DONALD TRUMP, STILL CONTAGIOUS, BACK AT WHITE HOUSE - WITHOUT MASK

Just three nights after he was hospitalized for COVID-19, U.S. President

Donald Trump, still likely contagious with COVID-19, left Walter Reed

National Military Medical Centre and returned to the White House.

After disembarking from Presidential chopper Marine One, the president took

off his mask as he posed for photos between American flags on the balcony of

the White House, which itself has become a hotspot for the virus.

In addition to First Lady Melania Trump and a number of others in Mr Trump's

circle, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany and three reporters in

the White House Press Corps have tested positive for the coronavirus.

The President's physician, Dr. Sean Conley on Monday said, "Though he may

not entirely be out of the woods yet, the team and I agree that all our

evaluations, and most importantly, his clinical status, support the

president's safe return home, where he will be surrounded by world-class

medical care 24/7".

Mr Trump has been restless during his hospital stay and raring to get out of

the facility. He released two video messages and released a tweet-storm on

Monday morning - mostly related to the campaign.

"Now that President Trump is busy tweeting campaign messages, I would ask

him to do this: Listen to the scientists. Support masks. Support mask

mandates nationwide," Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden tweeted

shortly before Mr Trump left the hospital.

On Sunday, Mr Trump had taken a short ride in the Beast (the presidential

armoured limousine) outside the hospital where supporters were gathered. He

was criticized for exposing his secret service agents who were with him in

the limousine, with windows up, to the potentially deadly virus.

Announcing his imminent departure from Walter Reed, Mr Trump had urged

people on Monday - again via a tweet - not to be scared of the coronavirus

and let it dominate their lives. "We have developed, under the Trump

Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I

did 20 years ago!" he said.

With the virus still raging in America, the country's top infectious

diseases doctor Anthony Fauci issued yet another urgent plea for Americans

to mask up and that the public health guidelines are not the "enemy". "If

you have a problem wearing masks and have a problem avoiding crowds, we can

have a serious situation as we get into Fall and the winter", Fauci said at

a ticketed event Monday night, as the sun went down on Washington DC.

3 GET NOBEL PRIZE FOR HEP-C VIRUS DISCOVERY

Americans Harvey J Alter and Charles M Rice and British-born scientist

Michael Houghton won the Nobel Prize for medicine on Monday for their

discovery of the Hepatitis-C virus, a major source of liver disease that

affects millions worldwide.

Announcing the prize in Stockholm, the Nobel Committee noted that the trio's

work identified a major source of blood-borne hepatitis that couldn't be

explained by the previously discovered Hepatitis-A and B viruses.

Their work, dating back to the 1970s and 1980s, has helped saved millions of

lives, the committee said.

"Thanks to their discovery, highly sensitive blood tests for the virus are

now available and these have essentially eliminated post-transfusion

Hepatitis in many parts of the world, greatly improving global health," the

committee said.

"Their discovery also allowed the rapid development of antiviral drugs

directed at Hepatitis-C. The disease can now be cured, raising hopes of

eradicating the Hepatitis-C virus from the world population," it said.

CEOS OF 3 SOCIAL MEDIA GIANTS TO TESTIFY AT SENATE HEARING

The CEOs of technology giants Facebook, Google and Twitter are expected to

testify for an October 28 Senate hearing on tech companies' control over

hate speech and misinformation on their platforms.

The Senate Commerce Committee voted last week to authorize subpoenas for

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai of Google and Twitter's Jack

Dorsey to force them to testify if they didn't agree to do so voluntarily.

Spokespeople for the companies said Monday that the CEOs will cooperate.

The hearing "must be constructive and focused on what matters most to the

American people: how we work together to protect elections," Twitter said in

a tweet in its policy channel.

The hearing will come less than a week before Election Day. It marks a new

bipartisan initiative against Big Tech companies, which have been under

increasing scrutiny in Washington and from state attorneys general over

issues of competition, consumer privacy and hate speech.

Facebook, meanwhile, is expanding restrictions on political advertising,

including new bans on messages claiming widespread voter fraud. The new

prohibitions laid out in a blog post came days after President Donald Trump

raised the prospect of mass fraud in the vote-by-mail process during a

debate last week with Democratic rival Joe Biden.

