US VIRUS FATALITIES PASSES GRIM NUMBER AS UK DEATHS SPIKE

The U.S. and Britain braced for what could be one of their bleakest weeks in

memory on Monday as the human and financial toll of the coronavirus outbreak

mounted. But new deaths and infections appeared to be slowing in Italy,

Spain and France, suggesting that lockdowns and social distancing are

working.

Much of Europe saw glimmers of hope — deaths and new infections appeared to

be slowing in much of the three hardest-hit countries, as well as in the

Netherlands and Germany. Leaders cautioned, however, that any gains could

easily be reversed if people did not continue to adhere to strict social

distancing measures and national lockdowns.

In Washington, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams offered a stark warning

about the surge of coronavirus deaths the nation is facing. “This is going

to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment,” he told “Fox News Sunday.”

The US has the third-highest number of reported deaths from the disease in

the world, only exceeded by Italy with 15,887 and Spain with 13,055.

Britain reported more than 600 deaths on Sunday, surpassing ItalyÂ’s daily

increase for the second day in a row.

The US had entered what an official called the "peak death week" of the

coronavirus on Monday, while a watchdog report said hospitals were

struggling to maintain and expand capacity to care for infected patients.

"It's going to be the peak hospitalisation, peak ICU [intensive care unit]

week and unfortunately, peak death week," Admiral Brett Giroir, a physician

and member of the White House coronavirus task force, told ABC's Good

Morning America programme on Monday.

He raised particular alarm for the states of New York, New Jersey,

Connecticut and the city of Detroit, Michigan.

More than 90 percent of Americans are under stay-at-home orders issued by

state governors while eight states are still holding out on imposing such

restrictions.

BORIS JOHNSON MOVED TO ICU; BRITISH FOREIGN SECY DOMINIC RAAB TO DEPUTISE

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, 55, was moved into intensive care on Monday, a

worrisome turn in his 10-day battle with the coronavirus and the starkest

evidence yet of how the virus has threatened the British political

establishment and thrown its new government into upheaval.

The government said that the decision was a precaution and that he had been

in good spirits earlier in the day. But with JohnsonÂ’s aides releasing few

details about his condition, the nation kept a tense vigil Monday night,

hoping for the best and experiencing, together, the frightening mysteries of

this disease.

In a sign of how grave the situation had become, 10, Downing Street said in

a statement Monday that Johnson had asked the foreign secretary, Dominic

Raab, to deputise for him “where necessary.” The pound fell against the

dollar after investors reacted to the news.

After noting earlier in the day that the prime minister was still getting

official papers, JohnsonÂ’s aides said he had been moved to the intensive

care unit in case he needed a ventilator to help his recovery. Not every

patient in critical care is ventilated, medical experts said, but many are —

or are at least given oxygen. The prime minister remains conscious,

officials said.

WOULD BE SURPRISED IF INDIA DOESNÂ’T ALLOW EXPORT OF HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE TO

US: TRUMP

US President Donald Trump has said he would be surprised if India did not

allow the export of Hydroxychloroquine tablets to the United States despite

a request made to New Delhi over the subject.

Last week Mr. Trump said that he has sought help from Prime Minister

Narendra Modi to allow the sale of Hydroxychloroquine tablets ordered by the

US to treat the growing number of coronavirus patients in his country, hours

after India banned the export of the anti-malarial drug.

I would be surprised if he would, you know, because India does very well

with the United States, Mr. Trump told reporters during a press briefing at

the White House on Monday.

Hydroxychloroquine tablet is used to prevent and treat malaria, lupus and

rheumatoid arthritis, among other ailments.

The drug is seen as to offer a viable therapeutic solution to coronavirus

that has so far taken the lives of more than 10,000 Americans and infected

over 3.6 lakhs, just in a matter of weeks.

India has received similar requests from several other countries including

its immediate neighbours like Sri Lanka and Nepal. India has said that it is

reviewing its export ban order.

U.S. GIVES ‘TERRORIST’ LABEL TO WHITE SUPREMACIST GROUP

The Trump administration on Monday designated an ultranationalist group

based in Russia as a terrorist organisation, according to officials. It is

the first time the government applied the label to a white supremacist

group.

While the label of specially designated global terrorist has been frequently

used for Islamist extremists, there have been growing concerns among U.S.

officials about violent white supremacists with transnational links over the

past five years. In 2018, the White House added that threat to the

governmentÂ’s National Strategy for Counterterrorism.

The State DepartmentÂ’s designation for the organisation, the Russian

Imperial Movement, sets up the Treasury DepartmentÂ’s Office of Foreign

Assets Control to block any American property or assets belonging to the

group. It will also bar Americans from financial dealings with the

organisation and make it easier to ban its members from travelling to the

U.S.

