KEY COVID NOS. WORLDWIDE

Pos   /   Country   /   New Daily cases   /   Total Deaths   /        Daily Deaths /           Active Cases   /           Deaths/1M Pop

               World    8,35,796              /             32,68,860            /             13,558   /             1,85,54,657        /             419.4

1             USA        44,007   /             5,93,976              /             828        /             66,77,092            /             1,786

2             India      4,14,433              /             2,34,071              /             3,920     /             36,53,804            /             168

3             Brazil     72,559   /             4,17,176              /             2,531     /             10,00,512            /             1,951

4             France   21,712   /             1,05,850              /             219        /             8,35,267              /             1,619

5             Iran        18,409   /             73,906   /             338        /             4,78,420              /             871

6             Italy       11,807   /             1,22,263              /             258        /             4,02,802              /             2,025

7             Ukraine 6,038     /             45,451   /             374        /             3,39,864              /             1,045

8             Turkey   22,388   /             42,187   /             304        /             3,08,996              /             496

9             Germany              17,014   /             84,811   /             218        /             2,94,351              /             1,010

10           Argentina            24,086   /             66,263   /             398        /             2,72,089              /             1,455

11           Russia    7,639     /             1,12,246              /             351        /             2,70,544              /             769

12           Mexico  3,021     /             2,18,007              /             267        /             2,60,631              /             1,676

13           Spain     7,960     /             78,726   /             160        /             2,41,114              /             1,683

14           Netherlands        6,789     /             17,269   /             24           /             2,25,558              /             1,006

15           Hungary               1,680     /             28,297   /             124        /             2,13,104              /             2,935

16           Poland   6,431     /             68,993   /             510        /             2,02,634              /             1,825

17           Sweden                /             14,158   /             33           /             1,60,326              /             1,395

18           Honduras             1,131     /             5,439     /             53           /             1,31,600              /             542

19           Belgium               4,119     /             24,406   /             39           /             1,02,711              /             2,098

20           Colombia             16,490   /             76,414   /             399        /             1,01,467              /             1,488

23           Pakistan               4,197     /             18,537   /             108        /             84,172   /             83

26           Philippines           6,637     /             17,991   /             191        /             63,170   /             162

30           Bangladesh         1,822     /             11,796   /             41           /             55,201   /             71

MORE NATIONS SUPPORT EASING PATENT RULES ON COVID-19 VACCINES

Several world leaders have praised the US call to remove patent protections on COVID-19 vaccines to help poor countries obtain shots. But the proposal faces a multitude of hurdles, including resistance from the pharmaceutical industry.

Nor is it clear what effect such a step might have on the campaign to vanquish the outbreak.

Activists and humanitarian institutions cheered after the US reversed course Wednesday and called for a waiver of intellectual property protections on the vaccine.

The decision ultimately is up to the 164-member World Trade Organization, and if just one country votes against a waiver, the proposal will fail.

The Biden administration announcement made the US the first country in the developed world with big vaccine manufacturing to publicly support the waiver idea floated by India and South Africa in October.

On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron embraced it as well.

“I completely favour this opening up of the intellectual property,” Macron said at a vaccine centre.

India, as expected, welcomed the move. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison called the US.position “great news.”

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio wrote on Facebook that the U.S. announcement was “a very important signal” and that the world needs “free access” to vaccine patents. But Italian Premier Mario Draghi was more circumspect.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country would support it. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the US decision too.

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel''s office spoke out against it, saying: “The protection of intellectual property is a source of innovation and must remain so in the future.”

Some 80 countries, mostly developing ones, have supported the proposal, the official said.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the 27-nation bloc is ready to talk about the idea, but she remained noncommittal and emphasized that the EU has been exporting vaccines widely — while the US has not.

EU leaders said the bloc may discuss the matter at a summit that starts Friday.

BIRTHS IN U.S. DROP TO LEVELS NOT SEEN SINCE 1979

The US birth rate has fallen 4% in the largest single-year drop in nearly 50 years, according to a government report.

The rate dropped for mothers of every major race and ethnicity, and in nearly all age groups, falling to the lowest point since federal health officials started tracking it more than a century ago, the report due to be published on Wednesday said.

Births have been declining in younger women for years, as many postponed motherhood and had smaller families.

Birth rates for women in their late 30s and in their 40s have been inching up, but that trend dipped last year.