AZERBAIJAN LEADER DEMANDS ARMENIA'S APOLOGY AND WITHDRAWAL TO END WAR

The war between Armenia and Azerbaijan continued for the ninth day on Monday

even as both countries have rejected the international community's appeal to

end the war. The fighting over the region began on September 27 and has

escalated to its deadliest level since the 1990s.

Meanwhile, the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has put forward some

conditions to end the war saying that if Armenia accepts these conditions,

then Azerbaijan will stop the war. Aliyev said that the Armenian army has

occupied the territory which it had lost in the 1990s and is deliberately

inciting war.

If the Armenian army immediately withdraws from the territory, fully

describes the withdrawal deadline and apologizes for what they have done,

then Azerbaijan is ready to end the war.

Aliyev said that Armenia must accept the territorial integrity of

Azerbaijan, this is the only way to end the war. He further said that the

international community has failed to implement the UN resolutions and to

pressurize the withdrawal of the Armenian army from Azerbaijan's areas of

influence.

It is clear from Aliyev's stance that he has no intention of accepting

Russia, US and EU's ceasefire request. At the same time, immediately after

Aliyev's speech, the Armenian Defence Ministry has also issued a statement.

The Ministry said that there is no threat to us, but still, we are ready to

deal with every situation. Earlier, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan

had also made it clear that he is not ready for talks with Azerbaijan.

Aliyev on Monday said that Turkey must be involved in the peace process for

the Nagorno-Karabakh region, Reuters reported quoting the RIA news agency.

FATF ALL SET TO DECIDE ON PAKISTAN'S GREY LIST STATUS

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is all set to decide on Pakistan's

grey list status in a virtual meeting scheduled for later this month,

according to a media report.

The Paris-based global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog had

placed Pakistan on the grey list in June 2018 and asked Islamabad to

implement a plan of action to curb money laundering and terror financing by

the end of 2019, but the deadline was extended due to the Covid pandemic.

Seeking to wriggle out of the FATF's grey list, debt-ridden Pakistan in

August imposed financial sanctions on 88 banned terror groups and their

leaders, including 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind and Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief

Hafiz Saeed, Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar and underworld don Dawood

Ibrahim.

The virtual FATF plenary scheduled for October 21-23 will decide if Pakistan

should be excluded from its grey list, based on a review of Islamabad's

performance to meet global commitments and standards on fight against money

laundering and terror financing, a daily reported.

EX-PM NAWAZ SHARIF, DAUGHTER FACE SEDITION CHARGES FOR CRITICISING PAKISTANI

MILITARY

Pakistani police filed sedition charges on Monday against former prime

minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and dozens of his party

leaders over comments he made criticising the interference of the military

in national politics.

Last month, Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League and eight other opposition

parties came together to accuse the military of meddling in politics and of

rigging elections in 2018 that brought Prime Minister Imran Khan to power.

Sharif left Pakistan last November to get medical treatment after being

granted bail from a seven-year jail sentence for corruption, though his

daughter remains in the country. Sharif, a long-standing critic of the

military, denies the corruption charges.

"We will ensure a court trial against the accused," government official

Musarrat Cheema told Reuters regarding the sedition charges.

In his recent speeches via video links from his London home, Sharif has said

the interference of the military in politics was the root cause of all

Pakistan's problems.

The sedition case filed against Sharif, his daughter and 44 top party

leaders says he has sought in his speeches to isolate Pakistan

internationally and have it declared a rogue state.

"Convict Nawaz Sharif has been openly inciting the public to commit

treason," said the case, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, adding that it

was aimed at maligning the armed forces and the judiciary.

FORMER PAKISTAN PRESIDENT ZARDARI INDICTED IN GRAFT CASES

An anti-corruption court on Monday charged former Pakistan President Asif

Ali Zardari in two graft cases, a week after he was indicted in a major

money laundering case.

Zardari, 63, the co-chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and husband

of the country's first woman Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, was present at

the Islamabad-based court and pleaded not guilty.

During the hearing, the accountability court indicted 19 others in the Park

Lane case and 15 others in the Thatta water supply case.

The court charged Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur in a money laundering

case on September 28. The court has rejected his plea seeking acquittal in

all three cases.