KEY COVID NOS. WORLDWIDE

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

               World    4,53,544              /             47,87,075            /             8,360     /             1,83,98,937        /             614.1

1             USA        96,385   /             7,13,690              /             1,941     /             98,64,470            /             2,141

2             UK          36,722   /             1,36,525              /             150        /             13,42,535            /             1,998

3             Russia    22,430   /             2,06,388              /             857        /             6,26,809              /             1,413

4             Turkey   29,386   /             63,838   /             227        /             4,77,339              /             747

5             Iran        13,271   /             1,20,160              /             272        /             4,43,129              /             1,408

6             Brazil     17,756   /             5,96,163              /             643        /             3,98,682              /             2,780

7             Mexico  9,792     /             2,76,376              /             700        /             3,70,163              /             2,116

8             India      23,139   /             4,48,090              /             309        /             2,82,813              /             321

9             Honduras             654        /             9,755     /             50           /             2,45,522              /             966

10           Vietnam               8,758     /             19,098   /             162        /             1,76,791              /             194

11           Malaysia              12,434   /             26,143   /             208        /             1,69,718              /             795

12           Poland   1,234     /             75,623   /             22           /             1,68,111              /             2,001

13           Germany              12,209   /             94,191   /             70           /             1,46,800              /             1,120

14           Philippines           12,805   /             38,164   /             190        /             1,32,339              /             343

15           France   5,835     /             1,16,657              /             42           /             1,30,361              /             1,782

16           Serbia    8,171     /             8,187     /             45           /             1,27,947              /             942

17           Spain     2,761     /             86,397   /             39           /             1,19,680              /             1,847

18           Thailand               10,414   /             16,620   /             122        /             1,15,423              /             237

19           Ukraine 9,666     /             56,080   /             217        /             1,04,190              /             1,292

20           Norway 555        /             861        /             10           /             99,037   /             157

35           Pakistan               1,560     /             27,690   /             52           /             48,506   /             122

85           Bangladesh         1,178     /             27,487   /             17           /             12,602   /             165

TALIBAN WARN US AGAINST OPERATING DRONES OVER AFGHAN AIRSPACE

The Taliban have asked the United States to stop operating drones in Afghan airspace, saying it needs to follow obligations to prevent negative consequences.

Terming the US move a breach of national security, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid asked all the nations to act in accordance with mutual obligations to prevent consequences.

According to a statement issued by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) on Tuesday, all countries are the sole owners of the territorial and air sovereignty of their states under international law." Therefore, the Islamic Emirate, as the sole legal entity of Afghanistan, is the guardian of Afghanistan’s land and airspace”.

"But we recently saw United States violating all international rights, law and United States' commitments to the Islamic Emirate in Doha, Qatar, as Afghanistan's sacred airspace is being invaded by US drones. These violations must be rectified and prevented," it added.

Mujahid called on all countries, especially the United States, to act in accordance with mutual obligations to prevent any negative consequences.

TALIBAN FAILED TO HONOUR DOHA ACCORD, NEVER RENOUNCED AL-QAEDA: US GENERAL

The Taliban which now rules Afghanistan has failed to honour the 2020 Doha Agreement, a top American military general told lawmakers on Tuesday, asserting that most importantly the outfit has not renounced the Al Qaeda.

“Under the Doha Agreement, the United States would begin to withdraw its forces contingent upon the Taliban meeting certain conditions, which would lead to a political agreement between the Taliban and the government of Afghanistan,” General Mark Milley, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

There were seven conditions applicable to the Taliban and eight conditions applicable to the United States under the agreement, he said.

“While the Taliban did not attack US forces, which was one of the conditions, it failed to fully honour any other condition under the Doha Agreement. And, perhaps most importantly for US national security, the Taliban has never renounced Al-Qaeda or broke its affiliation with them,” he said.

The United States, on the other hand, adhered to every condition, the official noted.

“And we must remember that the Taliban was and remains a terrorist organisation, and they still have not broken ties with Al-Qaeda. I have no illusions who we are dealing with. It remains to be seen whether or not the Taliban can consolidate power or if the country will further fracture into civil war,” he asserted.

