International Affairs

කොවිඩ් 19 වෛරසය චීනයෙන් හඳුනා ගැනීමට මාස 09 කට පෙර ස්පාඤ්ඤයේ පැවති බවට සොයා ගැනීමට පර්යේෂකයින් සමත්ව තිබෙනවා. මෙම නවතම සොයා ගැනීමත් සමගම විද්‍යාඥයින් පෙර අනුමාන කළ කාලයට වඩා වෛරසය ව්‍යාප්තව තිබුණාද යන්න සම්බන්ධයෙන් කතාබහක් ඇතිවී තිබෙනවා.

The US Embassy in Colombo said yesterday that no Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact (MCC) grant monies were ever transferred to or spent by the Government under the current $480 million grant.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called on the United States and the European Union to cultivate a shared understanding of China in order to create an effective resistance strategy to Beijing’s increasing economic power.

ලොව පුරා රටවලින් වාර්තා වන නව්‍ය කෙරෝනා ආසාදිතයින් සංඛ්‍යාව මේ වනවිට ලක්ෂ 100 ඉක්මවා තිබෙනවා. ඒ අනුව මේ වනවිට වාර්තා වී ඇති සමස්ථ නව්‍ය කොරෝනා ආසාදිතයින් සංඛ්‍යාව එක් කෝටි 73, 812 ක්. ඉන් වැඩිම ආසාදිතයින් සංඛ්‍යාවක් වාර්තා වන රටවල් ලැයිස්තුවේ තවදුරටත් පෙරමුණේ පසුවන්නේ අමෙරිකාවයි. බ‍්‍රසීලය 02 ස්ථානයේත්, රුසියාව තෙවන ස්ථානයේත්, ඉන්දියාව සිව්වන ස්ථානයේත් පසුවනවා.

The US Supreme Court in a landmark decision today voted in favor of the administration in its appeal against a lower court ruling that allowed a Sri Lankan the right to have a judge review the government’s handling of his asylum bid.

පෙර පුරෝකථනය කළ ආකාරයට වඩා ගෝලීය ආර්ථික වර්ධන වේගය අඩාල වීමේ අවධානමක් පවතින බව ජාත්‍යන්තර මුල්‍ය අරමුදල අනතුරු අඟවනු ලබනවා.

In another first of Sri Lanka Army, the island nation has deployed locally manufactured military vehicles in Sri Lankan UN Peace-Keepers serving in Mali.

The Government of Sri Lanka has not spent any money from the $480 million Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) grant, the US Embassy in Colombo said.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ජර්මානු තානාපති Jorn Rohde , ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ යුරෝපා සංගමයේ තානාපති Denis Chaibi සහ නැගෙනහිර පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාර අනුරාධා යහම්පත් මහත්මිය අතර විශේෂ හමුවක් ත්‍රිකුණාමලය පිහිටි ආණ්ඩුකාර ලේකම් කාර්යාලයේ දී (24) පෙරවරුවේ පැවැත්විණි. එහිදී විශේෂ අවධානය යොමු වුයේ නව රජය පත්වීමෙන් පසුව නැගෙනහිර පළාතේ සිදුව ඇති වෙනස්කම් සම්බන්ධවයි.

Sri Lanka is working together with the US to train coast guard and navy personnel on maritime law enforcement and security operation, a report revealed.

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has called for an investigation on former regional leader of the LTTE - Vinayagamurthy Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman over the recruitment of child soldiers for the LTTE.

The Foreign Ministers of Afghanistan and Sri Lanka had talks on bilateral relations and other matters.

The United Nations says it is "shocked and deeply disturbed" by footage of an apparent sex act in one of its official cars in Israel.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan yesterday had a telephone conversation with Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to discuss pressing bilateral and regional issues.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday that the number of coronavirus cases throughout the world could reach 10 million next week, a sharp increase from the 9.3 million cases currently reported.

අමෙරිකාවේ ප‍්‍රාන්ත කිහිපයක නිරෝධායන සීමා ලිහිල් කිරීමත් සමග කොරෝනා ආසාදිතයින්ගේ සීඝ‍්‍ර වැඩි වීමක් වාර්තා වනවා.

The killing of a reporter in India’s Uttar Pradesh state has exposed the dangers for journalists covering illegal sand mining and construction in the country.

Shubham Mani Tripathi, a correspondent for the Hindi-language daily Kampu Mail, was shot dead June 19 while returning home on his motorcycle.

Days before he died, Tripathi said in a Facebook post that he feared for his life because of his reporting, the media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said.

Tripathi covered India’s “sand mafia” – powerful networks that illegally mine sand from riverbeds to sell to the construction sector. He also reported on an illegal construction project that was later demolished as a result of his investigation.

Corrupt industry

The sand mining industry is laden with corruption, said Daniel Bastard, head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk. This puts journalists who cover the topic at an increased danger, he told VOA.

“It creates a lot of corruption – corruption of the police, corruption of the politicians and corruption of businessmen,” Bastard said. “So you have a real network of people who don't want to listen to the state on this.”

Sand mining is one of the biggest extraction industries in the world, providing a key material for the construction industry. Several countries have limited or regulated the business because of damage to the environment – more than 20 Indonesian islands have disappeared since 2005, according to the Pulitzer Center.

Greater regulation and export bans have led to illegal operations run by sand mafias, which are accused of killing police, journalists and government officials who try to expose or stop them.

The Government of India has extended its fullest cooperation to boost Sri Lanka's investment and tourism sectors, which have been hit by the Covid -19 (Corona) epidemic. Accordingly, Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka, Gopal Bagley assured that the necessary financial, technical and other support will be provided for this purpose.