International Affairs

The Premier League has terminated its £564m contract with its Chinese licensee with immediate effect.

DUBAI (Reuters): Emirates airline has received 7.3 billion dirhams ($2 billion) from the Government of Dubai as it faces a cash crunch caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a bond prospectus seen by Reuters shows.

ISTANBUL/CAIRO - Major mosques and churches reopened in Cairo over the weekend after a more than five-month shutdown. This comes as the number of Egypt’s new COVID-19 cases rise again after weeks of decline.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed that it has informed public health officials in all 50 states and several large cities to be prepared to distribute a coronavirus vaccine by November 1, two days before the presidential election.

Several experimental COVID-19 vaccines have reached the final testing stage, officials involved in their development have said.

ඉන්දීය හිටපු ජනාධිපති ප්‍රනාබ් මුඛර්ජී මහතා අද (31) අභාවප්‍රාප්ත විය. මිය යන විට ඒ මහතා 84 වැනි වියේ පසුවිය.

The United States Government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has donated 200 brand-new, state-of-the-art ventilators to Sri Lanka, delivering on President Trump’s offer of critically needed supplies and supporting Sri Lanka’s fight against COVID-19.

STATE DEPARTMENT - The United States is adjusting its Taiwan policy and declassifying cables on Taiwan arms sales as China ramps up pressures on Taipei.

The U.S. is further clarifying that Washington’s one-China policy is different from Chinese Communist Party’s sovereignty claim over Taiwan.

A senior State Department official said Monday the latest U.S. moves were not a policy departure, but part of significant adjustments within the boundaries of Washington's longstanding "one-China" policy. 

“The U.S. has long had a one-China policy. This is distinct from Beijing’s “One China Principle” under which the Chinese Communist Party asserts sovereignty over Taiwan. The U.S. takes no position on sovereignty over Taiwan,” said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs David Stilwell in his virtual remarks Monday to the Heritage Foundation.   

Taiwan said it would continue to strengthen its defense capabilities, thanking the U.S. for its firm commitment to Taiwan’s security.  In Beijing, Chinese officials urged the U.S. to stop elevating relations with Taiwan. 

ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා සමඟ ඊයේ දිනයේදී තමන් දුරකථනයෙන් කතා කළ බව අමෙරිකානු ආරක්ෂක ලේකම් අමෙරිකානු ආරක්ෂක ලේකම් මාක් ටී. එස්පර් ට්විටර් නිවේදනයක් තබමින් නිවේදනය කර සිටිනවා.

අබුඩාබි හි අවන්හලක ඇතිවූ පිපිරීම පිළිබඳ එක්සත් අරාබි එමීර් රාජ්‍යයේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා තානාපති කාර්යාලය ප්‍රකාශයක් නිකුත් කර තිබෙනවා.

අමෙරිකාවෙන් පමණක් වාර්තා වන සමස්ත කොරෝනා ආසාදිතයින්ගේ සංඛ්‍යාව මිලියන 6 ඉක්මවා තිබෙනවා.

කොළඹ වරාය නගරය ඉදිකරන චීන සමාගමට ඇමරිකානු රජය විසින් සම්බාධක පනවා ඇත.

The World Health Organization’s Europe director says the COVID-19 crisis won’t necessarily end with a vaccine, but with societies learning how to live with it.

Chargé d’affaires of the Chinese Embassy Hu Wei on Friday warmly welcomed the newly-appointed Regional Cooperation State Minister Tharaka Balasuriya at the Embassy Complex and had a discussion on jointly expediting Belt and Road projects construction in Sri Lanka, globally promoting Colombo Port City and Hambantota International Port and Industrial Park and enhancing regional cooperation including infrastructure, manufacturing, tourism and anti-drug trafficking, etc.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, vulnerable people across the country have been facing multiple challenges, including the loss of income. This has led to a cascading socio-economic impact on communities at the grassroots level in Sri Lanka, upending their daily lives.

The World Health Organization issued new guidelines Wednesday on the use of lifesaving drugs, hours after a study showed that inexpensive steroids cut death rates in the sickest COVID-19 patients.

The Chinese Embassy yesterday issuing a statement urged the US administration to immediately stop interfering in China’s internal affairs, following the recent sanctions of the US and the US Ambassador’s interview on the Daily FT.

Chinese Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Hu Wei last week congratulated the newly reappointed Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi and extended China’s full support to the latter’s Ministry.

Health Secretary Dr. S.H. Munasinghe also joined the discussion.