The gold is being traded at Rs 111, 300 per tola in the domestic market on Tuesday.

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 110, 750 per tola.

Similarly, the silver is being traded at Rs 1,395 per tola today.

All six people on board the ill-fated Manang Air chopper that crashed in Lamjura of Solukhumbu on Tuesday morning were killed.

Jeevan BK said that all the six bodies have been retrieved from the incident site.

“Six bodies have been recovered from the crashed site. Discussions are underway to decide where to send the bodies,” he said.

The chopper with call sign 9N-AMV that took off for Kathmandu from Surke at 10: 05 am today was found crashed at Chyandanda in Lamjura of Bhakanje, Likhupike Rural Municipality-5, Rural Municipality Chairperson Mina Karki Basnet said.

Apart from Captain Chet Gurung, there were five Mexican nationals.  

The helicopter en route to Kathmandu from Solukhumbu had gone missing since this morning.

Two more persons have been arrested in connection with the Lalita Niwas land grab case.

According to Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police, the then Nayab Subba of Land Revenue Office Yog Raj Paudel and Kharidar Narayan Das Mishra were apprehended from Kathmandu on Tuesday.

A source at the CIB said that police have found evidence that some former secretaries, incumbent secretaries and former ministers are also involved in this case.

With the issuance of arrest warrants against 406 people involved in the Lalita Niwas land grab case, police have started detaining high-ranking officials.

So far, police have nabbed 15 people in the Lalita Niwas case. Among them, 12 are in custody and three have already been released.

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The arrestees have been identified as Bhatbhateni Supermarket Chairman Min Bahadur Gurung, former officer at the Summer Jung Company Ramesh Kumar Pokharel, Dev Narayan Maharjan, Babu Raj Maharjan, Ghaman Kumar Karki, Shivaji Bhattarai, former election office Sudhir Kumar Shah, Dharma Prasad Gautam and Gopal Karki.

Communications Secretary Krishna Bahadur Raut, Dhruba Prasad Aryal and Lokhari Ghimire were arrested on Sunday.

Nine persons including former election commissioner Shah and Bhatbhateni Supermarket Chairman Gurung are being investigated by keeping them in custody.

Land Revenue Officer Surendra Man Kapali, then then chief at the Land Revenue Office, Dillibazaar Kaladhar Deuja and Hupendra Mani KC involved in the case were released earlier.

A Manang Air helicopter, which had gone missing since this morning, has crashed at Lamjura Danda.

The chopper with call sign 9N-AMV that took off for Kathmandu from Surke at 10: 05 am today was found crashed at Chyandanda in Lamjura of Bhakanje, Likhupike Rural Municipality-5, Rural Municipality Chairperson Mina Karki Basnet said.

The helicopter was flown by Capitan Chet Gurung.

Apart from Captain Gurung, there were five foreigners on board the helicopter, Sagar Kandel, ATC Office at the Lukla Airport, said.

A Manang Air helicopter en route to Kathmandu from Solukhumbu has been reported missing.

The chopper with call sign 9N-AMV took off from Surke Helipad in Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality2 carrying five passengers at 10: 05 am today, the Civil Aviation Authority, Lukla said.

Office Chief Mahesh Shrestha said that the helicopter, which was supposed to reach the destination in 45 minutes, has not come in contact yet.

Search is underway for the missing chopper.

Rapid spread of lumpy skin disease has taken a heavy toll on livestock in Baitadi district.

The officials at Veterinary Hospital and Livestock Service Center, Patan, said that the disease on animals has gone out of control in the district adding that there is no availability of vaccine so far.

Livestock Development Officer at the Centre, Dr Bishal Pathak, said more than 64,000 domestic animals have been infected with lumpy skin and more than 9,200 animals have already died of the infection.

"The cases of lumpy skin infection have increased every day but the district lacks vaccines. We have written to the federal and provincial governments requesting vaccines," Dr Pathak said.

It has been learnt that the disease has spread to all 84 wards in the district and has taken the form of epidemic through the mountainous area is less impacted.

