KEY COVID NOS. WORLDWIDE

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

               World    4,36,436              /             49,44,191            /             6,644     /             1,78,73,429        /             634.3

1             USA        67,441   /             7,53,559              /             1,258     /             95,20,290            /             2,259

2             UK          52,009   /             1,39,146              /             115        /             14,44,489            /             2,036

3             Russia    36,339   /             2,27,389              /             1,036     /             8,12,168              /             1,557

4             Turkey   28,465   /             68,472   /             198        /             5,02,512              /             801

5             Mexico  5,069     /             2,85,347              /             424        /             3,52,867              /             2,183

6             Iran        11,788   /             1,24,763              /             178        /             3,33,287              /             1,461

7             Ukraine 22,415   /             62,389   /             546        /             2,86,376              /             1,438

8             Honduras             383        /             10,170   /             22           /             2,48,747              /             1,006

9             Brazil     16,852   /             6,04,679              /             376        /             2,31,607              /             2,819

10           Poland   5,592     /             76,300   /             46           /             2,00,083              /             2,019

11           Romania              16,110   /             43,487   /             448        /             1,87,284              /             2,280

12           India      15,759   /             4,53,076              /             232        /             1,82,548              /             324

13           Germany              17,838   /             95,753   /             85           /             1,68,304              /             1,138

14           Serbia    7,327     /             9,331     /             59           /             1,22,301              /             1,074

15           Norway 748        /             893        /                            /             1,09,064              /             163

16           Finland  608        /             1,133     /                            /             1,05,574              /             204

17           Thailand               9,727     /             18,559   /             73           /             1,03,086              /             265

18           France   6,127     /             1,17,411              /             35           /             89,804   /             1,794

19           Malaysia              6,210     /             28,234   /             96           /             88,069   /             858

20           Netherlands        5,195     /             18,280   /             7             /             76,817   /             1,064

61           Pakistan               622        /             28,328   /             16           /             24,699   /             125

98           Bangladesh         243        /             27,801   /             10           /             9,023     /             167

China an aggressor against India and other neighbors, says US envoy-nominee to Beijing

A top American diplomat nominated to be Washington’s ambassador to Beijing described China as an aggressor against India and other Indo-Pacific nations at a confirmation hearing where US lawmakers urged the Biden administration to counter what they called the greatest security threat to the United States and its partners.

“Beijing has been an aggressor against India along their Himalayan border; against Vietnam, the Philippines, and others in the South China Sea; against Japan in the East China Sea; and has launched an intimidation campaign against Australia,” ambassador designate to China Nicholas Burns told the Senate foreign relations committee in unusually blunt terms for a nominated envoy who typically head out on a friendly tone.

Burns, a career diplomat who was part of the team that worked on the US-India nuclear deal, said Washington must hold the Chinese government accountable for failing to play by the rules and challenge China where it must, including when Beijing takes actions that run counter to America’s values and interests, threatens the security of the US or its allies and partners, or undermine the rules-based international order.Among other steps, he recommended to counter China was shoring up US alliances in the Indo-Pacific region by placing faith in US diplomacy and inherent American strengths.

Beijing is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in both the South China Sea and the East China Sea. It has built up and militarised many of the islands and reefs it controls in the region. Both areas are stated to be rich in minerals, oil and other natural resources and are also vital to global trade.

Burns said that the “Chinese genocide in Xinjiang and abuses in Tibet, its smothering of Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedoms, and its bullying of Taiwan are unjust, and must stop”.

Beijing’s recent actions against Taiwan are especially objectionable and the US is right to continue to adhere to its one-China policy, he said.

“We are also right to support the peaceful resolution of disputes, and to oppose unilateral actions that undermine the status quo and stability in the Indo-Pacific,” he said.

FATF KEEPS IMRAN KHAN’S PAKISTAN IN GREY LIST, SAYS NOW PROSECUTE TERROR LEADERS

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Thursday retained Pakistan in its grey list and urged the country to do more to investigate and prosecute senior leaders and commanders of UN-designated terror groups involved in terror financing. FATF president Marcus Pleyer said after a three-day plenary meeting of the multilateral watchdog that Jordan, Mali and Turkey have been added to the list of countries under increased monitoring or grey list because of serious issues in their regimes to counter money laundering and terror financing.

Following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, FATF also expressed “concern about the current and evolving money laundering and terrorist financing risk environment” in the war-torn country.

“Pakistan remains under increased monitoring,” Pleyer told an online news briefing.

“Pakistan has taken a number of important steps but needs to further demonstrate that investigations and prosecutions are being pursued against the senior leadership of UN-designated terror groups,” he said.

Pleyer insisted Pakistan must deliver on the sole remaining item in the 2018 action plan by demonstrating that its investigations and prosecutions are targeting senior leaders and commanders of UN-designated groups.

UN UNVEILS FUND FOR ‘PEOPLE’S ECONOMY’ IN AFGHANISTAN

The United Nations said on Thursday it had set up a special trust fund to provide urgently-needed cash directly to Afghans through a system tapping into donor funds frozen since the Taliban takeover last August.

With the local economy “imploding”, the aim is to inject liquidity into Afghan households to permit them to survive this winter and remain in their homeland despite turmoil, it said.

Achim Steiner, the UN Development Programme’s (UNDP) administrator said that Germany, a first contributor, had pledged €50 million ($58 million) to the fund, and that it was in touch with other donors to mobilise resources.

