April 22, 2016 Reading Time: 2 minutes
Sri Lanka applies for malaria-free status. Image credit - Wizzard/depositphotos
Reading Time: 2 min read
Sri Lanka to sign Paris Agreement
Minister Susil Premajayantha, along with representatives from 120 nations, is scheduled to sign the Paris Agreement on Climate Change at the UN headquarters in New York today.
The agreement will enter into force after a minimum of 55 nations, accounting for at least 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions, become signatories.
Sri Lanka’s Press Freedom Index improves
Sri Lanka has been ranked 141 out of 180 countries on the Press Freedom Index, produced by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). This is an improvement of 24 places in comparison to 2015.
The latest index also shows that Europe has the freest media, followed by Africa, which for the first time overtook the Americas.
Sri Lanka applies for malaria-free status
Sri Lanka has submitted an application to the World Health Organisation (WHO) to receive malaria-free certification.
Sri Lanka has had zero reported cases of malaria since 2012, whereas in 1990 there were 400,000 reported cases.
Joint EU coast guard to be established
Interior Ministers from European Union (EU) member states have agreed to establish a joint European coast guard, to better protect the EU’s borders.
The newly appointed coast guard, created from existing personnel, is designed to rapidly intervene, if the need arises, at borders overwhelmed by the influx of asylum seekers.
Ethiopian army enters South Sudan
The Ethiopian army has crossed the South Sudan border in order to rescue over 100 kidnapped children, who were seized by armed militants in an attack that left over 200 people dead.
The Ethiopian government sought approval from the South Sudanese government to conduct the search operations.
OPEC fails to agree on output cap
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has been unable to reach an agreement regarding freezing oil outputs and reassuring markets that the recent recovery in prices can be sustained.
Oman’s Oil Minister, Mohammed al-Rumhy, stated that the failure to reach an agreement could have been due to the fact that some OPEC members were not present at the meeting.
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