International Affairs

At least 10 people have died after drinking alcohol-based sanitiser after liquor shops were closed in a village in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

GENEVA (Reuters): The World Health Organization on Tuesday warned against complacency about new coronavirus transmission in the northern hemisphere summer, saying that this virus did not behave like influenza that tended to follow seasonal trends.

කොවිඩ් -19 වයිරසය සඳහා සිදු කළ පරීක්ෂණය ඍණාත්මක වීම (තවදුරටත් වයිරසය නොමැති බව තහවුරු වීම) හේතුවෙන් බොලිවුඩයේ ජනප්‍රිය නිළි අයිශ්වර්යා රායි බච්චන් රෝහලෙන් පිටව ගොස් ඇත.

Hong Kong’s top leader, Carrie Lam, announced Friday that the city’s September legislative election would be postponed for a year, citing the coronavirus pandemic. The decision dealt a blow to the pro-democracy camp, which was widely expected to score a victory in the election.

Sri Lanka is to send a high-level team for the Russian Army-2020 defense forum next month, Defence Ministry confirmed.

ලොව විශාලතම තාක්ෂණික සේවා සැපයීම් සමාගම වන ගුගල් සමාගම සිය ලක්ෂ 02ක් පමණ වන සේවකයින්ට තවත් වසරක කාලයක් සිය නිවෙස් වල සිට රැකියාවේ නිරතවන ලෙස අද දැනුම් දෙනු ලැබුවා.

China says it is trying its best to help Sri Lanka overcome the coronavirus pandemic and would continue supporting the island country.

කොරෝනා වෛරසයේ ව්‍යාප්තිය තවදුරටත් සිදු වුවද වාර්ෂික හජ් වන්දනාව අද සිට ආරම්භ කිරීමට සෞදි අරාබිය පියවර ගෙන තිබෙනවා. කෙසේවෙතත් මක්කමදී හජ් වන්දනාවද ආරම්භ වූයේ දැඩි සෞඛ්‍ය මාර්ගෝපදේශ යටතේවීමද විශේෂත්වයක්.

ලොව පුරා රටවල් රැසක් වාර්ෂිකව අමෙරිකානු ඩොලර් ටි‍්‍රලියන 1.5 ක මුදලක් අල්ලස් වශයෙන් විවිධ පාර්ශ්වයන් වෙත ගෙවනු ලබන බවට ලෝක බැංකුව විසින් ඇස්තමේන්තු කර තිබෙනවා.

Kuwait has included Sri Lanka in the list of countries whose nationals won’t be allowed to enter the State. Others on the list include Bangladesh, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Iran and Nepal. Kuwait’s cabinet yesterday said it will allow citizens and residents to travel to and from the country, starting 1 August.

The ongoing Indian aided Work Plan related Sri Lanka Agricultural Research and Education has been extended till December 2020, Indian High Commission announced.

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said there will be no more war as the country's nuclear weapons guarantee its safety and future despite unabated outside pressure and military threats, state media said Tuesday.

WHITE HOUSE - U.S. President Donald Trump says he does not want to wait “weeks, months or even years” for the results of this November’s election because of problems he predicts will occur with mailed-in ballots.

ISLAMABAD - The United Nations has commended Pakistan’s gains in the fight against the coronavirus but warned complacency during the coming Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha could lead to a new surge in cases.

MORRISVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA - For the second time, U.S. President Donald Trump has been photographed wearing a mask amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump wore the face covering as he toured a North Carolina laboratory where key components are being manufactured for a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Novavax.

“I trust all Americans to do the right thing, but we strongly advise everyone to especially, especially focus on maintaining a social distance, maintain a rigorous hygiene, avoid crowded gatherings and indoor bars and wear masks when appropriate,” Trump told a group of reporters traveling with him just before his tour of the Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies Innovation Center.

“Nothing’s happened like this since the end of World War II,” the president said of the billions of dollars being spent in the global race to produce and mass deploy a vaccine in record time.

Before the tour of the plant, Trump spoke to several dozen North Carolina politicians, scientists, White House officials, journalists and Secret Service agents, Trump was the only person not wearing a mask.

The president who has faced criticism for what is perceived as a belated and inadequate response by the federal government to the coronavirus pandemic, said the U.S. states “largely had what they needed” but that all of them “are not out of the woods.”

Trump defended his administration’s response to the pandemic, despite the U.S. reporting the largest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world.

“We report our cases. Most of the world doesn’t,” Trump said.

The United States has conducted more than 52 million tests, the president said, adding, “nobody’s even close.” 

Trump said U.S. officials are monitoring caseloads in Latin America, a region of particular concern.

“You have some very, very highly infected countries outside of our borders,” he said.

The mortality rate for U.S. COVID-19 patients older than 18 is 85% lower than it was in April, according to the president, giving credit to better therapies and improved knowledge about the coronavirus.

In the past week, the disease killed more than 1,000 Americans a day for five straight days, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

A leading diaspora group has called on the Tamil community to protect the hard-won gains of the past.

WASHINGTON - The United States and Australia said Tuesday they will expand military cooperation as tensions soar with China, presenting a common front between the allies.

ඉන්දියාව, පාකිස්තානය, බංග්ලාදේශය සහ මියන්මාරය යන රටවල ප්‍රහාර දියත් කිරීමට අල්කයිඩා ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් සැලැසුම් කරමින් සිටින බව එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ වාර්තාවන් උපුටා දක්වන ඉන්දියාවේ හින්දුස්ථාන් ටයිම්ස් පුවත්පත අනාවරණය කර සිටියි.