International Affairs

COLOMBO, AFP: Sri Lanka is seeking a loan of nearly $ 1 billion from China for energy and highways as the island recovers from the devastating Easter Sunday bombings, the Finance Ministry said on Thursday.

India and Sri Lanka are likely to be under threat with terror group ISIS turning its attention to the Indian Ocean Region in the wake of losses across Syria and Iraq, intelligence reports have warned, NDTV reported.

The United Nations has declared war on hate speech following violence in Sri Lanka and some other countries.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today thanked President Maithripala Sirisena for his efforts taken to popularise yoga.

සිරියාවේ සහ ඉරාකයේ ක්‍රියාකාරි ත්‍රස්ත කණ්ඩායමක් වන අයි.එස් සටන්කාමීන් විසින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ත්‍රස්ත ප්‍රහාරය සංවිධානය කර ඇති බව රුසියානු ආරක්ෂක මණ්ඩලයේ නියෝජ්‍ය ලේකම් යුරි කොකොව් මහතා පවසයි.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is unable to visit Sri Lanka as previously announced due to unavoidable scheduling conflicts, the US Embassy said today.

Sri Lanka has sought UN assistance to bring back Sri Lankan refugees living in India.

Three Portable X-ray Machines and five Walk-through Metal Detectors with total value about Rs. 33 million were handed over yesterday by Ambassador Cheng Xueyuan on behalf of the Chinese Government to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya on behalf of the Sri Lankan Parliament.

ලංකා ගමනාගමන මණ්ඩලය සඳහා චීනයෙන් ආනයනය කරන ලද සුඛෝපභෝගී බස් රථ කාණ්ඩයේ පළමු බස් රථ පෙළ කොළඹ වරායට ගොඩ බා තිබේ.

Hearing a plea for Indian citizenship by 65 Tamils from Sri Lanka — the descendants of indentured labourers — the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has permitted them to submit a fresh application seeking citizenship to the District Collector concerned, The Hindu newspaper reported.

Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Philippines Aruni Ranaraja was conferred the Order of Sikatuna, with the rank of Grand Cross (Datu), gold distinction by Philippines President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on Tuesday during a farewell call paid by the Ambassador at the Malacañan Palace in Manila.

ශ්‍රි ලාංකික ශ්‍රමිකයින්ට ක්ෂේත්‍ර 14ක් යටතේ ජපානයේ වෘත්තීයමය රැකියා අවස්ථා ලබාගැනීම සදහා වූ අවබෝධතා ගිවිසුමකට හෙට දිනයේ (19) විදුලි සංදේශ, විදේශ රැකියා හා ක්‍රිඩා අමාත්‍ය හරින් ප්‍රනාන්දු හා ජපානයේ අධිකරණ, විදේශ කටයුතු, කම්කරු හා සුභසාධන යන අමාත්‍යවරුන් විසින් ජපානයේදී අත්සන් තැබීමට නියමිතය. මෙම ගිවිසුම වසර 10ක කාලයක් ක්‍රියාත්මක වන අතර එම කාලය තුලදී රැකියා විශාල ප්‍රමාණයක් ශ්‍රි ලාංකිකයින්ට හිමිවීමට නියමිතයි.

The United States has downgraded Sri Lanka’s status in its latest human trafficking report.

Foreign Minister Tilak Marapana was in Budapest for bilateral discussions with the Hungary Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Péter Szijjártó last Friday. The visit, undertaken at the invitation of the Hungarian Foreign Minister Szijjártó, coincided with the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Sri Lanka and Hungary this year (since February 1959).

Nepal has warned that the devastating Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka have signalled a “new type of terrorism” threat in South Asia.

A special tree planting ceremony was organized on June 20, 2019, at Mahatma Gandhi Puram, Dunsinane Estate in Nuwara Eliya to commemorate 150th Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, World Environment Day and International Day of Yoga.

Sri Lankan labour in 14 different job categories will have access to employment in the Japanese market, with Foreign Employment Ministry to put in stringent controls to eliminate malpractices.

Sri Lankan armed force personnel and their family members have bee given an opportunity to visit Bodh Gaya India on a special pilgrimage organized by Indian High Commission in Colombo.