KEY COVID NOS. WORLDWIDE

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

               World    12,79,979            /             59,05,836            /             5,278     /             6,85,81,272               /             757.7

1             USA        15,056   /             9,59,412              /             282        /             2,74,54,250        /               2,871

2             Germany              1,04,131              /             1,21,891              /             65           /               38,06,840            /             1,447

3             France   59,003   /             1,36,594              /                            /             31,46,099            /               2,085

4             Russia    1,70,699              /             3,45,500              /             745        /             26,59,681               /             2,366

5             Brazil     40,625   /             6,44,362              /             424        /             25,15,778            /               2,997

6             Spain                    /             97,998   /                            /             23,84,431            /               2,095

7             Netherlands        36,437   /             21,483   /             8             /             22,67,880            /               1,249

8             UK          25,696   /             1,60,581              /             74           /             17,34,847            /               2,345

9             Italy       42,081   /             1,52,989              /             141        /             13,48,347            /               2,536

10           S. Korea               1,04,828              /             7,405     /             51           /             10,63,143               /             144

11           Norway 7,646     /             1,548     /                            /             10,45,909            /             282

12           Belgium                              /             29,920   /                            /             9,18,910              /               2,563

13           Chile      30,398   /             41,347   /             151        /             9,17,027              /               2,133

14           Japan     77,153   /             21,636   /             203        /             8,49,966              /             172

15           Switzerland                        /             13,117   /                            /             7,93,428              /               1,498

16           Turkey   70,355   /             92,451   /             263        /             7,50,736              /               1,077

17           Ukraine 17,448   /             1,04,518              /             152        /             6,77,794              /               2,414

18           Sweden                /             16,817   /                            /             5,97,553              /               1,648

19           Poland   13,687   /             1,09,817              /             25           /             5,87,395              /               2,907

20           Finland                 /             2,277     /                            /             5,56,769              /             410

36           India      16,051   /             5,12,109              /             162        /             2,02,131              /               365

44           Bangladesh         1,987     /             28,965   /             21           /             1,49,742              /               173

62           Pakistan               1,644     /             30,009   /             33           /             67,658   /             132

64           Philippines           1,712     /             55,684   /             77           /             60,532   /             497

91           Sri Lanka              1,231     /             15,994   /             25           /             23,725   /             742

MACRON, PUTIN AGREE TO WORK FOR EASTERN UKRAINE CEASEFIRE

French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Sunday agreed to work for a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, Mr. Macron's office said.

In a phone conversation lasting 105 minutes, they also agreed on "the need to favour a diplomatic solution to the crisis and do everything to achieve one", Macron's office  said, adding that French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov would meet "in the coming days".

Mr. Putin and Mr. Macron said they would work ‘intensely’ to allow the Trilateral Contact Group — Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE — to meet “in the next few hours to getting all interested parties to commit to a ceasefire at the contact line” where government troops and pro-Russian separatists are facing each other.

“Intense diplomatic work will take place in the coming days,” Mr. Macron’s office said, with several consultations to take place in the French capital.

They also agreed to work towards "a high-level meeting with the aim of defining a new peace and security order in Europe", Mr. Macron's office said.

A Washington report quoting Secretary of State Antony Blinken said U.S. President Joe Biden is willing to meet Mr. Putin "at any time" to prevent a war in Ukraine.

Mr. Blinken told CBS's "Face the Nation" that Mr. Biden has made "very clear that he's prepared to meet President Putin at any time, in any format, if that can help prevent a war."

US company Maxar said new satellite imagery showed multiple new field deployments of armoured equipment and troops from Russian garrisons near the border with Ukraine, indicating increased military readiness.

Armored tanks painted with a letter 'Z' are reported to be rolling from Shebekino in Russia, towards Ukraine's Kharkiv Oblast just across the border, according to Twitter posts from military analysts accompanied by videos. The marking are said to be aimed at differentiating Russian tanks assigned with specific roles and preventing friendly fire.

The forward troop movement is taking place even as Mr. Macron reached out to his Russian counterpart to forestall what Nato allies say is an imminent invasion.

