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

Table of Contents

6. Sindh on the verge of running dry

• While the barrages of Sindh continue to face a severe water shortage, two controversial link canals were opened on May 11, 2022 with the permission of the Indus River System Authority (Irsa). Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman called the 60 per cent shortage of water in the Indus `very dangerous`, putting at risk the provincial population, agriculture and livestock.
• The Chashma-Jhelum (CJ) link canal, which was opened on Tuesday with a flow of 958 cusecs and was being provided 2,000 cusecs on Wednesday, is operated by the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda). The Taunsa Panjnad (TP) link canal was regulated by Punjab`s irrigation department for which a flow of 2,404 cusecs was allowed on Wednesday

7. US backs new South Korea leader on North

• The United States on May 11, 2022 voiced support for South Korea`s new president`s outreach to North Korea and reiterated that it was ready to talk to Pyongyang on rising tensions.
• President Yoon Suk-yeol, a conservative expected to take a harder line on the North, in his inaugural address on Tuesday called on his neighbor`s leaders to give up nuclear weapons in return for economic aid.
• `We have a new partner a new president in South Korea that is determined, working with the United States, to be very clearly engaged in deterring and sending a strong message of partnership between Seoul and Washington,` said Kurt Campbell, the top White House official on Asia

8. Amid crisis, Lanka president vows to curtail own powers

• Sri Lanka`s embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa pledged on May 11, 2022 to give up most of his executive powers but stopped short of yielding to demands for his resignation over the country`s economic crisis.
• The 72-year-old, in his first address to the nation since the start of a month-long protest campaign calling on him to quit, said he will announce a unity government in the coming days. `I will name a prime minister who will command a majority in parliament and the confidence of the people,` Rajapaksa said in a televised speech.
• He did not name the successor of his elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, who stepped down as prime minister on Monday to clear the way for a new cabinet

9. US Democrats throw down gauntlet with symbolic vote on abortion

• Democrats in the US Senate were due to lead a vote on May 11, 2022 to codify the right to abortion into federal law in a bid to pin down Republicans on the deeply divisive issue ahead of crucial midterm elections, even though they expect the measure to fail.
• The move comes amid a political firestorm ignited by a leaked draft opinion that showed the Supreme Court`s conservative majority prepared to overturn Roe v. Wade, a landmark 1973 ruling guaranteeing abortion access nationwide.
• Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Senate`s Democratic majority, told col-WASHINGTON: Democrats in the US Senate were due to lead a vote on Wednesday to codify the right to abortion into federal law in a bid to pin down Republicans on the deeply divisive issue ahead of crucial midterm elections, even though they expect the measure to fail

10. Apple stops production of iPod

• Apple on Tuesday put out word it is no longer making iPods, the trend-setting MP3 players that transformed how people get music and gave rise to the iPhone.
• Late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs introduced the devices nearly 21 years ago with his legendary showmanship flare, and the small, easy to operate players helped the company revolutionise how music was sold.
• It packed `a mind-blowing 1,000 songs` the company said at the time, and together with Apple`s iTunes shop established a new distribution model for the music industry.
• Apple said in a blog post that the current generation of iPods will only be available as long as current supplies last