KEY COVID NOS. WORLDWIDE

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

               World    3,20,051              /             37,43,177            /             7,079     /             1,29,90,273               /             480.2

1             USA        5,849     /             6,12,363              /             161        /             54,76,145            /               1,840

2             India      1,01,232              /             3,49,229              /             2,445     /             14,09,648               /             251

3             Brazil     39,637   /             4,73,495              /             866        /             11,31,281            /               2,213

4             Argentina            16,415   /             81,214   /             347        /             3,45,192              /               1,782

5             Iran        5,612     /             81,063   /             122        /             3,32,899              /             954

6             Russia    9,163     /             1,23,787              /             351        /             2,66,204              /               848

7             Mexico  2,649     /             2,28,754              /             186        /             2,65,549              /               1,757

8             France   5,070     /             1,09,998              /             25           /             1,93,620              /               1,682

9             Italy       2,275     /             1,26,523              /             51           /             1,92,272              /               2,095

10           Colombia             24,050   /             91,961   /             539        /             1,68,369              /               1,790

11           Poland   312        /             74,152   /             13           /             1,55,834              /               1,961

12           Honduras             535        /             6,460     /             6             /             1,49,068              /               643

13           Spain                    /             80,196   /                            /             1,46,628              /               1,715

14           Netherlands        1,530     /             17,678   /             3             /             1,16,977              /               1,030

15           UK          5,341     /             1,27,840              /             4             /             1,13,959              /               1,874

16           Indonesia            5,832     /             51,612   /             163        /             98,455   /             187

17           Nepal    3,024     /             7,898     /             99           /             89,217   /             267

18           Malaysia              6,241     /             3,378     /             87           /             86,628   /             103

19           Germany              1,845     /             89,851   /             26           /             80,928   /               1,069

20           Turkey   5,386     /             48,164   /             96           /             79,042   /             565

29           Philippines           7,228     /             21,898   /             166        /             59,337   /             197

36           Pakistan               1,629     /             21,265   /             76           /             47,764   /             95

37           Bangladesh         1,676     /             12,839   /             38           /             46,829   /             77

TRUMP BACK ON STAGE, CALLS FOR CHINA TO PAY $10TN REPARATIONS

Former US president Donald Trump has returned to public limelight with a speech in North Carolina in which he exhorted Republicans to gear up for the 2022 midterm elections, repeated allegations over his election loss, attacked top epidemiologist Anthony Fauci, and called for China to pay $10 trillion in “reparations” for the Covid-19 pandemic.

Trump spoke at a convention of North Carolina Republicans, which his advisers have said will be the first of more such events. “The survival of America depends on our ability to elect Republicans at every level starting with the midterms next year,” Trump said in a characteristically rambling speech that lasted nearly 90 minutes.

Republicans are hoping to win the House of Representatives in the 2022 midterm elections, closing and overtaking their eight-seat deficit in the 435-member chamber (they trail 211 to 219 Democrats, with five vacancies), and the 100-member senate, which they split evenly with Democrats. Midterms have tended to favour the party not holding the White House.

The former president went on to attack the Biden administration in his speech. “As we gather tonight, our country is being destroyed before our very own eyes. Crime is exploding, police departments are being ripped apart and defunded,” he said. He called the surge of immigrants at the border the start of the “Biden disasters”, criticised the president for rejoining the Paris climate accord and for his proposal to raise corporate tax.

The former president also attacked Fauci, the director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, saying he is “not a great doctor, but a hell of a promoter”.

“Fauci said at the beginning, ‘no masks.’ Remember that? Then he became a radical masker. Get three, four. Get a pair of goggles, ideally. Wear them for another five or six years,” Trump said to laughter.

The former president also doubled down on China over the Covid-19 pandemic, even as his administration was accused of poor handling of the public health crisis. “The time has come for America and the world to demand reparations and accountability from the Communist Party of China. We should all declare with one unified voice that China must pay -- they must pay,” he said, going on to suggest the amount be around $10 trillion, with extra tariff.

