Briefly

SRI LANKA

Creditors awaiting debt presentation

Crisis-hit Sri Lanka will make a presentation to its international creditors on Friday, laying out the full extent of its economic troubles and plans for a debt restructuring and multibillion-dollar International Monetary Fund bailout. The country's Ministry of Finance said in a statement via legal firm Clifford Chance that an online call on Sept 23 will be open to all its external creditors and it will also be "an interactive session" in which participants can ask questions.

CENTRAL ASIA

Kyrgyz-Tajik border conflict kills nearly 100

Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan said on Sunday that nearly 100 people had died in a border conflict, as a fragile cease-fire between the Central Asian nations extended into a second day. The two countries clashed over a border dispute from Sept 14 to 16, accusing each other of using tanks, mortars, rocket artillery and assault drones to attack outposts and nearby settlements. Kyrgyzstan reported an additional 13 deaths from the fighting late on Sunday, adding to an earlier toll of 46.

IRAN

President calls for nuclear deal guarantees

Teheran would welcome the revival a deal on its nuclear program if there were guarantees that the United States would not withdraw from it again, said Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in an interview broadcast on Sunday. Last month, Iran's foreign minister said Teheran needed stronger guarantees from Washington for the revival of the 2015 deal and urged the UN to drop its "politically motivated probes". Former US president Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the deal in 2018.

MALDIVES

Timetable sketched out for first US embassy

The Maldives hopes to see the United States open its first embassy in the country at the end of the year or early next year, and the Indian Ocean state hopes to reopen its embassy in Washington by the end of this year, the Maldivian foreign minister said on Sunday. Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid told an event hosted by a US think tank that he believes Maldives-US relations "have never been this strong".

Agencies - Xinhua