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 January 31, 2018

1. Pakistan ready to extend rail link agreement with India
   • Despite tense ties with New Delhi due to frequent ceasefire violations on the Line of Control and Working Boundary, Pakistan on January 30, 2018 gave its consent for a three-year extension to an agreement with India on MunabaoKhokhrapar rail link
   • The government of Pakistan has agreed to extend the agreement of the rail link between Munabao (India) and Khokhrapar (Pakistan) for another three years
   • The extension will take effect from Feb 1, 2018
   • The rail link facilitates people-to-peo-ple contact that Pakistan believes is essential for improving relations between the two countries
   • The signing of the rail link agreement in 2006 had restored the route after 41 years
   • The connection substantially reduced travel time between Sindh (Pakistan) and central and southern Indian states
2. Afghan govt losing control over its territory: US report
   • Historically, the number of districts controlled or influenced by the Afghan government has been declining since 2009 while the number controlled or influenced by the militants has been rising, said an official US report released on January 30, 2018
   • This quarter, the US Department of Defence (DOD) instructed SIGAR not to release to the public data on the number of districts, and the population living in them, controlled or influenced by the Afghan government or by the insurgents, or contested by both
3. Irfan Naeem Mangi made director general of Rawalpindi NAB
   • The decision regarding the posting of Irfan Naeem Mangi from the office of Balochistan NAB to Rawalpindi/ Islamabad was made by NAB Chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal on January 30, 2018
   • Irfan NAeem Mangi is one of the active members of the joint investigation team which was formed by the Supreme Court to investigate the finances of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif and members of his family in the Panama Papers case
4. Trump rules out talks with Taliban, pledges to `finish` them
   • US President Donald Trump has ruled out any talks with the Taliban and instead has pledged to `finish what nobody else has been able to finish` in Afghanistan before him
   • In Kabul, the Afghan government interpreted this as the reiteration of Mr Trump`s resolve to defeat the Taliban in the battlefield and offered to work with the United States to achieve this target
   • The Taliban, however, reacted to President Trump`s remarks by declaring that they never wanted to talk to the United States anyway, although one senior Taliban official said he believed the US continue talking to the militant movement
5. Survey finds India has 21m `unwanted` girls
   • India`s pre-budget economic survey has said that the desire for a male child has created 21 million `unwanted` girls in the country between 0 and 25 years
   • While India has shown improvement in several parameters related to women`s empowerment, the preference for a son has not diminished
   • The survey has talken note of the behavioural pattern of Indian parents who prefer to have children `until the desired number of sons are born
6. FBI`s No 2 official quits after censure by Trump
   • FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, criticised by President Donald Trump and other Republicans for alleged bias against him and in favour of his 2016 Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, has stepped down, US officials confirmed on January 30, 2018
   • McCabe, who served as acting Federal Bureau of Investigation chief for more than two months last year after Trump fired Director James Comey, had been expected to leave his post as the No. 2 FBI official in March
7. Kenya`s opposition leader proclaims himself as president
   • Kenyan authorities suspended television and radio stations on January 30, 2018 as supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga watched him take a symbolic presidential oath in a Nairobi park in a direct challenge to President Uhuru Kenyatta
   • Security forces made no move to stop the ceremony, which authorities had said would be illegal, but the government later declared the opposition `National Resistance Movement` a criminal group, paving the way for potential arrests
   • The movement is a loose grouping led by Odinga and other lawmakers that tried to rally support in November for a boycott of some products whose owners it says are aligned with government interests
   • Odinga said the vice president would be sworn in at a later date
8. US lifts ban on refugees from 11 countries
   • The United States has announced it is lifting its ban on refugees from 11 “high-risk” countries, but said those seeking to enter the US would come under much tougher scrutiny than in the past
   • Applicants from 11 countries, unnamed but understood to include 10 Muslim-majority nations plus North Korea, will face tougher “risk-based” assessments to be accepted
   • The list comprise Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen
9. Saudis say $107b recovered from graft, 56 people still held
   • Saudi Arabia’s attorney general said on Tuesday $107 billion has been recovered so far in a major crackdown on high-level corruption and that 56 suspects were still being investigated
   • Those released include individuals proven not guilty but also others who had agreed financial settlements with the government after admitting corruption charges
   • Total settlements with the suspects had topped 400 billion riyals ($107 billion) in various forms of assets handed over that included property, securities and cash.
   • In November, the authorities launched an unprecedented anti-graft swoop that netted hundreds of members of the extended royal family, top businessmen and officials
10. Yemen separatists seize de facto capital as charity suspends work
    • Separatists in war-ravaged Yemen have seized all but one district of the government’s de facto capital Aden, also laying siege to the isolated presidential palace on the city’s southern outskirts on January 30, 2018
    • Global charity Save the Children said it was suspending life-saving work in Aden as its staff were forced to hunker down amid gun battles that the Red Cross says have killed at least 36 people in the past three days
    • A number of ministers fled the port city by boat on Monday night, docking in the district of Brega further west

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