Daily Top-10 Current Affairs MCQs/News (jan 19 2023) for CSS

Table of Contents

6. US wants to see `economically sustainable` Pakistan

• As the country continues to grapple with one economic challenge after the other, the United States has said that it wanted to see Pakistan in an `economically sustainable position`.
• When asked about the economic difficulties confronting Pakistan, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said on January 18, 2023: `This is a challenge that we are attuned to. I know that Pakistan has been working with the IMF and other international financial institutions. We want to see Pakistan in an economically sustainable position.
• The US official, however, noted that those conversations were `ongoing` and `we are supportive where we can be, to our Pakistani partners. But ultimately these are conversations between Pakistan and international financial institutions

7. Pakistan backs `two-state formula` to end Palestinian-Israel conflict

• Pakistan told the UN Security Council (UNSC) on January 18, 2023 that the `two-state formula` offers the only viable solution to the Palestinian Israeli conflict, and the rising extremism in Israeli leadership `must not be allowed to foreclose the two-state solution` Ambassador Munir Akram rejected all Israeli measures and attempts to alter the historical and legal status quo of Al Aqsa mosque and demanded full respect for the status quo at Al Aqsa and all other holy sites in the occupied Palestinian territories.
• Pakistan urged the Security Council to `act swiftly and resolutely to bring a halt to all such Israeli violations, ensure its full compliance with international law, and implement its own resolutions` Ambassador
• `We expect that the court`s opinion will lead to Israeli accountability for its crimes in the occupied Palestinian territory. It is a measure of Israel`s sense of impunity that it has taken punitive measures against the Palestinian authorities and people for merely seeking the court`s opinion,` he said

International Current Affairs MCQs News

8. UN official in Kabul for talks on women`s education

• The UN deputy secretary general met Afghanistan`s acting foreign minister on January 18, 2023 to discuss women`s education and jobs after Taliban authorities ordered most female NGO workers to stop work and barred women from attending universities.
• Amina Mohammed was in Kabul as part of a series of meetings that had included stops in Pakistan, Turkiye, and Qatar to discuss the situation in Afghanistan with diplomats, Afghan diaspora and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC).
• `Clear consensus was evident on the issue of women and girls` right to work and have access to education,` said a statement from the United Nations, referring to meetings in the lead-up to the Kabul visit

9. Ukrainian minister among 14 killed in helicopter crash

• Ukraine`s interior minister and other officials were among more than a dozen people killed by a helicopter crash on January 18, 2023 near a kindergarten outside Kyiv, in a blow to the war battered nation`s government.
• There was no immediate claim from Kyiv that Russian forces were involved in the tragedy, and authorities launched an investigation while crews were still working near the charred remains of the aircraft.
• Officials initially said that 18 people died but have revised the toll down to 14 including Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky, other ministry officials and a child as search operations ended

10. US arrests Russian crypto boss for `money laundering`

• US authorities said on January 18, 2023 they had arrested the owner of China-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitzlato for alleged money laundering, hailing the move as a global `blow to the crypto crime ecosystem` Anatoly Legkodymov, 40, a Russian living in Shenzhen, China, was held in Miami overnight and was due to appear in court in the city during the day, the Department of Justice said at a press conference.
• He was detained for his role in allegedly transmitting a total of $700 million in illicit funds, the department said, pointing to criminals using the exchange as a haven for narcotics trading and selling stolen financial information