KEY COVID NOS. WORLDWIDE

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

               World    7,00,976              /             44,87,255            /             10,643   /             1,83,24,216        /             575.7

1             USA        1,62,712              /             6,51,909              /             1,181     /             79,54,056            /             1,956

2             UK          38,281   /             1,32,143              /             140        /             12,45,392            /             1,935

3             Iran        36,758   /             1,04,716              /             694        /             6,75,397              /             1,229

4             Russia    19,630   /             1,79,243              /             820        /             5,52,479              /             1,228

5             Spain     7,115     /             83,861   /             171        /             5,00,636              /             1,793

6             Brazil     31,024   /             5,77,605              /             875        /             4,89,453              /             2,695

7             Turkey   19,616   /             55,469   /             257        /             4,66,217              /             650

8             France   19,683   /             1,13,775              /             110        /             4,33,956              /             1,739

9             Mexico  21,250   /             2,55,452              /             986        /             4,08,043              /             1,958

10           India      44,558   /             4,36,889              /             493        /             3,51,464              /             313

11           Malaysia              24,599   /             15,211   /             393        /             2,65,841              /             463

12           Indonesia            16,899   /             1,30,182              /             889        /             2,43,588              /             470

13           Japan     24,321   /             15,737   /             44           /             2,28,590              /             125

14           Honduras             1,460     /             8,751     /             47           /             2,17,996              /             868

15           Argentina            6,847     /             1,11,117              /             151        /             2,12,064              /             2,433

16           Vietnam               11,575   /             9,667     /             318        /             1,94,783              /             98

17           Thailand               18,501   /             10,314   /             229        /             1,86,934              /             147

18           South Africa       12,771   /             80,826   /             357        /             1,69,039              /             1,343

19           Poland   251        /             75,332   /             3             /             1,55,646              /             1,993

20           Iraq        8,084     /             20,480   /             70           /             1,40,060              /             496

22           Philippines           16,313   /             32,728   /             236        /             1,31,921              /             294

25           Pakistan               4,553     /             25,320   /             100        /             92,244   /             112

33           Bangladesh         4,698     /             25,729   /             102        /             59,014   /             154

TERROR IN HEART OF KABUL, EXPLOSIONS ROCK AIRPORT

Two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul’s airport Thursday, transforming a scene of desperation into one of horror in the waning days of an airlift for those fleeing the Taliban takeover. The attacks killed at least 60 Afghans and 13 U.S. troops, Afghan and U.S. officials said.

The U.S. general overseeing the evacuation said the attacks would not stop the United States from evacuating Americans and others, and flights out were continuing. Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, said there was a large amount of security at the airport, and alternate routes were being used to get evacuees in.

The blasts came hours after Western officials urged people to leave the airport by warning about an increased terrorist threat from the Islamic State’s branch in Afghanistan, known as ISIS-K. Defense officials briefed lawmakers on Tuesday about the new threat targeting airport gates and military and commercial aircraft evacuating people from Kabul.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the killings on its Amaq news channel. The IS affiliate in Afghanistan is far more radical than the Taliban, who recently took control of the country in a lightning blitz. The Taliban were not believed to have been involved in the attacks and condemned the blasts.

In an emotional speech from the White House, U.S. President Joe Biden said the latest bloodshed would not drive the U.S. out of Afghanistan earlier than scheduled, and that he had instructed the U.S. military to develop plans to strike IS.

“We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay,” Biden said.

U.S. officials initially said 11 Marines and one Navy medic were among those who died. Another service member died hours later. Eighteen service members were wounded and officials warned the toll could grow. More than 140 Afghans were wounded, an Afghan official said.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said one explosion was near an airport entrance and another was a short distance away by a hotel. McKenzie said clearly some failure at the airport allowed a suicide bomber to get so close to the gate.

PAKISTAN ENGINEERED TALIBAN RETURN TO KABUL: US EXPERTS

Pakistan is once again under American scrutiny amid claims of engineering the return of Taliban to power in Afghanistan, with US analysts predicting that Islamabad’s “already shaky reputation in the West is likely to plummet” and its ties with Washington will “unravel further”. The analysts are pinning the responsibility of the Taliban’s return to power on Pakistan, saying its spy agency ISI provided planning assistance, training expertise and sometimes on the ground advice.

