International Affairs

The world’s 7.8 billion people are bidding a hearty farewell to 2020 without the usual fanfare and public gatherings because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Britain and the EU signed a post-Brexit trade deal Wednesday, sealing their drawn-out divorce in the closing hours before the UK definitively ends its half-century European experiment.

US President Donald Trump, on Sunday, signed into law a $2.3 trillion spending legislation which includes funding for Sri Lanka in the year 2021.

WASHINGTON - The vaccination of Americans against the coronavirus is off to a halting start.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) assured that a qualified vaccine could be made available for Sri Lanka by March, next year, and the Sri Lankan health authorities have stepped in accordingly to improve cold chain requirements for the storage of doses ahead of inoculation, an official said yesterday.

Sri Lanka is in talks with Pfizer and Astrazeneca to obtain the coronavirus vaccine after a private company facilitated the talks and offered to handle the logistical arrangements.

Reaffirming the cordial relationship that has always existed between Egypt and Sri Lanka, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi has extended his heartfelt best wishes and greetings to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the people of Sri Lanka for 2021. The full text of the message of greetings follows:

පසුගිය නතතල් දිනයේ දී බෙල්ජියමේ ඇන්ට්ටර්ස් නගරයේ වැඩිහිටි නිවාසයකට තෑගි බෙදා දීමට ගිය නත්තල් සීයකු නිසා එම නිවාසයේ රැඳී සිටි එකසිය පනස් හත් දෙනකුට කොරෝනා ආසාදනය වී තිබේ. ඉන් දහ අට දෙනකු මේ වන විටත් මරණයට පත් වී තිබේ.

GENEVA - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has issued a message of hope and healing for the new year to the hundreds of millions of people worldwide whose lives have been shattered by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Reuters: A 45-year-old nurse in California tested positive for COVID-19 more than a week after receiving Pfizer Inc.’s coronavirus vaccine, an ABC News affiliate reported (bit.ly/2L8iBel) on Tuesday.

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - The international community’s efforts to compel North Korea to end its nuclear weapons program came to a halt in 2020 following the breakdown of US-led negotiations and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. And while fears that Pyongyang would show its frustration by conducting another nuclear or ICBM test never came to fruition, much of Seoul’s inroads with the regime literally went up in smoke.

As the pandemic started to unfold early in 2020, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made a plea for a global cease-fire, saying the world needed to focus on “the true fight” against the coronavirus.

Streamlining the recruitment process of migrant workers from Sri Lanka (SL) and preventing human trafficking was focused on during the fourth Sri Lanka – Oman Joint Technical Committee on Labour and Training recently, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

Parents now have an extra reason to say no to candy, cake and ice cream for young children. The first U.S. government dietary guidelines for infants and toddlers, released Tuesday, recommend feeding only breast milk for at least six months and no added sugar for children under age 2.

World renowned Sri Lankan cricket players Kumar Sangakkara and Lasith Malinga have been named for the best teams of the decade.

LONDON - Britain became the first country to approve the coronavirus vaccine developed jointly by Oxford University and AstraZeneca Wednesday. Scientists say the vaccine could be a game changer in the global fight against the pandemic.

චීනයේ බල­පෑ­ම්ව­ලට එරෙ­හිව මෙරට ස්වෛරී­ත්වය ආරක්ෂා කර ගැනීම එක් කොන්දේ­සි­යක් ලෙස දක්ව­මින් ශ්‍රී ලංකා­වට මූල්‍යා­ධාර සැපයීමේ දී යම් යම් කොන්දේසි ඉදි­රි­පත් කිරී­මට අමෙ­රිකා එක්සත් ජන­ප­දය තීර­ණය කර තිබේ.

Russian Ambassador Yury B. Materiy apprised Public Security Minister Sarath Weerasekara about terrorist financing activities by extremist groups under the pretext of providing COVID-19 aid.