The U.S. is also designating three of the group’s leaders — Stanislav

Anatolyevich Vorobyev, Denis Valliullovich Gariev and Nikolay Nikolayevich

Trushchalov — as individual terrorists who will face similar sanctions,

officials said.

GEORGE PELL: COURT QUASHES CARDINAL'S SEXUAL ABUSE CONVICTIONS

Cardinal George Pell will be freed from jail after Australia's highest court

overturned his convictions for child sexual abuse.

The ex-Vatican treasurer, 78, had been the most senior Catholic figure ever

jailed for such crimes.

In 2018, a jury found he abused two boys in Melbourne in the 1990s.

But the High Court of Australia quashed that verdict on Tuesday, meaning the

cardinal will immediately stop serving a six-year jail sentence.

The Australian cleric had maintained his innocence since he was charged by

police in June 2017.

His case has rocked the Catholic Church, where he had been one of the Pope's

most senior advisers.

A full bench of seven judges ruled unanimously in Cardinal Pell's favour,

finding that the jury had not properly considered all the evidence presented

at trial.

It was the cardinal's final legal challenge, after his conviction was upheld

by a lower court last year.

"I have consistently maintained my innocence while suffering from a serious

injustice," Cardinal Pell said after the decision on Tuesday.

RADIATION SPIKE AS FOREST FIRE HITS CHERNOBYL NUCLEAR ZONE

Ukrainian authorities on Sunday reported a spike in radiation levels in the

restricted zone around Chernobyl, scene of the worldÂ’s worst nuclear

accident, caused by a forest fire.

“There is bad news -- radiation is above normal in the fire’s centre,” Yegor

Firsov, head of UkraineÂ’s state ecological inspection service, said on

Facebook.

The post included a video with a Geiger counter showing radiation at 16

times above normal.

The fire has spread to about 100 hectares (250 acres) of forest, Firsov

wrote.

Kiev has mobilised two planes, a helicopter and around 100 firefighters to

fight the blaze, which broke out Saturday and spread over 20 hectares in a

forested area near the Chernobyl power plant.

On Sunday morning, the fire was not visibly burning and no increase in

radiation in the air had been detected, the emergencies service said in a

statement.

However, the service said Saturday that increased radiation in some areas

had led to “difficulties” in fighting the fire, while stressing that people

living nearby were not in danger.

Fires are common in the forests near the disused power plant.

CALLS FOR DEBT RELIEF FOR WORLD'S POOREST NATIONS

More than 100 global organisations are calling for debt payments of

developing countries to be dropped this year.

These countries include the world's poorest economies which are struggling

with the impacts of coronavirus.

Major charities including Oxfam and ActionAid International are asking for

the debt relief which would free up more than $25bn (£20bn) this year.

They have written to world leaders along with major central banks calling

for a range of debt relief measures.

The call is being spearheaded by UK-based charity Jubilee Debt Campaign and

comes a day before the G20 group of the world's largest and fastest-growing

economies meets.

"Developing countries are being hit by an unprecedented economic shock, and

at the same time face an urgent health emergency. The suspension on debt

payments called for by the IMF and World Bank saves money now, but kicks the

can down the road and avoids actually dealing with the problem of spiralling

debts," said Sarah-Jayne Clifton, director of the Jubilee Debt Campaign.

The campaigners want debt payments to be cancelled with immediate effect,

including payments to private creditors. "This is the fastest way to keep

money in countries to use in responding to Covid-19, and to ensure public

money is not wasted bailing out the profits of rich private speculators,"

added Ms Clifton.

PAK COURT DECLARES OVERCROWDING IN JAILS AS UNCONSTITUTIONAL, EMPOWERS

INMATES TO SUE GOVT

A Pakistani court has declared that overcrowding in jails is

unconstitutional and ruled that a prisoner can sue the government and prison

authorities for inhuman treatment during imprisonment, media reports said on

Monday.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC), after hearing the petitions filed by Adiala

jail inmates, issued directives to the federal government and IslamabadÂ’s

commissioner for observance of provisions in jail manual as well as in the

international conventions and treaties related to the well-being of inmates,

Dawn news reported.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah, in the 38-page verdict, observed that the

“intolerable and shockingly inhuman and degrading treatment highlighted in

the proceedings in hand meets the threshold of the hypothetical illustration

in the above judgement. It is, therefore, obvious that the incarcerated

prisoners, subjected to the unimaginable degrading and inhuman treatment

highlighted in these proceedings, may have become entitled to seek damages

against the prison authorities and the state”.

Most of the victims of the deteriorating criminal justice system are those

who belong to economically and socially marginalized sections of the

society. They do not have the means to access the courts nor has the state

fulfilled its constitutional obligation in ensuring that each citizen

receives inexpensive and expeditious justice mandated under the

Constitution, the Chief Justice said.