International Affairs

Member nations of the World Health Organization have approved a plan to negotiate the terms of an international pandemic response treaty.

Although the airport will be opened from June 1, people who have been in Vietnam for 14 days will not be allowed to enter the country temporarily, Aviation and Export Zones Development State Minister D. V. Chanaka said.

HANOI, VIETNAM - Vietnam has discovered a new coronavirus variant that's a hybrid of strains first found in India and the U.K., the Vietnamese health minister said Saturday.

In what appeared to be another radical step in global vaccine development, Russia informed Sri Lanka that its Sputnik V could even be used as a single shot vaccine following new clinical data about the development of 70-80 percent efficacy level after the first jab, an official said.

චීනය නිපදවන සයිනොපාම් එන්නත (SINOPHARM) ලබාදෙන්නේ හොඳම මිලට සහ වේගවත්ම බෙදාහැරීමක් ඔස්සේ බව චීනය පවසයි.

The burning ship at the centre of an environmental catastrophe off Sri Lanka was denied access at two ports, according to an article published in shipping industry news site https://splash247.com.

The White House celebrated Vesak for the first time on Tuesday (25 May). The ceremony was attended by Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff, husband of Vice President Kamala Harris.

The World Health Organization (WHO), in a technical note informed Sri Lanka that there is no need for the recipients of AstraZeneca vaccines to restart the full course of vaccination, in case the administration of their second dose is substantially delayed beyond the recommended 8-12 weeks.

Refers to heavy global commitments; says no private supply; warns of counterfeits if sourcing from outside parties

The Bangladesh Prime Minister’s Special Assistant Shah Ali Farhad has confirmed his country’s decision to buy 15 million doses of Sinopharm from China at $ 10 each in a full contract worth $ 150 million.

ROME (AFP): Italy extended Sunday an entry ban for people coming from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, as a continued precaution against the more transmissible Indian variant of the novel coronavirus.

The Ministry of Finance and the World Bank recently signed a new grant from the European Union to support the Agriculture Sector Modernisation Project (ASMP). This grant is part of the EU’s EUR 25 million support to the $ 125 million project and will be administered by the World Bank.

In recognition of his extraordinary contribution to combatting harmful tobacco use, Dr. Palitha Abeykoon, Former Chairman of the National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol in Sri Lanka, International Public Health Expert, and WHO Director-General Special Envoy for COVID-19 Preparedness and Response for SEAR, was named one of the South East Asian region’s WHO World No Tobacco Day 2021 awardees.

South Korean officials announced Sunday that a million doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines would arrive in the country this week from the United States, doubling its earlier pledge.

AFP: Bangladesh has joined China and South Korea by approving a currency swap to bail out Sri Lanka, which is facing its worst foreign exchange crisis, officials said Wednesday.

BANGKOK, THAILAND - A large haul of precursor chemicals in Laos since the end of last year has revealed` the new recipe being used by the methamphetamine cooks of Asia and the routes crime groups are using to get raw materials from Chinese factories, through Thai ports and into the narcotics labs of the Golden Triangle.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said Sunday that bilateral ties with India cannot return to normal until the neighboring country restores the semi-autonomous status of the disputed Kashmir region.

VOA NEWS - Australia’s southern state of Victoria will enter into a one-week “circuit breaker” lockdown beginning Thursday as it deals with a new and growing outbreak of COVID-19 cases.