They cite tribal leaders in the Af-Pak region to allege that in the last three months as the Taliban swept across Afghanistan, the Pakistani military waved a surge of new fighters across the border from sanctuaries inside Pakistan. “The Afghan Taliban would not be where they are without the assistance of the Pakistanis,” Douglas London, a former CIA counterterrorism chief for South and Southwest Asia, told NYT.

According to London, Pakistan’s army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa and ISI head Hameed Faiz met with Afghan Taliban leader Khalil Haqqani on a “recurring basis”.

”Pakistan’s help, London said, encompassed a gamut of services: safe havens for Taliban in the borderlands of Pakistan, medical services for wounded fighters, and free rein for the Haqqanis to run lucrative real estate, smuggling and other businesses in Pakistan kept their war machine churning. The ISI usually kept its operatives out of the actual conflict, fearful that they might be captured, he added.

The report underscored the fact that Pakistan’s duplicitous role in Afghanistan is driven by its animosity towards India. “The Pakistani army believes Afghanistan provides strategic depth against India, which is their obsession. The US encouraged India to support the American-backed Afghan government after 2001, fuelling the army’s paranoia,” Bruce Riedel, a former South Asia adviser to the Bush and Obama administrations, told NYT. According to the report, during a visit to Washington, Pakistan’s NSA Moeed Yusuf stressed the need to eliminate the Indian presence in Afghanistan. Washington, it said, was, struck by his vehemence on India’s role in Afghanistan.

UK, INDIA COVID-19 STUDY SETS GUINNESS WORLD RECORD

A worldwide Covid-19 study led by UK experts and conducted at Indian hospitals among others around the world has been awarded the ‘Guinness World Records' title for the world's largest scientific collaboration, involving over 140,000 patients in 116 countries.

The record for ‘Most authors on a single peer-reviewed academic paper' is now held by the Universities of Birmingham and Edinburgh after 15,025 scientists around the globe contributed to the major research into the impact of Covid-19 on surgical patients.

The co-lead author of the study, Indian-origin surgeon Aneel Bhangu from the University of Birmingham, said the study was aimed at improving our understanding of the deadly virus.

NEWLY FORMED CPN TO JOIN DEUBA-LED GOVT

The newly formed CPN (Unified Socialist) led by Madhav Kumar Nepal on Thursday announced to join Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba-led coalition government soon, vowing to not give up the communist ideology and move forward as a cultured revolutionary party.

The announcement came a day after the Election Commission granted official recognition to the newly-formed party, which was created after splitting the CPN-UML led by former prime minister KP Sharma Oli. “We will soon join the Deuba government. We will not give up communist ideology and we will move forward by being a disciplined and cultured revolutionary party," Madhav Nepal, who is the Chairman of the CPN (Unified Socialist), said at his party's first press meet here. "We will be part of the government. The five-party alliance will move further forward," he said.

NEW ZEALAND HAS BIGGEST CASE DAY IN OVER A YEAR

New Zealand has reported 68 new community cases of the coronavirus, the largest daily increase since April of last year as an outbreak of the delta variant continues to grow.

The government put the nation into a strict lockdown last week as it tries to stamp out the outbreak, which has grown to a total of 277 infections.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on August 26 that she is confident the lockdown is working and new cases will soon begin to drop.

Also on August 26, national carrier Air New Zealand reported an annual loss of 440 million New Zealand dollars, or about $306 million, after revenue dropped nearly 50% due to the pandemic-induced plunge in international travel.

KARZAI, ABDULLAH ABDULLAH UNDER ‘HOUSE ARREST’: REPORT

Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the chief of the High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah are “effectively” under house arrest in Kabul after the Taliban took away their security teams, CNN reported on Thursday. According to the report, the Taliban also confiscated cars of politicians who are currently at the mercy of the terrorist group. They also searched Abdullah’s home on Wednesday. Since taking over Kabul, the Taliban has promised to form an inclusive government. The group has held talks with Karzai and Abdullah, both of whom stayed in Kabul after the Taliban’s ascent to power after a lightning offensive.