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Four democracy activists have been executed by Myanmar's military in what is believed to be the first use of capital punishment in decades, BBC reported.

The four - including activist Ko Jimmy and lawmaker Phyo Zeya Thaw - were accused of committing "terror acts". 

They were sentenced to death in a closed-door trial that rights groups criticised as being unjust.

Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was very sad after hearing the news, a source told the BBC's Burmese Service.

Ms Suu Kyi, the leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party, did not make any comments, the source added. She was arrested in February 2021, following an army-led coup.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned the executions in Myanmar, which is also known as Burma. 

"Such reprehensible acts of violence and repression cannot be tolerated. We remain committed to the people of Burma and their efforts to restore Burma's path to democracy," he tweeted.

Family members of the deceased gathered at Insein prison on Monday desperate for information on their loved ones, according to BBC.

The mother of Zayar Thaw says she was not told when exactly her son would be executed, adding that she was unable to make proper traditional funeral plans as a result. 

"When we met on Zoom last Friday, my son was healthy and smiling. He asked me to send his reading glasses, dictionary and some money to use in prison, so I brought those things to the prison today," Khin Win May told the BBC's Burmese Service. "That's why I didn't think they would kill him. I didn't believe it."

Meanwhile, the sister of Ko Jimmy - whose real name is Kyaw Min Yu - had earlier said they were yet to receive the bodies. 

The families have all submitted applications for information on the executions.

State news outlet Global News Light of Myanmar said the four men were executed because they "gave directives, made arrangements and committed conspiracies for brutal and inhumane terror acts".

It said they had been charged under the counter terrorism laws, but did not say when or how they were executed. 

The executions are the first since 1988, according to the United Nations. Previous executions in Myanmar have been by hanging.

In 2021, the country's military seized power, an event which triggered widespread demonstrations, prompting a military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, activists and journalists, BBC reported.

A fossil representing the earliest known animal predator has been identified by UK scientists, BBC reported.

The 560-million-year-old specimen, which was found in Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire, is likely a forerunner of cnidaria - the group of species that today includes jellyfish.

The researchers have named it Auroralumina attenboroughii in honour of Sir David Attenborough. 

The first part of the name recalls the Latin for "dawn lantern".

"I think it looks like the Olympic torch, with its tentacles being the flames," said Oxford University's Dr Frankie Dunn, who is reporting the discovery in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.

Not only does it push back evidence for predation in the animal kingdom by about 20 million years, it's probably also the first example of an organism with a true skeleton.

The outline of the 20cm (8 inches)-tall creature was imprinted on a long, sloping slab of quarry siltstone, surrounded by other fossil forms.

It's thought all were smothered in a turbid flow of sediment and ash that ran down the underwater flank of an ancient volcano. 

The death scene was originally uncovered in 2007 when researchers cleaned the Charnwood rock face with high-pressure hoses.

It's taken the 15 years that have passed since then to make sense of the assemblage and Auroralumina's position within it.

The Leicestershire location is internationally famous for what it tells us about the Ediacaran (635 to 538 to million years ago). 

This is the period in geological history that immediately precedes the Cambrian, which witnessed a great explosion in the numbers and diversity of lifeforms on Earth, according to BBC.

It was in the Cambrian (538 to 485 million years ago) that the blueprint for many modern animal groups was fixed.

But Auroralumina proves that its grouping - the cnidaria - have a heritage that stretches further back, into the Ediacaran.

"This is the cast-iron evidence of modern-looking organisms in the Pre-Cambrian. That means the fuse for the Cambrian explosion was probably quite long," said Dr Phil Wilby, palaeontology leader at the British Geological Survey.

Although the name cnidaria may not be that familiar, everyone will recognise its members. They include corals, jellyfish and anemones. One of their characteristics are stinging cells they use to capture their prey.

Dr Dunn's analysis of Auroralumina's features links it to the medusozoa sub-grouping within the cnidaria. 

Medusozoans transition through various stages in the course of their complex life cycles. During one stage they are a mass anchored to the seafloor. Later they morph into a free-floating, sexual phase during which they engage in reproduction. 

During that free-floating stage, they assume an umbrella-shaped body with stinging tentacles. They become a jellyfish.

Auroralumina therefore most closely resembles a medusozoan in its immobile, rooted stage, BBC reported.

"What's really interesting is that we think it's bifurcating, so you have these two 'goblets' which are attached near their base, and then there would have been a continuous bit of skeleton going down to the seafloor, which we don't see. Unfortunately, the fossil is incomplete," Dr Dunn told BBC News.

