KEY COVID NOS. WORLDWIDE

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

               World    5,05,373              /             41,57,939            /             6,904     /             1,37,12,175               /             533.4

1             USA        63,935   /             6,26,622              /             406        /             51,56,758            /               1,881

2             UK          36,389   /             1,29,044              /             64           /             10,73,992            /               1,890

3             Brazil                    /             5,47,134              /                            /             7,17,247              /               2,555

4             Indonesia            49,071   /             80,598   /             1,566     /             5,69,901              /               291

5             Spain     31,171   /             81,221   /             27           /             5,15,751              /               1,736

6             Russia    23,811   /             1,52,296              /             795        /             4,76,222              /               1,043

7             India      39,441   /             4,20,038              /             536        /             4,15,755              /               301

8             Mexico  16,244   /             2,37,626              /             419        /             3,59,298              /               1,823

9             Iran        21,814   /             88,273   /             210        /             3,36,936              /               1,037

10           Argentina            15,622   /             1,03,359              /             285        /             2,59,627               /             2,265

11           Honduras             1,188     /             7,558     /             23           /             1,80,617              /               750

12           France   19,561   /             1,11,591              /             26           /             1,69,391              /               1,706

13           South Africa       13,719   /             69,075   /             450        /             1,53,778              /               1,149

14           Poland   108        /             75,235   /             4             /             1,53,541              /               1,990

15           Netherlands        6,395     /             17,792   /             3             /             1,52,785              /               1,036

16           Bangladesh         6,364     /             18,851   /             166        /             1,49,097              /               113

17           Malaysia              15,573   /             7,718     /             144        /             1,47,386              /               235

18           Thailand               14,575   /             3,811     /             114        /             1,43,744              /               54

19           Colombia             13,164   /             1,18,188              /             352        /             1,24,967               /             2,297

20           Iraq        8,905     /             18,167   /             66           /             1,23,145              /             441

28           Philippines           6,845     /             26,891   /                            /             55,069   /             242

30           Pakistan               1,425     /             22,939   /             11           /             53,623   /             102

WHO URGES GLOBAL COLLABORATION AFTER CHINA REBUKE

The World Health Organization (WHO) called on Friday for all countries to work together to investigate the origins of the coronavirus that caused Covid-19, a day after China rejected plans for more checks on labs and markets in its territory.

The first human cases of Covid-19 were reported in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. China has repeatedly dismissed theories that the virus leaked from one of its laboratories.

The WHO this month proposed a follow-up to earlier investigations in China. But Zeng Yixin, vice minister of China's National Health Commission, said on Thursday Beijing would not accept the proposal as it stood.

When asked about China's rejection, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told a U.N. briefing in Geneva: "This is not about politics, it's not about a blame game.

"It is about basically a requirement we all have to try to understand how the pathogen came into the human population. In this sense, countries really have the responsibility to work together and to work with WHO in a spirit of partnership."

TO REACH A PEACE DEAL, TALIBAN SAY AFGHAN PRESIDENT MUST GO

The Taliban say they don’t want to monopolise power, but they insist there won’t be peace in Afghanistan until there is a new negotiated government in Kabul and President Ashraf Ghani is removed. In an interview with AP, Taliban spokesman, Suhail Shaheen, who is also a member of the group’s negotiating team, laid out the insurgents’ stance on what should come next in a country on the precipice. The Taliban have seized strategic border crossings and are threatening a number of provincial capitals, as US and Nato troops leave.

Shaheen said the Taliban will lay down their weapons when a negotiated government acceptable to all sides in the conflict is installed in Kabul and Ghani’s government is gone. “I want to make it clear that we do not believe in the monopoly of power because any governments who (sought) to monopolise power in Afghanistan in the past, were not successful governments,” said Shaheen. “So we do not want to repeat that same formula.” But he was also uncompromising on the continued rule of Ghani, calling him a war monger and accusing him of using his Tuesday speech on Eid-al-Adha to promise an offensive against the Taliban. Shaheen dismissed Ghani’s right to govern, resurrecting allegations of fraud that surrounded his 2019 election win. When asked by reporters about Taliban’s condition in Washington, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said US President Joe Biden supports current leadership in Afghanistan, including the country’s president. Ashraf Ghani. Psaki also said Biden plans to speak with Ghani on Friday.