Lumpy skin is a contagious virus disease transmitted to cattle by flies, mosquitoes or ticks. The cattle with the disease develop symptoms such as high fever, loss of appetite, reduced milk output and enlarged lymph nodes which can also lead to death.

It is said that 1-3 percent of infected animals might die due to the disease and the mortality rate can go up for lack of necessary care and primary aid.

The disease was first reported in Nepal in July 2020. In the first two years after the detection of contagious disease, as many as 13 out of 3,301 infected cattle of 16 districts died due in Nepal.

The Dailekh District Court sentenced a 50-year-old man to 33 years in prison for raping his 17-year-old daughter.

Hearing the case filed at the District Police Office on April 4 from the victim’s side, District Judge Balaram Lamsal issued the verdict on Monday, Information Officer of Dailekh District Court Tikaram Neupane said.

The man raped his daughter on March 15.

Neupane also said that the man has also been slapped with a fine of Rs 300,000.

In addition, the court has ordered the convict to provide Rs 50,000 in compensation to the survivor and pay Rs 2,800 for the Victims Relief Fund, Neupane shared.

In the district, the number of rape case of minors from father being registered in the police has reached four in the past three months after March 15.

The continuous improvement in the remittance inflow, tourism earnings, and forex reserves has put the country’s external sector in a comfortable position. The latest macroeconomic report released by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) shows Nepal has received remittances above Rs 100bn for seven straight months.

The comfortable position of the external sector has given space for the central bank to bring a moderate monetary policy for FY 2023/24. While the central bank’s top officials have not spoken about the direction of the new monetary policy, the latest data, according to the private sector, allows the NRB to be more flexible. The central bank in the current fiscal year adopted a tighter monetary policy amid declining forex reserves and a deteriorating external sector.

NRB officials say that the policy efforts of the government and the central bank implemented a year ago, aimed at controlling imports and credit expansion, have worked as expected. According to them, the challenge now is to maintain the pace of improvement.

The NRB Executive Director Prakash Kumar Shrestha also said that the latest macroeconomic report has indicated that a flexible monetary policy could be introduced. “However, which direction the new monetary policy will take will be determined by the market and statistics,” he said. “It is not just the external sector that has become improved. Liquidity has increased while interest rates are decreasing. But we should also pay attention to how the money will be used. While the indicators are positive currently, we need to tread with caution.”

Nepal has received remittances worth Rs 107.3bn in Jestha (mid-May to mid-June). The country has been receiving monthly remittances above Rs 100bn since Mangshir (mid-November to mid-December).

With the surge in remittance inflow, the country’s forex reserves, and balance of payment both have improved, said NRB. According to the NRB report, Nepal’s balance of payment (BOP) is at a surplus of Rs 228.98bn in the first 11  months of FY 2022/23 compared to a deficit of Rs 269.81bn in the same period of FY 2021/22. In US Dollar terms, BOP remained at a surplus of 1.74bn in the review period compared to a deficit of 2.26bn in the same period of the last fiscal year.

The country’s forex reserves increased by 21.8 percent in the first 11 months of the current fiscal year. The report said Nepal’s forex reserves stood at Rs 1480.87bn in mid-June, 2023 from Rs 1215.80bn in mid-July 2022. In US dollar terms, the gross foreign exchange reserves increased by 18.5 percent to Rs 11.3bn in mid-June 2023 from Rs 9.54bn in mid-July 2022.

In the report, NRB has stated that the current level of foreign exchange reserves is sufficient to cover merchandise imports for 11.2 months, and merchandise and services imports for 9.6 months.

Meanwhile, continuously growing tourist arrivals helped the growth of the country’s tourism income by 94.3 percent. Nepal has earned Rs 58.60bn as tourism income in this fiscal year compared to Rs 29.87bn in the last fiscal year. The country’s tourism earnings nosedived in FY 2019/20, and FY 2020/21 due to restrictions on international travel as countries imposed various lockdowns to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.