International Affairs

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.

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - The World Health Organization is urging nations to prepare for inevitable future pandemics, as it marks the first International Day of Epidemic Preparedness.

ISLAMABAD - Afghanistan's foreign ministry issued a statement Friday expressing regret and concern about videos showing senior Taliban leaders meeting their followers and Taliban fighters in Pakistan.

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.

ROME - Italy reported 261 coronavirus-related deaths Saturday against 459 the day before, the health ministry said.

Japan has stepped into further assist humanitarian demining activities in Northern Sri Lanka with a grant of US$ 636,262 (approx. Rs. 115 million) to the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) for this pur5poase.

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

The pandemic caused by the coronavirus “will not be the last pandemic, and epidemics are a fact of life,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a video message Sunday.

බි‍්‍රතාන්‍ය පුරාවිද්‍යා ගවේෂකයන් පිරිසක් සිදු කළ විමර්ශණයකදී; ඊශ‍්‍රායලයේ නාසරෙත් පිහිටි කන්‍යාරාමයක පතුලේ තිබී ජේසුස් ක‍්‍රිස්තුස් වහන්සේ කුඩා කල සිටි ස්ථානය හමු වී ඇත. ජේසුස් ක‍්‍රිස්තුස් වහන්සේගේ පියා වූ ජෝශප් සහ මව වූ මරියතුමී නතර වී සිටි බවට සැක කරන මෙම ස්ථානයේ තිබී යුදෙව් ජනතාව භාවිත කරන උපාංග හමු වී 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.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා තේ සඳහා වසර තුනකට නොවැඩි කාලයකට තීරුබදු පහත හෙළීම සඳහා කෙරෙන ඉල්ලීම හැකි අයුරින් සලකා බලන බව ශ්‍රි ලංකාවේ අප්‍රිකානු මහ කොමසාරිස් රොබීනා පී. මාර්ක්ස් මහත්මිය පැවසුවාය.

Work on the stretch of the Colombo Marine Drive behind the US Embassy is to begin on January 10, 2021, and will be completed within 60 days, Minister of Highways Johnston Fernando said.

The second instalment of the ‘World Women Leadership Congress Presents Sri Lanka’s Women Leaders’ celebrated women leaders in several geographic regions globally, recognising some of the finest women leaders and achievers for 2020.

Sri Lanka has ranked 98th in the Global Cyber Security Index compiled by the UK-based National Cyber Security Index (NCSI).

With its giant tree topped with a gleaming red star, Manger Square in Bethlehem is decked out for Christmas. But this season is not so jolly.

DAR MANGI, PAKISTAN - Arifullah Khan had just administered another polio vaccine when the gunfire blasted from the nearby hills.

ROME - Pope Francis has called on the world’s nations to share COVID-19 vaccines, saying that walls of nationalism must not be built in the face of a pandemic that knows no borders. He urged international cooperation so everyone can receive needed health care and vaccines.

When the Diamond Princess, a cruise ship suffering from an outbreak of covid-19, arrived in Japan in February, it seemed like a stroke of bad luck.