KEY COVID NOS. WORLDWIDE

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

               World    3,73,550              /             47,11,481            /             5,315     /             1,86,20,666        /             604.4

1             USA        68,403   /             6,93,334              /             583        /             97,32,988            /             2,080

2             UK          36,100   /             1,35,252              /             49           /             13,19,317            /             1,980

3             Russia    19,744   /             1,98,996              /             778        /             5,85,002              /             1,363

4             Iran        17,397   /             1,17,526              /             344        /             5,32,589              /             1,378

5             Turkey   27,688   /             61,805   /             231        /             4,48,123              /             723

6             Brazil     7,884     /             5,90,955              /             169        /             3,76,418              /             2,756

7             Mexico  4,983     /             2,71,503              /             200        /             3,73,270              /             2,079

8             India      24,925   /             4,45,416              /             251        /             3,15,269              /             319

9             Honduras                            /             9,491     /                            /             2,39,901              /             940

10           Vietnam               8,681     /             17,305   /             215        /             2,14,113              /             176

11           Malaysia              14,345   /             23,744   /             301        /             2,07,698              /             722

12           France   1,515     /             1,16,050              /             20           /             1,91,120              /             1,773

13           Spain     1,996     /             85,901   /             40           /             1,77,531              /             1,836

14           Philippines           18,937   /             36,934   /             146        /             1,76,850              /             332

15           Germany              5,303     /             93,632   /             47           /             1,65,681              /             1,113

16           Poland   363        /             75,488   /                            /             1,62,899              /             1,997

17           Thailand               12,709   /             15,469   /             106        /             1,32,573              /             221

18           Italy       2,407     /             1,30,354              /             44           /             1,12,514              /             2,160

19           Serbia    6,424     /             7,808     /             38           /             1,05,793              /             898

20           Norway 679        /             841        /                            /             93,125   /             154

30           Pakistan               2,167     /             27,246   /             40           /             63,724   /             121

75           Bangladesh         1,555     /             27,251   /             26           /             13,881   /             163

U.S. TO END TRAVEL BANS FOR VACCINATED PASSENGERS

President Joe Biden will ease foreign travel restrictions to the U.S. beginning in November, allowing foreigners into the country if they have proof of vaccination and a negative COVID-19 test, the White House said on Monday.

The new rules will replace a hodgepodge of restrictions that had barred non-citizens who had been in Europe, much of Asia and certain other countries in the prior 14 days from entering the U.S. The changes will allow families and others who have been separated by the travel restrictions for 18 months to plan for long-awaited reunifications.

White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients announced the new policies, which still will require all foreign travellers flying to the U.S. to demonstrate proof of vaccination before boarding, as well as proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken within three days of flight. Mr. Biden will also tighten testing rules for unvaccinated American citizens, who will need to be tested within a day before returning to the U.S., as well as after they arrive home.

Fully vaccinated passengers will not be required to quarantine, Mr. Zients said.

WORLD SHARES JOLTED BY EVERGRANDE CRISIS AS DEBT PAYMENT TEST LOOMS

Global stock markets are caught in the grip of contagion fears sparked by troubles at China Evergrande as growing risks the property giant could default on its massive debt prompted investors to flee riskier assets.

Selling pressure persisted in early trade in Asia ahead of a major test for Evergrande this week, which is due to pay $83.5 million in interest relating to its March 2022 bond on Thursday. It has another $47.5 million payment due on Sept. 29 for March 2024 notes.

Both bonds would default if Evergrande fails to settle the interest within 30 days of the scheduled payment dates.

Shares in Evergrande, which has been scrambling to raise funds to pay its many lenders, suppliers and investors, sank 10.2% on Monday.

Regulators have warned that its $305 billion of liabilities could spark broader risks to China's financial system if its debts are not stabilized.

Investors also fear troubles at China's property sector, one of the key engines of the country's stellar economic growth over decades, could have ripple effects across the global economy.

Whether Evergrande can make payments, and if not, whether the authorities will bail it out?

