International Affairs

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday said China is willing to work with Sri Lanka to enhance Belt and Road cooperation and contribute to the economic revival of Sri Lanka in a post-pandemic era.

WASHINGTON - While the past year’s battle with COVID-19 has been grueling for health care workers across America, the challenge has been compounded for Asian medical professionals, who have also had to work amid a wave of pandemic-inspired anti-Asian attacks.

Reuters: The rollout of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, the shot much of the world is relying on to beat the pandemic, faced further complications on Thursday as India halted exports of the vaccine and Europe discussed its own export controls.

Myanmar security forces killed 14 people Monday during demonstrations in towns across the country following the deadliest weekend since the February military coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

Myanmar’s security forces opened fire on a funeral Sunday, a day after more than 100 people were killed during protests against the February military coup.

BEIJING - Chinese officials briefed diplomats Friday on the ongoing research into the origin of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, ahead of the expected release of a long-awaited report from the World Health Organization.

European leaders are handling rising public frustration, economic distress and mounting coronavirus case numbers in different ways, with most showing the strain of dealing with a yearlong pandemic, say analysts and commentators, who add that the leaders seem to be rattled by a third wave of infections sweeping the continent.

COX'S BAZAR, BANGLADESH - At least five people were killed and dozens injured Saturday by police gunfire in eastern Bangladesh, a hospital doctor said, as security forces tried to quell protests against the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

As cases of the coronavirus continue to rise in the United States, officials are racing to open up vaccine eligibility in the hope of staving off another wave of the pandemic.

මීට සුළු මෙහොතකට පෙර සූවස් ඇල අවහිර කරමින් සිරවී තිබූ දැවැන්ත නෞකාව මුදා ගෙන ඇති අතර එම නැව තව සුළු කාලයයක් ඇතුළතදී නැවතත් එහි නියමිත ගමන් මාර්ගයට යොමු කළ හැකි බව නැව මුදා ගැනීමේ මෙහෙයුමේ නිරතව සිටින කණ්ඩායම ප්‍රකාශ කර සිටින බව විදෙස් මාධ්‍යය වාර්තා පවසයි.

CAIRO - Egypt's Suez Canal Authority continued Saturday to try to refloat a gigantic container ship that was blocking one of the canal's main arteries, causing a massive traffic backup and seriously affecting international trade that uses the waterway.

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee is to consider at its next meeting the Sri Lanka government’s request to construct a reservoir covering a landmass of five hectares within the Sinharaja forest to be used as a source for a drinking water project to be implemented for the benefit of people living in the south -eastern part of the country, an official said.

විදෙස් රටවල සිට සරණාගතයින් ලෙසින් මෙරටට පැමිණි විදේශිකයන් 1250කට දේශපාලන රැකවරණය ලබාදීමට ශ්‍රී ලංකාව කටයුතු කර ඇත.

Sri Lanka says talks to purchase coronavirus vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech have been successful and a final agreement is expected to be reached soon.

The Foreign Ministry is currently in the process of studying what it should do at the 76th session of the UN General Assembly regarding the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) seeking an additional programme budget of US $ 2.8 billion to implement the resolution on Sri Lanka, an official said yesterday.

The Government has banned a number of Tamil diaspora groups, including some influential organizations based in the UK.

The Government of Japan provided a grant of $ 36,759 (approx. Rs. 7.2 million) through the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP) for the provision of “Reconditioned Ambulances for the Moolai Co-operative Hospital”.

US President Joe Biden was pressed on how he would address the surge in migrants at the southern border at his first official press conference.