Daily Top-10 Current Affairs MCQs / News (February 16, 2022) for CSS, PMS

Table of Contents

6. World Bank warns against ignoring growing debt

• Delays in dealing with the growing debt burden in poor countries seems unlikely to be resolved by the G20, a top World Bank official warned.
• As interest rates are starting to rise around the world, putting more pressure on borrowers, the Group of 20 finance ministers are due to meet in Indonesia this week.
• But World Bank chief economist Carmen Reinhart is skeptical there will be a resolution soon to help address unsustainable debts.
• `The stalling is really, really problematic,` she told AFP in an interview

7. Israeli president plans rare visit to Turkey

• Israeli President Isaac Herzog is preparing to visit Turkey, his office said on February 15, 2022, in a rare trip that marks the latest sign of a thaw following years of frayed ties.
• A statement from Herzog`s office said that a high-ranking Turkish delegation was due in Israel this week, including a top aide to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ibrahim Kalin, and deputy foreign minister Sedat Onal.
• The Turkish delegation`s visit was `part of preparations for the planned visit of President Isaac Herzog` to Turkey, the Israeli presidency said. In a television interview last month, Erdogan said he expected Herzog to visit, hailing the trip as an opportunity to `open a new chapter in relations between Turkey and Israel`

8. Pollution causing more deaths than Covid: UN

• Pollution by states and companies is contributing to more deaths globally than Covid-19, a UN environmental report published on February 15, 2022 said, calling for `immediate and ambitious action` to ban some toxic chemicals.
• The report said pollution from pesticides, plastics and electronic waste is causing widespread human rights violations and at least 9 million premature deaths a year, and that the issue is largely being overlooked.
• The coronavirus pandemic has caused close to 5.9 million deaths, according to data aggregator Worldometer

9. UK to host Afghan fundraising summit

• Britain said on February 15, 2022 it would co-host a virtual UN summit aimed at raising billions to avert a `devastating` humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan after the Taliban seized power.
• With the fundamentalist regime now denied access to Western funds, the United Nations says more than 24 million Afghans need urgent help to survive, and half the population is f acing acute hunger.
• The UN said last month that$4.4billionwasneeded, as it launched its largest appeal yet for a single country

10. Russia says pulling back troops, West seeks proof

• Russia said on February 15, 2022 some of its troops were returning to base after exercises near Ukraine and mocked Western warnings about a looming invasion, but Nato said it had yet to see any evidence of a de-escalation that could avert a military conflict.
• Moscow did not say how many units were being withdrawn, and how far, after a buildup of some 130,000 Russian troops to the north, east and south of Ukraine that has triggered one of the worst crises in relations with the West since the Cold War.
• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said after meeting President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin that the withdrawal of some Russian troops was a good sign