KEY COVID NOS. WORLDWIDE

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

               World    2,92,566              /             38,18,882            /             8,382     /             1,21,50,313               /             489.9

1             USA        5,177     /             6,15,052              /             99           /             53,05,866            /               1,848

2             Brazil     36,998   /             4,87,476              /             1,118     /             11,31,972            /               2,278

3             India      67,290   /             3,74,226              /             3,819     /             9,85,724              /               269

4             Argentina            13,043   /             85,343   /             268        /             3,17,497              /               1,872

5             Iran        8,195     /             82,098   /             187        /             2,93,827              /             966

6             Russia    14,723   /             1,26,430              /             357        /             2,80,922              /               866

7             Mexico  3,649     /             2,30,095              /             274        /             2,69,992              /               1,767

8             Colombia             28,519   /             95,778   /             586        /             1,79,790              /               1,863

9             Italy       1,390     /             1,27,002              /             26           /             1,60,313              /               2,103

10           Poland   227        /             74,573   /             11           /             1,54,392              /               1,972

11           Honduras             1,379     /             6,606     /             7             /             1,52,304              /               657

12           UK          7,490     /             1,27,904              /             8             /             1,50,039              /               1,875

13           Spain                    /             80,501   /                            /             1,43,369              /               1,721

14           France   2,855     /             1,10,420              /             13           /             1,34,757              /               1,688

15           Indonesia            9,868     /             52,879   /             149        /             1,13,388              /               191

16           Netherlands        1,041     /             17,711   /             3             /             83,459   /               1,031

17           South Africa       7,657     /             57,765   /             59           /             82,736   /             962

18           Turkey   5,012     /             48,721   /             53           /             79,475   /             572

19           Costa Rica                          /             4,322     /                            /             74,383   /             841

20           Malaysia              5,304     /             3,908     /             64           /             73,324   /             119

24           Philippines           7,302     /             22,788   /             137        /             59,865   /             205

32           Bangladesh         2,436     /             13,118   /             47           /             47,538   /             79

37           Pakistan               1,239     /             21,689   /             56           /             42,290   /             96

G7 FINAL COMMUNIQUE CALLS FOR NEW COVID ORIGIN PROBE

Group of Seven leaders on Sunday scolded China over human rights in its Xinjiang region, called for Hong Kong to keep a high degree of autonomy and demanded a full and thorough investigation of the origins of the coronavirus in China.

After discussing how to come up with a unified position on China, leaders issued a highly critical final communique that delved into what are for China some of the most sensitive issues, including Taiwan.

The re-emergence of China as a leading global power is considered to be one of the most significant geopolitical events of recent times, alongside the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union that ended the Cold War.

China's rise has also unnerved the United States: President Joe Biden casts China as the main strategic competitor and has vowed to confront China's "economic abuses" and push back against human rights violations.

"We will promote our values, including by calling on China to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, especially in relation to Xinjiang and those rights, freedoms and high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong enshrined in the Sino-British Joint Declaration," the G7 said.

The G7 also called for a transparent, expert-led Phase 2 COVID-19 Origins study including in China, to be convened by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Before the G7 criticism emerged, China pointedly cautioned G7 leaders that the days when "small" groups of countries decided the fate of the world were long gone.

The G7 also underscored "the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and encourage the peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues".

"We remain seriously concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas and strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo and increase tensions," they said.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU DETHRONED AFTER RECORD 12-YEAR RUN, NAFTALI BENNETT BECOMES NEW ISRAEL PM

Naftali Bennett was on Sunday sworn in as Israel's new Prime Minister, ousting Benjamin Netanyahu from power after an uninterrupted 12 years at the helm of affairs.

Bennett, the 49-year-old leader of the right-wing Yamina party, took oath of office after parliament (Knesset) voted on Sunday on the new government led by him. The new government has 27 ministers, nine of them women.

The new government — an unprecedented coalition of ideologically divergent political parties drawn from the Right, the Left and the Centre, along with an Arab party — has a razor-thin majority in a 120-member house.

Under the coalition deal, Bennett will be replaced as prime minister in 2023 by centrist Yair Lapid, 57, a popular former television host.