“We have to step in, we have to stabilise a ‘people’s economy’ and in addition to saving lives we also have to save livelihoods,” Mr. Steiner told a news briefing.

“Because otherwise we will confront indeed a scenario through this winter and into next year where millions and millions of Afghans are simply unable to stay on their land, in their homes, in their villages and survive. The implications of that are not difficult to understand,” he said.

COVID: VIRUS MAY HAVE KILLED 80K-180K HEALTH WORKERS, WHO SAYS

Covid has severely affected healthcare staff and may have killed between 80,000 and 180,000, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

Healthcare workers must be prioritised for vaccines, WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, and he criticised unfairness in the distribution of jabs.

The deaths occurred between January 2020 and May of this year.

Earlier, another senior WHO official warned a lack of jabs could see the pandemic continue well into next year.

There are an estimated 135 million healthcare workers globally.

"Data from 119 countries suggest that on average, two in five healthcare workers globally are fully vaccinated," Dr Tedros said.

"But of course, that average masks huge differences across regions and economic groupings."

Fewer than one in 10 healthcare workers were fully vaccinated in Africa, he said, compared with eight in 10 in high-income countries.

A failure to provide poorer countries with enough vaccines was highlighted earlier by Dr Bruce Aylward, a senior leader at the WHO, who said it meant the Covid crisis could "easily drag on deep into 2022".

Less than 5% of Africa's population have been vaccinated, compared with 40% on most other continents.

The vast majority of Covid vaccines overall have been used in high-income or upper middle-income countries. Africa accounts for just 2.6% of doses administered globally.

AUSTRALIA, U.K. DEFEND AUKUS PACT, SAY FEARS OVERHYPED

Australia and Britain are defending their nuclear submarine deal with the U.S. amid concerns it could escalate tensions in the region and spark an arms race. U.K. Minister for Armed Forces James Heappey says there “has been a lot of overhyping” of the pact known as AUKUS. He says the U.K. and the U.S. have been sharing such technologies for decades and that Australia’s decision to join was merely to develop its own submarine capability. The pact will provide Australia with nuclear reactors to power its submarines but the subs will not be nuclear-armed. It has drawn mixed reactions in the region, Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton says it is not a defense alliance but will complement its partnerships in the region.

JOE BIDEN SAYS US IS COMMITTED TO DEFENDING TAIWAN AGAINST CHINA

US president Joe Biden said on Thursday the United States would come to Taiwan's defense and had a commitment to defend the island China claims as its own territory.

"Yes," he responded when asked in a CNN town hall about defending Taiwan. "We have a commitment to that."

Biden's statement was at odds with the long-held US policy known as "strategic ambiguity," where Washington helps build Taiwan's defenses but does not explicitly promise to come to the island's help.

Biden said the United States made a "sacred commitment" to defend NATO allies in Canada and Europe and it's the "same with Japan, same with South Korea, same with Taiwan."

The White House subsequently told reporters that US policy on Taiwan "has not changed."

PFIZER, BIONTECH SAY COVID-19 BOOSTER SHOT HAS HIGH EFFICACY

A booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech SE restored efficacy to 95.6% against the virus, including the Delta variant, data released by the companies from a large study showed on Thursday.

The companies said the trial, which has not been peer-reviewed, tested 10,000 participants aged 16 and older, and found that the booster shot had a favourable safety profile.

The trial results come a day after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna Inc and Johnson & Johnson, and said Americans could choose a different shot from their original inoculation as a booster.

The agency previously authorised boosters of the Pfizer/BioNTech shot at least six months after the first round of shots to increase protection for people agd 65 and older, those at risk of severe disease and those who are exposed to the virus through their work.

Jefferies analyst Michael Yee said the trial results add to mounting data that boosters could help in providing long-lasting protection from symptomatic infection. There were no reported cases of severe disease, suggesting robust protection from infection with only the primary vaccination series, Mr. Yee said.

Pfizer had said its two-shot vaccine’s efficacy drops over time, citing a study that showed 84% effectiveness from a peak of 96% four months after a second dose.

The drugmakers said on Thursday the median time between the second dose and the booster shot or the placebo in the study was around 11 months, adding there were only five cases of COVID-19 in the booster group, compared with 109 cases in the group which received the placebo shot.

DEATH TOLL REACHES 104 AS RAINS LASH NEPAL, TRIGGER FLOODS AND LANDSLIDES

The death toll from flooding and landslides triggered by heavy rains in Nepal climbed to 104 on Thursday after 16 more fatalities were reported from various parts of the country, officials said.

Forty-one people have gone missing and the same have been injured in the incidents so far, according to the latest data published by the ministry’s Disaster Management Division.

According to a Home Ministry statement, the highest number of fatalities, 62 were reported from Province No. 1, followed by Sudur Paschim Province with 31 fatalities and Karnali Province with seven fatalities.

At least 104 people lost their lives in the recent incidents of flood, landslides and inundation that hit different parts of the country, following incessant rains over the past three days, health ministry officials said.

The natural disaster hit 20 districts of Nepal. However, weather conditions have started improving from Thursday, the officials said.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Balkrishna Khand has directed the Nepal Police, Armed Police Force, National Investigation Department and Nepal Army to promptly rescue the foreign tourists stranded at Humla district.