AFTER WEEKS-LONG PROTEST, OTTAWA STARTS CLEANUP

Canadian police on Sunday smashed the windows of vehicles abandoned in the downtown core of the capital to tow them away, and city workers cleaned up trash after two days of tense standoffs and 170 arrests ended a three-week occupation of Ottawa.

Demonstrators had used hundreds of trucks and vehicles to block the city since January 28, prompting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to invoke rarely used emergency powers.

The protesters initially wanted an end to cross-border COVID-19 vaccine mandates for truck drivers, but the blockade turned into a demonstration against Mr. Trudeau and the government. On Saturday, police used pepper spray and stun grenades to move out the die-hard protesters who remained, clearing most of the area in front of parliament.

PAK EYES PEOPLE’S GOLD TO INCREASE FOREX RESERVES

The Imran Khan-led Pakistan government is considering a proposal to borrow gold biscuits and bars from the people to increase the country’s foreign exchange reserves that remain on a sliding path despite taking over $5 billion loans in the past three months from bilateral and multilateral creditors, according to a media report on Sunday.

The proposal has been discussed in the Economic Executive Council (EEC) — the body comprising all economic ministers and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) governor, Express Tribune reported, citing sources in the ministry of finance. As per the proposal, the commercial banks will issue a negotiable discounted instrument to the gold owner and pay an interest rate on the precious metal. The commercial bank will deposit the gold with the SBP that can monetise it to increase the foreign exchange reserves.

The central bank’s reserves slid to $ 17 billion as of February 11, according to an SBP statement dated December 31. In the past three months, the government took a $3 billion loan from Saudi Arabia, raised the most expensive debt of $1 billion in Pakistan’s history by pledging motorway and received another $1 billion from the IMF. But still the reserves could not be stabilised.

PROTESTS IN NEPAL OVER $500-MILLION US GRANT

The police in Nepal fired rubber bullets and tear gas as hundreds of people protested over a $500 million US grant going before parliament, BBC reported.

Nepal signed the Millennium Challenge Corporation pact to fund infrastructure projects in 2017 and it has been a bone of contention between the US and China.

Several people were injured in the demonstrations outside the Parliament in Kathmandu. Groups opposing the US funding have said it undermines Nepal’s sovereignty, the report said.

Protesters were also targeted with water cannon in an attempt to disperse Sunday's demonstration. Police had stones thrown at them.

The Nepal Parliament has until February 28 to ratify the deal, which has been delayed by divisions within political parties, including the ruling coalition. Nepalese media has reported that the US administration has held conversations with Nepali politicians urging them to endorse the pact by the end of the month or face the ties between the countries being reviewed.

IRAN MPS SET CONDITIONS FOR N-DEAL

Iranian lawmakers have laid out six conditions for the revival of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal with global powers in a letter to President Ebrahim Raisi published on Sunday, the country’s official IRNA news agency reported.

The letter, signed by 250 out of 290 parliamentarians, stated that U.S. and European parties should guarantee that they would not exit a restored agreement, nor trigger the “snapback mechanism” under which sanctions on Iran would be immediately reinstated if it violates nuclear compliance.

The Parliament has not voted on the proposed conditions and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who enjoys the support of hardliners, has the final say on Iran’s nuclear policy and all other matters of state.

“We have to learn a lesson from past experiences and put a red line on the national interest by not committing to any agreement without obtaining necessary guarantees first,” lawmakers said in the letter.

BRAZIL STORM DEATH TOLL RISES TO 152

The death toll from torrential rains that triggered flash floods and landslides in the scenic Brazilian city of Petropolis has risen to 152, authorities said Sunday, as the pope sent his condolences.

Rescue workers and residents searching for their missing relatives continued digging through mountains of mud and rubble in the southeastern city, which President Jair Bolsonaro said Friday looked like "scenes of war."

Police said 165 people remain missing after Tuesday's storm. It is unlikely any more will be found alive beneath the wreckage, authorities say.

It is unclear how high the steadily rising death toll will go.

The number of missing has fallen as more bodies are identified, and as families manage to find relatives alive and well whom they feared lost in the chaos after the storm, police said.