DRASTIC’S WORK MADE THE WORLD RE-EVALUATE COVID-19 ORIGIN

When United States President Joe Biden ordered a probe into the origin of the SARS-COV-2 virus last week, it was thanks in large measure to circumstantial evidence dug up by a unique group of investigators communicating entirely via Twitter threads.

Calling themselves DRASTIC, Decentralized Radical Autonomous Search Team Investigating COVID-19, a group of amateurs decided to sniff the lab leak theory to the ground. One of its members, based in India, also fancifully calls himself the ‘The Seeker’, as a definition of what he brought to the motley group of investigators who came together on Twitter.

Probe further, and he reveals a “science background, with a mix of architectural, entrepreneurial, filmmaking and teaching experience.” The others on the team are also apparently engineers and business people. ‘Billy Bostickson’ — yet another pseudonym — was reportedly responsible for steering conversations

For over a year, the team has been inspired to dive deep online to build a body of evidence that would establish that there was enough there at least for a professional investigation into the origins of the virus that has held the world at ransom.

As for The Seeker, in an email interview, he says that he did not consciously go out to get the lab leak angle. “I’d say, curiosity got the best of me.

The evidence that DRASTIC has painstakingly pieced together points to the possible collection of the virus sample from a mineshaft associated with an incident where miners died of a pneumonia like infection, back in 2012. This involved translating several scientific papers from China translated roughly on Google, and using DNA sequences to compare viruses.

The amplification of that theory post that took its own form, and a year down the line, DRASTIC had teased the premise out again, this time bolstered with a bunch of documents that got the world thinking again.

AHEAD OF SUMMIT WITH PUTIN, BIDEN BACKS EUROPEAN ALLIES

The U.S. will stand with its European allies against Russia, President Joe Biden has promised ahead of the first face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Putin.

Mr. Biden will head to Europe on Wednesday, and is set to attend both the G-7 and NATO summits as well as holding a high-stakes meeting with the Russian leader in Geneva on June 16.

The summit comes amid the biggest crisis in ties between the two countries in years, with tensions high over a litany of issues including hacking allegations, human rights and claims of election meddling.

In an op-ed for the Washington Post published on Saturday, the U.S. President promised to shore up Washington’s “democratic alliances” in the face of multiple crises and mounting threats from Moscow and Beijing.

“We are standing united to address Russia’s challenges to European security, starting with its aggression in Ukraine, and there will be no doubt about the resolve of the U.S. to defend our democratic values, which we cannot separate from our interests,” he wrote.

“President Putin knows that I will not hesitate to respond to future harmful activities,” he said. “When we meet, I will again underscore the commitment of the United States, Europe and like-minded democracies to stand up for human rights and dignity.”

Mr. Biden in his weekend op-ed also stressed that Washington “does not seek conflict” — pointing to his recent extension of the New START arms reduction treaty as proof of his desire to reduce tensions.

“We want a stable and predictable relationship where we can work with Russia on issues like strategic stability and arms control,” he wrote.

ABUBAKAR SHEKAU: BOKO HARAM LEADER IS DEAD, SAYS RIVAL MILITANT GROUP

The leader of the Nigerian militant group Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, has killed himself, rival Islamist militants said in an audio recording.

In audio obtained by news agencies, the Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap) said Shekau died detonating explosives on himself after a battle between the two groups.

Shekau was reported dead last month and has been reported killed before.

Neither Boko Haram nor the Nigerian government have confirmed his death.

In the undated audio recording, a voice thought to be that of Iswap leader Abu Musab al-Barnawi said Shekau "killed himself instantly by detonating an explosive".

Iswap fighters hunted down the warlord and offered him the chance to repent and join them, al-Barnawi said.

"Shekau preferred to be humiliated in the afterlife than getting humiliated on earth," he said.

When reports of Shekau's death in a clash circulated last month, the Nigerian army said it would investigate.

AT LEAST 25 KILLED AS TWO EXPRESS TRAINS COLLIDE IN PAKISTAN

Two express trains collided in southern Pakistan on Monday, killing at least 25 passengers, and injuring several others news agency AP reported. Sir Syed Express collided with the Millat Express between Raiti and Daharki railway stations near Ghotki city in Singh province, according to the report.

