Daily Top-10 Current Affairs MCQs / News (August 21, 2022) for CSS

Table of Contents

6. N. Korea imported Chinese masks before declaring Covid victory

• North Korea imported more than 1 million facial masks and 15,000 pairs of rubber gloves from China in July, shortly before declaring victory over Covid-19, Chinese trade showed on August 20, 2022.
• Pyongyang last week declared victory over the coronavirus, ending a little-detailed fight against `fever` cases that had risen to 4.77 million. It has registered no new such cases since July 29.
• Still, China exported 1.23 million facial masks to North Korea in July, worth $44,307, surging from 17,000 the previous month, according to data released by Chinese customs

7. Macron heads to Algeria to relaunch ties

• French President Emmanuel Macron will visit former colony Algeria next week in a bid to improve strained ties between Paris and Algiers, the French presidency said on August 20, 2022.
• French-Algerian ties hit a low late last year after Macron reportedly questioned whether Algeria had existed as a nation before the French invasion and accused its `political-military system` of rewriting history and fomenting `hatred towards France` Algeria withdrew its ambassador in response, but the two sides appear to have mended ties since.

8. UN ends travel exemptions for Taliban, at least till Monday

• A divided UN Security Council has ended the travel ban exemptions for 13 Taliban officials after failing to reach an agreement on a possible extension.
• But the committee will meet again on Monday to reconsider the exemptions that expired at midnight on Friday.
• Under a 2011 UN Security Council resolution, 135 Taliban officials are facing sanctions, including asset freezes and travel bans. Of these, 13 were granted exemptions in 2019 on the request of the Trump administration

9. Nayyara Noor is no more

• Celebrated singer Nayyara Noor passed away here after a brief illness on August 20, 2022, her family and friends said. She was 71.
• The nature of her illness was not immediately clear.
• Born in the Indian state of Assam in 1950, she migrated to Pakistan her with family in the late 1950s.
• A keen enthusiast of melody, she started learning music at a very early age and got her first break on Radio Pakistan in 1968. Three years later, she was introduced at PTV

10. Blow for Pakistan as injured Shaheen ruled out of Asia Cup, England series

• In a major setback for Pakistan, pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi on August 20, 2022 was ruled out of the upcoming T20 Asia Cup and the T20 home series against England as the medical panel has advised the bowler four to six weeks rest due to a right knee ligament injury he suffered during the Test series in Sri Lanka last month.
• `Shaheen Shah Afridi has been advised 4-6 weeks rest by the PCB Medical Advisory Committee and independent specialists following [the] latest scans and reports. This means Shaheen has been ruled out of the ACC T20 Asia Cup and home series against England, but is expected to return to competitive cricket in October with the New Zealand T20I tri-series, which will be followed by the ICC Men`s T20 World Cup Australia 2022,` a PCB press statement issued from Rotterdam, Holland stated