International Affairs

Italy began lifting COVID-19 restrictions on bars, restaurants, theaters and museums in much of the country Monday, as one of the nations hit earliest and hardest by the coronavirus pandemic tries to reopen.

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND - Singer Matiu Walters grinned as he gazed out over 50,000 damp but delirious fans and said those magic words: "So, what's up Eden Park?"

PENTAGON - The United States is positioning more firepower in the Middle East and South Asia to provide cover for U.S. troops as they prepare to leave Afghanistan.

දින 14ක නිරෝධායන කාලය ගත කිරීම සඳහා මෙරටට පැමිණෙන ඉන්දියානුවන් හේතුවෙන් මෙරට නිරෝධායන හෝටල් තුළ සේවය කරන සියලුම සේවක සේවිකාවන්ගේ ජීවිත දැඩි අවදානමකට ලක්ව ඇතැයි මහජන සෞඛ්‍ය පරීක්ෂකවරුන්ගේ සංගමය සඳහන් කරයි.

PARIS - The number of COVID-19 jabs administered globally surpassed the 1 billion mark on Saturday, offering hope after months of pandemic misery, even as the number of coronavirus cases worldwide hit another daily record, mainly because of an explosion of the virus in India.

India set a global record in daily infections for a second straight day Friday as it struggles to provide oxygen and other emergency supplies to a growing number of COVID-19 patients who are struggling to breath.

A number of countries have issued travel advisories on Sri Lanka after the country was placed on a coronavirus alert last week.

U.S. Ambassador Alaina B. Teplitz said the United States provided a great deal of assistance to Sri Lanka in view of COVID-19 last year – US $7.6 million in direct support and 200 ventilators that were provided last year, in 2020.

U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Alaina B. Teplitz announced the first grants awarded through the U.S. government’s Clean Cities, Blue Ocean program yesterday, totaling $345,000.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has offered to provide essential medical supplies to rival India, which is in the grip of a devastating nationwide coronavirus surge and struggling to meet critical hospital needs, including medical oxygen.

Saudi Arabia has restricted arrivals from Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Philippines, the Saudi aviation authority announced Friday.

සෞදි අරාබියේ රැඳවුම් කඳවුරු වල සිටින ශ්‍රී ලාංකික කතුන් පිළිබඳව ජාත්‍යන්තර ක්ෂමා ආයතනය කරුණු හෙළිදරව් කිරීමෙන් පසු, එම රැඳවියන් පිළිබඳව සවුදි රජය සමග ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය සාකච්ඡා කළ බවත් සෞදි අරාබියේ රැඳවුම් කඳවුරුවල හෙවත් බන්ධනාගාරවල සිටින ශ්‍රී ලාංකික කතුන් කඩිනමින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ගෙන්වා ගැනීමට පියවර ගන්නා බව කම්කරු අමාත්‍ය නිමල් සිරිපාල ද සිල්වා පවසයි.

COVID-19 has shaken India, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his monthly radio address Sunday, as he urged citizens to get their shots and not be swayed by what he called “any rumor about the vaccine.”

On 21 April, the Sri Lanka-Japan Parliamentary Friendship Association meeting was held in the Parliament under the patronage of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, Speaker of the Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana and Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa. Ambassador of Japan to Sri Lanka Sugiyama Akira was invited to the meeting.

The World Bank yesterday signed agreements with the Government to boost key socio-economic infrastructure and development with fresh funding of $ 139 million (nearly Rs. 28 billion).

ඉන්දියාව මේ වන විට වඩාත් අනතුරුදායකම සති දෙකට පැමිණ ඇතැයි නවතම අධ්‍යයනයකින් හෙළි කරගෙන තිබෙනවා. එමගින් අනාවරණ කර ඇත්තේ ඉදිරි දින 15ත් 16ත් අතර කාලය තුළ ඉන්දියාවේ දෛනික කොරෝනා මරණ 5,600 සීමාව ඉක්මවා යනු ඇති බවයි. මේ වන විට ඉන්දියාවේ දෛනික මරණ සංඛ්‍යාව පවතින්නේ 2,500ත් 3,000ත් අතරයි. පවතින තත්ත්වය සලකා ඉදිරි සතිය තුළ කඩිනම් පියවර නොගතහොත් මිනිස් ජීවිත හැත්තෑ දහසක් අනතුරේ වැටෙනු ඇතැයි නවතම අධ්‍යයනය හෙලි කර ගෙන තිබෙනවා.

GENEVA (Reuters): Coronavirus vaccines remain out of reach in the poorest countries, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a report on Friday, marking the first anniversary of the COVAX dose-sharing facility.

WASHINGTON - China is lashing out at the chief of the World Health Organization for suggesting that more study is needed into the possibility that the coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic initially escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.