NDO - A group of 67 members of the World Trade Organization (WTO), including the US, China, and European Union (EU), has just reached the successful conclusion of the negotiations of the WTO Joint Statement Initiative on Services Domestic Regulation. Praising the landmark significance of this deal, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala emphasised that annual savings could amount to 150 billion USD globally. 

Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease official, said on Sunday he hopes the ban on travelers from southern African countries can be lifted in a "reasonable period of time" as more information is gathered on the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. 

Higher hospital admissions among children during a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections in South Africa that has been driven by the Omicron coronavirus variant should not prompt panic as infections have been mild, a health official said on Saturday. 

NDO - The US and Mexico have just announced a programme to facilitate socio-economic development for Central American countries. This is an urgent step contributing to solving the root cause of the difficult migration problem, which has plagued "promised lands" such as the US and Canada for many years. 

Ten people trapped after Indonesia's Semeru volcano erupted have been evacuated to safety, the country's disaster mitigation agency (BNPB) said on Sunday, as the death toll from the disaster climbed to at least two and with dozens injured. 

NDO/VNA – A workshop themed “Financing Responses to Disasters and Shocks: Experiences, Opportunities and Challenges in Disaster Risk Financing and Disaster Responsive Social Protection in Southeast Asia” has been jointly held by the ASEAN Secretariat and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) East Asia and Pacific via videoconference. 

The Omicron variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 likely acquired at least one of its mutations by picking up a snippet of genetic material from another virus - possibly one that causes the common cold - present in the same infected cells, according to researchers. 

NDO/VNA – Leaders of Laos and China pledged to further boost bilateral ties at their online meeting on December 3, according to the Lao Foreign Ministry. 

The International Monetary Fund is likely to lower its global economic growth estimates due to the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus, the global lender's chief said at the Reuters Next conference on Friday in another sign of the turmoil unleashed by the ever-changing pandemic. 

The United States and Russia have made progress toward resolving a stand-off over staffing at their respective embassies, resulting in Washington ending a policy that allowed family members of embassy staff in Moscow to leave Russia, a State Department spokesperson said on Friday. 

NDO/VNA - Bangkok Airways has resumed flights between the Thai and Cambodian capital cities. 

NDO/VNA - Malaysia showed good performance in the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2020 despite adverse impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the third series of the SDG Indicators Report released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia. 

NDO/VNA – The railway linking Laos and China, also the first high-speed railway in Laos, was put into operation at a ceremony held on December 3. 

NDO/VNA – Singapore’s retail sales in October rose by 7.5 percent annually after registering a 6.8 percent increase in September, reported the Department of Statistics Singapore (DOS) on December 3.