KEY COVID NOS. WORLDWIDE

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

               World    3,41,395              /             47,67,766            /             4,931     /             1,85,48,168        /             611.7

1             USA        56,495   /             7,07,740              /             442        /             98,70,432            /             2,123

2             UK          37,960   /             1,36,208              /             40           /             13,46,396            /             1,993

3             Russia    22,236   /             2,04,679              /             779        /             6,20,353              /             1,402

4             Turkey   27,188   /             63,372   /             206        /             4,80,881              /             742

5             Iran        14,470   /             1,19,649              /             289        /             4,62,243              /             1,402

6             Brazil     14,423   /             5,94,702              /             218        /             4,10,502              /             2,773

7             Mexico  3,988     /             2,75,446              /             147        /             3,72,893              /             2,109

8             India      14,905   /             4,47,406              /             181        /             2,97,085              /             320

9             Honduras                            /             9,679     /                            /             2,44,399              /             958

10           Vietnam               9,362     /             18,758   /             174        /             2,08,839              /             191

11           Malaysia              10,959   /             25,695   /             258        /             1,77,560              /             782

12           Poland   421        /             75,572   /                            /             1,66,075              /             2,000

13           Philippines           18,319   /             37,494   /             89           /             1,58,271              /             337

14           Germany              4,814     /             94,035   /             56           /             1,50,336              /             1,118

15           France   1,309     /             1,16,537              /             74           /             1,41,526              /             1,780

16           Spain     1,679     /             86,298   /             23           /             1,29,320              /             1,845

17           Serbia    6,736     /             8,097     /             46           /             1,23,228              /             931

18           Thailand               10,288   /             16,369   /             101        /             1,20,156              /             234

19           Italy       1,772     /             1,30,742              /             45           /             1,01,080              /             2,166

20           Norway 658        /             850        /                            /             97,791   /             155

33           Pakistan               1,757     /             27,597   /             31           /             50,651   /             122

83           Bangladesh         1,212     /             27,439   /             25           /             12,443   /             165

AFGHANISTAN WILL NOT ADDRESS UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY AFTER DISPUTE

Afghanistan will not have anyone address the UN General Assembly on Monday, in a last-minute reversal following a dispute about which official — from either the Taliban or the ex-government — should be allowed to address the assembly, AP reports.

Afghanistan's UN seat was the subject of competing claims following the Taliban's takeover of the country.

Earlier this week, the Taliban nominated a new envoy to the UN, Mohammad Suhail Shaheen, and asked that he address the assembly in place of currently accredited ambassador Ghulam Isaczai, an appointee of the previous government.

As of Friday, Isaczai was still scheduled to give the gathering's final address on Monday.

When a UN seat is disputed, the General Assembly's nine-member Credentials Committee is tasked with making a decision, but the group has not been able to meet to discuss the issue in time.

“We were notified Saturday by the Afghan Mission that they would no longer be speaking," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told AP Monday morning.

Afghanistan is no longer listed on the lineup of speakers for the assembly meeting.

COVID CAUSED BIGGEST DROP IN LIFE EXPECTANCY SINCE WORLD WAR II: UK STUDY

The COVID-19 pandemic has reduced life expectancy in 2020 by the largest amount since World War II, with the life expectancy of American men dropping by more than two years, according to new data.

In the 29 countries studied - the United States, Chile, and 27 in Europe - all but two showed reductions in life expectancy or the average period that a person may expect to live.

There were greater drops in life expectancy for men than women in most countries.

"The large declines in life expectancy observed in the United States can partly be explained by the notable increase in mortality at working ages observed in 2020," study co-leader Ridhi Kashyap of the University of Oxford said in a statement.

"In the United States, increases in mortality in the under 60 age group contributed most significantly to life expectancy declines, whereas across most of Europe increases in mortality above age 60 contributed more significantly."

The largest declines were found in US men, who saw life expectancy drop by 2.2 years relative to 2019, followed by a 1.7-year decline for Lithuanian men.

Women in the United States and Spain had drops in life expectancy of 1.5 years or more.

Overall, men had more than a year shaved off in 15 countries, compared to women in 11 countries.

