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Sri Lanka is suspending its repayment of foreign debt, including bonds and government-to-government borrowings, pending the completion of a loan restructuring program with the International Monetary Fund to deal with the island nation's worst economic crisis in decades, the government said Tuesday, Associated Press reported.

Sri Lankans for the past months have been enduring shortages of fuel, food and other essentials and daily power outages. Most of those items are paid for in hard currency, but Sri Lanka is on the brink of bankruptcy, saddled with dwindling foreign reserves and $25 billion in foreign debt. Nearly $7 billion is due this year.

"Sri Lanka has had an unblemished record of external debt service since independence in 1948," the Ministry of Finance said in a statement. "Recent events, however, including the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fallout from the hostilities in Ukraine, have so eroded Sri Lanka's fiscal position that continued normal servicing of external public debt obligations has become impossible."

The ministry said the IMF has assessed Sri Lanka's foreign debt as unsustainable, and staying current on foreign debt repayment is no longer a tenable policy, according to the Associated Press.

In addition to seeking help from the IMF, the government has turned to India and China for help in dealing with the shortages.

"The government intends to pursue its discussions with the IMF as expeditiously as possible with a view to formulating and presenting to the country's creditors a comprehensive plan for restoring Sri Lanka's external public debt to a fully sustainable position," the ministry said.

Meanwhile, protesters camped out around the president's office for a fourth day demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, holding him responsible for the economic crisis. Supporters of the protesters supplied drinking water and food, and Muslim protesters broke their Ramadan fasting at the site to share food with those around them.

Much of the anger expressed in weeks of protests has been directed at the Rajapaksa family, which been in power for most of the past two decades. Critics accuse the family of borrowing heavily to finance projects that have earned no money, such as a port facility built with Chinese loans, Associated Press reported.

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, a former president who is the current president's older brother, sought in a speech Monday night to reassure people that the government is working on resolving the problems.

"We are embarking on an enormous program to overcome the crisis we face today. Every second spent by the president and this government is used up exhausting avenues to rebuild our country," he said.

He refused to yield power, saying the governing coalition will continue to rule Sri Lanka because opposition parties rejected its call for a unity government, Associated Press reported.

Inflation soared over the past year at its fastest pace in more than 40 years, with costs for food, gasoline, housing and other necessities squeezing American consumers and wiping out the pay raises that many people have received, Associated Press reported.

The Labor Department said Tuesday that its consumer price index jumped 8.5% in March from 12 months earlier, the sharpest year-over-year increase since December 1981. Prices have been driven up by bottlenecked supply chains, robust consumer demand and disruptions to global food and energy markets worsened by Russia's war against Ukraine. From February to March, inflation rose 1.2% , the biggest month-to-month jump since 2005.

Across the economy, the year-over-year price spikes were widespread in March. Gasoline prices have rocketed 48% in the past 12 months. Used car prices have soared 35.3%, though they actually fell in February and March. Bedroom furniture is up 14.7%, men's jackets suits and coats 14.5%. Grocery prices have jumped 10%, including 18% increases for both bacon and oranges.

Even excluding volatile food and energy prices, which have driven overall inflation, so-called core inflation jumped 6.5% over the past 12 months, the biggest such increase since 1982, according to the Associated Press.

The March inflation numbers were the first to capture the full surge in gasoline prices that followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. Moscow's brutal attacks have triggered far-reaching Western sanctions against the Russian economy and have disrupted global food and energy markets. According to AAA, the average price of a gallon of gasoline - $4.10 - is up 43% from a year ago, though it has fallen back in the past couple of weeks.

The escalation of energy prices has led to higher transportation costs for the shipment of goods and components across the economy, which, in turn, has contributed to higher prices for consumers.

The latest evidence of accelerating prices will solidify expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates aggressively in the coming months to try to slow borrowing and spending and tame inflation. The financial markets now foresee much steeper rate hikes this year than Fed officials had signaled as recently as last month.

"The Fed will be pressing firmly on the brake pedal - not just pumping the brakes - in an effort to slow demand and bring the inflation rate back down," said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate, Associated Press reported.

Even before Russia's war further spurred price increases, robust consumer spending, steady pay raises and chronic supply shortages had sent US consumer inflation to its highest level in four decades. In addition, housing costs, which make up about a third of the consumer price index, have escalated, a trend that seems unlikely to reverse anytime soon.

Economists point out that as the economy has emerged from the depths of the pandemic, consumers have been gradually broadening their spending beyond goods to include more services. A result is that high inflation, which at first had reflected mainly a shortage of goods - from cars and furniture to electronics and sports equipment - has been emerging in services, too, like travel, health care and entertainment.

