Daily Top-10 Current Affairs MCQs / News (Jan 20 2023) for CSS

Table of Contents

International Current Affairs MCQs News

6. US Treasury takes unusual steps to avoid looming default

• The US Treasury began taking measures on January 19, 2023 to prevent a default on government debt, as Congress heads towards a high-stakes clash between Democrats and Republicans over raising the borrowing limit.
• Such `extraordinary measures` can help reduce the amount of outstanding debt subject to the limit, currently set at $31.4 trillion, but the Treasury has warned that the tools would only help for a limited time likely not longer than six months.
• `I respectfully urge Congress to act promptly to protect the full faith and credit of the United States, said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in a letter to Congressional leadership on Thursday. She added that there is `considerable uncertainty` on how long the measures can last before risking default

7. Arab-Israeli reunited with family

• An Arab-Israeli jailed for killing an Israeli soldier was released on January 19, 2023 after serving 40 years, officials said, with Israel warning it would not tolerate celebrations glorifying `terror` Maher Younis was released from Beersheba prison in southern Israel shortly after dawn, the Palestinian Prisoners Club said.
• Younis was convicted in 1983 of the 1980 murder of Israeli soldier Avraham Bromberg near Hadera in the north of Israel, on his way home from the occupied Golan Heights. His death sentence was commuted to a 40-year jail term.
• Hundreds gathered outside Younis` family home in the northern Israeli village of Arara as the 62-year-old returned home, with a young woman in tears as she placed a garland of flowers around Younis` neck

8. Iran slams EU parliament for urging terror label on Guards

• Iran condemned on January 19, 2023 a European Parliament call to blacklist the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group, which would pave the way for sanctions against the powerful military force.
• Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian `strongly criticised the emotional approach of the European Parliament and labelled the move inappropriate and incorrect`, in a phone call with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
• Amir-Abdollahian called the resolution from Wednesday `harsh and unprofessional` and warned the EU must `think about the negative consequences of this emotional behaviour`

9. German parliament recognises Yazidi `genocide` in Iraq

• Germany`s lower house of parliament recognised on January 19, 2023 the 2014 massacre of Yazidis by the militant Islamic State group in Iraq as a `genocide` and called for measures to assist the besieged minority.
• In a move hailed by Yazidi community representatives, deputies in the Bundestag passed the motion by the three parliamentary groups in Germany`s ruling centre-left-led coalition and conservative MPs.
• The chamber `recognises the crimes against the Yazidi community as genocide, following the legal evaluations of investigators from the United Nations,` the resolution said, after similar moves by countries including Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands

10. Last Nizam of Hyderabad bows out

• Mukarram Jah Bahadur, the last Nizam of the erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad, passed away in Istanbul on Saturday and was laid to rest on Wednesday in the city from where his paternal ancestors had ruled a fabulously rich realm.
• While the late Nizam was the heir to his paternal grandfather, Mir Osman Ali Khan, what is lesser known is that Mukarram Jah was also designated as the successor of his maternal grandfather Sultan Abdulmajid II, the last Ottoman Caliph, combining in his persona heirship to India`s grandest princely state, as well as the storied Ottoman Caliphate.
• According to TR T World,Mukarram Jah was 89, while as per the Press Trust of India the last Nizam was laid to rest next to his father Azam Jah after Asr prayers with state honours.