Daily Top-10 Current Affairs MCQs / News (April 23, 2022) for CSS, PMS

Table of Contents

6. Talks with Ukraine have stalled, says Russian FM

• Talks between Moscow and Kyiv to put an end to Russia`s near two-month military campaign in pro-Western Ukraine have stalled, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.
• `They (negotiations) have stalled now,` he said after talks with his Kazakh counterpart in Moscow, adding that Russia has still had not received an answer to a latest proposals enta round five days ago.
• The Russian foreign minister also said he was under the impression Kyiv may not want to continue the talks.
• `It is very strange for me to hear every day statements by various Ukrainian representatives, including the president and his advisers, that make one think that they do not need these negotiations at all, that they have resigned themselves to their fate,` Lavrov added

7. Blast kills 33 worshippers in Afghanistan

• A bomb blast ripped through a mosque during April 22, 2022 prayers in northern Afghanistan, killing 33 people including children, just a day after the militant Islamic State group had claimed two separate deadly attacks.
• Meanwhile, Taliban forces have arrested a suspected IS militant who allegedly had planned a bomb attack that killed at least 12 worshippers at a Shia mosque on Thursday, police said.
• Balkh province`s police spokesman said Abdul Hamid Sangaryar was a key operative of the IS.
• Since Taliban fighters seized control of Afghanistan last year after ousting the US-backed government, the number of bombings has fallen but IS militants have continued with attacks against targets they see as heretical

8. G7 officials exit WB meeting as Russian official begins to speak

• G7 officials and others walked out of a meeting of the Development Committee that advises the governors of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund on Friday in Washington when a Russian official began to speak, a source told Reuters.
• It was the latest walkout by senior officials from Group of Seven advanced economies to protest Russia`s war in Ukraine, and followed similar demonstrations at meetings of the Group of 20 major economies and the IMF`s steering committee earlier this week

9. US courts Solomon Islands after China defence deal

• US and Chinese diplomats fought for the affections of the Solomon Islands on April 22, 2022 after the small island state shocked its Western allies by signing a defence pact with Beijing.
• The United States and Australia the Pacific nation`s traditional allies are deeply suspicious of the deal, fearing it may give China a military foothold in the South Pacific.
• A White House delegation landed at the airport in the capital Honiara and was ferried into town in a white minibus ahead of planned meetings with the government

10. Britain, India join hands against threats on `land, sea, air, cyberspace`

• Britain and India agreed a `new and expanded` defence and security partnership on April 22, 2022, under-fire British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on a visit to New Delhi.
• Johnson travelled to India as he faces criticism at home and the embarrassing prospect of a probe into whether he lied to parliament over the lockdown-breaking `Party gate` scandal.
• India is part of the Quad grouping with the United States, Japan and Australia that is seen as a bulwark against an increasingly assertive China. But New Delhi also has a long Cold War history of cooperation with Moscow, still its biggest military supplier, and has refused to condemn Russia for its invasion of Ukraine