The expected fast pace of the Fed's rate increases will make loans sharply more expensive for consumers and businesses. Mortgage rates, in particular, though not directly influenced by the Fed, have rocketed higher in recent weeks, making home buying more expensive. Many economists say they worry that the Fed has waited too long to begin raising rates and might end up acting so aggressively as to trigger a recession.

For now, the economy as a whole remains solid, with unemployment near 50-year lows and job openings near record highs. Still, rocketing inflation, with its impact on Americans' daily lives, is posing a political threat to President Joe Biden and his Democratic allies as they seek to keep control of Congress in November's midterm elections, according to the Associated Press.

At least 16 people have been injured in a shooting during morning rush hour at a New York subway station, BBC reported.

Shots were fired at the 36th Street station in Sunset Park at 08:30 local time (12:30 GMT), police said.

Images from the scene showed bloodied passengers lying on the floor of the smoke-filled station.

The attacker fled the station, and witnesses quoted in US media described a man wearing an orange construction vest and gas mask.

The suspect threw a smoke bomb to distract the crowd, police sources told NBC News.

Most of those who were are being treated for injuries were shot, police said, including one victim who was critically wounded, according to BBC.

Others are being treated for smoke inhalation and injuries sustained in the initial panic.

No motive for the attack has yet been given. People have been advised to stay away from the area.

"My subway door opened into calamity. It was smoke and blood and people screaming," eyewitness Sam Carcamo told the Associated Press. He added that a billow of smoke poured out of the train once its doors opened.

Another witness, identified only as Claire, told the New York Post that she had "lost count" of the number of shots that were fired. 

The woman said she saw the suspect dropping "some kind of cylinder that sparked at the top" - initially believing him to be a subway worker because of the orange vest that she said he was wearing, BBC reported.

New York's fire department told the BBC it originally received a call about smoke inside the station.

But officials arrived to find multiple people shot and injured.

Police have said there are now no active explosive devices inside the station after initial reports said some had been found. 

There is a "huge" number of police and emergency responders attending, reports the BBC's New York bureau chief John Mervin who is at the scene, according to BBC.

Both President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland have been briefed on the incident.

US cities have seen a troubling rise in gun violence incidents over the past two years, BBC reported.

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India held the first meeting of Inter-Ministerial Coordination Group (IMCG) which was led by foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla.

The IMCG has been setup as a high-level mechanism towards mainstreaming of India’s ‘Neighborhood First Policy’, in line with vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, says India’s Ministry of External Affairs. 

 Secretaries of Ministries/Departments of Home, Commerce, Finance, Fisheries, representatives from Ministries/Departments of Defence, Railways, Economic Affairs, Consumer Affairs, Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Information & Broadcasting and from Cabinet Secretariat, National Security Council Secretariat as well as other relevant agencies along with heads of Border Guarding Forces participated in today’s meeting. The meeting deliberated upon and took important decisions on various aspects of India’s bilateral relationship with Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the areas of trade and investment, connectivity, border infrastructure, immigration, development cooperation, border security, according to the statement.

The IMCG is supported by Inter-Ministerial Joint Task Forces (JTF) convened by the concerned Joint Secretaries in the Ministry of External Affairs. Government of India’s efforts to deliver benefits like greater connectivity, stronger inter-linkages and greater people-to-people connect under India’s Neighborhood First Policy takes place through a whole-of-government approach with coordination involving various Ministries, Departments and agencies of GOI and of concerned State governments, says the statement. 

 The IMCG will further improve institutional coordination across government and provide comprehensive direction to this whole-of-government approach on India’s relations with its neighbouring countries, according to the statement. 

Nepal reported 26 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 2, 866 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 23 returned positive. Likewise, 1, 212 people underwent antigen tests, of which three were tested positive.

The Ministry said that no one died of virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that 37 infected people recovered from the disease.

As of today, there are 554 active cases in the country.

President Bidya Devi Bhandari has given approval to mobilise the army in the local level elections slated for May 13.

President Bhandari gave permission to deploy the army as per the recommendation made by the National Security Council on March 31 and the decision of Cabinet meeting held on April 7, read a statement issued by the President's Office on Tuesday.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 34. 79 points to close at 2,385.01 points on Tuesday.

Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 5. 76 points to close at 449. 12 points.

A total of 3,783,024 units of the shares of 237 companies were traded for Rs 1. 52 billion.

Meanwhile, NESDO Samridha Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 10 percent. Likewise, Emerging Nepal Limited was the top loser with its price dropped by 6. 59 percent.

At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 3. 38 trillion.