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The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 7. 19 points to close at 2,130. 73 points on Wednesday.

Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 1.16 points to close at 414. 47 points.

A total of 3, 020, 067 units of the shares of 227 companies were traded for Rs 1. 07 billion.

At the end of the day, the total market capitalisation stood at Rs 3.03 trillion.

The Finance Ministry has decided to reduce the infrastructure tax levied on petrol and diesel.

The Ministry has decided to slash the infrastructure tax collected for the Budhigandaki Hydropower Project after the people from various walks of life critized the fuel price hike.

The government had been levying the infrastructure tax on diesel and petrol at the rape of Rs 10.

The price of petrol is Rs 180 and the diesel and kerosene is 163.

The Finance Minister on Tuesday had sent a letter to the Industry Ministry to reduce the tax.

Two persons died in a landslide at Nundhaki in Chainpur Municipality-1 of Sankhuwasabha district on Wednesday.

The deceased have been identified as Raj Kumar Rai (35) of Dharan Sub-Metropolitan City-6, Sunsari and Him Bahadur Magar (20) of Chaudandigadhi Municipality-6, Udayapur. 

Police Inspector Milan Basnet said that the two workers were buried to death in a dry landslide while constructing the Chainpur-Nundhaki road section at around 11 am today.

The Buddha Air plane returned to Kathmandu immediately after taking off from the Tribhuvan International Airport on Wednesday.

The aircraft, which had left for Bhadrapur this morning, returned to Kathmandu after witnessing a problem in one of the rear wheels.

Teknath Sitaula, spokesperson at the Civil Aviation Office in Tribhuvan International Airport, said that the plane returned to Kathmandu after witnessing a problem in one of the rear wheels.

The aircraft, which had left for Bhadrapur at 10: 43 am, returned to Kathmandu at 11:06 am.

There were 73 people including crew members on board the aircraft.

Earlier, a Tara Air aircraft with call sign 9N-AET, which had gone missing since Sunday, was found crashed on Monday morning. The wreckage of the aircraft was found scattered at Sanosware in Mustang district this morning.

There were 22 people including two German nationals, four Indians and 13 Nepali nationals on board the ill-fated aircraft when the incident occurred. No one survived the incident.

A person died in a motorbike accident in Dhankuta Municipality-6 of Dhankuta.

According to the District Police Office, Dhankuta, the deceased has been identified as Puran Rai (24) of Khandbari Municipality-10, Sankhuwasabha currently residing at a rented room in Dhankuta Municipality-6.

The incident occurred when the two-wheeler (Me 6 Pa 1756) was heading towards Dharan from Dhankuta.

Rai, who was found critically injured at around 2 am today, was rushed to a hospital but doctors pronounced him dead on arrival, DSP Chiranjivi Dahal of the District Police Office, Dhankuta said.

Police said that they are looking into the incident.

Police have arrested an Indian national in possession of 4 kg silver ornaments from Itabhatta, Bodebasain Municipality-9 of Saptari.

The arrestee has been identified as Basista Chaudhary (22) of Kamat Tole, Khutaunagram Panchayat-11, Madhubani district, India.

DSP Pradeep Khadka of the Armed Police Force (APF) said that a patrol team arrested Chaudhary with the ornaments during the security check.

The market price of the confiscated silver is around 400, 000.

Singer-composer KK, whose real name was Krishnakumar Kunnath, died in Kolkata on Tuesday at the age of 53. He was in the city for a two-day concert, and took ill during an event at Nazrul Mancha. “He was brought dead to the hospital around 10 pm,” said a CMRI hospital staff. He died of a suspected heart attack, The Indian Express reported.

According to sources, KK felt unwellduring the concert. He complained of uneasiness during the interval but performed till the end of the event. Post that, he was taken to a five-star hotel in Esplanade, where his health deteriorated, and he died before he could reach the hospital. The concert had been organised on behalf of Gurudas College. The singer was in the city for a two-day event. KK also posted photos from the concert hours before his death. “Pulsating gig tonight at Nazrul Mancha. Vivekananda College !! Love you all,” he wrote.

KK is survived by his wife and two children. West Bengal Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Arup Biswas, who rushed to the hospital immediately after KK’s death, told IANS that the body has been sent for post-mortem. “His family members have been informed. They are likely to reach Kolkata early on Wednesday morning,” he said, according The Indian Express.

As soon as the news of his death broke, people from all walks of life paid tribute. Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “Saddened by the untimely demise of noted singer Krishnakumar Kunnath popularly known as KK. His songs reflected a wide range of emotions as struck a chord with people of all age groups. We will always remember him through his songs. Condolences to his family and fans. Om Shanti.”

The Chinese military has said it conducted a “combat readiness patrol” in the sea and airspace around the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, Aljazeera reported.

In a statement, the People’s Liberation Army Eastern Theatre Command said the exercises had taken place in recent days and were “a necessary action” against what it described as “US-Taiwan collusion”.

“Recently, the United States has frequently made moves on the Taiwan issue, saying one thing and doing another, instigating support for Taiwan independence forces, which will push Taiwan into a dangerous situation,” the command added in a statement on Wednesday.

Taiwan this week reported the largest incursion by Chinese aircraft into its Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) since January with 30 planes, most of them fighter jets, entering the southwest of the ADIZ.

The incident took place as Tammy Duckworth, a US Senator, was visiting the island, according to Aljazeera.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that Beijing had “lodged solemn representations” with the US about her visit.

“We urge relevant US politicians to earnestly abide by the one-China principle, and immediately stop official exchanges with Taiwan in any form and refrain from sending any wrong signals to the ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces,” Zhao told a press briefing on Tuesday afternoon, according to the state-run Global Times.

“China will continue to take forceful measures to resolutely safeguard China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, a Beijing body, also warned in a press conference that it was “very dangerous” for the US to “connive in the separatist activities conducted by Taiwan secessionists”.

Known formally as the Republic of China (ROC), Taiwan lies about 161 kilometres (100 miles) off the coast of mainland China. Once colonised by Japan, Chinese nationalists fled to the island after losing the civil war to the communists who established the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in Beijing, Aljazeera reported.

The ROC continued to claim to represent all of China and even had a seat on the United Nations Security Council until 1971 when most countries, including the US, began to switch diplomatic recognition to Beijing instead of Taipei.

Since then, the US, under the Taiwan Relations Act, has been mandated to “preserve and promote extensive, close and friendly commercial, cultural, and other relations between the people of the United States and the people of Taiwan”.

Washington also takes a more ambiguous view of “One China”.

For Beijing, “One China” is the pretext for its claim that Taiwan is simply a province of the mainland and not an independent state.

For the US, however, Taiwan’s status remains undetermined, according to Aljazeera.