KEY COVID NOS. WORLDWIDE

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

               World    3,15,775              /             48,21,048            /             4,465     /             1,81,79,825        /             618.5

1             USA        53,487   /             7,21,283              /             481        /             98,35,163            /             2,163

2             UK          35,077   /             1,36,986              /             33           /             13,44,818            /             2,005

3             Russia    25,781   /             2,10,801              /             883        /             6,61,025              /             1,444

4             Turkey   28,810   /             64,909   /             248        /             4,82,770              /             759

5             Brazil     10,425   /             5,98,152              /             166        /             4,37,741              /             2,789

6             Iran        14,607   /             1,21,347              /             238        /             4,01,592              /             1,422

7             Mexico  2,980     /             2,78,801              /             211        /             3,67,638              /             2,134

8             India      16,762   /             4,49,283              /             254        /             2,58,756              /             322

9             Honduras                            /             9,855     /                            /             2,46,378              /             976

10           Poland   684        /             75,695   /                            /             1,70,751              /             2,003

11           Malaysia              8,075     /             26,759   /             76           /             1,42,860              /             814

12           Ukraine 4,821     /             56,889   /             114        /             1,38,598              /             1,311

13           Germany              4,488     /             94,342   /             46           /             1,38,240              /             1,122

14           Serbia    5,983     /             8,430     /             50           /             1,28,427              /             970

15           France   1,138     /             1,16,848              /             50           /             1,10,687              /             1,785

16           Thailand               9,930     /             17,111   /             97           /             1,09,748              /             244

17           Philippines           10,748   /             38,828   /             61           /             1,06,160              /             349

18           Romania              8,292     /             37,677   /             133        /             1,05,651              /             1,975

19           Norway 186        /             861        /                            /             1,00,906              /             157

20           Finland  1,302     /             1,062     /                            /             96,354   /             191

34           Pakistan               1,490     /             27,893   /             27           /             46,206   /             123

88           Bangladesh         794        /             27,591   /             18           /             11,579   /             165

WORLD LEADERS DENY WRONGDOING AFTER DUMP OF PURPORTED SECRETS

Several world leaders have denied any wrongdoing after a huge leak of documents revealed the secret financial dealings of the global elite.

The Pandora Papers investigation, which involved a consortium of some 600 journalists from a variety of global media outlets, is based on the leak of some 11.9 million documents from 14 financial services companies around the globe.

Among those named in the files are associates of Russian president Vladimir Putin, King Abdullah of Jordan, and Czech prime minister Andrej Babis. All three have issued statements claiming they have done nothing wrong.

“For now it is just not clear what this information is and what it is about,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, adding that “we didn’t see any hidden wealth of Putin’s inner circle in there”.

King Abdullah said claims he used offshore accounts to disguise a £70m hidden property empire were “defamatory and designed to target Jordan’s reputation”.

“Any allegations that link these private properties to public funds or assistance are baseless and deliberate attempts to distort facts,” a statement from the Royal Hashemite Court said on Monday.

Meanwhile on Twitter, Mr Babis said he had done nothing “illegal or wrong” and suggested the leaks were an attempt to “influence the Czech election”, which takes place next week.

CHINA MOUNTS LARGEST INCURSION YET NEAR TAIWAN

China blamed the US on Monday for increased tensions over Taiwan and vowed to “smash” any separatist plots, as the island reported the largest ever incursion by China’s air force into its air defence zone at 56 aircraft. Taiwan’s government demanded that China immediately stop “irresponsible provocation” against the island. Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said in a statement that China the “chief culprit” in creating tensions across the Taiwan Strait.

Chinese-claimed Taiwan has complained for a year or more of repeated missions by China’s air force near the democratically governed island, often in the southwestern part of its air defence zone close to the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands. But since Friday, when China marked its national day, the country has embarked upon a massive ramping up of its missions, with almost 150 aircraft flying into the defence zone over the space of four days. The latest mission included 34 J-16 fighters and 12 nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, which all flew in an area in the vicinity of the Pratas Islands, according to a map provided by the ministry. A further four Chinese fighters were spotted on Monday night, taking the total to the day to 56 aircraft. Taiwanese fighter jets scrambled to warn away the Chinese planes.