Or how far will President Xi Jinping go with his crackdown on China’s real estate sector? These are the immediate questions.

“Even though most people don’t expect Evergrande to collapse all of a sudden, the silence and a lack of major actions from policy makers is making everyone panic,” said Ding Shuang, chief economist at Standard Chartered Plc in Hong Kong. “I expect China to at least offer some verbal support soon to stabilize sentiment.”

PRO-PUTIN PARTY WINS MAJORITY; FOES CRY FOUL

Russia’s ruling United Russia party, which supports President Vladimir Putin, won an emphatic parliamentary majority after its most vociferous critics were prevented from contesting an election that opponents said was marred by large-scale fraud.

With 98 per cent of the ballots counted on Monday, the Central Election Commission said the United Russia had won nearly 50 per cent of the votes, with its nearest rival, the Communist Party, at just under 20 per cent.

The United Russia won 54 per cent in 2016, the last time a vote was held. The scale of the victory means the United Russia will have more than two-thirds of deputies in the 450-seat State Duma lower house of Parliament. This will enable it to continue to push through laws without having to rely on other parties. Kremlin critics alleged large-scale vote rigging. They said the election was a sham and that a newly introduced electronic voting system had been used to deprive opponents of the United Russia of victory in Moscow.

8 KILLED IN FIRING AT RUSSIAN UNIVERSITY

A gunman opened fire in a university in the Russian city of Perm on Monday morning, leaving eight persons dead and others wounded, according to Russia's Investigative Committee.

The gunman has been detained, the Russian Interior Ministry said.

The Perm State University press service said the perpetrator used a so-called “traumatic” firearm, which is designed to fire non-lethal rubber or plastic projectiles but can be modified to fire other ammunition.

Students and staff of the university locked themselves in rooms and the university urged those who could leave the campus to do so. The state Tass news agency cited an unnamed source in the law enforcement as saying that some students jumped out of the windows of a building. The number of wounded was uncertain — reports varied from six to 14 and it was not clear if any of those were injuries from jumping from the building. There was no immediate information on the gunman's identity or possible motivation.

AFGHAN WOMEN OUTRAGED BY TALIBAN RESTRICTIONS ON WORK

Fears were mounting in Afghanistan on Monday as the Taliban tightened their grip on women’s rights, slashing access to work and denying girls the right to secondary school education.

After pledging a softer version of their brutal and repressive regime of the 1990s, the Islamic fundamentalists have been stripping away at freedoms one month after seizing power.

The acting Mayor of the capital Kabul has said any municipal jobs currently held by women would be filled by men. Many women fear they will never find meaningful employment. Although still marginalised, Afghan women have fought for and gained basic rights in the past 20 years, becoming lawmakers, judges, pilots and police officers, though mostly limited to large cities.

Hundreds of thousands have entered the workforce — a necessity in some cases as many women were widowed or now support invalid husbands as a result of two decades of conflict. But since returning to power on August 15, the Taliban have shown no inclination to honour those rights.

UN CHIEF WARNS CHINA, U.S. TO AVOID ‘MORE PERILOUS’ COLD WAR

Warning of a potential new Cold War, the head of the United Nations implored China and the United States to repair their “completely dysfunctional” relationship before problems between the two large and deeply influential countries spill over even further into the rest of the planet.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke to The Associated Press this weekend ahead of this week's annual United Nations gathering of world leaders — a convening blemished by COVID, climate concerns and contentiousness across the planet.

Mr. Guterres said the world's two major economic powers should be cooperating on climate and negotiating more robustly on trade and technology even given persisting political fissures about human rights, economics, online security and sovereignty in the South China Sea.

“Unfortunately, today we only have confrontation,” Mr. Guterres said on Saturday.

“We need to re-establish a functional relationship between the two powers," he said, calling that "essential to address the problems of vaccination, the problems of climate change and many other global challenges that cannot be solved without constructive relations within the international community and mainly among the superpowers.”

