News in Short

• Maharashtra has launched convalescent plasma therapy-cum-trial project for treatment of critical COVID-19 patients.
• Convalescent plasma therapy, also called passive antibody therapy, seeks to obtain plasma from the blood of people who have recovered from the infection to inject into patients undergoing treatment.
• The project, titled 'Platina', is the largest convalescent plasma therapy-cum-trial project in the world. All critical patients will receive two doses of 200 ml convalescent plasma free of cost.

• A major terrorist attack and hostage situation on the Karachi Stock Exchange was averted when a group of armed militants were neutralised. Pakistan has blamed the attack on India.
• The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) condemned Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi for linking the attack on Pakistan Stock Exchange building to India,
• The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) linked Majeed Brigade claimed responsibility for the attack. It was also behind Pearl Continental hotel attack in Gwadar last year in which eight people were killed.

• Iran has issued an arrest warrant and asked Interpol for help in detaining U.S. President Donald Trump and dozens of others who had participated in carrying out a drone attack that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.
• Iran has requested a “red notice” be put out for Mr. Trump and the others, which represents the highest-level arrest request issued by Interpol.
• The US officials had assassinated Soleimani in air strike near Baghdad, with Iraqi militia head Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis also losing his life. The strike put the region on the brink of war.

• Separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani resigned as chief of the hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference, over mishandling of post-article 370 abrogation movement.
• Geelani became life-time chief of the hardline faction, floated after the split of the Hurriyat Conference split in 2003. He has appointed Pakistan based Abdullah Geelani as his successor.
• The other faction is led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. With Geelani’s resignation, there is speculation regarding the role of hardline group and its future.

• India’s Nitin Menon was included in the International Cricket Council’s (ICC’s) Elite Panel of Umpires for the upcoming 2020-21 season. Menon replaced England’s Nigel Llong.
• Menon has the experience of officiating in three Tests, 24 ODIs and 16 T20Is so far and becomes only the third Indian umpire to feature in the panel after former captain Srinivas Venkatraghavan and Sundaram Ravi.
• The ICC monitors umpires' standing through various parameters, including on-field decision-making, the number of reviews the match official has got right, and conduct on the field. Accordingly, points are tallied and umpires are ranked internally.