International Affairs

ROME - Pope Francis has issued an anti-corruption decree requiring Vatican managers, including cardinals, to sign a declaration attesting they are not being investigated or have not been found guilty of terrorism, money-laundering or tax evasion. The new regulations are part of the pope's long battle against corruption inside Vatican's walls.

GENEVA - The International Council of Nurses warned Thursday that the world was facing a nursing crisis and could expect a significant shortage — perhaps a reduction by half — in the global nursing workforce of 27 million in the next few years.

European leaders and other American allies say President Joe Biden has done much in his first 100 days in the White House to start rebuilding confidence in U.S. leadership.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has expressed solidarity with India by expressing concern over the ongoing COVID-19 situation in the country.

BRUSSELS - European Union countries introducing their own COVID vaccination certificates would have to grapple with a myriad of disjointed systems if the bloc fails to build a shared one, a senior official said on Wednesday.

චීන ආරක්‍ෂක අමාත්‍ය ජෙනරාල් වෙයි ෆෙන්ග්හි දෙදින නිල සංචාරයක් සදහා අද දිවයිනට පැමිණීමට නියමිතව තිබෙනවා. දිවයිනට පැමිණීමට නියමිත චීන ආරක්‍ෂක අමාත්‍යවරයා ලබන 29 වනදා තෙක් මෙරට රැදි සීටීමට නියමිත අතර ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා ඇතුළු රජයේ ඉහළ පෙළේ නායකයින් සමග සාකච්ඡා පැවැත්වීමට නියමිතයි.

Chinese Defence Minister Gen. Wei Fenghe left Sri Lanka a short while ago after a two-day official visit. He left the country for Beijing at 8.55 a.m. He toured the country with a 37-member delegation.

Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe called on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday (28) for official talks.

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has told the United Nations (UN), Sri Lanka has made remarkable progress in controlling the spread of COVID-19.

ලෝක සෞඛ්‍ය සංවිධානයේ කෝවැක්ස් (COVAX) පහසුකම යටතේ ලබන ජුනි මාසය වනවිට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට කොවිඩ් එන්නත් 1,440,000ක් ලැබෙනු ඇතැයි කොළඹ ඇමරිකානු තානාපති ඇලයිනා බී. ටෙප්ලිට්ස් ප්‍රකාශ කරයි.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday that a variant of COVID-19 feared to be contributing to a surge in coronavirus cases in India has been found in over a dozen countries.

In the wake of the escalation of Covid-19 cases across the region, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will initiate a dialogue with his counterparts of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Afghanistan today on pandemic-related cooperation, poverty alleviation and other support needed at this hour, a Minister said.

The Indian community in Sri Lanka has requested the Indian High Commission in Colombo to provide them with the Coronavirus vaccine, Daily Mirror learns.

Sri Lanka will get 1,440,000 doses of vaccines to provide immunity against Covid under COVAX facility, which is mainly funded by the United States.

The World Bank yesterday reassured Sri Lanka of its support to build back better from the COVID-19 impact.

The World Bank has approved $ 80.5 million additional financing to help Sri Lanka access and distribute fairly COVID-19 vaccines and to strengthen the country’s vaccination system and pandemic response, the organisation said in a statement yesterday.

LONDON - The UK government on Wednesday became the first country to announce it will regulate the use of self-driving vehicles at slow speeds on motorways, with the first such cars possibly appearing on public roads as soon as this year.

WHITE HOUSE - The United States is pledging to send oxygen to India as soon as possible and tens of millions of vaccine doses abroad in stages, in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and intense pressure on America for significant help.