Bifurcation - the division of something into two branches or parts - is another first for Auroralumina in the fossil record, according to BBC.

Russian energy giant Gazprom says it will once again drastically cut gas supplies to the EU through its main pipeline due to maintenance work, BBC reported.

Gazprom said stopping another turbine at the Nord Stream 1 pipeline would cut daily gas production to 20%, halving the current level of supply. 

The German government said there was no technical reason to limit gas supply. 

It is likely to make it more difficult for EU countries to replenish their stores of gas before winter.

The Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which pumps gas from Russia to Germany, has been running well below capacity for weeks, and was completely shut down for a 10-day maintenance break earlier this month.

Russia supplied the EU with 40% of its gas last year, and the EU has accused Russia of using energy as a weapon. 

The European Commission has urged countries to cut gas use by 15% over the next seven months after Russia warned it could curb or halt supplies altogether.

Under the proposals, the voluntary target could become mandatory in an emergency. 

European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, has said the prospect of Russia cutting off all supplies to the EU is a "likely scenario".

On Tuesday energy ministers will meet in Brussels in an attempt to sign off the plans.

But numerous opt-outs are expected amid resistance from some member states, according to BBC. 

Wholesale gas prices have soared since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, with a knock-on impact on consumer energy bills.

Reacting to Gazprom's announcement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this was "an overt gas war that Russia is waging against a united Europe - this is exactly how it should be perceived".

Gazprom said the latest reduction in supply would begin at 04:00 GMT on Wednesday due to the "technical condition" of one of the last two operating turbines. 

But a German economy ministry spokeswoman told AFP news agency: "According to the information we have there is no technical reason for a reduction of deliveries."

The Kremlin maintains that it is a reliable energy partner, and blames Western sanctions for the recent disruption of gas supplies to the EU. 

Gazprom says the delayed return - because of sanctions - of equipment serviced in Canada has forced it to keep the gas flow through Nord Stream 1 to just 40% of capacity.

"Our product, our rules. We don't play by rules we didn't create," Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller has said, BBC reported.

The continued reduction in gas supply through Nord Stream 1 is likely to make it more difficult for countries to replenish their stores before winter, when gas usage is much higher.

Gazprom has cut gas supplies altogether to Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Poland, over their refusal to comply with aKremlin order to pay their bills in roubles, instead of euros or dollars.

A gunman killed two people and injured two others during an early morning shooting spree, police in the Canadian province of British Columbia have said, BBC reported.

Emergency alerts issued shortly after 06:00 local time (13:00 GMT) warned of "multiple shooting scenes" in downtown Langley, a city about 25 miles east of Vancouver.

Police confirmed a lone suspect had been shot dead on the scene.

He is believed to have been targeting homeless people in the area.

The suspect and his victims will not be publicly identified until police have notified next-of-kin.

Sergeant David Lee, a spokesman for the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, said the series of incidents began at midnight and continued until early morning.

He said the attacker was an individual known to the police, but it was "too early" in the investigation to identify a motive.

Among the injured, a woman is in critical condition while a man sustained a serious injury to his leg. Both have been taken to Langley Memorial Hospital.

Earlier on Monday, police issued public service alerts to Langley residents - for only the second time ever - about "multiple reports of shots fired" in the city's downtown area as well as its neighbouring township.

Homicide investigators were dispatched to the scene, and police were seen setting up a forensics tent near a white vehicle that had cardboard covering up its license plate.

An unmarked black SUV riddled with bullet holes was also spotted near the shooting site, according to BBC.

Police said the gunman also appeared to have fired into buildings that were closed and unoccupied at the time.

"We had a tragedy this morning in our neighbourhoods," Mayor Val van den Broek said at a news conference.

She claimed the problem of homelessness was worse in British Columbia than other provinces, calling on elected officials at all levels to "do more" to address it.

Local homeless advocate Kim Snow told the Global News outlet that the victims were "suffering souls".

"They are just people that need a place to live," she said. "They need chances. They are not on the street by choice."

China’s finance and investment spending in the Belt and Road countries fell slightly in the first half compared to a year ago, with no new coal projects and investments zero in Russia, Egypt and Sri Lanka, new research showed, Reuters reported.

Saudi Arabia was the largest recipient of Chinese investment with about $5.5 billion, according to the Shanghai-based Green Finance and Development Center (GFDC) in research published on Sunday.

GFDC said total funding and investment stood at $28.4 billion in the period, up from $29.6 billion a year earlier, bringing total cumulative Belt and Road spending from 2013 to $932 billion.