The US once was among only a few developed countries with a fertility rate above the 2.1 children per woman that ensured each generation had enough children to replace itself.

But the rate has been sliding for more than 10 years and last year dropped to about 1.6, the lowest rate on record.

“The fact that you saw declines in births even for older moms is quite striking,” said lead author of the report, Brady Hamilton, of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The figures suggest that the current generation will not have enough children to replace itself.

The pandemic contributed to last year’s big decline, experts said. Anxiety about Covid-19 and its impact on the economy likely caused many couples to think that it was not the right time to have a baby.

But many of the 2020 pregnancies began well before the US epidemic. CDC researchers are working on a follow-up report to better parse out how the decline unfolded, Hamilton said.

'SPUTNIK LIGHT' SINGLE DOSE COVID VACCINE WITH 80% EFFICACY APPROVED BY RUSSIA

As the world continues to fight deadly waves of coronavirus infection, there's some good news on the vaccine front. Russian health officials have approved a single-dose version of the Sputnik V vaccine. Sputnik Light has showed nearly 80 per cent efficacy in tests.

"Sputnik Light is a fast and reliable pandemic fighter. It helps to achieve a high level of protection quicker, helping to swiftly defeat virus surges and create lasting protection in the community," Sputnik said in a tweet.

The single dose Sputnik Light vaccine demonstrated 79.4% efficacy according to analyzed data taken from 28 days after the injection was administered as part of Russia’s mass vaccination program between 5 December 2020 and 15 April 2021, a statement issued by Sputnik said.

An efficacy level of almost 80% is higher than that of many two-dose vaccines.

Sputnik V in India India has approved the use of Russia's two-dose Sputnik V vaccine making it the third Covid vaccine after Covishield of Oxford-AstraZeneca, manufactured by Serum Institute of India in Pune, and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin to be used in the country.

US SENDS REINFORCEMENTS FOR AFGHAN WITHDRAWAL

The United States has deployed extra military resources to protect American and coalition forces withdrawing from Afghanistan.

Heavy bombers and fighter jets will be deployed to safeguard troops and civilian contractors.

The US and Nato have had a presence in Afghanistan for almost 20 years.

US President Joe Biden has set the withdrawal deadline for 11 September - the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that sparked the war.

But the withdrawal comes amid escalating violence, with Afghan security forces on high alert for reprisal attacks.

The Taliban have warned they are no longer bound by an agreement not to target international troops.

Under a deal signed last year between the militants and then-President Donald Trump, foreign forces were to have left by 1 May while the Taliban held off attacking international troops.

Six B-52 long range bombers and 12 F-18 fighters have been deployed to protect the departing contingents of 2,500 US service members and 16,000 civilian contractors, said Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

EUROPEAN UNION UNVEILS PLAN TO CUT DEPENDENCY ON CHINA

The European Union (EU) unveiled on Wednesday a plan to cut its dependency on Chinese and other foreign suppliers in six strategic areas like raw materials, pharmaceutical ingredients and semiconductors after the pandemic-induced economic slump.

317 products

The 27-nation bloc outlined the urgency of the task citing Europe’s reliance on China for about half of 137 products used in sensitive ecosystems, mainly raw materials, pharmaceuticals and other products key to its green and digital goals.

The updated industrial strategy plan was devised after the COVID-19 pandemic showed bottlenecks in supply chain and the executive European Commission plans to conduct in-depth reviews of supply chains in raw materials, batteries, active pharmaceutical ingredients, hydrogen, semiconductors and cloud and edge technologies, to decide how to deal with them.

“Today’s updated Industrial Strategy is about making sure our industries are equipped to drive the digital and green transformations of our economy while ensuring the competitiveness of our industries, also in the context of the recovery from the coronavirus crisis,” European Commission Vice-President Margrethe Vestager told a news conference.

U.S. APPROVES DEPARTURE OF NON-EMERGENCY GOVERNMENT WORKERS FROM INDIA

The U.S. State Department said on May 5 it had approved the voluntary departure of non-emergency U.S. government employees from India because of a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Last week, the department said family members of U.S. government employees could voluntarily leave India.

A deadly second wave of coronavirus infections has swept through India in recent weeks, creating a shortage of hospital beds and oxygen for patients.

