Daily Top-10 Current Affairs MCQs/News (Feb 18 2023) for CSS

Table of Contents

6. 53 killed in Syria attack blamed on IS

• At least 53 civilians were killed in an attack in Syria`s central desert province of Homs, state media reported on Friday, blaming the militant Islamic State group.
• US Central Command earlier said an IS leader was killed and four US troops were wounded in a US helicopter raid in northeast Syria. It said a raid the previous day targeted and killed a `senior leader` named as Hamza al-Homsi who oversaw the group`s network in eastern Syria.
• The bodies of all victims taken to the Palmyra state hospital had gunshot wounds to the head, state news agency SANA cited the hospital`s chief as saying

7. US envoy apologises for `inappropriate` tweets about Afghan women

• The top US diplomat to Afghanistan apologised on Thursday for tweets that suggested struggling Afghan women might find inspiration in African American history and culture, particularly the #BlackGirlMagic social media movement.
• US envoy Karen Decker tweeted that several of her posts earlier in the week went `awry` despite her `best intentions` when she suggested Afghan women could learn from examples such as pop culture icons Beyonce and Lizzo.
• Her comments sparked online indignation from users who objected to the seemingly tone deaf comments about the plight of Afghan women, who have seen their rights severely curtailed since the Taliban swept back to power in 2021

8. Interfaith centre houses UAE`s first synagogue

• The United Arab Emirates has opened a centre housing a mosque, church and the country`s first official synagogue with the aim of promoting interfaith coexistence in the Muslim nation.
• The oil-rich Gulf federation, which normalised relations with Israel in 2020, is home to a small but active Jewish community that usually prays in private.
• With three houses of worship in the same place, the Abrahamic Family House, inaugurated on Thursday in the capital Abu Dhabi, is the first of its kind. `The centre will be a platform for learning and dialogue, a model of coexistence,` said its president, Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak

9. US wooing India away from Russia with display of bombers

• The United States brought its most advanced fighter jet, the F-35, to India for the first time this week alongside F-16s, Super Hornets and B-1B bombers as Washington looks to woo New Delhi away from its traditional military supplier, Russia.
• India, desperate to modernise its largely Sovietera fighter jet fleet to boost its air power, is concerned about Russian supply delays due to the Ukraine war and faces pressure from the West to distance itself from Moscow.
• The American delegation to the week-long Aero India show in Bengaluru, which ends on Friday, is the biggest in the 27-year history of the show and underlines the growing strategic relationship between the United States and India

10. LHC ex-judge Malik Qayyum passes away

• Former judge of the Lahore High Court (LHC) Malik Muhammad Qayyum passed away on February 17, 2023. He was 78.
• His funeral prayers were offered at Jamia Ashrafia after Friday prayers. He was laid to rest in the Miani Sahib graveyard. Members of the legal and political fraternity attended his funeral.
• Justice Qayyum was born on Dec 18, 1944, to Muhammad Akram, who was also a judge of the LHC and the Supreme Court.
• Justice Akram was a member of a five-judge bench of the LHC that handed down death penalty to former prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto