Daily Top-10 Current Affairs MCQs/News (Feb 21 2023) for CSS

Table of Contents

6. UNSC denounces Israel over settlements

• The UN Security Council issued a formal statement on February 20, 2023 denouncing Israel`s plan to expand settlements on occupied Palestinian territory, the first action the United States has allowed the body to take against its ally Israel in six years.
• Washington`s support for the presidential statement action the 15-member council has to agree by consensus came af ter the United Arab Emirates said it would not put a stronger draft resolution on the issue to a vote, a move that could have prompted a US veto.
• `The Security Council reiterates that continuing Israeli settlement activities are dangerously imperiling the viability of the two-State solution based on the 1967 lines,` the council said in the statement.

7. Assad visits Oman after quake, in first since war

• Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visited Oman on February 20, 2023, his first official trip to the Gulf country in more than a decade of civil war at home, the Omani foreign ministry said.
• The one-day trip to meet with Sultan Haitham bin Tareg came two weeks after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck southeastern Turkiye and northern Syria, killing more than 44,000 people across both countries.
• The quake sparked Arab outreach to the internationally-isolated Assad government, which was expelled from the Arab League after war broke out in 2011. Sultan Haitham and Assad `held official talks` at the royal palace in Muscat, Oman`s foreign ministry said in a statement. The Omani ruler `extended anew his condolences and sincere sympathy to the president and to the brotherly Syrian people for the victims of the devastating earthquake`, it added

8. Biden makes surprise trip to Kyiv before war anniversary

• US President Joe Biden on February 20, 2023 made a trip to Kyiv organised in strict secrecy, promising $500 million in fresh arms deliverles and `unwavering` American support ahead of the first anniversary of Russia`s invasion.
• Air raid sirens rang out across the capital at one point as Biden walked alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during what was the US president`s first visit to the country since Russian troops invaded on Feb 24, 2022.
• `One year later, Kyiv stands. And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands,` Biden said, speaking alongside Zelensky at the Ukrainian president`s official residence, the Mariinsky Palace

9. Blinken reaffirms US pledge to deliver F-16 fighters to Turkiye

• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on February 20, 2023 underlined Washington`s commitment to delivering F-16 jets to Turkiye as he wrapped up a visit during which he pledged solidarity with the earthquake hit country.
• It was Blinken`s first visit to Turkiye as secretary of state in a trip that was planned before a 7.8-magnitude earthquake on February 6, which has now killed nearly 45,000 people in Turkiye and Syria.
• Relations between the United States and Turkiye have been strained in recent years, but Washington has found Ankara helpful for its mediatory role between Russia and Ukraine since Moscow`s invasion last year

10. Sanctions-hit Russia displays combat-tested arms at UAE fair

• Russia showed up in force on February 20, 2023 at an arms fair in the United Arab Emirates, displaying combat-tested weapons up for export, including rifles and air defence systems.
• At an isolated pavilion at the International Defence Exhibition (IDEX) in Abu Dhabi, Moscow`s state arms exporter Rosoboron export said it had more than 200 full-scale models of armament, ammunition and military gear.
• Russian armoured vehicles, attack helicopters and anti-aircraft missile systems were also on display at IDEX, which opened on Monday, as crippling Western sanctions push President Vladimir Putin to seek new markets for arms exports