Digest for international stories for week Nov 28 - Dec 4, 2020

Monday Washington US President-elect Joe Biden on Monday named Janet Yellen as his Treasury Secretary and Indian-American Neera Tanden as Director of Office of Management and Budget, as he announced key members of his economic team.Islamabad Chinas Defence Minister Gen Wei Fenghe on Monday held talks with Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and discussed regional security issues and signed an agreement to deepen defence cooperation between the all-weather allies.

Saturday Colombo: Top security officials of India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives on Saturday agreed to further strengthen cooperation and ensure peace for common benefit as they took stock of the current maritime security environment in the region during the high-level trilateral dialogue held here after a gap of six years. Tehran: Iran’s supreme leader on Saturday called for the “definitive punishment” of those behind the killing of a scientist linked to Tehran’s disbanded military nuclear program, a slaying the Islamic Republic has blamed on Israel.

Kathmandu: Nepal's protracted political crisis deepened on Saturday after embattled Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli rejected Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda's" accusations that he was running the government without consulting the party, and instead blamed his rival for non-cooperation in handling the party's affairs. Sunday Kathmandu: China's Defence Minister Gen. Wei Fenghe on Sunday met Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli and exchanged views on matters of mutual interest and held talks with Army chief Gen. Purna Chandra Thapa on ways to resume military cooperation and training impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Beijing: China will build a major hydropower project on Brahmaputra river in Tibet and a proposal for this has been clearly put forward in the 14th Five-Year Plan to be implemented from next year, the official media on Sunday quoted the head of a Chinese company tasked to build the dam as saying.

Kabul: Afghan officials said Sunday at least 34 people were killed in two separate suicide bombings that targeted a military base and a provincial chief. Monday Washington: US President-elect Joe Biden on Monday named Janet Yellen as his Treasury Secretary and Indian-American Neera Tanden as Director of Office of Management and Budget, as he announced key members of his economic team.

Islamabad: China's Defence Minister Gen Wei Fenghe on Monday held talks with Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and discussed regional security issues and signed an agreement to deepen defence cooperation between the all-weather allies. New York: In the land of lexicography, out of the whole of the English language, 2020's word of the year is a vocabulary of one. Tuesday United Nations: The rapid spread of the novel coronavirus has created additional setbacks for the global AIDS response and there could be an estimated 123,000-293,000 additional new HIV infections and 69,000-148,000 additional AIDS-related deaths between 2020 and 2022 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic's long-term impact, according to a new report. London: Nobel laureate Professor Venki Ramakrishnan completed his term as the President of the UK's Royal Society with an emotional message about being the first Indian-born scientist to have been appointed to the prestigious role. Toronto: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that his country will always be there to defend the right of peaceful protest, as he reached out to the Indian community and expressed concern over the ongoing farmers protest in India against the new farm laws, the first world leader to voice his views on the issue.

Wednesday Jerusalem: Israeli lawmakers on Wednesday passed a preliminary vote to dissolve parliament, pushing the country close to its fourth general elections in less than two years and almost bringing to an end an uneasy alliance. London: The UK on Wednesday became the first country to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19 after "rigorous" analysis by its independent regulator, paving the way for mass vaccinations from as early as next week among people at the highest risk of death from the deadly virus.

London: British Indian journalist and author Anita Anand’s book that tells the story of a young man caught up in the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar has won a prestigious history-literary prize in the UK. Thursday New York: The US reported a record 3,157 COVID-19 deaths and 100,226 hospitalisations on Wednesday, as a top health official warned of a bleak winter ahead as the country continues to see nationwide surges of new infections and hospitalisations.

Islamabad: The Pakistan government will provide the coronavirus vaccine free of cost to its people and plans are afoot to start the immunisation drive by April next year, officials said on Thursday. Dhaka: Authorities in Bangladesh have begun relocating thousands of Rohingya refugees to an isolated island despite calls by human rights groups for a halt to the process, officials said Thursday.

Friday Washington: The US has approved the sale of USD 90 million worth of military hardware and services to India in support of its fleet of C-130J Super Hercules military transport aircraft. Washington: US Vice President-elect Kamala Harris has named her Chief of Staff, Domestic Policy Advisor and National Security Advisor -- an all-women team -- which she said has the experience to hit the ground from day one. Beijing: A Chinese spacecraft carrying the country's first lunar samples has started its return journey from the moon, according to the country's space authority.