KEY COVID NOS. WORLDWIDE

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

               World    4,77,808              /             37,05,361            /             10,341   /             1,34,52,209        /             475.4

1             USA        15,021   /             6,10,967              /             477        /             55,61,221            /             1,836

2             India      1,34,105              /             3,38,013              /             2,899     /             17,20,078            /             243

3             Brazil     94,509   /             4,67,706              /             2,394     /             10,84,045            /             2,186

4             Argentina            35,017   /             79,320   /             587        /             3,63,520              /             1,740

5             Iran        11,620   /             80,488   /             161        /             3,60,847              /             947

6             Russia    8,832     /             1,22,267              /             394        /             2,65,383              /             837

7             Mexico  6,917     /             2,27,840              /             33           /             2,62,211              /             1,750

8             Italy       2,897     /             1,26,283              /             62           /             2,10,050              /             2,091

9             France   8,743     /             1,09,758              /             96           /             2,04,256              /             1,678

10           Poland   664        /             73,984   /             128        /             1,58,404              /             1,957

11           Colombia             27,000   /             89,808   /             511        /             1,50,994              /             1,748

12           Spain     4,984     /             80,049   /             66           /             1,47,266              /             1,711

13           Honduras             593        /             6,379     /             26           /             1,47,162              /             635

14           Netherlands        2,502     /             17,644   /             12           /             1,37,468              /             1,028

15           Nepal    4,524     /             7,555     /             101        /             1,01,993              /             255

16           Indonesia            5,246     /             50,908   /             185        /             1,00,364              /             184

17           Germany              5,096     /             89,510   /             194        /             98,894   /             1,065

18           Ukraine 2,205     /             50,857   /             158        /             93,407   /             1,169

19           Turkey   7,181     /             47,768   /             112        /             84,476   /             561

20           Sweden                /             14,413   /                            /             83,097   /             1,419

29           Pakistan               1,843     /             20,930   /             80           /             55,052   /             93

32           Philippines           5,257     /             21,158   /             146        /             52,132   /             191

37           Bangladesh         1,988     /             12,694   /             34           /             47,534   /             76

PRESIDENT XI ASKS CHINESE MEDIA, DIPLOMATS TO TONE DOWN AGGRESSIVE APPROACH

President Xi Jinping has called for better international communication, urging the bellicose official Chinese media and “wolf warrior” diplomats to adopt a tone that displays openness and conveys modesty, in what observers see as a rare admission of Beijing’s growing isolation exacerbated by COVID-19.

Mr. Xi, 67, who carries the image of being the most powerful Chinese leader after ‘Chairman’ Mao Zedong with possible life-long tenure in power, in a candid conversation at a group study session of the Politburo of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) on May 31 said, new concepts, domains and expressions should be created to tell China’s stories in a better way.

In a comment seen as an expression of dissatisfaction with the current lot of “wolf warrior” diplomats and bellicose official media outlets, Mr. Xi spoke of the need for conveying the message with modesty and humility.

Mr. Xi said a tone that displayed openness, confidence and conveyed modesty and humility must be maintained, the state-run China Daily said in its report on the speech.

China needs a voice that matches its national strength and international status, it said.

“It is necessary to give better play to the role of high-level experts and use platforms and channels such as important international conferences and forums and foreign mainstream media to speak out,” Mr. Xi said.

U.S. SUSPENDS TARIFFS ON U.K., INDIA, EU NATIONS IN DIGITAL TAX DISPUTE

The U.S. government announced Wednesday it is suspending for six months punitive tariffs on Britain, India and four European nations while it works to resolve a dispute over digital services taxes.

The decision comes at the conclusion of a year-long investigation into taxes that Washington says discriminated against big U.S. tech companies like Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook.

The 25 % duties were never imposed, but were intended to also target Austria, Italy, Spain and Turkey.

While trade authorities ruled the tariffs were justified, "The United States is focused on finding a multilateral solution to a range of key issues related to international taxation, including our concerns with digital services taxes," U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai said in a statement.

President Joe Biden's administration is pushing for a 15% global minimum corporate tax that aims to resolve the issue of corporations sheltering profits in low-tax nations.

G7 leaders will meet later in June, following by a G20 finance ministers meeting in July.

