Daily Top-10 Current Affairs MCQs/News (Mar 05 2023) for CSS

Table of Contents

6. UN chief censures `predatory` lending by rich states

• UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on March 4, 2023 slammed the world`s rich countries and energy giants for throttling poor nations with `predatory` interest rates and crippling fuel prices.
• Speaking in the Qatari capital, Doha, Guterres told leaders of more than 40 of the most deprived states that wealthy nations should provide $500 billion a year to help others `trapped in vicious cycles` that block efforts to boost economies and vital services.
• The summit of Least Developed Countries (LDC) is normally held every 10 years but has twice been delayed since 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
• Afghanistan and Myanmar, two of the poorest countries, are not present at the Doha meeting of 46 LDC members because their governments are not recognised by UN members

7. `Extremely tense` situation as Russian and Ukrainian forces fight in Bakhmut streets

• Russia`s defence minister has inspected the front line in eastern Ukraine, the defence ministry said on March 4, 2023, with the battle for Bakhmut raging and the US offering to pump more money into Kyiv`s survival.
• Sergei Shoigu had `inspected a command post on the front` in the direction of the southern Donetsk region, the defence ministry said, without specifying exactly where or when. It put out a video of Shoigu travelling in a helicopter and talking to a soldier in front of damaged buildings.
• Ukrainian troops have held out for months in Bakhmut, fighting brutal trench warfare and artillery battles that have flattened large portions of the city, and President Volodymyr Zelensky this week said the fighting was `only increasing`

8. Iran to reconnect nuclear surveillance cameras, says UN nuclear watchdog

• Iran has agreed to reconnect surveillance cameras at several nuclear sites and increase the pace of inspections, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on March 4, 2023.
• UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi earlier said he had held `constructive` talks with Iranian officials in Tehran after the discovery of uranium particles enriched to near weapons-grade level.
• On his return to Vienna, Grossi recalled there had been `a reduction in monitoring activities related to cameras and monitoring systems` and said that `we have agreed that those will be operating again` `This is very, very important` in terms of continuity of knowledge, `in particular in the context of the possibility of the revival of JCPOA`, he said

9. China`s economy, govt revamp in focus as parliament opens today

• China opens its annual parliamentary session on March 4, 2023, with the National People`s Congress (NPC) set to implement the biggest government shakeup in a decade as Beijing confronts a host of challenges and looks to revive its Covid-battered economy.
• Premier Li Keqiang will open the session at 9am (6am Pakistan time), reading out a government work report that is expected to include an economic growth target that could range as high as 6pc in a bid to boost confidence and build on a promising post pandemic recovery, sources involved in policy discussions said.

10. BBC raids show India`s shrinking media freedom under Modi

• At around 11am on Feb 14, some 20 Indian tax officials and police burst into the BBC`s offices in New Delhi, shouting at staff to step away from their computers and hand over their mobile phones, according to two people present.
• At the company`s bureau in India`s financial capital, Mumbai, tax officials launched a second raid.
• The government said the BBC had failed to respond to repeated requests to clarify its tax affairs related to the profits and remittances from its Indian operations