International Affairs

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan’s military said Monday that efforts aimed at moving forward a stalemated peace process in neighboring Afghanistan are “progressing in a very positive direction.”

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across Myanmar again Sunday, a day after two people were killed when police and security forces used live and rubber bullets, tear gas, water cannon and slingshots against those protesting the military’s February 1 coup.

President Joe Biden toured a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing plant Friday afternoon outside Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he touted the safety of the vaccine.

මෙවර එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලයේ 46 වැනි සැසිවාරය අන්තර්ජාලය ඔස්සේ පැවැත්වුවද ශ්‍රී ලංකාව නියෝජනය කරමින් නියෝජිතයෙකු සැසිවාරයට යොමු කිරීමට ආණ්ඩුව තීරණය කර තිබෙනවා. නෙත් නිවුස් කළ විමසීමකදී ප්‍රතිචාර දැක්වූ විදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන පැවසුවේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාව නියෝජනය කරන ප්‍රධාන කණ්ඩායම කොළඹ සිට සැසිවාරය අමතන බවයි.

Sri Lanka and the United States have explored the modalities to encourage Sri Lankan exports to the US under the General System of Preferences (GSP) arrangement.

CAIRO - Iranian media reported tentative steps by the U.S. and its European allies in the P5+1 group, which negotiated the original 2015 nuclear accord with Tehran, to resume adherence to that deal and back away from Trump administration policies, including the 2018 reimposition of economic sanctions.

එක්සත් ජාතින්ගේ මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලයේ 46 වන සැසිවාරය අද ආරම්භ වනවා. ඒ, ස්විට්ස්ර්ලන්තයේ ජිනීවාහිදීයි. මෙවර සැසිවාරය මාර්තු 23වනදා දක්වා පැවැත්වෙනවා. මෙවර කවුන්සිලයේ ප්‍රධාන සැසිවාරය හෙට සිට ලබන 24වනදා දක්වා පැවැත්වෙනවා. රටවල් 130කට වැඩි සංඛ්‍යාවක් නියෝජනය කරන නියෝජිතයින් මානව හිමිකම් ප්‍රවර්ධනය සහ ආරක්ෂා කිරීම වෙනුවෙන් එක් එක් රටවල් දරණ උත්සාහයන් හා ගෙන ඇති ක්‍රියාමර්ග එහිදී පැහැදිලි කිරීමට නියමිතයි.

Israelis who have received both doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine saw their risk of illness from the coronavirus drop 98.5% and their risk of hospitalization drop 98.9%, the country’s Health Ministry said Saturday.

For the first time in the history of the Indian Premier League, no Sri Lankan cricketers will feature in the tournament which is expected to be held in India, from April till the first week of June.

Sri Lanka has decided to take up with the Japanese Government the inordinate delay in the completion of the expansion and modernisation of the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) by the Japanese company.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan will arrive in Sri Lanka on Tuesday with a high-powered business and investment delegation and will participate in a business and investment forum, a statement from the Foreign Ministry said yesterday. Prime Minister Khan is scheduled to undertake an official visit to Sri Lanka on 23-24 February on the invitation of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Two airlines that had suspended flights to Sri Lanka due to the COVID-19 pandemic, have resumed their operations,BIA duty officer said.

The legacy and closure of Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war and the country’s complicated human rights record will take centre-stage as the 46th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) kicks off in Geneva today.

The Core Group, consisting of the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, North Macedonia, Malawi and Montenegro, issuing a joint statement yesterday, said it intends to present a resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to “promote reconciliation, accountability and human rights” in Sri Lanka.

Facebook is facing mounting criticism after it blocked news content in Australia amid a dispute with the government over a planned law.

GENEVA - COVID-19's impact on efforts to combat gross human rights violations will be a major focus of the 46th regular session of the U.N. Human Rights Council.

The Government has sought India’s support at the upcoming session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), where a resolution on the country is being mooted.

The United States (US) has expressed disappointment with Sri Lanka’s discriminatory cremation policy.