International Affairs

WASHINGTON - Israel’s air and artillery assaults against Palestinian militants will “continue as long as needed,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday.

PARIS - After dark months struggling with the coronavirus pandemic, Europe is finally hitting its stride, with vaccinations and economies picking up, countries emerging from lockdowns, and even opening their borders to foreign tourists.

Sri Lanka did not require the approval of the World Health Organisation (WHO) to commence using the Sinopharm vaccine.

චීනයෙන් ගෙන්වන ,අමුද්‍රව්‍යවල මිල ඉහළයාම හේතුවෙන් කොරෝනා පාලනයට යොදාගන්නා ඖෂධ නිෂ්පාදනයට බාධා පැමිණ ඇතැයි වාර්තා වේ.

BANGKOK - Thailand recorded its highest number of coronavirus infections Thursday since the pandemic began after Bangkok prisons were found riddled with COVID-19, threatening an extension of a partial lockdown of the country that is hammering the economy.

ඊශ්‍රායලය ගාසා තීරයට එල්ල කළ රොකට් ප්‍රහාරවලින් මිය ගිය ගණන 32 දෙනෙකු දක්වා ඉහළ ගොස් ඇති බව පලස්තීනය පවසනවා. 200කට වැඩි පිරිසක් එම ප්‍රහාරවලින් තුවාල ලැබූ බවයි පලස්තීන බලධාරීන් පවසන්නේ. මියගිය පිරිස අතර ළමුන් දස දෙනෙකු සිටින බවද විදෙස් මාධ්‍ය වාර්තාවල සදහන්.

මෙරට ජනතාවට දෙවන මාත්‍රාව ලෙස ඔක්ස්ෆර්ඩ් ඇස්ට්‍රාසෙනිකා එන්නත ලබාදීම සඳහා එන්නත් සොයා ගැනීමේ කටයුතු ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය තවදුරටත් සිදුකරමින් තිබෙනවා. ඒ අනුව ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට හිග වී ඇති ඔක්ස්ෆර්ඩ් ඇස්ට්‍රාසෙනිකා එන්නත් මාත්‍රා ප්‍රමාණය මෙරටට ලබාගත හැකිද යන්න සම්බන්ධයෙන් අවසන් තීරණය අදින් පසුව ලැබීමට නියමිතයි. ඒ, රටවල් කිහිපයක් සමග සිදුකළ සාකච්ඡාවල ප්‍රතිපල ලැබීමට නියමිත බැවින්.

Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha attended the inauguration ceremony of Admiral John Aquilino as the Commander of the Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), presided over by Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, last weekend.

Authorities in India said Tuesday they have yet to determine the cause of death of dozens of people found dead in the Ganges River.

The World Health Organization Friday questioned wealthy nations moving to vaccinate low-risk groups, such as children, against COVID-19, while some poor and middle-income countries do not have enough vaccine for health care workers.

The leaders of independent panel charged with examining the cause and response of the COVID-19 pandemic Wednesday called for a better, more cooperative and transparent global system for dealing with future worldwide health emergencies.

Malaysia will be imposing a nationwide movement control order (MCO) beginning on Wednesday (May 12) until early next month to stem the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the country, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said on Monday.

The World Health Organization appealed to wealthy countries Friday to scrap plans to vaccinate young people with COVID-19 vaccine in favor of donating it to poorer countries.  

A day after declaring the COVID-19 variant first detected in India as one of global concern, the World Health Organization announced Wednesday that the variant has spread to 49 countries.

As Sri Lanka looks to expand the coronavirus vaccination programme, the United Nations (UN) has warned that vaccination is not a guarantee and that the B.1.617 variant spreading in India could breach vaccine protection.

MALE (AFP): Rich Indians can no longer escape their country’s raging pandemic by holidaying in the Maldives, after the island paradise said on Wednesday it would ban travel from South Asia as it battles a surge in COVID-19 infections.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ චීන තානාපතිවරයා අතර හමුවක් මේ වනවිට පැවැත්වෙනවා.

Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena yesterday met with Canadian High Commissioner David McKinnon to convey the Government’s opposition to the passing of a private members bill by the Ontario Legislative Assembly, the Ministry said yesterday.