Responding to a question, he said he believes Al-Qaeda is in Afghanistan and that they have aspirations to reconstitute. “And if they develop the capability, I believe they have aspirations to strike. It is too early in the process to determine the capability, but I do believe …. Al-Qaeda is still at war with the United States… ,” he said.

A legislation has been introduced in the US Senate seeking a report from the Secretary of State about his assessment of Pakistan's role in the Taliban offensive that led to the toppling of the US-backed Afghan government and its support for Taliban offensive in Panjshir Valley, prompting Islamabad to term the move as “unwarranted”.

REP SENATORS INTRODUCE SANCTIONS ON TALIBAN

Washington: Twenty-two Republican senators have introduced a legislation in the Senate to impose sanctions on the Taliban and on all foreign governments supporting the hardline Islamic group. The ‘Afghanistan Counterterrorism, Oversight and Accountability Act’ has also sought a “deeper investigation” into the Taliban's victory in Afghanistan.

TUNISIA NAMES FIRST WOMAN PRIME MINISTER

Tunisia's President on Wednesday named Raoudha Boudent Ramadhane as nation's first woman Prime Minister, appointing her to lead a transitional government after her predecessor was sacked.

President Kais Saied named Ramadhane, a 63-year-old professor at a prestigious engineering school, to the PM's post in a surprise decision. — AP

KIM JONG UN WANTS TO RESTORE HOTLINES WITH SOUTH KOREA SOON

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says he’ll restore stalled communication lines with South Korea in early October.

Kim’s comments carried in a state media report on Thursday came a day after North Korea claimed to have performed it’s first hypersonic missile test in the latest in a series of its weapons tests this month.

The Korean Central News Agency quotes Mr Kim as saying the measure is aimed at realizing the Korean people’s wishes for a peace between the two Koreas.

KCNA says Mr Kim made the instruction while urging South Korea to abandon “unfair double-dealing standards” and “hostile policies.”

Mr Kim also says America’s “hostile policies” and “military threats” remain unchanged and that its recent offer for dialogues is nothing but an attempt to conceal such a hostility.

Some experts say North Korea has been trying to push Seoul to convince Washington to ease economic sanctions and make other concessions or drive a wedge between the allies.

CHINA SAYS TO SET GOVERNANCE RULES FOR ALGORITHMS OVER NEXT THREE YEARS

China's cyberspace watchdog and other government bodies will set up governance rules for algorithms in around three years, it said on Wednesday, as Beijing seeks to tighten its grip on the algorithms technology companies use to attract users.

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said in a statement that algorithms developed by technology firms should uphold core values of socialism and that enterprises should set systems for algorithm safety and responsibility.

CAC also said it would establish professional evaluation teams to deeply analyze the mechanism of the algorithm and algorithms should become "fair and transparent".

It will "vigorously promote the research on algorithm innovations ... and enhance the core competitiveness of China's algorithms," the regulator added.

Algorithms are widely used by tech companies in China, including recommendation algorithms used by Alibaba's ecommerce marketplace Taobao, ByteDance's short video app Douyin, Tencent-backed Kuaishou, as well delivery algorithms used by food delivery platforms Meituan and Alibaba-owned Ele.me.

In August, CAC issued sweeping draft guidelines to regulate algorithms that include proposals that companies should not setup algorithm models that entice users to spend large amounts of money and that users should be given the option to easily turn off algorithm recommendation services.

YOUTUBE BANS ALL ANTI-VACCINE MISINFORMATION

YouTube said on Wednesday that it was banning several prominent anti-vaccine activists from its platform as part of an effort to remove all content that falsely claims that approved vaccines are dangerous. In a blog post, YouTube said it would remove videos claiming that vaccines do not reduce transmission or contraction of disease, and content that includes misinformation on the contents of the vaccines. Claims that approved vaccines cause autism, cancer or infertility, or that the vaccines contain trackers will also be removed. The platform, which is owned by Google, has had a similar ban on misinformation about the Covid vaccines. But the new policy expands the rules to misleading claims about approved vaccines such as those against measles and hepatitis B, as well as to falsehoods about vaccines in general, YouTube said. Personal testimonies relating to vaccines, content about vaccine policies, new vaccine trials and historical videos about vaccine successes or failures will be allowed to remain on the site. YouTube said in the past year it had removed130,000 videos for violating Covid vaccine policies.