Daily Top-10 Current Affairs MCQs / News (February 16, 2021) for CSS, PMS

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February 16, 2021: National / International Current Affairs

1. Vaccine registration for people over 65 years opens

• With 37,289 healthcare workers having been inoculated against Covid-19 across the country since the launching of the vaccination drive, the government on February 15, 2021 opened registration for people aged 65 years and above.
• On the other hand, the country reported another 1,048 cases and 26 deaths in a single day.
• Meanwhile, the representative body of doctors, Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), has expressed reservations over giving a free hand to companies in fixing vaccine prices

2. Top NAB prosecutor reappointed through ordinance

• The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government has issued an unprecedented two-liner ordinance to reappoint prosecutor general of the National Accountability Bureau Syed Asghar Haider for an indefinite period, drawing criticism from the opposition that claimed the person-specific ordinance had made NAB even more controversial.
• The ordinance was promulgated on Feb 9 and its gazette notification was made public on Feb 15.

3. Over $2bn remittances for straight seventh month

• Inflow of remittances remained above $2 billion in January, helping the country to receive 24 per cent more remittances compared to the last financial year.
• The latest data issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on February 15, 2021 indicated that it was the seventh straight monthly inflow of over $2bn, taking the total inflows during July January FY21 to $16.476bn from $13.279bn, an increase of 24pc

4. Soldier martyred in attack on FC check post

• A member of the security forces embraced martyrdom late on February 14, 2021 night as terrorists attacked a check post of the Frontier Corps near Hoshab area of Kech district.
• A spokesman for the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Monday that Sepoy Asad Mehdi was martyred in the incident.
• The spokesman said a check post had been set up near Hoshab for security of N-85 Highway. He said members of the security forces cordoned off the entire area to arrest fleeing terrorists and a search operation had also been launched.

5. Okonjo-Iweala makes history as WTO head

• Three months after the Trump administration rejected her, former Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala received unanimous backing on February 15, 2021 to become the first woman and first African director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
• A self-declared `doer` with a track record of taking on seemingly intractable problems, OkonjoIweala will have her work cutoutfor her at the trade body, even with Donald Trump, who had threatened to pull the United States out of the organisation, no longer in the White House

6. NATO chief hints at delaying Afghan pullout

• NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on February 15, 2021 the alliance will not withdraw its troops from Afghanistan `before the time is right`, ahead of a discussion by defence ministers on the deployment.
• The ministers of the 30 NATO member states will on Wednesday and Thursday hold their highest-level talks since US President Joe Biden took office vowing to work closer with allies after four years of tensions under Donald Trump

7. AstraZeneca`s vaccine gets UN approval for emergency use

• The World Health Organisation has granted an emergency authorisation to AstraZeneca`s coronavirus vaccine, a move that should allow the UN agency`s partners to ship millions of doses to countries worldwide as part of a UN-backed programme to tame the pandemic.
• In a statement February 15, 2021, the WHO said it was clearing the AstraZeneca vaccines made by the Serum Institute of India and South Korea`s AstraZeneca-SKBio.

8. China overtakes US as EU`s biggest trading partner

• China last year overtook the United States as the EU`s biggest trading partner, the EU statistics agency Eurostat said on February 15, 2021.
• Britain meanwhile, which is no longer part of the European Union, was the third-largest trading partner for the bloc, behind China and the United States, the agency said.
• The supremacy of China came after it suffered from the coronavirus pandemic during the first quarter but recovered vigorously with consumption even exceeding its level of a year ago attheendof2020

9. South African hotel turns to robot hospitality to beat pandemic

• Staff at Hotel Sky in Johannesburg`s wealthy Sandton district adhere to strict Covid-19 protocols, wearing masks and physically distancing from guests as much as possible; all, that is, except Lexi, Micah and Ariel.
• For the three concierges couldn`t breathe germs on you even if they wanted to: they`re robots.
• Robot hospitality is not new Japanese hotels have been deploying them for years and in 2015 Tokyo`s Henn`na, or `Strange` hotel became the first to be fully staffed by machines

10. SA confirm white-ball tour of Ireland

• South Africa will travel to Ireland for a first full limited overs tour in July, comprising three One day Internationals and as many Twenty20 Internationals, officials confirmed on February 15, 2021.
• The ODIs will be staged in Malahide from July 11 to 16, with the same venue used for the opening game of the T20 series that runs from July 20 to 25, before the matches switch to Stormont for the final two fixtures.

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