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Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki on Friday urged all creditor nations to discuss Sri Lanka's debt restructuring, after the crisis-hit South Asian nation reached a loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund, Reuters reported. "It's important for all creditor nations, including China and India, to gather to discuss Sri Lanka's debt restructuring," Suzuki told a news conference. Sri Lanka has reached a preliminary agreement with the IMF for a loan of about $2.9 billion, the global lender said on Thursday, as the country seeks a way out of its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1948, according to Reuters.

Heritage sites and tourist areas in Kathmandu were cleaned as a part of the ‘Clean Nepal, Green Nepal’ campaign. The campaign saw some 300 participants including Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Jeevan Ram Shrestha, Tourism Secretary Suresh Adhikari and the CEO of the Nepal Tourism Board Dr Dhananjay Regmi as well as local community engaging in cleaning of the heritage sites and tourist spots. The campaign has been launched by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation while today’s program was organized by the Ministry in association with the Nepal Tourism Board and Thamel Tourism Development Council. During the cleanup program, Basantapur, Asan and Thamel areas were cleaned using broom, gloves and traditional floor scrubber among others, shared Board’s senior director Hikmat Singh Aiyer. The campaign is part of the 73-point strategy issued by the Ministry to revive COVID-19-affected tourism sector of the country. All the heritage sites across the country will be cleaned gradually under the campaign for tourism promotion, added Aiyer. Council’s president Bhabishwor Sharma was hopeful that such activity would aid in revival of tourism in the country. The Council would honor those significantly contributing in this sanitation drive of Thamel, shared Sharma.

Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday was sentenced to three years in jail with hard labor after a court found her guilty of electoral fraud. Zabuthiri Township judge Maung Maung Khin handed down the sentence at a junta-controlled closed court in the Naypyitaw Detention Centre, News Agency, Myanmar Now reported. Apart from Suu Kyi, other two leaders (Win Myint and Min Thu) from the ousted civilian government, whose National League for Democracy (NLD) party won the 2020 election in a landslide, were accused of violating Section 130 (a) of the Penal Code by unfairly influencing the election commission. The military council’s allegations were based on the report of 2,000 double votes, found after one year of investigation carried out since the February 2011 coup. Some 75 percent of Myanmar’s more than 37 million registered voters participated in the 2020 general election, according to the International Foundation for Electoral Systems. However, the junta vowed to confront the alleged fraud with legal action against several NLD leaders and party members, as well as the more than 420 members of the previous Union Election Commission and nearly 2,500 members of local election commissions, reported Myanmar Now. Suu Kyi, 77, has already been sentenced to 17 years in prison for corruption and sedition charges. Recently, in August, she was handed a six-year sentence for four corruption charges after the military accused her of abusing her position as party leader to benefit a private foundation named after her mother, Daw Khin Kyi, as well as an affiliated project. Notably, the military detained Suu Kyi in February 2021 as it seized power in Myanmar. Myanmar’s military leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing is the one who led a coup against an elected civilian government in 2021 and detained Aung San Suu Kyi over alleged election irregularities. In August last year, General Hlaing declared himself Prime Minister of a newly formed caretaker government. During an address to the nation on August 1, he repeated a pledge to hold elections by 2023. More than 1,000 civilians have been killed by Myanmar security forces with thousands of others arrested, according to the United Nations, amid a crackdown on strikes and protests which has derailed the country’s tentative democracy and prompted international condemnation. In a recent update, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said the conflict has intensified over the past month, with increased reports of army raids across Myanmar, especially in the northwest and southeast regions. (ANI)

CPN (Maoist Center) Chairperson Pushpa Kamal Dahal said that seat sharing among the coalition partners for upcoming elections has almost been finalized. Dahal, who arrived at Birendranagar in Surkhet district today to address a training program organized by CPN (Maoist Center) Karnali Province Committee, said so while talking to the mediapersons at the Surkhet Airport. Dahal said that they will soon reach an agreement on seat sharing among the current five-party coalition by clearly determining the constituencies and Provinces. Stating that there was no consensus in the current coalition, he added, "We will forge a balanced electoral alliance for the Province Assembly and House of Representatives (HoR) elections this time." He ruled out any possibility of electoral alliance with the CPN-UML. Moreover, the former Prime Minister also assured that they will contest the upcoming elections by further strengthening the current coalition. According to him, preparations are underway to form his party's government in the Karnali Province. Dahal also reaffirmed that he will contest in the HoR election from constituency 3 in Chitwan district. It may be noted that Dahal was elected from the same constituency in the last HoR election in 2017. Furthermore, he said that his party was eager to merge with the CPN (Unified Socialist). The newest leftist party led by former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal was formed following a split from CPN-UML led by another former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. Dahal said that although CPN (Maoist Center) and CPN (Unified Socialist) have agreed to keep their respective election symbols while contesting the upcoming elections, they were mulling to bring out the same manifesto, said Dahal.