International Affairs

Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena has apprised the Colombo-based senior diplomatic representation of the European Union (EU) on political and economic developments in Sri Lanka.

LONDON - World leaders and members of the public have offered tributes to Prince Philip, the husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, who died Friday at the age of 99.

Sri Lanka and Afghanistan today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the establishment of a political consultations mechanism between the Foreign Ministry of Sri Lanka and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan.

Iran began a 10-day lockdown Saturday to tame a fourth wave of coronavirus infections, while in Bucharest about 1,000 people marched in protest of COVID-19 restrictions and in Paris, more than 100 people were fined while eating at a restaurant that broke rules against large gatherings.

නව්‍ය කොරෝනා වෛරසයේ ව්‍යාප්තිය ආරම්භ වීමෙන් පසුව ඉන්දියාවෙන් හඳුනා ගැනුණු වැඩිම කොරෝනා ආසාදිතයින් පිරිස ඊයේ හඳුනාගෙන තිබෙනවා. ඒ අනුව ඊයේ දිනයේදී පමණක් ඉන්දියාවෙන් හඳුනාගෙන ඇති කොරෝනා ආසාදිතයින් ගණන එක් ලක්ෂ 31, 893 ක් වන බවයි එරට මාධ්‍ය වාර්තා කරන්නේ. ඊයේ දිනයේදී පමණක් ඉන්දියාවෙන් කොරෝනා මරණ 802 ක් වාර්තා වී තිබෙනවා.

ISLAMABAD - Russia reaffirmed Wednesday it will enhance security cooperation with Pakistan by strengthening the South Asian nation's "potential" to fight terrorism, which is to include supplying Islamabad with the "relevant military" hardware.

GENEVA - The World Health Organization is warning that COVID-19 cases and deaths are rising globally, partly because of complacency setting in that vaccines will stop the spread of the disease. The latest WHO report confirms more than 133.5 million cases of coronavirus infections, including nearly 3 million global deaths.

The United States yesterday called on policymakers to be vigilant of the economic impact of the proposed Port City legislation, given its sweeping tax concessions and warned it could have “unintended consequences”, such as money laundering, unless proper safeguards are put in place.

The European Union’s medical regulator concluded Wednesday that unusual and potentially fatal blood clots should be listed as a very rare side effect of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine.

Britain's Prince Charles paid a personal tribute Saturday to his "dear papa" Prince Philip, saying the royal family missed him enormously and that the 99-year-old would have been amazed at the touching reaction around the world to his death.

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - The World Health Organization says Africa’s rollout of COVID-19 vaccine is being hampered by supply shortages and delays in planned deliveries. To date, the WHO reports 4.3 million cases of COVID-19 in Africa, including 114,000 deaths.

Saudi authorities said Monday that only people immunised against COVID-19 will be allowed to perform the year-round Umrah pilgrimage, starting from the holy month of Ramadan.

State Minister of Money, Capital Market and Public Enterprise Reforms Ajith Nivard Cabraal and Sultanate of Oman Deputy Prime Minister for International Relations and Cooperation Affairs Sayyid Asaad bin Tariq al Said held a special meeting yesterday.

Several nations have issued new guidelines over the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine after the European Union’s medical regulator announced a link between the vaccine and rare, possibly fatal blood clots.

A trial of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine on children has stopped giving out jabs while the UK's medicines regulator investigates a possible link with rare blood clots in adults.

On the streets of Rome, frustrations with pandemic curbs boiled over this week as desperate protesters, many of them restaurant owners and small-business owners, complained that restrictions and repeated lockdowns aimed at suppressing the transmission of the coronavirus are ruining them.

රුසියානු කොවිඩ්-19 එන්නත වන ස්පුට්නික් වී (sputnik v) ඉන්දියාවේ පැනසියා බයෝටෙක් (Panacea Biotec) නිෂ්පාදන සමාගම හරහා නිපදවීම ආරම්භ කර තිබේ. මෙලෙස ඉන්දියානු නිෂ්පාදකයා හරහා නිපදවීමට අපේක්ෂා කරන රුසියානු එන්නත් මාත්‍රා සංඛ්‍යාව මිලියන 100කි.

Reuters: Coronavirus-related deaths worldwide crossed three million on Tuesday, according to a Reuters tally, as the latest global resurgence of COVID-19 infections is challenging vaccination efforts across the globe.