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Legendary Australia spinner Shane Warne passed away on Friday aged 52 of a suspected heart attack, India Today reported.

The Australian cricketer was at a villa in Thailand when the doctors unsuccessfully tried to revive him.

“Shane was found unresponsive in his villa and despite the best efforts of medical staff, he could not be revived,” a statement read.

“The family requests privacy at this time and will provide further details in due course."

Only on Friday morning, Shane Warne had posted on social media, expressing his condolences to the family of another legendary Australian cricketer Rod Marsh who passed away on Thursday, according to India Today.

"Sad to hear the news that Rod Marsh has passed. He was a legend of our great game & an inspiration to so many young boys & girls. Rod cared deeply about cricket & gave so much-especially to Australia & England players. Sending lots & lots of love to Ros & the family. RIP mate," he had written on Twitter.

Warne, who had been active on social media, only posted from Thailand on Thursday evening. The legendary leg-spinner shared a photo of the villa where he had been staying in the Asian nation.

Shane Warne, one of the greatest-ever cricketers to have played the sport, picked up 708 wickets in 145 Tests. His career spanned over 15 years from 1992 to 2007. He was also a World Cup winner with Australia in 1999.

Warne is regarded as one of the greatest-ever bowlers in the history of the sport as he was an integral part of the dominant Australian sides in the 1990s and early 2000s, India Today reported.

Warne also won the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League as the captain of Rajasthan Royals. He is regarded as the greatest captain that Australia never had.

An Amsterdam museum said Thursday it has cut its close links to the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg and UNESCO warned of damage to Ukraine's cultural heritage, as international cultural institutions stepped up their condemnation of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Associated Press reported.

The Hermitage Amsterdam said it has long distanced itself from politics in Russia under President Vladimir Putin as it built close ties with the Hermitage, giving the Amsterdam museum 'access to one of the world's most famous art collections, which we could draw from' for exhibitions.

Russia's recent attack on Ukraine makes keeping this distance no longer tenable,' the Dutch museum said in a statement. 'Our Board and directors have decided to cut ties with the State Hermitage Museum.'

It added that it hoped to eventually be able to restore ties pending peace and 'changes in the future of Russia.'

In another move to culturally isolate Moscow, the Swedish Academy that hands out the coveted Nobel Prize in Literature broke a long-standing practice not to make political statements and condemned the invasion.

In a statement, the academy noted that its history and mission are deeply rooted in the traditions of freedom of expression, belief and inquiry, according to the Associated Press.

'We therefore join the legion of our fellow academies, literary and cultural institutions, places of higher learning, defenders of a free press, human rights organizations and nation states in expressing our abhorrence of the Russian government's unjustified attack on Ukraine and its people,' it said.

The United Nations' cultural agency, meanwhile, sounded the alarm about the damage to Ukraine's cultural patrimony in announcing it was working to assess Ukraine's educational and cultural institutions and its U.N.-designated heritage sites.

Ukraine is home to seven UNESCO World Heritage sites, including the famous St. Sophia Cathedral and related monastic buildings in the capital Kyiv. Other sites on the U.N. list are located in the western city of Lviv, the Black Sea port city of Odesa and in the second largest city of Kharkiv. All four cities have been subjected to artillery attacks and air bombardment by the invading Russian forces.

'We must safeguard this cultural heritage, as a testimony of the past but also as a vector of peace for the future,' said UNESCO's director general, Audrey Azoulay.

In a statement, Azoulay said the agency is coordinating efforts with Ukrainian authorities to mark as quickly as possible key historic monuments and sites across Ukraine with an internationally recognized sign for the protection of cultural heritage in the event of armed conflict, Associated Press reported.

UNESCO will also organize a meeting with the country's museum directors to help them safeguard museum collections and cultural property as the war rages on.

Communist Party of Nepal General Secretary Netra Bikram Chand accused the Nepali Congress and Communist leaders of trying to sell the country from the Parliament.

Speaking at a programme organised in Khulla Manch of the Capital on Friday, Chand accused the so-called Nepali Congress President and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli of trying to sell the country from the Parliament.

“Congress and Communist leaders are selling the country from the Parliament. The government branded us a criminal group and banned our activities when we spoke about the Millennium Challenge Corporation. MCC is not a grant,” he said.

He said that the United States attacked Nepal in the name of agreement.

Chand further said that the United States wanted to intervene in Nepal in a new way.

“MCC will undermine national independence. MCC is not in the interest of the nation,” he said.

Nepal logged 126 new Covid-19 cases and one death on Friday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 7, 091 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 111 returned positive. Likewise, 1, 842 people underwent antigen tests, of which 15 tested positive.

The Ministry said that 385 infected people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours.

As of today, there are 7,242 active cases in the country. 

