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Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba stressed the need to breathe new life into BIMSTEC by pooling the strengths of resources of its Member States.

Addressing virtually the Fifth Summit of Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) held in hybrid mode in and from Colombo, Sri Lanka, the Prime Minister stated that BIMSTEC must do its part to address the long term economic, social, and developmental consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure that the region builds back better.

He further stated that our race to resilience must start with a green, flexible, and inclusive recovery plan. This means action on vaccines, investment in health systems, and expansion of social protection schemes together with structural reforms and quality investment in physical and human capital, he said, read a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister also touched upon the challenges facing the region and outlined the steps BIMSTEC Members States must take collectively on the sectors of cooperation such as trade, investment, energy, connectivity, climate change and people-to-people contacts.

Underlining that bold climate action was needed before the climate crisis passed the point of no return, he called for making the current crisis a gateway to a greener, safer, and more sustainable Bay of Bengal region, the statement read.

The Prime Minister dubbed Buddhism as a strong connecting thread in the region and called for an early operationalization of the Buddhist circuit connecting Lumbini, birthplace of Gautam Buddha. 

The Summit adopted the BIMSTEC Charter following a virtual signing ceremony. Prime Minister Deuba signed the Charter on behalf of Nepal.

The Summit also endorsed three new instruments.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Khadka, who participated in the Summit in-person in Colombo, signed the ‘BIMSTEC Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters’ and the ‘Memorandum of Association on the Establishment of Technology Transfer Facility in Colombo’ on behalf of the Government of Nepal. 

Similarly, Joint Secretary and Head of Regional Organization Division at the Ministry Ghanshyam Bhandari signed the ‘Memorandum of Understanding on the Mutual Cooperation between Diplomatic Academies/Training Institutions of BIMSTEC Member States’, the statement read.

The Nepali delegation led by the Prime Minister included Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Khadka, Principal Personal Secretary to the Prime Minister Bhan Bahadur Deuba, Chief Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi, Foreign Secretary Bharat Raj Paudyal and Senior Officials from the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Poland’s Robert Lewandowski and Piotr Zielinski fired second-half goals to book a place at the World Cup finals in Qatar with a 2-0 win over Sweden in an electrifying playoff tie on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

The Poles battled to contain a Sweden side bristling with youthful attacking vigour, but in the end experience told as Lewandowski and his team mates capitalised on mistakes.

After a shaky opening, the Swedes quickly grew into the game and winger Emil Forsberg should have given them the lead but Wojciech Szczesny pulled off the first of a string of fine saves to turn the ball behind for a corner in the 19th minute, according to Reuters.

The home side also struggled as Sweden winger Dejan Kulusevski twice went close before the playoff final turned on a clumsy mistake by Jesper Karlstroem.

The Swedish midfielder mistimed a challenge in the box early in the second half and ended up bundling Poland substitute Grzegorz Krychowiak to the ground, with Italian referee Daniele Orsato immediately pointing to the spot.

Up stepped Poland captain Lewandowski to send Robin Olsen the wrong way as he confidently struck his low spot kick into the net for his 75th international goal.

The Swedes threw caution to the wind and poured forward, with Szczesny getting down smartly to deny Forsberg again and Victor Lindelof sending the resulting corner just wide with a glancing header.

Just as the visitors looked to be on the verge of scoring, a mix-up between Kristoffer Olsson and Marcus Danielson allowed Zielinski to score as he curled the ball into the net at the near post in the 73rd minute, Reuters reported.

The Swedes brought their record scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic off the bench for the final 10 minutes but Szczesny and the Polish defence held firm in front of a capacity crowd to secure their country’s spot at the World Cup.

Defender Kamil Glik was delighted to come out on top in the winner-take-all playoff clash.

“It was new for all of us – for me, for Robert (Lewandowski), who had played many matches but he hadn’t played one like this, none of us had. It was a very tough match from this point of view,” Glik, who played with a muscle injury, told Polish TV.

“I wasn’t interested in what would happen tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, next week, next year. All that mattered was the here and now. We won and I’m very happy,” he added.

Two sisters died and their father sustained injuries when a tipper hit a motorbike they were riding on at Sundarijal in Gokarneshwor Municipality, Kathmandu on Wednesday.

According to the Metropolitan Police Circle, Boudha, the deceased have been identified as Shritisi Tamang (8) and Shreya Tamang (4).

They were heading towards the school with their father Rohan Tamang in the motorbike when the incident occurred, police said.

The tipper (Ba 4 Kha 6965) hit the two-wheeler (Ba 52 Pa 8733) this morning.

