Daily Top-10 Current Affairs MCQs/News (July 12 2023) for CSS

Table of Contents

6. 25 nations reduce poverty by 50pc in 15 years: UNDP

• The latest update of the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) demonstrates that poverty reduction was achievable as 25 countries have successfully halved their global MPI values within 15 years, showing that rapid progress is attainable.
• The latest estimates for 110 countries were released on Tuesday by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI).

7. Australian soldier appeals ruling on four Afghans` murder

• Australia`s most decorated living war veteran lodged an appeal on July 11, 2023 against a civil court defamation ruling that found he played a part in the murder of four Afghans while serving in Afghanistan, court records showed.
• Former SAS corporal Ben Roberts-Smith, who won Australia`s highest military honour the Victoria Cross for his actions in Afghanistan, had sued three Nine Entertainment newspapers and their journalists over articles that accused him of killing unarmed Afghan civilians outside the rules of war.
• But a Federal Court judge ruled on June 1 that the newspapers had proven most of their allegations

8. Moscow vetoes extension of UN lifeline for Syria

• Russia on July 11, 2023 signalled the demise of a long-running United Nations humanitarian operation in Turkiye delivering aid to four million people in rebel-held north-western Syria after it vetoed a nine-month authorisation renewal at the UN Security Council.
• Russia then failed in its own bid for a six-month extension of the operation, which has been delivering aid including food, medicine and shelter since 2014. The Security Council approval for the aid deliveries expired on Monday.
• Russia`s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia suggested that the council mandate for the aid operation could not be salvaged

9. Nato welcomes Ukraine, but stops short of invitation

• Nato leaders agreed on July 11, 2023 that Ukraine`s future lies within the alliance but they stopped short of handing Kyiv the invitation or timetable for accession it sought, a stance that Ulcrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had earlier criticised as `absurd`.
• The leaders met at a summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius as a Ukrainian counteroffensive against the Russian invasion forces occupying parts of the country was proceeding more slowly than Kyiv had hoped.
• In its declaration, Nato also dropped the requirement for Ukraine to fulfil what is called a Membership Action Plan (MAP), effectively removing a hurdle on Kyiv`s way into the alliance

10. India`s SC to begin hearing on held Kashmir`s special status on Aug 2

• Four years after India-held Kashmir`s special status was controversially annulled by the Modi government, the constitution bench of India`s Supreme Court set a roadmap on Monday to hear on a day-to-day basis petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370.
• A host of petitions are pending before the court following the reading down of Article 370 of the Indian constitution on Aug 5, 2019. The article granted special status to the region.
• The bench made it clear that the hearings will be held on a day-to-day basis from Aug 2.