Daily Top-10 Current Affairs MCQs / News (March 12, 2022) for CSS, PMS

Table of Contents

6. Russia widens war, bombs new targets

• Russia widened its offensive in Ukraine on March 11, 2022, striking airfields in the west and an industrial city in the east, while the huge armoured column that had been stalled for over a week outside Kyiv was on the move again, spreading out into forests and towns near the capital.
• The US and its allies moved to further isolate and sanction Russia by revoking its most favoured trading status. But with the invasion in its 16th day, Russia appeared to be trying to regroup and regain momentum, with expanded bombardment and a tightening of its stranglehold on cities like Mariupol, the strategic seaport where civilians struggled to find food amid an intense 10-day-old siege.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin said there have been certain positive developments in Russia-Ukraine talks but gave no details. He told Belarus` leader that negotiations were being held almost on a daily basis.
• For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said `Ukrainian forces had reached a strategic turning point`, but he did not elaborate.

7. Israel renews `racist law to keep out Palestinian spouses

• Israel`s parliament has renewed a temporary law dating back to 2003 that bars Israeli citizens from extending citizenship or even residency to Palestinian spouses from the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
• Israel says the law, which was first enacted during a Palestinian uprising, is needed for security. Critics view it as a racist measure aimed at maintaining the country`s Jewish majority. The law is aimed at Palestinians and does not apply to Jewish settlers in the West Bank as they already have Israeli citizenship.
• The Knesset failed to pass the law last summer because it did not have the support of left-wing and Arab members of the governing coalition. The opposition, led by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, supports the law but declined to vote for it to embarrass the government

8. China locks down Changchun amid surge in Covid cases

• A Chinese city of nine million was ordered into lockdown on March 11, 2022 and Shanghai shut its schools as authorities scrambled to halt a Covid-19 outbreak that has pushed nationwide cases to their highest levels in two years.
• Changchun, the capital of northeastern Jilin province and an important industrial base, ordered residents to stay at home, allowing one person out every two days to buy `daily necessities`.
• The city also halted all public transport, ordered schools and businesses shut and said it would institute mass testing.
• China`s daily coronavirus case count soared past the 1,000 mark this week for the first time since the pandemic`s early days in 2020

9. Iran N-talks paused due to `external factors`

• Iran and world powers on March 11, 2022 paused negotiations on reviving a 2015 nuclear deal due to `external factors`, the EU`s top diplomat said after last-minute Russian demands threatened to torpedo the otherwise largely completed negotiations.
• Eleven months of talks to restore the deal which lifted sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on its nuclear programme have reached their final stages. But last Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov unexpectedly demanded sweeping guarantees that Russian trade with Iran would not be affected by sanctions imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine a demand Western powers say is unacceptable and Washington has insisted it will not agree to.
• `A pause in Vienna Talks is needed, due to external factors,` European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell wrote on Twitter. `A final text is essentially ready and on the table

10. Teen sensation Ahsan claims IBSF World Snooker crown

• Riding on the crest of a wave, teenage sensation Ahsan Ramzan elevated his stature when he outpaced former runner-up Iranian Amir Sarkhosh 6-5 in an epic final to lay his hands on the International Billiards and Snooker Federation World Snooker Championship in Doha on Friday.
• Fresh from his semi-final triumph over defending champion and compatriot Mohammad Asif, the 16-year-old Ahsan reached the zenith as he came back from 4-2 down at one stage to win a nerve-jangling final 63-60, 91-0, 19-65, 1-102, 28-68, 27-66, 86-18, 1-70, 69-0, 63-17, 67-25 and enter his name into the annals of the game.
• Pakistan ended the event with a gold and two bronze after Sarkhosh had beaten Mohammad Sajjad in the other semi-final