Rohan, who was injured in the incident, is undergoing treatment at the Attarkhel-based Nepal Medical College.

Police said that they are searching for the tipper driver who fled the scene after the incident.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that connectivity plays a catalytic role in enhancing an effective regional process. We must enhance investment in transportation networks, energy, and power grid interconnections.

Addressing the Fifth BIMSTEC Summit, PM Deuba further added that for a vibrant, forward-looking, and integrated BIMSTEC region, we must promote Buddhism as a strong connecting thread. 

“We call for an early operationalization of the Buddhist circuit connecting Lumbini, the birthplace of Gautam Buddha,” he said. 

Russia has announced it will "drastically reduce" military combat operations in two key areas of Ukraine "to boost mutual trust" in peace talks, BBC reported.

The decision to scale back operations around the capital, Kyiv, and the northern city of Chernihiv is the first sign of tangible progress.

But it is unclear how extensive any reduction in military activity might be, and Ukraine remains sceptical.

Russia had already refocused its campaign on Ukraine's eastern regions.

It has suffered a series of setbacks to the north-west of the capital, Kyiv, and is also seeking to capture a land corridor which stretches along the south coast to the Russian border.

President Volodymyr Zelensky, however, said he saw no reason to believe the words of some Russian representatives, according to BBC.

"We can say that the signals... are positive, but those signals do not drown out the explosions or Russian shells," he said in a video address late Tuesday.

Officials in Washington said they had already seen the Russians draw away from Kyiv, but they were still pounding the capital with air strikes . The US said it had little confidence that the announcement marked any significant shift or meaningful retreat.

The US had not seen "signs of real seriousness" from Russia in pursuing peace talks, said Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who pointed to the continued "brutalisation" of Ukraine's people.

During the talks in the Turkish city of Istanbul, Ukraine proposed to become a neutral state in exchange for security guarantees. A key aim of Russia's invasion was to stop Ukraine joining the Nato alliance and Russian officials said the talks had moved to a practical stage, BBC reported.

Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin, who was in Istanbul, told Russian TV that as "Ukraine's neutrality and non-nuclear status and security guarantees" had progressed, the defence ministry had taken the decision to cut its operations dramatically in the two areas to "create the necessary conditions for further negotiations and for the signing of the aforementioned agreement".

Ukrainian negotiator Oleksandr Chaly told reporters that its offer of neutrality was a chance to "restore the territorial integrity and security of Ukraine through diplomatic and political means". Ukraine's aim was to "fix its status as a de facto non-bloc and non-nuclear state in the form of permanent neutrality".

The discussions here lasted around three hours. Very little was leaked, and nearly all media were kept away in a packed area on a pavement outside.

The key points became clear as members of the Ukrainian delegation came out onto the street an hour before the expected finish, according to BBC.

The negotiators said they had proposed to Russia that Ukraine adopt a neutral status in exchange for security guarantees - an international mechanism where guarantor countries would act to protect Ukraine in future.

In return Kyiv would not join Nato, a key Russian demand. This was not a new pledge, but it was spelt out in the clearest detail yet.

Many are sceptical about what Russia's announcement about reducing military operations actually means; whether it's a pledge to pull back or merely an acceptance it has already failed in those areas and will instead turn its full force further east.

Western countries, therefore, are saying they will judge Russia by its actions and not its words.

Russian forces have encircled Chernihiv, where officials say up to 400 people have been killed and some 130,000 residents are without heating, electricity or water supplies.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman said that Russia had twisted the knife in Ukraine and that "we must judge Putin's regime by their actions not their words". 

Russia's chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, said talks had been "meaningful" and Ukraine's proposals on neutrality would be put to President Vladimir Putin, holding out the possibility of a summit involving President Zelensky. However, he made clear that before that could happen a treaty would have to be drafted and approved by negotiators, and then signed by foreign ministers, BBC reported.

"This is not a ceasefire but this is our aspiration, gradually to reach a de-escalation of the conflict at least on these fronts," Mr Medinsky told Russian state news agency Tass.

Rajasthan Royals defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 61 runs in an Indian Premier League match on Tuesday, The IndianExpress reported.

Sent into bat, Rajasthan Royals scored 210 for six in their stipulated 20 overs. Skipper Sanju Samson top-scored with a 55 off 27 balls and Devdutt Padikkal made 41 in 29 deliveries after opener Jos Buttler laid the foundation with a 28-ball 35 at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium.

Towards the end, Shimron Hetmyer blasted 32 off 13 balls. In reply, SRH were stopped at 149 for seven, according to The IndianExpress.

