KEY COVID NOS. WORLDWIDE

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

               World    4,11,716              /             39,70,368            /             7,777     /             1,15,13,108        /             509.4

1             USA        15,569   /             6,20,640              /             310        /             48,87,907            /             1,864

2             Brazil     63,140   /             5,20,189              /             1,943     /             11,70,843            /             2,430

3             India      42,950   /             4,00,265              /             790        /             5,17,756              /             287

4             Russia    23,543   /             1,35,886              /             672        /             3,84,935              /             931

5             UK          27,989   /             1,28,162              /             22           /             3,72,745              /             1,878

6             Argentina            21,177   /             94,772   /             468        /             3,04,726              /             2,078

7             Mexico  6,105     /             2,33,047              /             244        /             2,85,692              /             1,789

8             Indonesia            24,836   /             58,995   /             504        /             2,53,826              /             213

9             Iran        14,303   /             84,389   /             125        /             2,44,532              /             992

10           Colombia             28,315   /             1,07,137              /             593        /             1,98,086              /             2,083

11           South Africa       21,584   /             61,029   /             382        /             1,79,734              /             1,016

12           Honduras             691        /             7,005     /             25           /             1,63,301              /             696

13           Poland   98           /             75,044   /             23           /             1,53,060              /             1,985

14           Spain     12,345   /             80,883   /             8             /             1,36,838              /             1,729

15           Iraq        7,554     /             17,216   /             30           /             86,121   /             419

16           Bangladesh         8,301     /             14,646   /             143        /             86,000   /             88

17           Turkey   5,288     /             49,774   /             42           /             80,662   /             584

18           Costa Rica                          /             4,667     /                            /             69,739   /             908

19           Malaysia              6,988     /             5,254     /             84           /             65,453   /             160

20           Bolivia   2,001     /             16,767   /             65           /             61,931   /             1,417

26           Philippines           5,795     /             24,797   /             135        /             51,567   /             223

38           Pakistan               1,037     /             22,321   /             40           /             31,767   /             99

CCP 100: XI WARNS CHINA WILL NOT BE 'OPPRESSED' IN ANNIVERSARY SPEECH

China's President Xi Jinping on Thursday warned that foreign forces attempting to bully the nation will "get their heads bashed” and hailed a "new world" created by its people as the ruling Communist Party marked the centenary of its founding.

In an hour-long address from Tiananmen Square, Xi pledged to build up China's military, committed to the "reunification" of Taiwan and said social stability would be ensured in Hong Kong while protecting China's security and sovereignty.

"The people of China are not only good at destroying the old world, they have also created a new world," said Xi, China's most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, the founder of the People's Republic. "Only socialism can save China."

Beijing faces external criticism over its clampdown in Hong Kong and treatment of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and is dealing with a worsening demographic outlook that imperils long-term economic growth.

A survey of 17 advanced economies released on Wednesday by the U.S.-based Pew Research Center showed that views about China have remained broadly negative and confidence in Xi near historic lows.

On Thursday, Xi said that the people of China would never allow any foreign force to bully, oppress, or subjugate them.

"Anyone who dares try to do that will have their heads bashed bloody against the Great Wall of steel forged by over 1.4 billion Chinese people," he said, sparking applause from an invited audience of 70,000 gathered in the massive square in central Beijing. The phrase became the top trending topic on China's Twitter-like Weibo on Thursday morning.

PAKISTAN ACCEPTS ‘CHINESE VERSION’ OF TREATMENT OF UIGHUR MUSLIMS IN XINJIANG: IMRAN KHAN

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday said Pakistan accepts the “Chinese version” of the treatment of Uighurs, a minority Muslim ethnic group, in China’s restive Xinjiang province because of Islamabad’s “extreme proximity and relationship” with Beijing.

The US and the EU, besides many other countries, have accused China of committing genocide against the Uighurs in resource-rich Xinjiang, and called for an international probe by human rights groups.

Speaking to Chinese journalists as Beijing marked the centenary of the ruling Communist Party, Khan said the Chinese version on the Uighur issue was completely different from what was being reported in Western media.

“Because of our extreme proximity and relationship with China, we actually accept the Chinese version,” he was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper.

