Daily Top-10 Current Affairs MCQs/News (Jan 26 2023) for CSS

Table of Contents

6. Cash-starved govt doles out Rs90bn to lawmakers

• Amid fiscal challenges, the government has increased development funds for parliamentarians by almost 30 per cent from budgetary allocations to Rs90 billion and is set to distribute about Rs8.4bn to farmers through database of the Sindh government.
• This was the crux of a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Wednesday that also approved almost Rs1bn in additional funding for the maintenance of rest houses and residences of the judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in various cities across the country.
• Presided over by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, the ECC meeting also approved about 25pc increase in the price of a vial used in pregnancy tests and an assistance
• Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had a day earlier said that Pakistan faced fiscal and economic challenges and wanted the IMF support to sail through these difficult times

January 26, 2022: International Current Affairs MCQs

7. Perpetrators of `modern slavery` given up to 12 years in US

• Three members of a Pakistani-American family were sentenced this week to prison terms ranging from five to 12 years, for their roles in keeping a woman from Pakistan in forced labour at their home for more than 12 years.
• US federal authorities, who described the case as `modern-day slavery`, said the victim had married into the family.
• In a statement issued on Tuesday, the US Justice Department said that Zahida Aman, 80, was sentenced to 12 years; Mohammed Rehan Chaudhri, 48, to 10 years; and Mohammad Nauman Chaudhri, 55, to five years in a federal prison in the Eastern District of Virginia

8. NZ PM Ardern gets emotional farewell

• Hundreds gathered to pay an emotional farewell to Jacinda Ardern as she left New Zealand`s parliament to resign as prime minister on January 25, 2023, before Chris Hipkins was swiftly sworn in as her replacement.
• Ardern said last week she no longer had `enough in the tank` after steering the country through natural disasters, its worst-ever terror attack and the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Hipkins was sworn in by Governor General Cindy Kiro during a ceremony in the capital Wellington, saying he was `energised and excited by the challenges ahead` `This is the biggest privilege and responsibility of my life,` he said

9. UN raises women work ban with Taliban

• The UN aid chief said on January 25, 2023 NGOs were speaking with Taliban officials to try and gain further exemptions and written guidelines to allow some women aid workers to operate despite a ban imposed last month.
• Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths said that during discussions with authorities in Kabul over the last few days, his message had been: `If you can`t help us rescind the ban, give us the exemptions to allow women to operate.`

10. US, Germany approve 45 heavy tanks for Ukraine

• The United States and Germany on January 2, 2023 announced deliveries of a total of 45 top-of-the-line tanks to Ukraine, sweeping aside their longstanding misgivings and signaling a new surge of Western support for an expected counter-offensive against Russian invasion. In a televised address, President Joe Biden promised 31 Abrams tanks, hours after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz gave the go ahead for sending 14 Leopard-2 tanks to Kyiv.
• The twin decisions open the floodgates to several other European countries with Leopard stocks to send their own contributions. Although Western countries have already sent Ukraine everything from artillery to Patriot anti-missile defense systems, tanks were long considered a step too far, risking a widening backlash from Russia