International Affairs

Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's technical lead on COVID-19, said at a press briefing that it still appears to be rare that asymptomatic individuals actually transmit onward.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has changed its advice on face masks, saying they should be worn where COVID-19 is widespread and physical distancing is difficult.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව එහි උපදින සෑම දරුවෙකුටම ගුණාත්මක ප්‍රතිශක්තිකරණ සේවා ලබා ගැනීමට පහසු හා සමාන ඉඩ ප්‍රස්ථා සලසා ඇති බවත්, රටේ ප්‍රතිශක්තිකරණ ප්‍රතිපත්තිය නිසි කලට ප්‍රතිශක්තිය අත්කර ගැනීමට දරුවාට ඇති අයිතිය මත පදනම්ව තිබෙන බවත් ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා පවසයි.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet expressed alarm at the clampdown on freedom of expression in parts of the Asia-Pacific, including Sri Lanka, during the COVID-19 crisis.

Sri Lanka contributed 17,000 USD to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in 2019, a report by OHCHR issued yesterday (Friday) said.

Justice Anthony Francis Tissa Fernando, who holds both Sri Lankan and Seychellois citizenship, was sworn in on 01 June 2020, as the President of the Court of Appeal of Seychelles by the President of the Republic of Seychelles.

ඉන්දියාවේ කොවිඩ් -19 වසංගතය සමනය වනතුරු ‘ඩාවුඩ් බෝරා ප්‍රජාවේ’ ආධ්‍යාත්මික ආචාර්ය සයිඩ්නා මෆාඩාල් සයිෆුඩීන් ඇතුළු අනුගාමිකයන් හතළිස් පස්දෙනකුට මෙරටට පැමිණ රැඳී සිටීම සඳහා අවසර ලබාදෙන ලෙස ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජයෙන් කරන ලද ඉල්ලීමකට ශ්‍රී ලංකාව අනුමැතිය ලබාදී ඇත.

GENEVA (Reuters) - Some countries have seen “upticks” in COVID-19 cases as lockdowns ease, and populations must protect themselves from the coronavirus while authorities continue testing, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

Following is the Joint Statement on Compulsory drug detention and rehabilitation centres in Asia and the Pacific in the context of COVID-19, endorsed by 13 United Nations entities, including OHCHR in Bangkok, UNAIDS, ILO, UNDP, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNODC, UNWOMEN, WFP, WHO, UNESCO and IOM:

China yesterday confirmed that talks were ongoing towards offering debt relief to Sri Lanka.

CAIRO, EGYPT - The Group of 20 rich and emerging economies has pledged more than $21 billion to fight the coronavirus, the group said early Saturday.

George Floyd was remembered Thursday as a devoted father and family man who did not deserve to die while in Minneapolis police custody.

Civil rights leader the Reverend Al Sharpton led the first of six scheduled memorial services for the 46-year-old African American man whose death last week sparked violent protests across the country and again put a spotlight on accusations of police brutality against black men.

Thursday’s service in Minneapolis included the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, several members of Congress, and celebrities, including Ludacris, Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish, and T.I.

At one point, the audience at the sanctuary at North Central University stood in silence for eight minutes and 46 seconds — the length of time white police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck May 25, after which Floyd died.

“George Floyd’s story has been the story of black folks. Because ever since 401 years ago, the reason we could never be who we wanted and dreamed to be is you kept your knee on our neck,” Sharpton said in his eulogy. “It’s time for us to stand up in George’s name and say, ‘Get your knee off our necks!’”

He said it is time for those in the U.S. justice system to stop “making excuses and empty promises.”

Philonise Lloyd, one of George Lloyd’s brothers, recounted their childhood games and said he was amazed at the number of people who came to memorialize George.

Sharpton announced he is organizing a march on Washington to be held August 28 – 57 years to the day when Martin Luther King led a march and made history with his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech.

"We're going back this August 28 to restore and recommit that dream. We need to go back to Washington and stand up, black, white, Latino, Arab, in the shadows of Lincoln and tell them this is the time to stop this," Sharpton said.

Thursday's memorial services in Minneapolis and Brooklyn, New York, which was attended by another brother, Terrence Floyd, were the first of six private and public services for Floyd over the next five days, including in his birthplace of Raeford, North Carolina, and in Houston, where he grew up.

Also Thursday, members of the Senate Democratic Caucus held their own 8-minute, 46-second moment of silence for Floyd in the Capitol’s Emancipation Hall.

The Associated Press reported that more than 10,000 people have been arrested since last week on accusations of looting and other acts of violence in the coast-to-coast protests set off by Floyd’s death.

Thousands of demonstrators have also turned out in Paris, London, Sydney and Rio de Janeiro.

The mayors of several big U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, have lifted nightly curfews.

Curfews remain in effect, and police and National Guard remain on alert, in several other places where the violence has eased but remains a threat.

A large group gathered Thursday in Washington, three days after Attorney General William Barr authorized police to use force and smoke canister tear gas to move demonstrators away from the White House just before President Donald Trump crossed the street for a photo op in front of a church.

Several protesters and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against Trump, Barr and others, arguing that they had "no legitimate basis to destroy the peaceable gathering."

Barr defended himself Thursday, saying the crowd was "becoming increasingly unruly." He denied it had anything to do with Trump going to the church.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced Wednesday second-degree murder charges against Chauvin. The former officer was originally charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter after his arrest last week.

Ellison also announced charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder against the other three officers at the scene — J.A. Keung, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao. All four officers are in custody and have been fired from the police department.

Former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva Tamara Kunanayakam has said that an US embassy official cannot be allowed to 'flout our laws and regulations and put the lives of our people at risk'.

Japan intends to roll out coronavirus vaccines to the public by June 2021, the country’s health minister said Friday.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet expressed alarm at the clampdown on freedom of expression in parts of the Asia-Pacific, including in Sri Lanka, during the COVID-19 crisis, saying any actions taken to stop the spread of false information must be proportionate.

සිය රට එන ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන්ගේ PCR පරීක්ෂණ ගාස්තු අය කිරීමකින් තොරව එරටදීම සිදු කිරීමට ලෙබනන් රජය තීරණය කරයි.

The United Kingdom and Sri Lanka are working together in search for a Covid-19 vaccine, the UK High Commission in Sri Lanka said today.

Continuing repatriation of Indian nationals stranded abroad due to COVID19, Indian Naval Ship INS Jalashwa made a voyage from Colombo Port to Tuticorin in India on 1st June 2020. The ship has sailed to Tuticorin in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu with nearly 700 stranded Indian nations from Sri Lanka.