International Affairs

SAN FRANCISCO - These are nail-biting days for the millions of people in the U.S. who use TikTok, the wildly popular video sharing app owned by a Chinese firm.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters): Pope Francis said on Friday that the coronavirus pandemic had “toppled the shaky pillars” of a world economic model built on the idolatry of money and domination by the rich and powerful.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed that it has informed public health officials in all 50 states and several large cities to be prepared to distribute a coronavirus vaccine by November 1, two days before the presidential election.

Sri Lanka is on the verge of uncertainty in continuing IMF programme that would also unlock substantial multilateral and bilateral financing (possibly debt relief as well), increase the prospects of improving the sovereign rating.

The United State Embassy in Colombo says countries must examine their dealings with China Communications Construction Company (CCCC).

The United States Government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has donated 200 brand-new, state-of-the-art ventilators to Sri Lanka, delivering on President Trump’s offer of critically needed supplies and supporting Sri Lanka’s fight against COVID-19.

ඇමෙරිකා එක්සත් ජනපදය විසින් යෝජනා කළ ආන්දෝලනාත්මක MCC හෙවත් සහශ්‍රක අභියෝගතා ගිවිසුමට මෙරට තුළ එල්ල වී තිබෙන දැඩි විරෝධය හමුවේ එය තවදුරටත් පවත්වාගෙන යා යුතුද නැත්ද යන්න ගැන තීන්දු කිරීමට MCC අධ්‍යක්ෂ මණ්ඩලය ලබන සතියේ වොෂින්ටනයේදී රැස්වීමට නියමිතය.

ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතිකයන් 1,46,000 ක් අතුරුදන්වී ඇති බවට බොරු වාර්තාවක් ඉදිරිපත් කරමින් බි‍්‍රතාන්‍ය කොටි ඩයස්පෝරාව ශී‍්‍ර ලංකාවට සම්බාධක පනවන ලෙස බි‍්‍රතාන්‍ය රජයෙන් ඉල්ලා ඇත.

අබුඩාබි හි අවන්හලක ඇතිවූ පිපිරීම පිළිබඳ එක්සත් අරාබි එමීර් රාජ්‍යයේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා තානාපති කාර්යාලය ප්‍රකාශයක් නිකුත් කර තිබෙනවා.

It is reported that the appointment of former Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Ariyasinghe, who was to be appointed as Sri Lanka's Ambassador to France, has also been changed.

The Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka Trine Jøranli Eskedal called on the Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena at the Parliament yesterday.

The World Health Organization’s Europe director says the COVID-19 crisis won’t necessarily end with a vaccine, but with societies learning how to live with it.

Addressing the 35th Session of the FAO Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific (APRC), Minister of Agriculture Mahi-ndananda Aluthgamage underscored the importance of promoting sustainable agriculture through innovation including digital agriculture solutions. He reiterated that the access to and dissemination of latest technologies and innovations was imperative to improve the productivity of the agriculture sector.

India has offered Sri Lanka a Line of Credit worth $ 100 million for three solar projects, the Indian High Commission in Colombo said in a release.

The World Health Organization issued new guidelines Wednesday on the use of lifesaving drugs, hours after a study showed that inexpensive steroids cut death rates in the sickest COVID-19 patients.

GENEVA, (Reuters): The World Health Organisation does not expect widespread vaccinations against COVID-19 until the middle of next year, a spokeswoman said on Friday, stressing the importance of rigorous checks on their effectiveness and safety.

The Premier League has terminated its £564m contract with its Chinese licensee with immediate effect.

DUBAI (Reuters): Emirates airline has received 7.3 billion dirhams ($2 billion) from the Government of Dubai as it faces a cash crunch caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a bond prospectus seen by Reuters shows.