Daily Top-10 Current Affairs MCQs / News (April 20, 2022) for CSS, PMS

Table of Contents

6. IMF cuts global growth forecast

• The International Monetary Fund on April 19, 2022 slashed its forecast for global economic growth by nearly a full percentage point, citing Russia`s war in Ukraine, and warning that inflation was now a `clear and present danger` f or many countries.
• The war is expected to further increase inflation, the IMF said in its latest World Economic Outlook, warning that a further tightening of Western sanctions on Russia to target energy exports would cause another major drop in global output.
• The IMF said other risks to the outlook include a sharper-than-expected deceleration in China prompted by a flare-up of Covid-19 lockdowns.
• Rising prices for food, energy and other goods could trigger social unrest, particularly in vulnerable developing countries, the IMF said.

7. Ukraine war enters new `phase` as Russia attacks east

• Moscow launched dozens of air strikes across eastern Ukraine overnight, its defence ministry said on April 19, 2022, with Russia`s top diplomat acknowledging `another phase` of the conflict was beginning as fighting raged in the Donbas region.
• Russia`s defence ministry said that `high-precision air-based missiles` had hit 13 Ukrainian positions in parts of the Donbas while other air strikes `hit 60 military assets`, including in towns close to the eastern frontline.
• Ukraine`s armed forces also confirmed that fighting had increased throughout the east, just hours after President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had kicked off the widely anticipated offensive in Ukraine`s industrial heartland

8. WHO launches traditional medicine hub in India

• The World Health Organisation launched its Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (GCTM) at a site in India on April 19, 2022, aimed at unlocking its potential by blending ancient practices with modern science.
• The GCTM knowledge hub is intended to create a body of reliable evidence and data on traditional medicine practices and products to help inform standards and the cost-effective use of methods that go outside conventional medicine.
• `Harnessing the potential of traditional medicine would be a game-changer for health when founded on evidence, innovation and sustainability,` the WHO said, noting that traditional medicine formed part of the growing health and wellness industries

9. China signs pact with Solomon Islands, alarms US

• China said on April 19, 2022 it had signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands, a move set to heighten the concerns of the United States and allies Australia and New Zealand about growing Chinese influence in a region traditionally under their sway.
• However, Solomon Islands officials had earlier appeared to suggest no agreement had yet been signed.
• Douglas Ete, chairman of parliament`s public accounts committee, had told fellow lawmakers that Chinese officials would arrive in mid May to sign cooperation pacts. Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare told parliament that a proposed security agreement would not include a Chinese military base

10. Israel hits Gaza as Jerusalem tensions spike

• Israel carried out its first air strike on the Gaza Strip in months early on April 19, 2022, in response to a rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave after a weekend of violence around a Jerusalem holy site.
• The army also said its special forces had made five arrests overnight in the occupied West Bank, which has seen a string of deadly Israeli raids since an uptick in attacks and demonstrations four weeks ago.
• Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he told his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog on Tuesday that he had been `very upset` by Palestinians injured or killed in the West Bank and Al Aqsa mosque during the Muslim holy month of Ramazan