Amid incessant heckling from rival bloc's lawmakers, Bennett said he was proud "of the ability to sit with people of different opinions". "At the decisive moment we took responsibility," he said. "The alternative to this government was more elections, more hate, which would have broken up the country." "It is time for responsible leaders from different parts of the nation to stop this madness,” he asserted. The alliance contains parties that have vast ideological differences, and perhaps most significantly includes the first independent Arab party to be part of a potential ruling coalition, Ra'am.

Palestinians were unmoved by the change of administration, predicting that Bennett, a former defence chief who advocates annexing parts of the occupied West Bank, would pursue the same right-wing agenda as Likud party leader Netanyahu.

Interrupted by non-stop shouts of "liar" and "shame" from Netanyahu loyalists in parliament, Bennett thanked the former prime minister for his "lengthy and achievement-filled service."

U.S. President Joe Biden congratulated Bennett and Lapid, saying he looked forward to strengthening the "close and enduring" relationship between the two countries.

Both Bennett and Lapid have said they want to bridge political divides and unite Israelis.

A RARE SOLIDARITY FOR ROHINGYA

Anti-junta protesters flooded Myanmar’s social media with pictures of themselves wearing black Sunday in a show of solidarity for the Rohingya, a minority group that is among the most persecuted in the country.

The mostly Muslim Rohingya — long viewed as interlopers from Bangladesh by many in Myanmar — have for decades been denied citizenship, rights, access to services and freedom of movement.

Activists and civilians took to social media on Sunday to post pictures of themselves wearing black and flashing a three-finger salute of resistance, in posts tagged “#Black4Rohingya”.

“Justice must (be) served for each of you and each of us in Myanmar,” said prominent rights activist Thinzar Shunlei Yi on Twitter.

Local media also showed a small protest in Myanmar’s commercial hub Yangon, with black-clad demonstrators holding signs in Burmese that said they were “protesting for the oppressed Rohingya”.

By afternoon, the #Black4Rohingya hashtag was trending on Twitter in Myanmar, with more than 180,000 mentions.

Sunday’s show of support from the mostly Buddhist, ethnic Bamar-majority population is a far cry from previous years, when even using the term “Rohingya” was a lightning rod for controversy.

CAN EXTRADITE CYBER CRIMINALS TO U.S ONLY ON RECIPROCAL BASIS, SAYS PUTIN

President Vladimir Putin has said Russia would be ready to hand over cyber criminals to the United States if Washington did the same for Moscow and the two powers reached an agreement to that effect.

Mr. Putin made the comments in an interview aired in excerpts on state television on Sunday ahead of a June 16 summit with U.S. President Joe Biden in Geneva.

The White House has said Mr. Biden will bring up ransomware attacks emanating from Russia at the meeting. That issue is in the spotlight after a cyber attack disrupted the North American and Australian operations of meatpacker JBS USA.

Asked if Russia would be prepared to find and prosecute cyber criminals, Mr. Putin said Russia’s behaviour here would depend on formal agreements being reached by Moscow and Washington.

Both sides would have to commit to the same obligations, he said.

“If we agree to extradite criminals, then of course Russia will do that, we will do that, but only if the other side, in this case the United States, agrees to the same and will extradite the criminals in question to the Russian Federation,” he said.

“The question of cyber security is one of the most important at the moment because turning all kinds of systems off can lead to really difficult consequences,” he said.

SRI LANKA SEEKS USD 40 MILLION FROM CARGO SHIP'S OPERATOR AS INTERIM DAMAGE CLAIM

Sri Lanka on Saturday made an interim damage claim of USD 40 million from the owners of the Singapore-flagged cargo ship that caught fire near the outer area Colombo port on May 20 and caused the country's worst-ever marine ecological disaster.

Sri Lanka has lodged the claim of USD 40 million through the Attorney General following a directive by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

"We are still assessing the scale of damage, environmental and economic and decided to make this interim claim of," Rohitha Abeygunawardena, the Minister of Ports, told reporters here.

The cargo vessel - MV 'X-PRESS PEARL'- was carrying a consignment of chemicals and raw materials for cosmetics from Hazira in Gujarat to Colombo Port when it caught fire some 9.5 nautical miles away from the port of Colombo.

All 25 crew members of the ship -- of Indian, Chinese, Filipino and Russian nationality -- were rescued on May 21.