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December 14, 2018: National Current Affairs

1. Army asks US to adopt `regional approach` on terrorism

• The army top brass on December 13, 2018 hoped for `success` of US efforts for Afghan reconciliation process and called for dealing with terrorism through a regional approach.
• `Forum highlighted importance of regional approach to eliminate roots of terrorism and attached hopes for success of ongoing Afghan reconciliation process while supporting all stakeholders to bring Afghan war to a peaceful logical conclusion,` an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement on the 216th corps commanders` conference said.
• The corps commanders` conference, which is a monthly feature at the GHQ, this time specially focused on regional security and the situation on the eastern and western borders, including the Line of Control, while reviewing the geo-strategic environment. Additionally, the meeting took stock of the internal security situation and the ongoing security operations.
• Pakistan renewed its commitment to facilitate the reconciliation process after US President Donald Trump last week wrote a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan, seeking his government`s help for Afghan peace. Backing reconciliation in Afghanistan has been Islamabad`s longstanding position.

2. MoU signed with Iran to boost border security

• Pakistan and Iran have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to improve border security and stop oil, drugs and arms smuggling and human trafficking.
• The MoU was signed after a meeting of the joint border commission held in Zahidan, the provincial capital of Iranian province Sistan-Baluchestan.
• The three-day meeting concluded on December 13, 2018 in which several agreements to strengthen security in the border areas and to prevent illegal movements were signed.
• Both sides expressed determination to prevent smuggling of drugs and oil and stop human trafficking and take strict security measures to halt movement of terrorists across the border.

3. Pakistan reported 3,000 accounts in six months: Twitter

• The total number of accounts reported by Pakistani authorities to Twitter for alleged offences like `spreading hate material` and `inciting violence` shot up to over 3,000 in the first six months of this year, according to a biannual report of the social networking website.
• The website`s transparency report released on December 13, 2018 said that between January and June this year the government sent requests for removal of 243 accounts and reported 3,004 profiles to Twitter. Of the profiles specified, some content was removed from 141 accounts for violating Twitter`s terms of service (TOS).
• Last year, there were only 75 removal requests between July and December, and 674 accounts were reported to Twitter.
• Twitter, however, declined all the requests for account information and removal.

4. ADB unveils $7.5bn business plan for Pakistan

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on December 13, 2018 announced its new `Country Operations Business Plan for Pakistan` covering 2019-21, under which resources would be available for sovereign lending programme amounting to $7,528 million.
• These resources will be available during the three year period in energy, transport, agriculture, natural resources and rural development, water and other urban infrastructure and services, according to the business plan document.
• Besides the new plan, ADB on December 13, 2018 signed a loan agreement with the government, worth $284m to improve the country`s power transmission network.
• The Manila-based lending agency says while the new government is in the process of establishing its development priorities, it is in close dialogue with the government.

5. Pakistan, Italy agree to enhance defence ties

• Pakistan and Italy on December 13, 2018 agreed to enhance defence and trade ties.
• Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi held a meeting with Secretary General of Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Elisabetta Balloniat at the Foreign Office to discuss bilateral ties in all sectors including defence and trade.
• The two sides discussed a wide range of regional and bilateral issues of mutual interest and expressed satisfaction at the current state of relations.
• The foreign minister underlined the need for opening channels of legal migration between the two countries.

December 14, 2018: International Current Affairs

6. Gandhi statue removed after protest in Ghana

• A statue of Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi has been removed from Ghana`s most prestigious university after complaints that he was racist against black Africans.
• India`s former president Pranab Mukherjee unveiled the statue to the global peace icon at the University of Ghana in Accra two years ago as a symbol of ties between the two nations.
• But lecturers soon began a petition calling for its removal, citing passages written by Gandhi claiming that Indians were `infinitely superior` to black Africans.
• The online protest was one of a number on university campuses in Africa and beyond about the enduring symbols of the continent`s colonial past.
• The Gandhi statue on the university`s Legon campus in Accra appeared to have been removed overnight December 11, 2018 to December 12.

7. Kabul opens new trade route to Central Asia

• Afghanistan on December 13, 2018 opened a new international trade route aimed at establishing direct access to Central Asian and Europe as it seeks to build up an economy wrecked by decades of war and reduce reliance on Pakistan.
• President Ashraf Ghani inaugurated the route, known as the Lapis Lazuli corridor, at a ceremony in the western province of Herat.
• Ghani, a former World Bank official, has pushed such projects, including the $10 billion TAPI Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India natural gas network launched this year, as essential to building a functioning Afghan economy.

8. Yemen`s warring parties agree to truce, UN role

• Yemen`s warring parties agreed on December 13, 2018 to cease fighting for the Houthi-held port city of Hodeidah and withdraw their troops, the first significant breakthrough for UN-led peace efforts in five years of conflict.
• At the close of a week of talks in Sweden, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said a framework for political negotiations would be discussed at the next round of talks between the Iranian-aligned Houthis and the Saudi-backed government of President AbdRabbu Mansour Hadi.
• Western nations, some of which supply arms and intelligence to the Saudi-led coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015, had pressed the two sides to agree confidence-building steps to pave the way for a wider truce and a political process to end the war, which has killed tens of thousands of people.
• The conflict has pushed Yemen, the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula, to the verge of famine. The World Food Programme said the Hodeidah deal was a much-needed boost for its task of feeding 12 million severely hungry Yemenis.

9. Turkey deploys armored vehicles on Syrian border

• The Turkish military is reinforcing its troops stationed in the province of Kilis on the Syrian border with armored vehicles, local media reported on December 13, 2018.
• Armored vehicles are reaching the Syrian border following a statement made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on December 12, 2018 that Ankara will launch a new military operation in Syria within days to free the east of the Euphrates from the US-backed Kurdish militia.
• Turkey and the United States have had tense relations in recent years, in part due to Ankara’s concerns over US support for the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), viewed by the Turkish authorities as an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist organisation in Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
• Turkey has been claiming that the YPG presence near its border hampers its national security.

10. Scientists study genes misidentified as ‘non-protein coding’

• The human genome contains regions that “code” for proteins, which means they have instructions to make protein molecules with specific functions in the body. But Yale researchers have discovered several protein-coding genes that were misidentified as non-protein-coding, and one in particular that plays a key role in the immune system.
• The research team suspected that the way genes are annotated, or categorized, within the genome has limited the identification of genes with the potential to code proteins. To test their theory, the researchers used mice models to study interaction between RNA and ribosomes, which are minute structures that turn RNA into proteins. They also used a technique called ribosome profiling to investigate how ribosomes relate to RNA. With the combined techniques, the researchers found a number of genes previously identified as non-protein-coding that were actively making proteins. In further experiments, the researchers focused on one such gene, Aw112010, that was activated when mice were infected with bacteria. Through use of CRISPR gene editing, they confirmed that immune cells were robustly synthesizing the protein made from Aw112010 gene in response to Salmonella infection.