He said the U.S.-Britain deal to give Australia nuclear-powered submarines so it could operate undetected in Asia “is just one small piece of a more complex puzzle ... this completely dysfunctional relationship between China and the United States.”

NO COUNTRY SHOULD ASK US TO FORM 'INCLUSIVE GOVT' IN AFGHANISTAN, SAYS TALIBAN

Days after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's comments over the government formed in Afghanistan, the Taliban expressed that countries have no right to ask the Islamic Emirate to establish an 'inclusive' government in Afghanistan.

The remarks came from Taliban spokesperson and Deputy Information Minister Zabihullah Mujahid after Pakistan and several other countries reiterated the Taliban to form an inclusive government in Afghanistan.

"Pakistan or any other country has no right to ask the Islamic Emirate to establish an 'inclusive' government in Afghanistan," Mujahid told Daily Times when he was asked for his reaction on PM Imran Khan's recent remarks on the Afghan government.

A few days back, Khan accepted that Islamabad has started negotiations with the Taliban for an inclusive government that would include minorities in the country.

Earlier, another Taliban leader, Mohammad Mobeen had also expressed that Afghanistan do not give the right to anyone to call for an inclusive government in the country.

Meanwhile, the Taliban also insist that their government is inclusive with the representation of other ethnicities, Pakistan Times reported.

PFIZER-BIONTECH SAY THEIR COVID-19 SHOT WORKS IN CHILDREN AGED 5 TO 11

Pfizer and BioNTech said on Monday their Covid-19 vaccine induced a robust immune response in 5 to 11 year olds, and they plan to ask for regulatory authorisation as soon as possible to use the shot in children in that age range in the US, Europe and elsewhere. The companies said their two-dose vaccine generated an immune response in the 5-to-11 year olds in a Phase II/III trial that matched what was previously observed in 16-to-25 year olds. The safety profile was also generally comparable to the older age group, they added.

“Since July, pediatric cases of Covid-19 have risen by about 240% in the US — underscoring the public health need for vaccination,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said. “These trial results provide a strong foundation for seeking authorisation of our vaccine for children 5 to 11 years old, and we plan to submit them to the FDA and other regulators with urgency,” he added. The vaccine already has won US regulatory authorisation for people age 12 and up, including full FDA approval last month for ages 16 and up.

Top US health officials believe regulators could make a decision on whether the shot is safe and effective in younger children within three weeks of the companies submitting a request for authorisation, two sources said this month.

CHINA LAUNCHES SUPPLY MISSION TO SPACE STATION

China's cargo spacecraft the Tianzhou 3 successfully launched from the southern province of Hainan and docked with the nation’s Tiangong space station on September 20, 2021. The ship carried supplies for the upcoming Shenzhou 13 crewed mission, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA). Three astronauts are expected to blast-off in early October to start their six-month mission. The cargo spacecraft is the fifth flight in the station’s construction and technology verification phase.

SCIENTISTS CREATE CONCRETE-LIKE MATERIAL FROM EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL DUST AND BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS OF ASTRONAUTS

A concrete-like material, but stronger than ordinary concrete, has been created by the scientists at the University of Manchester, which they claim, has been made out of extra-terrestrial dust along with the blood, sweat and tears of astronauts.

According to a study published in the journal Materials Today Bio, “a protein from human blood, combined with a compound from urine, sweat or tears, could glue together simulated moon or Mars soil to produce a material stronger than ordinary concrete, perfectly suited for construction work in extra-terrestrial environments,” the university said in a statement.

Further, the scientists also claimed that the cost of transporting a single brick to Mars would be $2 million and therefore future Martian colonists would have to use the resources they can obtain from that planet for construction rather than bringing their own. “This is known as in-situ resource utilisation (or ISRU) and typically focuses on the use of loose rock and Martian soil (known as regolith) and sparse water deposits,” the statement read.

The new technique holds considerable advantages over many other proposed construction techniques in the moon and Mars, said Dr Aled Roberts from the University of Manchester who worked on the project.