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

Table of Contents

6. Saudi FM meets Assad on first trip to Syria since 2011

• Syrian President Bashar Al Assad met Saudi Arabia`s top diplomat in Damascus on April 18, 2023, state media reported, ending more than a decade of diplomatic deep-freeze between the two countries.
• `President Bashar Al Assad meets Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal Bin Farhan,` Syria`s official news agency SANA reported.
• The Saudi prince arrived in Damascus on Tuesday afternoon on the first visit to Syria`s capital by a Saudi official since the start of the country`s civil war in 2011.
• Assad has been politically isolated in the region since the conflict began, but a flurry of diplomatic activity has been underway in the past week as regional relations shift following a decision by Saudi Arabia and Iran to resume ties

7. Qatar, UAE to reopen embassies `in coming weeks`

• Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are working to reopen their long-closed embassies `in the coming weeks`, an official said on April 18, 2023, as a wave of rapprochement sweeps the turbulent Middle East region.
• The two countries re-established relations in January 2021, after the UAE took part in a nearly four-year Gulf blockade of Qatar, but despite several meetings they are yet to restore the diplomatic missions.
• `Regarding the opening of embassies between the two countries, I think it will be in the coming weeks,` foreign ministry spokesperson Majid Al-Ansari told a briefing

8. UN warns of exit from Afghanistan in May

• The UN warned on April 18, 2023 that it would pull out of Afghanistan in May if the Afghan Taliban do not allow its local women staff to return to work.
• Also on Tuesday, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) released a study, which warned that restrictions on women`s rights will worsen economic catastrophe in Afghanistan.
• The country`s de facto rulers indicated their inclination to ban Afghan women from working for the UN in December last year. On April 12, they issued a decree saying that Afghan women employed by the UN could no longer report for work. They have rejected UN appeals to review their position

9. China offers to facilitate Middle East peace talks

• China`s foreign minister has told his Israeli and Palestinian counterparts that Beijing is ready to help facilitate peace talks, state media Xinhua reported on April 18, 2023.
• The separate phone calls between Foreign Minister Qin Gang and the Israeli and the Palestinian top diplomats come amid recent moves by Beijing to position itself as a regional mediator.
• Qin encouraged `steps to resume peace talks`, and said that `China is ready to provide convenience for this,` in a Monday phone call with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, Xinhua reported in a summarisation

10. Starship test flight rejigged for tomorrow

• SpaceX has rescheduled for April 20, 2023 the first test flight of Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, designed to send astronauts to the Moon, Mars and beyond, after a technical glitch forced a halt to the countdown.
• A planned liftoff on Monday of the gigantic rocket was called off less than 10 minutes ahead of the scheduled launch because of a pressurisation issue in the first-stage booster.
• The private space company continued with the countdown in what it called a `wet dress rehearsal`, stopping the clock with 10 seconds to go, just before the massive engines on the booster were to have been ignited