International Affairs

India continues to be pummeled by the coronavirus pandemic, documenting a new national record Sunday of nearly 3,700 deaths in the last 24 hours and more than 390,000 new infections.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) yesterday said South Asia was likely to hang on to its fast growth despite fresh outbreaks of COVID-19, with 9.5% overall economic expansion and Sri Lanka projected to grow by 4.1% this year.

Italy yesterday banned the entry of Sri Lankans on account of the sharp rise in the number of COVID infections.

Pakistan decided Sunday to temporarily suspend incoming pedestrian movement at overland border crossings with Afghanistan and Iran to “restrain import of any new mutation” of the coronavirus.

Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Sultanate of Oman Ameer Ajwad met with Oman Food Investment Holding Co. (S.A.O.C.) Chief Executive Officer Saleh M. Al Shanfari and had a productive discussion on the promotion of bilateral trade in the food sector between Sri Lanka and the Sultanate of Oman.

WASHINGTON - The United States, which has sent emergency aid to India, wants to quickly help the country increase its oxygen capacity to treat patients suffering from COVID-19, a U.S. official said Thursday.

SEOUL - North Korea has lashed out at President Joe Biden, warning the U.S. will face a “very grave situation,” after the White House announced the broad outlines of its plan for diplomacy with Pyongyang.

The political fallout from the military coup in Myanmar and the coronavirus pandemic threaten to push half of the country's population into poverty by next year, the United Nations warned Friday.

ROME - Pope Francis has issued an anti-corruption decree requiring Vatican managers, including cardinals, to sign a declaration attesting they are not being investigated or have not been found guilty of terrorism, money-laundering or tax evasion. The new regulations are part of the pope's long battle against corruption inside Vatican's walls.

India set a record Saturday, for the first time surpassing 400,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

The United States is imposing new travel restrictions on India starting Tuesday because of the devastating wave of COVID-19 cases across the Asian nation.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has expressed solidarity with India by expressing concern over the ongoing COVID-19 situation in the country.

ඉන්දියාවේ නිෂ්පාදිත ඇස්ට්‍රාසෙනෙකා එන්නත වෙනුවට වෙනත් රටක නිෂ්පාදිත ඇස්ට්‍රාසෙනෙකා එන්නතක් මිලදි ගැනීමට ජනාධිපති ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ උපදේශක ලලිත් විරතුංග මහතා සාකච්ඡා කර ඇති බව යුද හමුදාපති ශවේන්ද්‍ර සිල්වා මහතා සඳහන් කර තිබේ.

Intelligence Bureau and Kerala Police have started to dig into Kerala connections of All Ceylon Makkal Congress leader and parliamentarian Rishad Bathiudeen after he was arrested by Sri Lankan Police on April 24 in connection with April 2019 Easter Sunday attacks that killed 279 people and injured hundreds.

Chinese Defence Minister Gen. Wei Fenghe left Sri Lanka a short while ago after a two-day official visit. He left the country for Beijing at 8.55 a.m. He toured the country with a 37-member delegation.

The Ministry of Health has received the first batch of cold chain equipment procured by UNICEF with funding from the Government of Japan to strengthen Sri Lanka’s delivery of immunisation services, including against COVID-19.

Fifteen thousand doses of Russia's Sputnik V vaccines will arrive in Sri Lanka on May 4, and it will be administered to the public in the Western Province immediately, a senior government source told Daily Mirror yesterday.

ලෝක සෞඛ්‍ය සංවිධානයේ කෝවැක්ස් (COVAX) පහසුකම යටතේ ලබන ජුනි මාසය වනවිට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට කොවිඩ් එන්නත් 1,440,000ක් ලැබෙනු ඇතැයි කොළඹ ඇමරිකානු තානාපති ඇලයිනා බී. ටෙප්ලිට්ස් ප්‍රකාශ කරයි.