“It is hypocritical. There are much worse human rights violations taking place in other parts of the world… But Western media hardly comment on this,” the prime minister said, lashing out at Western media for highlighting the Uighurs” situation and Hong Kong.

Khan also praised the Communist Party of China (CPC), calling it an “alternative” to Western democracy.

“Until now, we had been told that the best way for societies to improve was through Western democracy…The CPC has introduced an alternative model and they have beaten all Western democracies in the way they have highlighted merit in society,” he said.

Underlining Pakistan’s strong ties with China, Khan said whenever Pakistan has been in trouble, politically or internationally, China has always stood with it.

W.H.O SAYS ALL COVID-19 VACCINES APPROVED BY IT MUST BE RECOGNISED FOR TRAVEL

The World Health Organization said Thursday that any COVID-19 vaccines it has authorised for emergency use should be recognised by countries as they open up their borders to inoculated travellers.

The move could challenge Western countries to broaden their acceptance of two apparently less effective Chinese vaccines, which the UN health agency has licensed but most European and North American countries have not.

In addition to vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna Inc., AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, the WHO has also given the green light to the two Chinese jabs, made by Sinovac and Sinopharm.

“Any measure that only allows people protected by a subset of WHO-approved vaccines to benefit from the reopening of travel ... would effectively create a two-tier system, further widening the global vaccine divide and exacerbating the inequities we have already seen in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines,” a WHO statement said Thursday. “It would negatively impact the growth of economies that are already suffering the most.”

The WHO said such moves are “undermining confidence in life-saving vaccines that have already been shown to be safe and effective.” In its reviews of the two Chinese vaccines, the UN health agency said both were found to significantly reduce the risk of hospitalisations and deaths.

Although Western countries have largely relied on vaccines made in the U.S. and Europe, such as Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca, many developing countries have used the Chinese-made shots.

DEATHS SURGE IN US AND CANADA FROM WORST HEATWAVE ON RECORD

Hundreds of deaths in British Columbia, Washington and Oregon have been linked to a heat wave that has roasted the Pacific Northwest for days and broken Canadian heat records, sending hundreds of thousands of people scrambling for relief.

Lisa Lapointe, British Columbia’s chief coroner, said 486 deaths had been reported there between Friday and Wednesday afternoon — a period in which about 165 deaths would normally be documented. Deaths were expected to increase, she said.

“While it is too early to say with certainty how many of these deaths are heat-related, it is believed likely that the significant increase in deaths reported is attributable to the extreme weather B.C. has experienced,” she said.

Oregon’s state medical examiner’s office on Wednesday attributed at least 63 deaths in five days to the punishing heat in that state, including 45 in Multnomah County, which includes Portland — where temperatures have reached a record 116 degrees Fahrenheit.

In Washington, officials reported nearly a dozen lives lost to hyperthermia on Wednesday alone in King County, which includes Seattle; two heat-related deaths were reported there the day before.

This year a study found that 37% of heat-related deaths could be linked to climate change. Global warming has raised baseline temperatures by nearly 2 degrees Fahrenheit on average since 1900, experts say.

MACRON WORRIES ABOUT ‘RACIALISED’ FRENCH SOCIETY

French society is becoming increasingly “racialised”, French President Emmanuel Macron has warned in comments that blamed imported U.S. social science ideas that focus on race.

“I see that our society is becoming progressively racialised,” Mr. Macron told Elle magazine in an interview. He took aim in particular at the idea of “intersectionality” — popular among left-leaning U.S. academics — that seeks to explain discrimination and poverty by examining the role played by race and gender in affecting an individual’s life chances.

“The logic of intersectionality fractures everything,” Mr. Macron said.

“I stand for universalism. I don’t agree with a fight that reduces everyone to their identity or their particularity,” he continued.

“Social difficulties are not only explained by gender and the colour of your skin, but also by social inequalities.”

He added that he could think of young white men in his hometown of Amiens or nearby Saint-Quentin in northern France “who also have immense difficulties, for different reasons, in finding a job”.

Mr. Macron also promised to do more to combat domestic violence and women’s health problems such as endometriosis.