The Ministry said that 7,099 people are staying in home isolation while 143 are in institutionalized isolation.

A powerful bomb exploded inside a Shiite Muslim mosque in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar on Friday, killing at least 45 worshippers and wounding some 65 others, many of them critically, police said, Associated Press reported.

Peshawar Police Chief Muhammed Ejaz Khan said the violence started when two armed attackers opened fire on police outside the mosque in Peshawar’s old city. One attacker and one policeman were killed in the gunfight, and another police official was wounded. The remaining attacker then ran inside the mosque and detonated a bomb.

Local police official Waheed Khan said the explosion occurred as worshippers had gathered in the Kucha Risaldar mosque for Friday prayers. The death toll will likely rise as many of the wounded are in critical condition, he added, according to the Associated Press.

Ambulances rushed through congested narrow streets carrying the wounded to Lady Reading Hospital, where doctors worked feverishly. At least 150 worshippers were inside the mosque at the time of the explosion, witnesses said.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, but both the Islamic State group and a violent Pakistani Taliban organization have carried out similar attacks in the region, located near the border with neighboring Afghanistan.

Shayan Haider, a witness, had been preparing to enter the mosque when a powerful explosion threw him to the street.

“I opened my eyes and there was dust and bodies everywhere,” he said.

At the Lady Reading Hospital Emergency department, there was chaos as doctors struggled to move the many wounded into operating theaters. Hundreds of relatives gathered outside the emergency department, many of them wailing and beating their chests, pleading for information about their loved ones, Associated Press reported.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has warned against carrying out, making statements and spreading propaganda in favour of or against in the actor Paul Shah case.

The Commission said that such activities in the course of the ongoing investigation would damage the confidentiality and dignity of both the accused and the victim sides, besides influencing the investigation process as well.

"Investigation into a crime of serious nature should be carried out in a confidential, fair, independent and fear-free manner in accordance with the principles of criminal justice," reads a press release issued today by NHRC deputy spokesperson Loknath Bastola.

The press statement further cautions against disseminating news in favour of or against, recording videos without the permission of the people concerned and making public the recorded videos so as to influence the investigation process into a criminal offence of serious nature. It has urged one and all to keep in mind the fact that evidence might be destroyed due to over-publicity.

NHRC said it has been carrying out monitoring and collecting information to that connection. It said such activities have affected the right to confidentiality mentioned in Article 28 and the right to justice referred to in Article 30 of the Constitution of Nepal, Clause 298 of the Criminal Penal Code, Article 12 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, 1948 and the right to confidentiality provided in Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Shah has been accused of raping a 17-year-old girl. He turned himself in to police on Sunday. RSS

CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said that he agreed to endorse the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) with an interpretative declaration to save the post of Speaker.

Addressing a Central Committee meeting, the Maoist supremo made it clear that he was compelled to make an agreement to ratify the $500 million grant compact after the main opposition CPN-UML hatched a conspiracy to break the coalition and to remove Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota from his post.

“The alliance was on the verge of collapse due to the MCC. The UML also tried to break the coalition and to dissolve the Parliament. We decided to endorseMCC with an interpretative declaration to foil the UML’s attempt to break the alliance,” he said.

He claimed that the UML will be pushed to the corner again by keeping the alliance intact.

“The coalition would have fallen apart had there not been an agreement to ratify the MCC. We pushed the UML to the corner once again by foiling its attempt,” Chairman Dahal said.

The Supreme Court (SC) has formed a constitutional bench and started hearings from today itself.

Acting Chief Justice Deepak Kumar Karki formed the bench and assigned it to hear six cases for today. The bench comprises Acting CJ himself and other four judges Meera Khadka, Hari Krishna Karki, Bishwambhar Shrestha and Ishwor Prasad Khatiwada. The constitutional bench at the SC had remained affected for around five months.

Nepal's Constitution (Article 137) has the provision of the formation of a constitutional bench that shall comprise of the Chief Justice and other four Justices appointed by the Chief Justice on the recommendation of the Judicial Council.

It may be noted that CJ Cholendra Shumser Rana has not been allowed to carry out his official duty since February 13 following the registration of an impeachment motion against him at the Federal Parliament Secretariat.

The bench will hear into disputes over the jurisdiction between the Federation and Province, among Provinces, between a Province and local level and among the local levels (of government) and disputes concerning the election of members of the Federal Parliament or Provincial Assembly, and ineligibility of the member of the Federal Parliament or Provincial Assembly.

According to SC Spokesperson Bimal Poudel, hearing in the constitutional bench had remained affected since September 29, 2021 due to lawyers' protest over the alleged bargaining of CJ Rana for his share in the formation of the government.

Hearing at the constitutional bench takes place twice a week, on Wednesday and Friday, at the SC. RSS