DEATHS IN CENTRAL CHINA FLOODS RISE TO 51, LOSSES MOUNT TO $10 BILLION

The death toll from the rain-triggered unprecedented floods in central China has risen to 51 with the official estimate of losses totalling about $10 billion, the state media reported on Friday.

The torrential rains, the heaviest in 1,000 years, have affected about three million people in Henan province and a total of 3,76,000 local residents have been relocated to safe places, the provincial emergency management department said.

The death toll caused by downpours and floods has increased to 51 in the Henan provincial capital of Zhengzhou, the state-run China Daily quoted local authorities as saying.

The direct economic losses have gone up to 65.5 billion yuan ($10 billion), it said.

As Zhengzhou city of 12 million people limped back to normalcy, rescuers are assisting thousands of people caught in the floodwaters. On Thursday, officials raced to evacuate patients as hospitals were flooded by rainstorms. The patients were shifted to hospitals that escaped the flood fury.

Zhengzhou, meanwhile, downgraded its emergency response level as it continued to clean up after this week’s devastating floods, but other parts of Henan province were bracing for more heavy rainfall, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

Zhengzhou was hit by several days of heavy rainfall, causing floods of an intensity not seen in decades.

Over 8,000 military personnel worked in 10 different danger zones around the city, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

XI ‘SECRETLY’ VISITS TIBET, FIRST TRIP BY A CHINA PRESIDENT IN 3 DECADES

In a development that raised eyebrows across the world, Chinese President Xi Jinping made an unannounced visit to Tibet this week, including to Nyingchi located close to Arunachal Pradesh.

This was Xi’s first visit to Tibet since taking over as president in 2013.

According to Xinhua news agency, the president visited the Tibet Autonomous Region in connection with the 70th anniversary of Tibet’s “peaceful liberation the first time in the history of the party and the country”.

During his visit, Xi stressed the need for fully implementing the guidelines of the Chinese Communist Party for “governing Tibet in a new era and writing a new chapter of lasting stability and high-quality development for the plateau region”, the report said.

CHINA IMPOSES SANCTIONS ON US OFFICIALS

China is imposing sanctions on several US individuals and organisations in response to recent US sanctions on Chinese officials in Hong Kong.

Those targeted include former US Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross.

The counter-sanctions come days before US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman is due to visit China.

The US sanctions on Chinese officials in Hong Kong were because of their role in the security crackdown in the territory.

China's foreign ministry said on Friday that the recent US sanctions were designed to "groundlessly smear Hong Kong's business environment" and "gravely violate international law and basic norms governing international relations".

Others sanctioned by China include Sophie Richardson, Human Rights Watch's China director; Carolyn Bartholomew, chair of US-China Economic and Security Review Commission; and Adam King of the International Republican Institute.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that the US was "undeterred" by China's retaliation.

"These actions are the latest examples of how Beijing punishes private citizens, companies and civil society organisations as a way to send political signals," she said.

It said it would impose sanctions on seven US individuals and entities including Mr Ross.

US PLEDGES $100 MILLION IN EMERGENCY AID FOR AFGHAN REFUGEES

US president Joe Biden on Friday authorised up to $100 million from an emergency fund to meet "unexpected urgent" refugee needs stemming from the situation in Afghanistan, including for Afghan special immigration visa applicants, the White House said.

Biden also authorised the release of $200 million in services and articles from the inventories of US government agencies to meet the same needs, the White House said.

The United States is preparing to begin evacuating thousands of Afghan applicants for special immigration visas (SIVs) who risk retaliation from Taliban insurgents because they worked for the US government.

The first batch of evacuees and their families is expected to be flown before the end of the month to Fort Lee, a US military base in Virginia, where they will wait for the final processing of their visa applications.

About 2,500 Afghans could be brought to the facility, about 30 miles (48 km) south of Richmond, the Pentagon said on Monday.