Daily Top-10 Current Affairs MCQs / News (February 15, 2022) for CSS, PMS

Table of Contents

6. Arab states stress women`s rights to Taliban in aid talks

• Gulf envoys stressed on February 14, 2022 that women must be able to work and go to school, in talks with the Taliban foreign minister as Afghanistan`s hardline Islamic rulers made a new bid to unblock foreign aid.
• Amir Khan Muttagi, a key member of the Taliban leadership that took over Kabul six months ago, met in Doha with ambassadors from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on the first full day of his latest mission, where he is also to hold talks with European envoys.
• The Taliban have been struggling to unfreeze billions of dollars of assets abroad and get sanctions lifted as it faces pressure over its treatment of women and supporters of the Western-backed government toppled last year

7. Erdogan visits UAE to revive long-strained ties

• Turkey`s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on February 14, 2022 visited the United Arab Emirates for the first time in nearly a decade, to revive relations that were long strained by regional disputes.
• He was greeted in the capital Abu Dhabi by Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the UAE`s de facto ruler, who had travelled to Ankara in November on the first high-level visit to Turkey since 2012.
• That trip `marked the beginning of a new era in relations,` Erdogan said at Istanbul airport before leaving for his two day visit. `We are planning to tal(e steps that will bring relations back to the level they deserve

8. Israeli PM starts first-ever visit to Bahrain

• Prime Minister Naftali Bennett arrived in Bahrain on February 14, 2022 for the first-ever official visit by an Israeli head of government to the Gulf state, a reporter said.
• Bennett`s visit is the latest such initiative following the US-brokered 2020 Abraham Accords, which defied decades of Arab consensus that ruled out ties with Israel in the absence of a solution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict.
• Bahrain and its close ally the United Arab Emirates became only the third and fourth Arab states following Egypt and Jordan to establish ties with Israel when they signed on to the pacts negotiated under former US president Donald Trump

9. Putin, Lavrov agree to give diplomacy a chance

• Russia held the door open on February 14, 2022 to further talks on resolving its standoff with the West and said some of its military drills were ending, signalling a possible easing of the crisis over Ukraine.
• While the comments from President Vladimir Putin and his foreign and defence ministers seemed to offer hope of a de-escalation, the Pentagon said Russia had strengthened its forces amassed on the border with Ukraine over the weekend.
• Putin `continues to add forces along that border with Ukraine and in Belarus, even just over the course of the week end, he`s well north of 100,000,` spokesman John Kirby told CNN

10. HBL Pakistan Super League United clinch last-ball thriller to eliminate Kings

• Islamabad United needed a hero. Up stepped Waqas Maqsood.
• In an enthralling finish at the Gaddafi Stadium on Monday night, the 34-yearold picked two wickets and ran out Chris Jordan on the final delivery to seal a one run victory for his side and put winless Karachi Kings out of the playoffs race.
• Stunning half-centuries by Imad Wasim (55) and Qasim Akram (51 not out) had brought back Kings from the dead and they needed eight runs to win in the final over of their HBL Pakistan Super League clash.