Females from 15 countries and males from 10 ended up with lower life expectancy at birth in 2020 than in 2015, the research team reported on Sunday in the International Journal of Epidemiology.

UK PUTS ARMY ON STANDBY AS FUEL PUMPS RUN DRY

Britain on Monday put the army on standby to help with the ongoing fuel crisis as fears over tanker driver shortages led to panic buying, leaving many of the country's pumps dry.

"Limited number of military tanker drivers to be put on a state of readiness and deployed if necessary to further stabilise fuel supply chain," the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy said in a statement issued late on Monday.

Desperate motorists queued up at fuel pumps across Britain, draining tanks, fraying tempers and prompting calls for the government to use emergency powers to give priority access to healthcare and other essential workers.

The government says a lack of tanker drivers to deliver fuel and unprecedented demand is behind the crisis.

The military drivers will receive specialised training before deploying if the crisis does not ease in the coming days.

"While the fuel industry expects demand will return to its normal levels in the coming days, it's right that we take this sensible, precautionary step," said Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng.

"If required, the deployment of military personnel will provide the supply chain with additional capacity as a temporary measure to help ease pressures caused by spikes in localised demand for fuel," he added.

The government has already made a drastic U-turn on tighter post-Brexit immigration policy, offering short-term visa waivers to foreign truckers to help plug the shortfall.

Fuel operators, including Shell, BP and Esso, said there was "plenty of fuel at UK refineries" and expected demand to return to normal levels in days, easing pressure.

CHINA’S ELECTRICITY CRUNCH IS LATEST SUPPLY CHAIN THREAT TO WORLD

China’s energy crisis is shaping up as the latest shock to global supply chains as factories in the world’s biggest exporter are forced to conserve energy by curbing production.

The disruption comes as producers and shippers race to meet demand for everything from clothing to toys for the year-end holiday shopping season, grappling with supply lines that have been upended by soaring raw material costs, long delays at ports and shortages of shipping containers.

Chinese manufacturers warn that strict measures to cut electricity use will slash output in economic powerhouses like Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces -- which together account for almost a third of the nation’s gross domestic product -- and possibly drive up prices.

Local governments are ordering the power cuts as they try to avoid missing targets for reducing energy and emissions intensity, while some are facing an actual lack of electricity.

The power problems come after recent port disruptions in China rippled across global supply chains. Part of Ningbo port, one of the world’s busiest, was idled for weeks last month following a Covid outbreak, while Yantian port in Shenzhen was shut in May.

‘NO AIRPORT DEAL WITH AF TILL GOVT INCLUDES WOMEN, OTHER FACTIONS’

Turkey expects the government in Afghanistan to be “inclusive” before any agreement can be made about operating Kabul’s strategic airport, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying on Sunday. Turkey had been planning to help secure and run the airport before the hardline Islamist Taliban swift capture of the Afghan capital last month. There were also negotiations on the subject this summer between Turkish and US officials but after the Taliban’s return, Turkish troops stationed in the country pulled out.

The fall of Kabul shattered the plans but Turkey had been holding talks with the Taliban about the conditions under which it could help operate the airport. “The government in Afghanistan is not inclusive, is not embracing all different factions. So long as that will be the question we won’t be present in Afghanistan, but if the government shall be more inclusive, we can be there, present, as Turkey,” Erdogan told American broadcaster CBS News. “We would expect all women to be involved in every aspect of life in Afghanistan in a very active way. And whenever women become more active in every aspect of life, we can support them,” he added, according to an interview transcript provided by CBS News.

NORTH KOREA DEMANDS BIDEN ADMIN TO END MILITARY EXERCISE WITH SOUTH KOREA

North Korea on Monday accused the United States of hostility and demanded the Biden administration permanently end joint military exercises with South Korea even as it continued its recent streak of weapons tests apparently aimed at pressuring Washington and Seoul over slow nuclear diplomacy.

North Korean Ambassador Kim Song’s comments on the last day of the U.N. General Assembly came shortly after South Korea’s military said the North fired an unidentified projectile into its eastern waters.

The North’s latest test, which followed two previous rounds of missile tests this month, indicated the country is returning to its tried-and-true technique of mixing weapons demonstrations and peace offers to wrest concessions amid long-stalled negotiations over its nuclear weapons program.

Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff didn’t immediately say what the North launched in its latest test, which took place early Tuesday on the Korean Peninsula, or how far the weapon flew.

Speaking through a translator, Kim justified North Korea’s development of a “war deterrent” as a necessity to defend against U.S. threats, and also accused of South Korea of betraying inter-Korean peace agreements by prioritizing its Western ally over “national harmony.”

He demanded that the United States “permanently” stop its military exercises with South Korea, which the North has traditionally described as invasion rehearsals, and end the deployment of U.S. strategic weapons to the Korean Peninsula.

TALIBAN ISSUE NO-SHAVE ORDER TO BARBERS IN AFGHAN PROVINCE

The Taliban on Monday banned barbershops in a southern Afghanistan province from shaving or trimming beards, claiming their edict is in line with Shariah, or Islamic, law.

The order in Helmand province was issued by the provincial Taliban government's vice and virtue department to barbers in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital.

“Since I have heard (about the ban on trimming beards) I am heart broken," said Bilal Ahmad, a Lashkar Gah resident. "This is the city and everyone follows a way of living, so they have to be left alone to do whatever they want.” During their previous rule of Afghanistan, the Taliban adhered to a harsh interpretation of Islam. Since overrunning Kabul on Aug. 15 and again taking control of the country, the world has been watching to see whether they will re-create their strict governance of the late 1990s, Some indication came on Saturday, when Taliban fighters killed four alleged kidnappers and later hung their bodies in the public squares of the western city of Herat.

"If anyone violates the rule (they) will be punished and no one has a right to complain,” said the note issued to the barbers. It wasn't immediately clear what penalties the barbers could face if they don't adhere to the no shaving or trimming rule.

U.K. WARSHIP MAKES RARE TRANSIT VIA TAIWAN STRAIT

The Royal Navy said a British warship was sailing through the Taiwan Strait on Monday, a move that challenges Beijing’s claim to the sensitive waterway and marks a rare voyage by a non-U.S. military vessel.

“After a busy period working with partners and allies in the East China Sea, we are now en route through the Taiwan Strait to visit Vietnam and the Vietnam People’s Navy,” read a tweet from the official account for HMS Richmond, a frigate deployed with Britain’s aircraft carrier strike group.

Local media said it was the first time a British warship had transited through the narrow waterway separating Taiwan and mainland China.

The British Navy survey ship HMS Enterprise transited through the strait in 2019. The U.K.’s Defence Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

JOE BIDEN GETS COVID-19 BOOSTER SHOT AS ADDITIONAL DOSES ROLL OUT

U.S. President Joe Biden rolled up his shirt sleeve for a COVID-19 vaccine booster inoculation on Monday, hoping to provide a powerful example for Americans on the need to get the extra shot even as millions go without their first.

In getting the booster, Mr Biden dismissed criticism that the United States should distribute more vaccines worldwide before allowing boosters at home.

"We are going to do our part," he said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last week backed an additional dose of the Pfizer Inc/BioNTech vaccine for Americans aged 65 and older, adults with underlying medical conditions and adults in high-risk working and institutional settings.

Mr Biden, 78, said his wife Jill would also get a booster shot soon.

SCIENTISTS DEVELOP 3D PRINTED VACCINE PATCH

Scientists have developed a three-dimensional (3D) printed vaccine patch that provides greater protection than a typical immunisation shot.

The team at Stanford University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) in the US applied the vaccine patch directly to the skin of animals, which is full of immune cells that vaccines target.

The resulting immune response from the patch was 10 times greater than vaccine delivered into an arm muscle with a needle jab, according to the study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The technique uses 3D-printed microneedles lined up on a polymer patch and barely long enough to reach the skin to deliver vaccine.

“In developing this technology, we hope to set the foundation for even more rapid global development of vaccines, at lower doses, in a pain- and anxiety-free manner,” said lead study author Joseph M DeSimone, professor at Stanford University.

The ease and effectiveness of the new vaccine may lead to a new way to deliver vaccines that is painless, less invasive than a shot with a needle and can be self-administered.

Through 3D printing, the microneedles can be easily customised to develop various vaccine patches for flu, measles, hepatitis or Covid-19 vaccines.