Eurozone set for weak growth next year.

• The eurozone economy is set for only modest growth next year, despite wages rising faster than inflation for the first time in three years, according to a recent poll of economists.
• The eurozone, officially known as the euro area, is a geographic and economic region that consists of all the European Union countries that have fully incorporated the euro as their national currency.
• As of January 2023, the eurozone consists of 20 countries in the European Union (EU):
• Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain.
• Not all European Union nations participate in the eurozone; some opt to use their own currency and maintain their financial independence.
• The European Central Bank (ECB)exercises the sole power to set the monetary policy for the Eurozone countries.
• The ECB exercises the sole authority to decide the printing and minting of euro notes and coins. It also decides the interest rate for the Eurozone.
• The ECBs is headed by a president and a board, comprising the heads of the central banks of the participating nations.

How do countries join Eurozone?

• In order to join the euro area, EU member states are required to fulfil so-called ''convergence criteria'' which consists of price stability, sound public finances, the durability of convergence, and exchange rate stability.
• These binding economic and legal conditions were agreed upon in the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 and are also known as ''Maastricht criteria''.
• All EU Member States, except Denmark, are required to adopt the euro and join the euro area once they are ready to fulfill them.
• The Treaty does not specify a particular timetable for joining the euro area but leaves it to member states to develop their own strategies for meeting the condition for euro adoption.
• The European Commission and the ECB jointly decide whether the conditions are met for euro area candidate countries to adopt the euro.

What is European Union (EU)?

• The EU is a political and economic union of 27 member states located primarily in Europe.
• The EU was established by the Maastricht Treaty, which entered into force on November 1, 1993.
• The main goal of the EU is to promote cooperation and integration among its member states in order to enhance economic and political stability in Europe.
• It has a single market where goods, services, and capital can move freely.

India, Pakistan exchange list of nuclear installations.

• India and Pakistan exchanged the list of nuclear installations and facilities through diplomatic channels recently under the agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear installations and facilities.
• Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installations and Facilities was signed on December 31, 1988, by the then Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi.
• The treaty came into force on January 27, 1991, and has two copies each in Urdu and Hindi.

Need for the Agreement:

• In 1986, the Indian army carried out a massive exercise ‘Brasstacks’, raising fears of an attack on nuclear facilities.
• Since then, both countries have been negotiating to reach an understanding towards the control of nuclear weapons, which culminated in the treaty.

Provisions:

• The agreement mandates both countries to inform each other about any nuclear installations and facilities to be covered under the agreement on the first of January of every calendar year, providing a confidence-building security measure environment.
• The term ‘nuclear installation or facility’ includes nuclear power and research reactors, fuel fabrication, uranium enrichment, iso-topes separation, and reprocessing facilities, as well as any other installations with fresh or irradiated nuclear fuel and materials in any form and establishments storing significant quantities of radioactive materials.

Two-month-old becomes the youngest to get bone marrow transplant.

• A two-month-old girl with bubble baby syndrome underwent bone marrow transplant (BMT)
• ''Bubble baby syndrome,'' known medically as Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID) is very rare genetic disorder that causes life-threatening problems with the immune system.
• It is a type of primary immune deficiency.
• The disease is known as “living in the bubble” syndrome because living in a normal environment can be fatal to a child who has it.

What happens in SCID?

• In a developing baby, the immune system starts in the bone marrow. Stem cells can become any of three different types of blood cells such as red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets
• White blood cells (WBCs) protect the body from infections and foreign invaders. There are different kinds of WBCs, including lymphocytes.
• Lymphocytes come in two main types: B-cells and T-cells. These cells are key to fighting infections. T cells identify, attack, and kill "invaders." B cells make antibodies that "remember" an infection and are ready in case the body is exposed to it again.
• SCID is a "combined" immunodeficiency because it affects both of these infection-fighting white blood cells.
• In SCID, the child''s body has too few lymphocytes or lymphocytes that don''t work properly.
• Because the immune system doesn''t work as it should, it can be difficult or impossible for it to battle the germs—viruses, bacteria, and fungi—that cause infections.

Causes:

• Inherited mutations in more than a different genes cause SCID.
• This means one or both birth parents pass down the disease to their child.
• Symptoms: Babies with SCID may appear healthy at birth, but problems can start soon after, such as failure to thrive, chronic diarrhoea, frequent, often serious respiratory infections, oral thrush (a type of yeast infection in the mouth), other bacterial, viral, or fungal infections that can be serious and hard to treat.

Treatment:

• SCID is a pediatric emergency. Without treatment, babies are not likely to survive past their first birthday.
• The most common treatment is a stem cell transplant (also called a bone marrow transplant). This means the child receives stem cells from a donor. The hope is that these new cells will rebuild the child''s immune system.

MP Wildlife: Pangolin Conservation Project Succeeds In State.

• The pangolin conservation project launched to protect pangolins has succeeded at Pench Tiger Reserve and Satpura Tiger Reserve, as the mammals have started to breed there.
• Pangolins, also known as scaly anteaters, are the only known mammals with large keratin scales covering their skin.
• Of the eight species found worldwide (four each in Asia and Africa), two are found in India: the Indian Pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) and the Chinese Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla).

About Indian Pangolin:

• The Indian pangolin, also called the thick-tailed pangolin, is native to the Indian subcontinent.
• They are one of the most trafficked mammals in the world, despite an international ban on their trade.
• Distribution: It lives in India (south of the Himalayas), Bangladesh, Southern Nepal, Sri Lanka, and small parts of Pakistan.

Habitat:

• They are well adapted to desert regions and prefer barren, hilly areas. Their habitat extends up to 2,500 feet above sea level.
• Overall, they prefer soil that is soft and semi-sandy, suitable for digging burrows.
• They have also been shown to survive in various types of tropical forests, open land, grasslands, and in close proximity to villages.

Features:

• Like other pangolins, it has large, overlapping scales on its body, which act as armor.
• The Indian pangolin’s armor is among the most effective in the mammalian world. It has about 13 rows of moveable, sharp scales covering its body, which are shed periodically.
• The colour of its scales varies depending on the colour of the earth in its surroundings.
• It can also curl itself into a ballas self-defense against predators.
• It is an insectivore, feeding on ants and termites.
• It is nocturnal and it rests in deep burrows during the day.

Conservation status:

• IUCN Red List: Endangered
• Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I
• CITES: Appendix I