TWO AMERICANS WIN MEDICINE NOBEL FOR WORK ON HEAT AND TOUCH

Two U.S.-based scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine on October 4 for their discovery of the receptors that allow humans to feel temperature and touch.

David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian focused their work on the field of somatosensation, that is the ability of specialised organs such as eyes, ears and skin to see, hear and feel.

“This really unlocks one of the secrets of nature,” said Thomas Perlmann, secretary-general of the Nobel Committee, in announcing the winners. “It's actually something that is crucial for our survival, so it's a very important and profound discovery.” The committee said Mr. Julius, 65, used capsaicin, the active component in chilli peppers, to identify the nerve sensors that allow the skin to respond to heat.

Mr. Patapoutian found separate pressure-sensitive sensors in cells that respond to mechanical stimulation, it said.

The pair shared the prestigious Kavli Award for Neuroscience last year.

“Imagine that you're walking barefoot across a field on this summer's morning,” said Patrik Ernfors of the Nobel Committee. “You can feel the warmth of the sun, the coolness of the morning dew, a caressing summer breeze and the fine texture of blades of grass underneath your feet. These impressions of temperature, touch and movement are feelings relying on somatosensation."

“Such information continuously flows from the skin and other deep tissues and connects us with the external and internal world. It is also essential for tasks that we perform effortlessly and without much thought,” said Mr. Ernfors.

JAPAN'S NEW PM CALLS OCT. 31 ELECTION, VOWS TO FIGHT PANDEMIC

Japan's new prime minister, Fumio Kishida, on Monday called a parliamentary election for Oct. 31 and vowed to bolster the country's response to the coronavirus pandemic, shortly after being formally confirmed by lawmakers in the top job.

Kishida, a 64-year-old former foreign minister with an image as a consensus builder, earlier unveiled a cabinet line-up dominated by allies of former prime minister Shinzo Abe and ex-finance minister Taro Aso.

"I want to ensure we implement large-scale, bold coronavirus countermeasures and economic policies. To do that, we must ask the people whether they trust me, Kishida, to carry out these policies," he said at his inaugural news conference.

"I would like to pursue a politics of trust and compassion with the people's mandate," he said, drawing on the main theme in his campaign to become leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), making politics more accessible to the public.

While Kishida may enjoy a honeymoon period usually afforded new governments, analysts said he probably didn't want to lose time, given risks posed by the pandemic.

His decision to call an election came as a surprise to most analysts who had expected the election to be held in November. Parliament will now be dissolved on Oct. 14.

Kishida said he would consider COVID-19 relief payouts, adding he had also instructed ministers overseeing the pandemic response to come up with policies on vaccinations, to strengthen the medical system and to expand testing to help reopen the economy.

New coronavirus cases in Tokyo on Monday totalled 87, the lowest since Nov. 2 last year.

OUTAGE HITS FB, WHATSAPP AND INSTA

Social media services Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram are coming back after an outage that lasted almost six hours, Facebook says.

All three services are owned by Facebook and could not be accessed over the web or on smartphone apps.

Downdetector, which tracks outages, said it was the largest failure it had ever seen, with 10.6 million problem reports around the world.

The last time Facebook had a disruption of this magnitude was in 2019.

The services went down at about 16:00 GMT with users beginning to gain access to the sites at around 22:00.

Facebook tweeted its apologies to those affected by the outage.

IN A FIRST AFTER 2 YEARS, IRAN ALLOWS FEMALE FANS TO ENTER STADIUM FOR MATCH

Iran has permitted its women nationals to enter a stadium for the first time in two years to watch the national football team take on South Korea in a World Cup 2022 qualifier. “The presence of women has been authorized for the match between the national football teams of Iran and South Korea,” AFP reported on Monday, citing the state-TV-linked Young Journalists Club. The match will be held at Azadi stadium on October 12.

The last time Iranian women were allowed to attend a football match was in 2019 when Iran won a match against Cambodia with a score of 14-0. As many as 3,500 women were able to watch the match in 2019 in the 80,000-seat Azadi stadium.

There has been a year-long prohibition on supporters’ attendance at stadiums regardless of gender due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19). However, female audiences have always been capped by the country’s government, AFP reported.