inventor and entrepreneur, who did more than anyone else to inspire a whole generation of children into a life-long passion for computers and gaming, died.
(a) German (b) American
(c) Swiss (d) British

6. The 20th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Council of Heads of State meeting was held in ______.
(a) Beijing (b) Moscow
(c) Dushanbe (d) Islamabad

7. Mette Frederiksen is the current Prime Minister of ______.

(a) France (b) Denmark
(c) Finland (d) Australia

8. On Sept. 17, US President Joe Biden launched ‘Global Methane Pledge’ initiative to slash methane gas emissions and cut warming by at least 0.2 degrees Celsius by______.
(a) 2050 (b) 2060
(c) 2075 (d) 2100

9. On Sept. 17, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who ruled ______ for two decades before resigning in 2019, died.
(a) Ethiopia (b) Nigeria
(c) Gambia (d) Algeria

10. On Sept. 18, members of the SCO endorsed ______ future membership in the bloc.
(a) Saudi Arabia (b) Afghanistan
(c) Iran’s (d) Turkey

11. On Sept. 21, the Taliban nominated ______ as Afghanistan’s new ambassador to UN.
(a) Zabiullah Mujahid
(b) Suhail Shaheen
(c) Khalil-ur-Rahman Haqqani
(d) Anas Haqqani

12. On Sept. 21, ______ Egypt’s Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, who headed the military junta that ruled the country, died.
(a) Egypt’s (b) Tunisia’s
(c) Libya’s (d) Yemen’s

13. On Sept. 21, Naseebullah Haqqani, a member of the Haqqani Network, was appointed the head of Afghanistan cricket board, replacing ______.
(a) Bilal Sami (b) Bilal Sayeedi
(c) Azizullah Fazli (d) Hamid Shinwari

14. As per SIPRI’s yearbook 2021, the second biggest importer of arms, after Saudi Arabia, is ______.
(a) Pakistan (b) China
(c) India (d) UAE

15. On Sept. 24, the first in-person summit of the Quad group since the Covid-19 outbreak was held in ______.
(a) London (b) Washington DC
(c) Canberra (d) Tokyo

16. On ______, Pak-India women’s rights icon Kamla Bhasin passed away.
(a) Sept. 25 (b) Sept. 26
(c) Sept. 27 (d) Sept. 28

17. The military exercise ‘Peace Mission’ under the ambit of SCO, in which troops from all SCO member states participated, was held in ______.
(a) Uzbekistan (b) China
(c) Tajikistan (d) Russia

18. ______ has become the first country in Europe to have women occupying more than half of the seats in the new parliament.
(a) Finland (b) Denmark
(c) Iceland (d) Latvia

19. On Sept. 26, in a referendum, nearly two-thirds of ______ voters backed the government’s plan to introduce same-sex marriage.
(a) French (b) Swiss
(c) German (d) British

20. The Ryder Cup is a biennial men’s golf competition between teams from ______ and the United States
(a) Europe (b) Australia
(c) Japan (d) Canada

21. Bundestag is the federal parliament of ______.
(a) Norway (b) France
(c) Denmark (d) Germany

22. The bill ‘The Afghanistan Counterterrorism, Oversight, and Accountability Act’, was introduced in the US Senate on ______.
(a) Sept. 26 (b) Sept. 27
(c) Sept. 28 (d) Sept. 29

23. On Sept. 28, the Taliban announced to temporarily adopt the constitution that was enacted by Zahir Shah in ______.
(a) 1962 (b) 1964
(c) 1966 (d) 1970

24. On Sept. 29, top Rohingya community leader Mohib Ullah was shot dead in a refugee camp in ______.
(a) Bangladesh (b) Myanmar
(c) Nepal (d) India

25. Cox’s Bazar is a famous district in ______.
(a) Bangladesh (b) Myanmar
(c) Nepal (d) India

26. Hypersonic missiles are generally defined as travelling more than five times the speed of sound, or ______.
(a) Mach 3 (b) Mach 4
(c) Mach 5 (d) Mach 15

27. On Oct. 01, Col Mamady Doumbouya was sworn in as ______ interim president.
(a) Morocco’s (b) Guinea’s
(c) Ethiopia’s (d) Egypt’s

28. On ______, Dubai Expo 2020 – the Middle East’s first world fair – opened.
(a) Oct. 01 (b) Oct. 02
(c) Oct. 03 (d) Oct. 04

29. On Oct. 02, ______ wrapped up its first legislative election to elect 30 members of the 45-strong Shura Council.
(a) Bahrain (b) Kuwait
(c) UAE (d) Qatar

30. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) is based in ______.
(a) London (b) Berlin
(c) Washington (d) Geneva

31. On _____, the ICIJ released a huge tranche of leaked data on offshore companies – dubbed as Pandora Papers.
(a) Oct. 02 (b) Oct. 03
(c) Oct. 07 (d) Oct. 10

32. On Oct. 03, the European-Japanese BepiColombo spacecraft sent back its first images of ______.
(a) Mercury (b) Mars
(c) Jupiter (d) Venice

33. On Oct. 04, ______ launched a new hypersonic cruise missile ‘Zircon’ from a submarine.
(a) China (b) India
(c) Turkey (d) Russia

34. On Oct. 05, ______ actress Yulia Peresild and film director Klim Shipenko arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) in a bid to film the first movie in orbit.
(a) Polish (b) Norwegian
(c) Russian (d) Dutch

35. The first vaccine endorsed by WHO against the mosquito-borne disease of malaria is ______.
(a) Moderna (b) RTS, S/AS01
© R21/Matrix-M (d) PfSPZ

36. On Oct. 08, ______ President Julius Maada Bio signed a bill abolishing the death penalty.
(a) Sierra Leone’s (b) Gambia’s
© Iraq’s (d) Belarus’s

37. On Oct. 08, a group of ______ countries set a minimum global tax rate of 15% for big companies.
(a) 95 (b) 120
(c) 130 (d) 136

38. On ______, the UN Human Rights Council recognised access to a clean and healthy environment as a fundamental right.
(a) Oct. 05 (b) Oct. 07
(c) Oct. 08 (d) Oct. 09

39. On Oct. 12, ______ Amy Hunter became international cricket’s youngest centurion when she struck an unbeaten 121 against Zimbabwe on her 16th birthday.
(a) Australia’s (b) Ireland’s
(c) South Africa’s (d) England’s

40. On Oct. 13, the key UN conservation summit COP 15 started in Kunming, ______.
(a) Philippines (b) Japan
(c) Thailand (d) China