The State Department has advised Americans not to travel to India and said those wishing to depart should take advantage of available commercial transportation.

AUSTRALIA TO RESUME INDIA REPATRIATION FLIGHTS AFTER BACKLASH

Australia will resume repatriation flights for citizens in India after a controversial ban on arrivals from the country ends on 15 May.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has faced criticism for failing to help citizens trapped in the Covid-ravaged nation.

The ban sparked further anger after the government said Australians seeking to fly home could face jail or fines.

Public outrage forced Mr Morrison to back down this week, and say that jail terms would be "highly unlikely".

On Friday, he announced the government planned to bring back 900 "vulnerable" Australians during the second half of May on three flights.

Evacuees would be taken to the Howard Springs quarantine facility in the Northern Territory, which would be expanded to provide 2,000 beds by next week.

CHINA SUSPENDS ECONOMIC DIALOGUE WITH AUSTRALIA

China “indefinitely” suspended all activity under a China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue, its state economic planner said on Thursday. This is the latest setback for strained relations between the two countries.

China also rejected criticism of its human rights and economic record by G7 members.

“Recently, some Australian Commonwealth Government officials launched a series of measures to disrupt the normal exchanges and cooperation between China and Australia out of Cold War mindset and ideological discrimination,” China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in a statement on the decision. The commission did not say what specific measures prompted the action.

China’s foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a daily conference that the suspension was a “necessary and legitimate response to Australia for abusing the concept of national security to pressure cooperation with China. “Australia must bear full responsibility,” he said.

FORMER MALDIVES PRESIDENT MOHAMED NASHEED INJURED IN EXPLOSION IN MALE

Former President of Maldives and Speaker of the country’s Parliament Mohamed Nasheed was injured in an explosion in capital Male late on May 6. He sustained injuries and was admitted to a local hospital.

Deputy Speaker Eva Abdulla said in a tweet: “Following an explosion near his residence, Speaker of Parliament President Mohamed Nasheed has sustained injuries and is currently receiving treatment at ADK Hospital. We will keep the public informed on President Nasheed’s condition as we receive updates.”

According to sources in Male, the explosion took place when Mr. Nasheed was about to get into his car just after 8.30 p.m. local time, near his residence. Preliminary reports indicated that an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), apparently fastened to a two-wheeler parked nearby, blew up, injuring the Speaker and one of his bodyguards. Another foreigner was reportedly injured in the explosion, according to local media reports. Further details of the explosion are yet to emerge.

THAW IN TENSIONS WITH BRITAIN AFTER FRENCH FISHERMEN END STIR OVER RIGHTS

French fishermen started leaving the British isle of Jersey on Thursday evening and ended a protest over post-Brexit fishing rights, after the U.K. and France sent military patrol ships to the area.

Representatives of the fishing fleet, who are upset at the conditions attached to licenses needed to operate in the area, said they had made their point and will be heading back to France.

On Thursday, Britain and France sent navy and coastal patrol ships to waters near the Channel island of Jersey as tensions spiralled between the two neighbours. The posturing was sparked by a protest by French fishing boats, which gathered outside Jersey’s main port, raising fears of a blockade.

That prompted British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to send two royal navy gunboats to the area, with France following suit with two of its own coast patrol vessels.

The British navy vessels HMS Severn and HMS Tamar arrived in Jersey’s waters to “monitor the situation,” the UK government said on Thursday, while people in the French military said “the situation is very calm overall”.

Johnson said on Thursday that two Royal Navy vessels would remain off the island of Jersey, his office said after a call between Johnson and Jersey’s Chief Minister John Le Fondré.

CLASS 6 GIRL OPENS FIRE AT US SCHOOL, SHOOTS 3: POLICE

A girl opened fire at a school in the northwestern US state of Idaho on Thursday, injuring three people before being disarmed by a teacher, police said.

The unnamed student at Rigby Middle School near Idaho Falls was in the sixth grade, meaning she would likely be aged 11 or 12.

She "retrieved a handgun from her backpack, fired multiple rounds inside of the school and out," said Jefferson County sheriff Steve Anderson.

Injuries suffered by two students and one staff member are not thought to be life-threatening, he said.

"During the shooting a teacher disarmed the student, and detained her until law enforcement took her into custody," added Anderson at a press conference.

The shooting is being investigated by the FBI as well as local law enforcement.