President Xi Jinping launched the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013 with the aim of harnessing China’s strengths in financing and building infrastructure to “build a broader community of common interests” across Asia, Africa and Latin America. .

But it has come under scrutiny for other issues like debt burden on countries and environmental degradation. Some countries have renegotiated their investment projects with China, highlighting credit risks.

No new coal projects received Chinese support in the period following Xi’s pledge at the UN General Assembly last September to end foreign coal financing.

However, a Chinese developer won a bid to build a thermal power plant in Indonesia in February, and there is still 11.2 GW of capacity that has already secured financing, although construction has begun, according to GFDC, part of Shanghai’s Fudan University. remains to be done, according to Reuters.

The GFDC said China continues to support other fossil fuel projects in the Belt and Road countries, with oil and gas accounting for about 80% of China’s foreign energy investments and 66% of its construction contracts.

In the first half of the year, engagement in gas projects stood at $6.7 billion, compared to $9.5 billion in the previous year, it said.

Green energy and hydropower transactions declined 22% compared to a year ago. Investments rose from $400 million to $1.4 billion, but construction spending related to green energy fell to $1.6 billion, less than half of a year earlier, Reuters reported.

Nepal reported 468 new Covid-19 cases and one death on Monday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 3, 084 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 453 returned positive. Likewise, 1, 716 people underwent antigen tests, of which 115 were tested positive.

As of today, there are 3,534 active cases in the country.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) gained 54. 45 points to close at 2,132.96 points on Monday.

Similarly, the sensitive index surged by 9. 05 points to close at 407. 38 points.

Meanwhile, a total of 9,944,048 unit shares of 214 companies were traded for Rs 4. 10 billion.

In today’s market, all sub-indices saw green. Development Bank topped the chart with 213. 38 points.

Meanwhile, Narayani Development Bank Limited and Multipurpose Finance Company Limited, Suryodaya Womi Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited were the top gainers today, with their price surging by 10 percent. Manjushree Finance Limited Debenture was the top loser as its price fell by 5. 87 percent.

At the end of the day, total market capitalization stood at Rs 3. 04 trillion.

The Nepali government on Sunday announced a number of measures to revive the tourism industry battered by the COVID-19 pandemic, including a plan to declare the years between 2023 and 2033 as Visit Nepal Decade, Xinhua reported.

Unveiling the Tourism Rehabilitation Action Plan, Jeevan Ram Shrestha, Nepal’s minister for culture, tourism and civil aviation, said the government is breaking the tradition of announcing a single year as Visit Nepal Year so as to run a sustained campaign to promote tourism, a major foreign exchange earner and job creator for the country.

As per the action plan, the Visit Nepal Decade is expected to come out within the next three months.

The government plans to attract 1 million foreign tourists in the 2022-23 fiscal year which began in mid-July. “We have not yet set any target for the planned Visit Nepal Decade. We have to do further homework and consultations with the stakeholders,” Hom Prasad Luitel, joint secretary at the tourism ministry, told Xinhua.

Nepal received 1.19 million foreign visitors in 2019 and sought to attract 2 million in 2020 when Visit Nepal 2020 was launched, but COVID-19 forced the government to call off the campaign. As the pandemic persisted, the tourism sector fared poorly in 2020 and 2021.

Nepal was reporting more foreign visitor arrivals in 2022 as fewer people were infected. As of June, there were 237,670 foreigners visiting the South Asian country, according to the tourism ministry.

Under the new action plan, Nepal will launch promotion campaigns in China, India and Bangladesh, of them the former two being the largest sources of tourists for Nepal in normal years.

There is a plan as well to promote Nepal as a destination for meetings, conferences and exhibitions and spiritual tourism with packages of yoga, wellness and spa to be offered.

In addition, the ministry is mulling over retirement visas and healthcare facilities for elderly foreigners to stay longer in Nepal. Currently, there is no legal provision of issuing retirement visas in the country. “We will discuss it with the Ministry of Home Affairs which is responsible for visa issuance,” said Luitel, Xinhua reported.

As mountaineering is a key part of Nepal’s tourism, the country is planning to open more Himalayan peaks.
Under the action plan, more peaks at 5,800 to 8,000 meters above the sea level will be opened for mountaineering. According to authorities, Nepal has so far opened 414 peaks above 5,700 meters for climbing.

Included in the action plan are other measures like cooperation and coordination with international airlines, GPS tracking system to make trekking and mountaineering safer, multi-lingual helpline support centers for tourists and many more facilities for foreigners who come to Nepal for movie shootings, according to Xinhua.