IRAN'S LARGEST WARSHIP, KHARG, CATCHES FIRE, SINKS IN GULF OF OMAN

The largest warship in the Iranian navy caught fire and later sank Wednesday in the Gulf of Oman under unclear circumstances, the latest calamity to strike one of the country’s vessels in recent years amid tensions with the West.

The blaze began around 2:25 a.m. and firefighters tried to contain it, the Fars news agency reported, but their efforts failed to save the 207-meter (679-foot) Kharg, which was used to resupply other ships in the fleet at sea and conduct training exercises. State media reported 400 troops on board fled the vessel, with some 20 suffering injuries.

The vessel sank near the Iranian port of Jask, some 1,270 kilometers (790 miles) southeast of Tehran on the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz — the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf. Satellite photos from Planet Labs Inc. analyzed by The Associated Press showed the Kharg off Jask with no sign of a fire as late as 11 a.m. Tuesday.

BILL TO REMOVE PER COUNTRY CAP ON GREEN CARD INTRODUCED IN US CONGRESS

A bipartisan legislation has been introduced in the US House of Representatives to eliminate the per country cap on employment-based Green Card.

The legislation was introduced by Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren and Congressman John Curtis and it is likely to benefit Indian IT professionals anguishing over decades of Green Card wait.

The Equal Access to Green cards for Legal Employment (EAGLE) Act, 2021 needs to be passed by the Senate before it can be sent to the White House for the president to sign it into a law.

The bill phases out the seven per cent per-country limit on employment-based immigrant visas.

The bill also raises the seven per cent per-country limit on family-sponsored visas to 15 per cent.

US PRESIDENT BIDEN VOWS TO STRENGTHEN VOTING RIGHTS

Speaking from Tulsa, Oklahoma, on the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre — in which an estimated 300 blacks were killed by white supremacists and many left homeless — U.S. President Joe Biden said he would “fight with every tool at my [his] disposal” to ensure the Senate passed its version of a voting rights Bill, the For the People Act, already passed a by the House of Representatives earlier this year.

The President also announced that he had appointed Vice-President Kamala Harris, who is African American and Indian American, to head the White House’s efforts to strengthen voting rights.

Mr. Biden’s actions come at a time when Republicans on Capitol Hill and in state legislators are advancing legislation which they say is to curb voter fraud but Democrats say they are aimed at restricting access to the ballot box, especially for minority communities.

“These bills seek to restrict the options that make voting more convenient and accessible, including early voting and vote by mail. Our Administration will not stand by when confronted with any effort that keeps Americans from voting,” Ms Harris said in a statement in which she committed to engaging with the public, community and voting rights organisations, and the private sector in the coming weeks.

VETERAN LEADER HERZOG ELECTED ISRAEL’S 11TH PREZ

Veteran Israeli politician Isaac Herzog will be the Jewish nation’s new President after his overwhelming victory in a secret ballot held in Parliament, it was announced on Wednesday.

The 60-year-old former Labour leader will be the first Israeli President who is the son of a former President. His father Chaim Herzog served as Israel’s head of state between 1983 and 1993.

Herzog won the support of an overwhelming 87 lawmakers in the 120-member Knesset (parliament) on Tuesday to defeat his rival Miriam Peretz and become the 11th President of Israel. Herzog will succeed Reuven Rivlin when the latter's term ends on July 9.

IMRAN KHAN SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF TELLING LIES ABOUT FREEDOM OF PRESS IN PAK, SAYS BILAWAL BHUTTO

After an attack on Pakistani journalist Asad Ali Toor, opposition leader and chairman of National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Tuesday said that Prime Minister Imran Khan should be ashamed while telling lies to the entire world that media was completely free in the country.

After visiting Toor's residence, Bilawal said that he has decided to convene a meeting of the committee to take up the issue of press freedom in the country with particular reference to the recent attacks on journalists in the federal capital, Dawn reported.

"As the chairman of the National Assembly Committee on Human Rights, I am taking notice of the incidents of attacks on journalists and soon I will convene its meeting to discuss the state of media freedom in the country," he said.

He also regretted that the present government could not provide security to journalists in the capital where foreign embassies were situated and that his party - Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) - would never tolerate assault on press freedom.