International Affairs

WASHINGTON - President-elect Joe Biden is promoting a $1.9 trillion economic relief package to a country battered by a year-long pandemic that will have killed over 400,000 Americans and sickened tens of millions more before he takes office this week.

Indonesian rescue teams have pulled more bodies from the rubble of residential and commercial buildings toppled by a strong earthquake that hit Sulawesi island last week, killing at least 78 people, authorities said on Sunday.

Sri Lanka can commence charter flights from mid-2021, in the post COVID-19 phase to Myanmar, a statement from the Foreign Affairs Ministry said.

WHITE HOUSE - In a farewell video released on his final full day in office, President Donald Trump offered prayers and best wishes to his successor, Democrat Joe Biden, but without ever mentioning him by name.

“This week, we inaugurate a new administration and pray for its success in keeping America safe and prosperous,” Trump said in the video posted online 20 hours prior to the end of his presidency. “We also extend our best wishes. And we also want them to have luck — a very important word.”

In the nearly 20 minutes of remarks taped on Monday, Trump took credit for creating “the greatest economy in the history of the world.” He also said he was “especially proud to be the first president in decades who has started no new wars.”

As the video was released by the White House on YouTube, a private jet carrying President-elect Biden landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, where Trump is to be sent off with a final ceremony Wednesday morning. The president will then make his final flight on Air Force One to the state of Florida.

Trump, breaking with tradition, is skipping the inaugural ceremony for Biden, who won both the popular and electoral votes in last November’s election. Trump falsely declared the polling fraudulent and has not congratulated Biden.

Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to attend the inauguration at a heavily fortified Capitol where Biden is to be sworn in at noon Wednesday, 15 minutes after Kamala Harris takes the oath of office as vice president.

Trump needs only to peer from the window of his third-floor bedroom in the White House to see the reviewing stand set up for the inaugural parade. It is decorated with bunting and banners reading “*2021* BIDEN HARRIS INAUGURATION.”

පසුගිය මස අවසානයේ සිට මේ වනවිට නෝර්වේ රටේ 30,000කට ආසන්න ප්‍රමාණයකට Pfizer BioNtech එන්නත ලබාදී ඇති අතර ඉන් 23 දෙනෙකු දැනට මියගොස් ඇති බව වාර්තාවේ. ඉන් 13 දෙනෙකු වැඩිහිටි නිවාස වල පසුවූ වයස අවුරුදු 80 ආසන්නයේ පුද්ගලයින් බවත් වාර්තාවේ.

COVID-19 deaths worldwide exceeded 2 million Friday, according to Johns Hopkins University, a year after the coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan, China.

RIYADH: The 6th International Conference on Disability and Rehabilitation and the King Salman Disability Research Award will be staged in January 2022, a press conference has been told.

The Kuwaiti government has allowed entry of newly-recruited domestic helpers from labor-exporting countries such as Sri Lanka, the Philippines, India and elsewhere starting from today, the Kuwait Times reported.

WASHINGTON - U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has promised a quick and dramatic reversal of the restrictive immigration policies put in place by his predecessor President Donald Trump. While Biden pledged to undo many of Trump's policies starting the first day he takes office on January 20, the layers of reforms will take much longer to implement.

කොවිඩ් වයිරසයේ නව ප්‍රභේදයක් ලෙස ‘‘කොවිඩ් ටන්’’ යනුවෙන් වයිරසය මේ වන විට ලොව පුරා පැතිර යන බව අනාවරණය වීමත් සමග වඩාත් කල්පනාකාරී වන්නැයි ළමා රෝග විශේෂඥ වෛද්‍ය දීපාල් පෙරේරා සඳහන් කරයි.

India began its COVID-19 vaccine campaign Saturday. Frontline workers are slated to receive the first inoculations.

India will donate a consignment of Covid-19 vaccines being manufactured there by the end of this month as a gesture of goodwill between the two countries, a Minister said.

The world is on the brink of a “catastrophic moral failure” over COVID-19 vaccine distribution, the head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) warns as he urges countries and manufacturers to share doses more fairly across countries.

Asia's chicken farmers are confronting the region's worst bird flu outbreak in years, with the deadly virus affecting farms stretching from Japan to India, roiling some poultry prices and showing no signs of easing.

The European Union (EU) is to raise concerns with Sri Lanka on human rights and other matters at a joint commission meeting later this month.

WASHINGTON - U.S. President-elect Joe Biden is planning to lay out a “positive, optimistic” vision for the country in his inaugural address on Wednesday and “try to turn the page on the divisiveness, and the hatred of the last four years” under outgoing President Donald Trump, a key Biden aide said Sunday.

සෞදි ආරාබිය වෙත රැකබලා ගැනීමේ සහ හෙද අංශවල රැකියා සදහා ශ්‍රී ලාංකික කාන්තාවන් යොමු කිරීමේ නියමු වැඩසටහනක් සඳහා එරට ප්‍රධාන පෙළේ සමාගමක් එකඟතාව පළකර තිබේ.

The World Health Organization's ((WHO)) European chief says 95% of the 23.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines that have been administered around the world so far have been given out in just 10 countries.