Sri Lankan waiter Abdul Razzak hoped to supplement his wages by moonlighting as an Uber Eats food courier using his friend’s motorcycle. It didn’t work out – instead of doing deliveries, he ended up stuck in queues to buy gasoline, Aljazeera reported.

Beset by fuel shortages, power cuts and soaring food prices, many Sri Lankans are being forced to take on second jobs as millions struggle to survive the Indian Ocean nation’s worst economic meltdown since independence in 1948.

“We have never come across this kind of economic hardship,” said Razzak, 53.

“Sometimes my wife and I go hungry so that we can feed our children two meals. It used to be three.”

Historically weak government finances, badly timed tax cuts and the COVID-19 pandemic, which hit the vital tourism industry, have decimated the economy, triggering a currency crisis that has disrupted fuel imports and caused skyrocketing food prices, according to Aljazeera.

"We can’t survive here any more,” said Indika Perera, 43, a security guard at a private company in the main city of Colombo who earns 42,000 rupees ($155) a month.

Groceries that cost Perera about 10,000 rupees a month before the coronavirus struck, now cost half his salary.

He said he struggled to feed his three children anything more than plain rice once a day. On good days, he gets them a small fish, their only source of protein, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation at his one-room home.

“Sometimes my wife and I starve,” said Perera, who tried a short stint as a waiter for a few nights but soon gave up after he fell asleep on his day job.

Tension over shortages has led to sporadic violence among residents jostling to buy fuel and other essential goods, Aljazeera reported.

Every day, motorists line up at fuel pumps at the break of dawn and wait hours until they open. Some leave jerry cans and gas cylinders to hold their spots in snaking queues as they wait their turns in the shade.

Police said a man was stabbed to death on March 21 in an argument with the driver of a three-wheeled vehicle while, last week, four elderly men died while queuing to buy fuel in the sweltering heat.

The military posted soldiers at hundreds of gas stations on March 22 after complaints of stockpiling and inefficient distribution, and farmers and fishermen have joined a growing wave of protests.

Without enough dollars to pay for paper and ink, authorities indefinitely postponed term tests for millions of students, according to Aljazeera.

“This is unprecedented. Unlike before, we can’t ask people to donate money because everybody is hit by this crisis in one way or the other,” said N M Ameen, president of Muslim Council of Sri Lanka, which has been helping the poor with donations.

Russia announced Tuesday it will significantly scale back military operations near Ukraine’s capital and a northern city, as the outlines of a possible deal to end the grinding war came into view at the latest round of talks, Associated Press reported.

Ukraine’s delegation at the conference, held in Istanbul, laid out a framework under which the country would declare itself neutral and its security would be guaranteed by an array of other nations.

Moscow’s public reaction was positive, and the negotiations are expected to resume Wednesday, five weeks into what has devolved into a bloody war of attrition, with thousands dead and almost 4 million Ukrainians fleeing the country.

Amid the talks, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said Moscow has decided to “fundamentally ... cut back military activity in the direction of Kyiv and Chernihiv” to “increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations.”

He did not immediately spell out what that would mean in practical terms, according to the Associated Press. 

The announcement was met with skepticism from the US and others.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia cannot be trusted. Although the signals from the talks are “positive,” they ”can’t silence explosions of Russian shells,” he said in a video address.

Zelenskyy said it was Ukrainian troops who forced Russia’s hand, adding that “we shouldn’t let down our guard” because the invading army still “has a great potential to continue attacks against our country.”

Ukraine will continue negotiations, he said, but officials do not trust the word of the country that continues “fighting to destroy us.”

While Moscow portrayed it as a goodwill gesture, its ground troops have become bogged down and taken heavy losses in their bid to seize Kyiv and other cities. Last week and again on Tuesday, the Kremlin seemed to lower its war aims, saying its “main goal” now is gaining control of the mostly Russian-speaking Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, Associated Press reported.

US President Joe Biden, asked whether the Russian announcement was a sign of progress in the talks or an attempt by Moscow to buy time to continue its assault, said: “We’ll see. I don’t read anything into it until I see what their actions are.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken suggested Russian indications of a pullback could be an attempt by Moscow to “deceive people and deflect attention.”

It wouldn’t be the first time. In the tense buildup to the invasion, the Russian military announced that some units were loading equipment onto rail cars and preparing to return to their home bases after completing exercises. At the time, Putin was signaling interest in diplomacy. But 10 days later, Russia launched its invasion, Associated Press reported.