Rescue and relief officials have been rushed to the spot as authorities fear that the number of fatalities could rise further.

The Millat Express derailed and the Sir Syed Express train hit it soon afterwards. Officials are working to ascertain the reason for the derailment.

‘EXPECT US’: HACKTIVIST GROUP ANONYMOUS THREATENS ELON MUSK FOR 'PLAYING GAMES' WITH BITCOIN

A decentralised international hacktivist group, Anonymous, has threatened Tesla CEO Elon Musk to “expect” them, saying the games played by the entrepreneur with crypto markets seemed to have destroyed lives. In a video posted on the Facebook page of Anonymous, the hackers said that the “carefully curated” image of Elon Musk is getting exposed, and people are “beginning to see [him] as nothing more than another narcissistic rich dude who is desperate for attention.”

“There are plenty of other companies working on space exploration and electric vehicles, you are just the only CEO who has gained a cult following through sh*tposting and trolling the world on social media,” the hacktivist group said.

Anonymous said that people have started learning that the vast majority of Tesla’s income doesn't actually come from selling cars but from government subsidies and selling carbon tax credits for the innovation with clean energy. “This, technically, isn't your innovation though, because you aren't actually the founder of Tesla. You simply purchased the company from two people much more intelligent than you are, Mark Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning,” they added.

The group claimed that Tesla has made more money by holding Bitcoin for a few months than they have by selling cars for years. They also suggested that it is more than likely the Bitcoins were purchased with money from government subsidies. “It is now widely believed that you have been forced to denounce your company's involvement with Bitcoin in order to keep that green government money flowing into Tesla's coffers,” Anonymous said.

Anonymous said that the use of energy argument about Bitcoin mining “is a very nuanced conversation that requires a fairly complex understanding of how power grids work, and how excess energy is wasted by power companies and sought out by crypto miners.”

“This is a conversation that you have been having for over a year and were intimately aware of, but as soon as your main source of income was threatened you pretended to be clueless in an attempt to play both sides of the fence,” the hacktivist group alleged.

“You may think you are the smartest person in the room, but now you have met your match. We are Anonymous! We are Legion! Expect us,” the group warned.

MEGHAN MARKLE AND PRINCE HARRY WELCOME SECOND CHILD, LILIBET 'LILI' DIANA

The second baby for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex is officially here: Meghan gave birth to a healthy girl on Friday.

A spokesperson for Prince Harry and Meghan said Sunday the couple welcomed their child Lilibet “Lili” Diana Mountbatten-Windsor. Their daughter weighed in at 7 lbs, 11 oz.

Her first name, Lilibet, is a nod to Her Majesty The Queen's nickname. Her middle name is in honor of her grandmother and Harry's mother. The baby is the eighth in line to the British throne.

NEPAL DEPUTY PM STIRS CONTROVERSY WITH DEMAND FOR ‘MULTI-NATION STATE’

Newly appointed Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal Rajendra Mahato has kicked up a controversy soon after taking over on Saturday saying he is committed to building a ‘multi-nation state’. Mr. Mahato is one of the three Deputy Prime Ministers (Raghuvir Mahaseth and Bishnu Prasad Paudel are the other two) appointed by Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli who reshuffled his Cabinet this weekend.

“We remain committed to building an alternative power and will safeguard identity and rights of our people. As long as we are in power, we will pursue good governance. We will prepare for a nationwide movement to set up multi-nation state in Nepal,” said Mr. Mahato. He is one of the pioneers of the Madhesi movement which has been demanding greater rights for the people of the plains.

The comment drew quick criticism on social media which accused Mr. Mahato of trying to play divisive politics. CPN-UML leader Yogesh Bhattarai urged Prime Minister Oli to advise his ministerial colleagues to be restrained in public comments. A protest was organised on Saturday by the All Nepal National Free Students Union (ANNFSU) that demanded Mr. Oli to step down over the comments.