KEY COVID NOS. WORLDWIDE

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

               World    3,40,467              /             50,64,429            /             4,564     /             1,87,11,383        /             649.7

1             USA        22,668   /             7,75,204              /             109        /             92,37,185            /             2,324

2             UK          30,305   /             1,41,805              /             62           /             15,65,905            /             2,074

3             Russia    39,165   /             2,46,814              /             1,179     /             9,86,303              /             1,690

4             Ukraine 17,419   /             72,084   /             449        /             4,90,593              /             1,662

5             Turkey   25,304   /             72,127   /             200        /             4,50,548              /             843

6             Mexico  3,574     /             2,89,674              /             261        /             3,48,126              /             2,215

7             Germany              20,701   /             97,059   /             40           /             3,18,010              /             1,153

8             Poland   12,493   /             77,757   /             24           /             2,82,148              /             2,058

9             Iran        7,554     /             1,27,299              /             126        /             2,58,751              /             1,490

10           Honduras                            /             10,309   /                            /             2,49,863              /             1,019

11           Brazil     6,115     /             6,09,484              /             67           /             2,01,161              /             2,840

12           Netherlands        11,349   /             18,561   /             8             /             1,82,070              /             1,080

13           Romania              5,293     /             50,755   /             263        /             1,59,654              /             2,662

14           Belgium                              /             26,131   /                            /             1,58,246              /             2,242

15           India      11,648   /             4,61,043              /             256        /             1,52,083              /             330

16           France   8,547     /             1,17,910              /             10           /             1,27,365              /             1,801

17           Norway 998        /             922        /                            /             1,26,981              /             168

18           Finland                 /             1,184     /                            /             1,15,292              /             213

19           Bulgaria               1,256     /             25,074   /             69           /             1,12,845              /             3,646

20           Serbia    3,888     /             10,405   /             69           /             1,12,251              /             1,197

67           Pakistan               471        /             28,538   /             20           /             22,810   /             126

92           Bangladesh         178        /             27,895   /             4             /             8,293     /             167

PALESTINIANS SLAM ISRAELI COMMENTS ON US CONSULATE IN JERUSALEM

The Palestinians on Sunday slammed Israel for rejecting the promised reopening of the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem, a move that would restore Washington's main diplomatic mission for the Palestinians in the contested city.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said late Saturday there was no room in Jerusalem for another American mission.

The Trump administration shuttered the U.S. Jerusalem consulate, an office that for years served as the de facto embassy to the Palestinians. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has pledged to reopen it, a move that Israel says would challenge its sovereignty over the city. The reopening could help mend U.S. ties with the Palestinians ruptured under Trump.

In a statement, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said it views the reopening of the consulate as part of the international community's commitments to ending Israel's decades-long occupation of territories the Palestinians seek for their future state.

“East Jerusalem is an inseparable part of the occupied Palestinian territory and is the capital of the state of Palestine. Israel, as the occupying power, does not have the right to veto the U.S. administration’s decision,” the statement said.

Asked about the consulate at a press conference, Bennett repeated Israel's position on Jerusalem.

“There's no room for another American consulate in Jerusalem,” he said. “Jerusalem is the capital of one state and that's the state of Israel.” Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid suggested the consulate could instead be opened in the Palestinian administrative center in Ramallah, West Bank. The Palestinians reject the idea because it would undermine their claims to Jerusalem.

U.S. TO LIFT ALL TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS FOR FULLY-VACCINATED INCOMING FOREIGN NATIONALS FROM NOVEMBER 8

The U.S. set to lift all restrictions for fully-vaccinated international travellers, including from India, from November 8 but they will have to show proof of a negative coronavirus test before boarding a flight to the country, according to an official statement.

The travel guidelines included protocols around testing. To further strengthen protections, unvaccinated travellers – whether U.S. Citizens, lawful permanent residents (LPRs), or the small number of accepted unvaccinated foreign nationals – will now need to test within one day of departure.

And fully vaccinated travellers will continue to be required to show a pre-departure negative test taken within three days of travel to the U.S. prior to boarding, the statement said.

Unvaccinated minors will need to test at the same time as the adults with whom they are travelling – three days with vaccinated adults and one day with unvaccinated adults, it said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has determined that for purposes of travel to the United States, vaccines accepted will include FDA approved or authorised and World Health Organisation (WHO) emergency use listed (EUL) vaccines.

The American travel industry has been asking for President Biden to lift the ban.

XI JINPING IS REWRITING HISTORY TO JUSTIFY HIS RULE FOR YEARS TO COME

The image of China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, greets visitors to museum exhibitions celebrating the country’s growth. Communist Party biographers have worshipfully chronicled his rise, though he has given no hint of retiring. The party’s newest official history devotes over a quarter of its 531 pages to his nine years in power.

A high-level meeting opening in Beijing on Monday will issue a “resolution” officially reassessing the party’s 100-year history that is likely to cement his status as an epoch-making leader alongside Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. While ostensibly about historical issues, the Central Committee’s resolution will shape China’s politics and society for decades to come.

The touchstone document on the party’s past, only the third of its kind, is sure to become the focus of an intense indoctrination campaign. It will dictate how the authorities teach China’s modern history in textbooks, films, TV shows and classrooms. It’ll embolden censors and police officers applying sharpened laws against any who mock, or even question, the communist cause and its “martyrs”. Even in China, where the party’s power is all but absolute, it will remind officials and citizens that Xi is defining their times, and demanding their loyalty. “This is about creating a new timescape for China around the Communist Party and Xi in which he is riding the wave of the past towards the future,” said Geremie R Barme, a historian of China based in New Zealand. “It is not really a resolution about past history, but a resolution about future leadership.”

By exalting Xi, the decision will fortify his authority before a party congress late next year, at which he is very likely to win another five-year term as leader. The orchestrated acclaim around the history document, which could be published days after the Central Committee meeting ends on Thursday, will help deter any questioning of Xi’s record.

SCHOOLS TAKE LEAD IN PROMOTING VAX

With the approval of the Covid vaccine for younger children, many elementary schools around the US are preparing to offer the shots, which educators see as key to keeping students learning in person and making the classroom experience closer to what it once was.

Some leaders say offering vaccine clinics on campus, with the involvement of trusted school staff, is key to improving access and helping overcome hesitancy — particularly in communities with low overall vaccination rates. More than 250 families signed up for vaccinations that began on Thursday at schools in Duluth, Minnesota.

NON-MUSLIMS TO BE ALLOWED TO MARRY, DIVORCE UNDER CIVIL LAW IN ABU DHABI

Non-Muslims will be allowed to marry, divorce and get joint child custody under civil law in Abu Dhabi according to a new decree issued on Sunday by its ruler, state news agency WAM said.

It is the latest step in the United Arab Emirates -- where personal status laws on marriage and divorce had been based on Islamic sharia principles, as in other Gulf states -- to maintain its competitive edge as a regional commercial hub.

The decree from Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan, who is also president of the UAE federation of seven emirates, said the law covers civil marriage, divorce, alimony, joint child custody and proof of paternity, and inheritance.

It aims to "enhance the position and global competitiveness of the emirate as one of the most attractive destinations for talent and skills", WAM said.

The report described the civil law regulating non-Muslim family matters as being the first of its kind in the world "in line with international best practices".