International Affairs

Mumbai (Reuters): India reported over 49,000 fresh cases of the novel coronavirus with 740 new deaths on Friday, marking the biggest daily surge in cases even as officials in some states complained of shortages of vital drugs for those hospitalized.

Geneva/Zurich (Reuters): Researchers are making “good progress” in developing vaccines against COVID-19, with a handful in late-stage trials, but their first use cannot be expected until early 2021, a World Health Organization (WHO) expert said on Wednesday.

The U.S. government will pay $1.95 billion to American drug maker Pfizer and German biotech company BioNTech SE for 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, if it proves to be safe and effective.

Foreign Relations Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and UK Minister for International Trade Ranil Jayawardena yesterday via a teleconference discussed stepping up bilateral trade and investment and expanding the areas of cooperation.

Nearly 50 years of U.S. engagement with China is no longer working and a different, tougher approach is needed, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday in Yorba Linda, California.

WASHINGTON/PENTAGON - Efforts to deliver an enduring defeat to the Islamic State may be in danger because of difficulties with bringing the terror group’s members and associates who are women to justice.

India and Sri Lanka held a technical discussion on rescheduling of bilateral debt repayment by Sri Lanka on Wednesday, the Indian High Commission said yesterday, with further rounds of discussions expected in the coming weeks.

Warning against the “politicization” of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Thursday rejected comments, by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, alleging Tedros had been “bought” by China.

යුරෝපීය රටවල් 15 ක සිට පැමිණෙන සංචාරකයින්, දින 14 ක අනිවාර්ය නිරෝධායනයෙන් නිදහස් කිරීමට අයර්ලන්තය තීරණය කර තිබෙනවා.

The Working Group appointed by Foreign Relations Minister Dinesh Gunawardena to assess the current status of implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Sustainable Development Goals presented their report to the Minister.

Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Belgium and the European Union Grace Asirwatham met with Executive Director of Europol Catherine De Bolle in The Hague, the Foreign Ministry said today.

China has contradicted comments made by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on the Hambantota Port.

The European Union (EU) has updated the list of countries for which its member states should gradually lift travel restrictions at the external borders, but Sri Lanka has not yet been included in the list.

යුරෝපා සංගමය, කොරෝනා වෛරසය නිසා යළිත් වරක් ශී‍්‍ර ලාංකිකයන්ට යුරෝපා සංගමයේ රටවල්වලට සහ ශෙනගන් රටවල්වලට අතුළුවීම තහනම් කර ඇත.

Foreign Relations Minister Dinesh Gunawardena has taken the initiative to assist Sri Lankan workers in Italy to benefit from the amnesty granted by Italian authorities under the ‘SANTATORIA 2020’ program from 1 June to 15 August.

Emirates said yesterday its customers can travel with confidence, as the airline will cover medical expenses of up to EUR 150,000 and quarantine costs of EUR 100 per day for 14 days, should they be diagnosed with COVID-19 during their travel, while they are away from home. This cover is provided by the airline, free of cost to its customers.

India underlined the need of further expanding the wide-ranging bilateral cooperation to effectively and expeditiously address the unprecedented challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

President Donald Trump has warned that the US pandemic will probably "get worse before it gets better", as he revived his coronavirus briefings.