COUNTRY REVIEWS

South Asia

Sri Lanka

• President Mahinda Rajapaksa addresses the UN General Assembly, calls for a rethinking on the international humanitarian laws governing the fight against terrorism; Rajapaksa holds bilateral talks with Iran, Turkey, Qatar, Germany and Norway; Sri Lanka plans its first nuclear power plant by 2030; India-Sri Lanka bilateral trade is on the rise; India, Sri Lanka discuss jointly marketing coir products

Maldives

• Maldives Vice President attends UNGA summit at New York; Maldives and the United States sign “Acquisition and Cross Service Agreement”; Costa Rica and Maldives establish diplomatic ties

East Asia

Japan

• Reports: Japan plans to increase the size of the Ground Self-Defense Force by 13,000 members; Japan and China remain at loggerheads over a row involving a Chinese fishing boat and Japan Coast Guard vessels; Prime Minister Kan makes pitch for Japan’s permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council

Taiwan

• Chinese PM hints at reducing the number of its missiles targeting Taiwan; Taiwan welcomes the statement

Southeast Asia

• Prime Ministers of Thailand and Cambodia meet in New York on the sidelines of the ASEAN-US Summit; Malaysia and Brunei to strengthen bilateral relations further

West Asia

Iran

• 10 killed and dozens injured in a bomb blast at Mahabad in North-West Iran; US and other western nations stage walkout during Ahmadinejad's remarks on 9/11; United States denounces Ahmadinejad's 9/11 remarks by calling it “abhorrent and delusional”; Iranian speaker called Obama an international villain

Iraq

• Iraqiya party refused to participate any government led by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki