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The US has urged Moscow to accept a deal to free basketball player Brittney Griner, who has been sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison, Associated Press reported.

The double Olympic winner was convicted of possessing and smuggling drugs after admitting to possessing cannabis oil.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the US offer was "a serious proposal", but gave no details.

US media reports suggest Washington is offering a prisoner swap involving a Russian arms trafficker.

Viktor Bout - known as the "merchant of death" - is serving a 25 year-prison sentence in the US.

He could be transferred by Washington to the Russian authorities in exchange for Griner and former US Marine Paul Whelan, the reports say.

Whelan, who has US, British, Canadian and Irish passports, was sentenced in 2020 to 16 years in jail in Russia after being convicted of spying.

Mr Kirby told reporters that the duo were being wrongfully detained and needed to be let go.

On the subject of the US proposal, Mr Kirby said: "We urge them to accept it. They should have accepted it weeks ago when we first made it."

But according to Reuters news agency, one stumbling block is that Russia wants to add convicted murderer Vadim Krasikov, who is in prison in Germany, to the proposed swap.

When questioned about this possibility, Mr Kirby dismissed it, saying: "I don't think we go so far as to even call it a counter-offer."

Griner, 31, told the court she had made an "honest mistake" and had not intended to break the law.

Considered one of the best female players in the world, she was detained in February at an airport near Moscow when vape cartridges containing cannabis oil were found in her luggage. She had come to Russia to play club basketball during the US off-season, according to Associated Press.

Soon afterwards, Russia invaded Ukraine and her case has become subject to high-profile diplomacy between the US and Russia.

Her defence team said they would appeal against the verdict.

Griner's Phoenix Mercury teammates staged a gesture of solidarity on Thursday, when they and their Connecticut Sun opponents observed 42 seconds of silence before their game, in honour of her number 42 jersey.

US President Joe Biden called her sentencing "unacceptable", adding: "I call on Russia to release her immediately so she can be with her wife, loved ones, friends, and teammates."

Meanwhile Secretary of State Antony Blinken added: "Russia, and any country engaging in wrongful detention, represents a threat to the safety of everyone travelling, working and living abroad."

Mr Blinken raised the issue in a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week, in the first conversation between the two men since the start of the war in Ukraine.

Both are now in Cambodia for a meeting of the Association of South-East Asian Nations. The US says Mr Blinken will try to speak with Mr Lavrov again while they are there, Associated Press reported.

The federal government declared a public health emergency Thursday to bolster the response to the monkeypoxoutbreak that has infected more than 7,100 Americans, Associated Press reported.

The announcement will free up money and other resources to fight the virus, which may cause fever, body aches, chills, fatigue and pimple-like bumps on many parts of the body.

“We are prepared to take our response to the next level in addressing this virus, and we urge every American to take monkeypox seriously,” said Xavier Becerra, head of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

The declaration by HHS comes as the Biden administration has faced criticism over monkeypox vaccine availability. Clinics in major cities such as New York and San Francisco say they haven’t received enough of the two-shot vaccine to meet demand, and some have had to stop offering the second dose to ensure supply of first doses.

The White House said it has made more than 1.1 million doses available and has helped to boost domestic diagnostic capacity to 80,000 tests per week.

The monkeypox virus spreads through prolonged skin-to-skin contact, including hugging, cuddling and kissing, as well as sharing bedding, towels and clothing. The people who have gotten sick so far have been primarily men who have sex with men. But health officials emphasize that the virus can infect anyone, according to Associated Press.

No one in the United States has died. A few deaths have been reported in other countries.

Earlier this week, the Biden administration named top officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to serve as the White House coordinators to combat monkeypox.

Thursday’s declaration is an important — and overdue — step, said Lawrence Gostin, a public health law expert at Georgetown University.

“It signals the US government’s seriousness and purpose, and sounds a global alarm,” he said.

Under the declaration, HHS can draw from emergency funds, hire or reassign staff to deal with the outbreak and take other steps to control the virus.

For example, the announcement should help the federal government to seek more information from state and local health officials about who is becoming infected and who is being vaccinated. That information can be used to better understand how the outbreak is unfolding and how well the vaccine works.

Gostin said the US government has been too cautious and should have declared a nationwide emergency earlier. Public health measures to control outbreaks have increasingly faced legal challenges in recent years, but Gostin didn’t expect that to happen with monkeypox.

“It is a textbook case of a public health emergency,” Gostin said. “It’s not a red or a blue state issue. There is no political opposition to fighting monkeypox.”

A public health emergency can be extended, similar to what happened during the COVID-19 pandemic, he noted.

The urgency in the current response stems from the rapid spread of the virus coupled with the limited availability of the two-dose vaccine called Jynneos, which is considered the main medical weapon against the disease.

The doses, given 28 days apart, are currently being given to people soon after they think they were exposed, as a measure to prevent symptoms, Associated Press reported.

Becerra announced the emergency declaration during a call with reporters. During the call, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf said regulators are reviewing an approach that would stretch supplies by allowing health professionals to vaccinate up to five people — instead of one — with each vial of Jynneos.

Under this so-called “dose-sparing” approach, physicians and others would use a shallower injection under the skin, instead of the subcutaneous injection currently recommended in the vaccine’s labeling.

Califf said a decision authorizing that approach could come “within days.”

That would require another declaration, to allow the government to alter its guidelines on how to administer the vaccine, officials said.

Health officials pointed to a study published in 2015 that found that Jynneos vaccine administered that way was as effective at stimulating the immune system as when the needle plunger deeper into other tissue.

But experts also have acknowledged they are still gathering information on how well the conventional administration of one or two full doses works against the outbreak.

Others health organizations have made declarations similar to the one issued by HHS.

Last week, the World Health Organization called monkeypox a public health emergency, with cases in more than 70 countries. A global emergency is WHO’s highest level of alert, but the designation does not necessarily mean a disease is particularly transmissible or lethal.

California, Illinois and New York have all made declarations in the last week, as have New York City, San Francisco and San Diego County.

The declaration of a national public health emergency and the naming of a monkeypox czar are “symbolic actions,” said Gregg Gonsalves, a Yale University infectious diseases expert.

What’s important is that the government is taking the necessary steps to control the outbreak and — if it comes to that — to have a plan for how to deal with monkeypox if it becomes endemic, he said.

Monkeypox is endemic in parts of Africa, where people have been infected through bites from rodents or small animals. It does not usually spread easily among people, according to Associated Press.

But in May, a wave of unexpected cases began emerging in Europe and the United States. Now more than 26,000 cases have been reported in countries that traditionally have not seen monkeypox.

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday that China will not isolate Taiwan by preventing US officials from traveling there, Associated Press reported.

She made the remarks in Tokyo, the final leg of an Asia tour highlighted by a visit to Taiwan that infuriated China.

Pelosi, the first House speaker to visit Taiwan in 25 years, said Wednesday in Taipei that the U.S. commitment to democracy in the self-governing island and elsewhere “remains ironclad.”

Pelosi and five other members of Congress arrived in Tokyo late Thursday after visiting Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and South Korea.

China, which claims Taiwan and has threatened to annex it by force if necessary, called her visit to the island a provocation and on Thursday began military drills, including missile firing, in six zones surrounding Taiwan.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday that China’s military exercises aimed at Taiwan represent a “grave problem” that threatens regional peace and security after five ballistic missiles launched as part of the drills landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

Kishida, speaking after breakfast with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her congressional delegation, said the missile launches need to be “stopped immediately.”

China, which claims Taiwan and has threatened to annex it by force if necessary, called Pelosi’s visit earlier this week to the self-ruled island a provocation and on Thursday began military exercises, including missile strike training, in six zones surrounding Taiwan, in what could be its biggest since the mid-1990s.

In Taipei on Wednesday, Pelosi said the American commitment to democracy in Taiwan and elsewhere “remains ironclad.” She became the first House speaker to visit the island in 25 years, according to Associated Press.

Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said five missiles landed on Thursday in Japan’s exclusive economic zone off Hateruma, an island far south of Japan’s main islands. He said Japan protested to China, saying the missiles “threatened Japan’s national security and the lives of the Japanese people, which we strongly condemn.”

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, attending a regional meeting in Cambodia, said China’s actions are “severely impacting peace and stability in the region and the international community, and we demand the immediate suspension of the military exercises.”

Japan has in recent years bolstered its defense capability and troop presence in southwestern Japan and remote islands, including Okinawa, which is about 700 kilometers (420 miles) northeast of Taiwan. Many residents say they worry their island will be quickly embroiled in any Taiwan conflict. Okinawa is home to the majority of about 50,000 American troops based in Japan under a bilateral security pact.

At the breakfast earlier Friday, Pelosi and her congressional delegation also discussed their shared security concern over China, North Korea and Russia, and pledged their commitment to working toward peace and stability in Taiwan, Kishida said. Pelosi also was to hold talks with her Japanese counterpart, lower house Speaker Hiroyuki Hosoda.

Japan and its key ally, America, have been pushing for new security and economic frameworks with other democracies in the Indo-Pacific region and Europe as a counter to China’s growing influence amid rising tensions between Beijing and Taipei.

Days before Pelosi’s Taiwan visit, a group of senior Japanese lawmakers, including former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba, visited the island and discussed regional security with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen. Ishiba said Japan, while working with the United States to prevent conflict in the Indo-Pacific, wants a defense agreement with Taiwan, Associated Press reported.

On Thursday, the foreign ministers of the Group of Seven industrialized nations issued a statement saying “there is no justification to use a visit as pretext for aggressive military activity in the Taiwan Strait.” It said China’s “escalatory response risks increasing tensions and destabilizing the region.”

China cited its displeasure over the statement for the last-minute cancellation of talks between the Chinese and Japanese foreign ministers on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting in Cambodia on Thursday, according to Associated Press.

China has fired missiles near Taiwan as part of huge military drills following a visit by senior US politician Nancy Pelosi to the island, BBC reported.

Taiwan said China launched 11 ballistic missiles into waters around Taiwan's north-east and south-west coasts.

Japan said five Chinese missiles landed in its waters as well, calling for an "immediate stop" to the exercises.

China saw the visit, by the US house speaker Mrs Pelosi, as a challenge to its claims of sovereignty over Taiwan. 

It sees Taiwan as a breakaway province that will eventually be brought under its control - by force if necessary.

The US, for its part, does not officially recognise Taiwan, which has for all practical purposes been independent since 1950. However, Washington maintains a strong relationship with the island - which includes selling weapons for Taiwan to defend itself.

"The exercises focus on key training sessions including joint blockade, sea target assault, strike on ground targets, airspace control operation," the Chinese military's Eastern Theater Command said in a statement.

Ms Pelosi's brief visit to Taiwan on Wednesday fuelled tensions, with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi describing it as "manic, irresponsible and irrational". She is the most senior US politician to visit the island in 25 years. Ms Pelosi is now in Japan for the last stage of her Asian tour.

China responded by conducting an unprecedented launch of ballistic missiles and the military drills just off the Taiwanese coast.

Taiwan's defence ministry said it had activated its defence systems and was monitoring the situation, according to BBC.

Taiwan's ministry of foreign affairs accused China of "following the example of North Korea in wilfully test-firing missiles into waters near other countries".

North Korea - a strong ally of China's - has been accused of igniting tensions in the region by repeatedly launching missile tests in recent months.

On Thursday, Japan voiced its strong protest over the Chinese missile launches. 

"We strongly condemn the act as it is a serious issue concerning Japan's security and the safety of Japanese people," Japanese Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi said.

China's missile launches are causing disruption to shipping lanes and flights to and from Taiwan.

Ships have been forced to re-route, with days-long disruptions expected to have an impact on supply chains with delays to global shipping, BBC reported.

More than 50 international flights from Taiwan's Taoyuan International Airport have been cancelled.

The United States opposes any unilateral efforts to change the Taiwan status quo, especially by force, and its policy on Taiwan has not changed, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Southeast Asian counterparts on Thursday, Reuters reported.

Cross-strait stability is in the interests of the whole region, he told a meeting in Cambodia, a day after US house speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan. It was the highest-level US visit in 25 years, infuriating China, which claims the self-ruled island as part of its territory.

“We and countries around the world believe that escalation serves no one and could have unintended consequences that serve no one’s interests, including ASEAN members, and including China,” Blinken said.

On Thursday, China fired multiple missiles as it conducted the largest-ever military drills around Taiwan, while Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China had made the utmost diplomatic effort to avert crisis, but would never allow its core interests to be hurt.

Blinken is in Cambodia for a security-focused meeting of more than 27 countries expected to discuss a food crisis caused by the Russia-Ukraine war, stability in the Taiwan Strait, and the crisis in Myanmar.

Blinken and ASEAN pledged during their meeting to upgrade ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership.

He earlier met Qatar’s foreign minister to talk about developments in Afghanistan and Iran and discussed Sri Lanka’s economic crisis with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

He later met Sri Lanka’s new foreign minister, Ali Sabry and promised support for the country reeling from an economic and political crisis, which he said presented a new challenge and opportunity, according to Reuters.

Blinken said the United States backed Sri Lanka and the International Monetary Fund working out an equitable arrangement on debt restructuring.

“There’s an opportunity in this moment, to create a more inclusive, representative, democratic, responsive government,” Blinken said. “And to use this crisis to seize that opportunity to make something very positive about a very difficult situation.”

He told Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen the United States wanted “a strong, positive relationship” between the two countries, in a rare meeting at a time of strained ties over the long-serving leader’s crackdown on the opposition and closer military ties with ally China.

The United States has called for greater transparency from Cambodia’s over development of its Ream naval base with China’s help, which the US sees as Beijing’s attempts to build influence in the region.

Blinken announced the United States would provide $25 million to Cambodia in food aid and agricultural cooperation critical to address food insecurity caused by what he called Russia’s “aggression” in Ukraine, Reuters reported.

Query

I am a 55-year-old homemaker who has of late been feeling emotionally vulnerable. There are days when I feel like crying for no reason and other times I am infuriated by everything. My emotions fluctuate all the time and it is exhausting. I suspect this is because of my menopause. Always feeling this way is making me restless and I would appreciate it if you can offer some coping tips. -A stressed homemaker 

Answered by Alisha Humagain, Psychosocial Counselor, Happy Minds 

Going through a menopause can be emotionally difficult. The estrogen level in the body is elevated, making your emotions unstable. Estrogen is linked with the neurotransmitters in your brain, which is why your emotions can fluctuate a lot, making you restless. You will also be going through several hormonal changes that can affect your emotional stability. 

Feeling this way is in a way inevitable. But there are things you can do to balance these emotions. First, it is important to ask yourself what is triggering your emotions. This is where you have to understand your estrogen levels and hormonal changes. You will feel much calmer after you are aware of the reasons behind your mood changes.

Besides bodily changes, other things can also be causing you stress. It is necessary to identify those triggers as well. Only then can we proceed to the next step. 

The second thing you can do is address your emotions. Suppressing emotions and being in denial is even more stressful. You will be better off accepting what you are feeling, like anxiety and depression, and figuring out what can calm you down. One thing you can do is talk to someone who has already gone through menopause. They might be able to help you out with the things they have tried for themselves. This will assure you that you are not alone: others are also going through or have gone through something similar.

It is hard to get a good night’s sleep during menopause. So if you feel like taking a nap during the day, go for it. As a homemaker, you may not have a lot of free time. But it is necessary to prioritize yourself and allocate enough resting time, which will help you reduce your stress. You can practice yoga and mindfulness too. They are very good ways to keep yourself calm and stable throughout the day.

There are many ways of practicing mindfulness. Say, if you have a personal morning routine, you can do it with your mind focused on the activities at hand rather than doing them like chores you must complete. Being mindful is all about being fully aware of what you are doing.  

If you still feel stressed and emotionally volatile, you can always see a counselor.

Nepal reported 760 new Covid-19 cases and one death on Thursday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 2, 589 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 494 returned positive. Likewise, 3, 337 people underwent antigen tests, of which 266 were tested positive.

The Ministry said that 324 infected people recovered from the disease.

As of today, there are 5, 602 active cases in the country.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 38. 61 points to close at 2,148.16 points on Thursday.

Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 8. 25 points to close at 412. 25 points.

A total of 8,569,005 units of the shares of 215 companies were traded for Rs 3. 76 billion.

Meanwhile, Balephi Hydropower Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 9. 98 percent. Likewise, United IDI Mardi RB Hydropower Limited was the top loser with its price dropped by 9. 52 percent.

At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 3. 06 trillion.