International Affairs

The European Commission — the European Union’s executive body — recommended Tuesday that EU countries lift travel bans imposed on Britain to avoid supply chain interruptions and stranding travelers.

විදේශ ලේකම් ජයනාත් කොළඹගේ මහතා සහ රුමේනියාවේ විදේශ කටයුතු පිළිබඳ රාජ්‍ය ලේකම් කෝනල් ෆෙරූටා මහතා අන්තර්ජාලය ඔස්සේ සම්බන්ධ වෙමින් ද්විපාර්ශ්වික විදේශ අමාත්‍යාංශ උපදේශන පැවැත්වූහ. ශ්‍රී ලංකාව සහ රුමේනියාව අතර ප්‍රමුඛතා අංශවල සහයෝගීතාව වැඩි දියුණු කිරීම සඳහා නව මාර්ග සැලැස්මක් ශ්‍රී ලංකා-රුමේනියාවේ ද්විපාර්ශ්වික උපදේශනවල තුන් වැනි සැසියේදී හඳුනා ගන්නා ලදී.

India will be streamlining the implementation mechanisms of ongoing Model Village and three Gram Shakti Housing Projects, Indian High Commission in Colombo announced.

එක්සත් ජනපදය සහ එක්සත් රාජධානිය මූළික වෙමින්; ලබන මාර්තු මාසයේදී ජිනීවා නුවරදී පැවැත්වෙන එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලයේ (UNHRC) 46 වන සභා රැස්වීමේදී ඇමරිකා එක්සත් ජනපදය විසින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට එරෙහිව යෝජනාවක් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට සූදානම් වන බවට වාර්තා වෙනවා.

The Agency of France Development (AFD) is ready to raise the portfolio of non-sovereign debt to as much as Euro 400 million available in the next three years to Sri Lanka’s public and private sectors given the island nation’s tight fiscal situation, the AFD’s Sri Lanka Country Director Reda Souirgi said on Friday.

BMICH – Sri Lanka’s iconic landmark has been crowned as the Gold Award winner in the Leading Convention Centre category of the prestigious 2020 South Asia Travel Awards (SATA) competition bringing recognition to Sri Lanka as the premium convention destination in the South Asian region. The SATA Awards Ceremony was held as an online virtual event on 15 December.

In addition to Russia, Germany and India have also sought to send their tourists to Sri Lanka, once the airport is open for normal tourism, an official said yesterday.

NEW YORK - An expert committee put people 75 and older and essential workers like firefighters, teachers and grocery store workers next in line for COVID-19 shots as a second vaccine began rolling out Sunday to hospitals, a desperately needed boost as the nation works to bring the coronavirus pandemic under control.

Pakistan Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood has called for trade and economic relations with Sri Lanka to be put on par with the political engagement shared by the two countries during a recent high-level meeting, the Pakistan High Commission said in a statement yesterday.

The European Union has given official approval for the coronavirus vaccine developed by BioNTech and Pfizer, while the United States began distributing a second COVID-19 vaccine developed by U.S.-based drugmaker Moderna.

Moderna, Inc. and its partners have started distributing their COVID-19 vaccine in the United States, the second approved for emergency use in the country.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Friday approved for emergency use a second COVID-19 vaccine.

The vaccine, from U.S. drugmaker Moderna, was developed with the National Institutes of Health. An advisory panel recommended the vaccine for approval late Thursday. The FDA approved Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine for emergency use earlier this month.

This is the first authorization for Moderna’s vaccine. The vaccine is similar to one from Pfizer Inc. and Germany’s BioNTech that’s now being dispensed to millions of health care workers and nursing home residents.

The two vaccines work “better than we almost dared to hope,” NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins told The Associated Press. “Science is working here; science has done something amazing.”

Now that the FDA has authorized use of Moderna’s vaccine, the U.S. drugmaker will begin transporting millions of doses for health workers and nursing home residents, and they could arrive Monday.

As the United States approves this second vaccine, the coronavirus crisis continues to take its toll. At least 313,000 Americans have died of COVID-19 as of Friday evening, the most in the world by far, according to Johns Hopkins University. Brazil ranked second in deaths, with close to 185,000.

BRUSSELS - EU and British trade talks inched onward under renewed pressure Monday as transport chaos triggered by the emergence of a more contagious variant of the coronavirus in Britain overshadowed efforts to reach a Brexit deal.

ලබන වසරේ මාර්තු මස ආරම්භ වන ජිනීවා මානව හිමිකම් සැසිවාරයේදී ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාවට එල්ල වන යුද අපරාධ චෝදනාවලට ප‍්‍රතිචාර දැක්වීමේ පුළුල් වැඩ පිළිවෙළක් ක‍්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට රජය සැලසුම් කර ඇත.

Nearly two billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been secured for equitable distribution in 2021 to the 190 countries that have signed on to a World Health Organization-led partnership, according to a Friday announcement from the group.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ තායිලන්ත තානාපති චුලාමනී චාර්ට්සුවාන් මහත්මිය පසුගිය දින විදේශ අමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා බැහැ දැක, ව්‍යාපාරික සහයෝගීතාව වැඩි දියුණු කිරීම සඳහා කලාපීය හා ජාත්‍යන්තර වේදිකාවල සමීපව කටයුතු කිරීම පිළිබඳව සාකච්ඡා කළාය.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has launched an attack on coronavirus vaccines, even suggesting that the one developed by Pfizer-BioNTech could turn people into crocodiles or bearded ladies.

The World Health Organization country office for Sri Lanka (WHO), with financial support worth EUR 2 million from the European Union (EU), will help improve emergency response capacities in Sri Lanka to mitigate the impact of COVID-19.