International Affairs

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.

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.

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.

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?"

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.