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Nepal logged 68 new Covid-19 cases and two deaths on Sunday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 3, 135 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 54 returned positive. Likewise, 1, 794 people underwent antigen tests, of which 14 tested positive.

The Ministry said that 538 infected people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours.

As of today, there are 6, 461 active cases in the country. 

The Tanahun District Court has remanded actor Paul Shah in police custody for 12 days.

Shah was arrested on the charge of raping singer Samikshya Adhikari (17) on February 27. He turned himself in to police at the District Police Office, Tanahun.

Following his arrest, he was remanded in police custody for seven days.

The district court gave permission to keep him in police custody for 12 more days after police sought time for further investigation, DSP Yuvaraj Khadka of the District Police Office said.

Singer Adhikari had filed a rape against Shah in the District Police Office, Tanahaun a few days ago.

Based on the complaint, the District Police Office, Tanahun taking the permission from the District Court issued an arrest warrant against actor Shah.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index plunged by 3. 66 points to close at 2,543.39 points on Sunday, the first trading day of the week.  

Similarly, the sensitive index increased by 1. 30 points to reach 490. 13 points.

A total of 5,139,239 units of shares of 230 companies were traded for Rs 2. 49 billion.

Likewise, all sub-indices saw red in today’s market except for Banking, Hotels and Tourism, Development Bank and Others.  

Meanwhile, Mailung Khola Jal Vidhyut Company Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 7.80 percent. Likewise, Shivam Cement Ltd was the top loser with its price dropped by 7.11 percent. 

At the end of the day, total market civilization stands at Rs 3.60 trillion.

Russian forces will observe a temporary cease-fire Sunday in two Ukrainian cities, an official in one of the country’s two pro-Russia separatist regions said after an agreement to allow civilians to evacuate collapsed a day earlier amid continued shelling, Associated Press reported.

Eduard Basurin, the head of the military in separatist-held Donetsk, said safe passage corridors for residents of the besieged port city of Mariupol and the city of Volnovakha would reopen Sunday. He did not say for how long nor whether a cease-fire would accompany the evacuation.

Ukrainian officials confirmed that evacuations from Mariupol would take place starting from 12 p.m. local time. Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk regional military administration, said a ceasefire would be in effect between 10 a.m. and 9 p.m, according to the Associated Press.

A promised cease-fire in Mariupol failed amid scenes of terror Saturday. Ukrainian officials said the evacuation was aborted because the city of 430,000 remained under attack.

Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed Ukraine for the failure and warned that the country’s ongoing resistance since Russia invaded its ex-Soviet neighbor on Feb. 24 is putting the country’s future as a nation in jeopardy, according to the Associated Press.

“If they continue to do what they are doing, they are calling into question the future of Ukrainian statehood,” the Russian leader said Saturday. “And if this happens, it will be entirely on their conscience.”

Putin also hit out at Western sanctions that have crippled Russia’s economy and sent the value of its currency tumbling. likening to “declaring war.”

With the Kremlin’s rhetoric growing fiercer and a reprieve from fighting dissolving, Russian troops continued to shell encircled cities and the number of Ukrainians forced from their country grew to 1.4 million.

By nighttime Saturday, Russian forces had intensified their shelling of Mariupol, while dropping powerful bombs on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said, Associated Press reported.

Sunday’s evacuations were announced along with a third round of talks between Russia and Ukraine. Davyd Arakhamia, a member of the Ukrainian delegation, said the meeting would take place Monday. He gave no additional details, including the location of the talks.

A fire broke out at a vegetable bazaar at Dhungedhara in Banasthali in Kathmandu in the wee hours today, burning down at least 70 vegetable stalls, said the police.

A short-circuit is expected to have caused the blaze that took place at 1 am and was doused one hour later with the help of five fire engines, police and local people, said Deputy Superintendent of Police Gautam Mishra.

Details of property loss in the inferno have yet to come by, he said. The vegetable and fruit bazaar has been run by one Takadir Ratna Shakya. RSS

CPN-UML lawmaker Mohan Baniya, who was arrested on the rape charge, has been suspended from his post on Sunday. 

During a meeting of the House of Representatives, Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota said that Baniya has been suspended from the post of lawmaker. 

The District Police Office, Banke arrested Baniya after a woman filed a rape case against him.

The Parliament has formed an 11-member Impeachment Recommendation Committee to look into the impeachment motion filed against Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana. 

A Parliament meeting held on Sunday decided to form the Impeachment Recommendation Committee. 

Bishnu Paudel, Shiva Maya Tumbahangphe, Lal Babu Pandit and Krishna Bhakta Pokharel from the CPN-UML, Min Bahadur Bishwokarma and Ram Bahadur Bista from the Nepali Congress, Yasodha Subedi and Rekha Sharma from the CPN (Maoist Centre), Kalyani Khadka from the CPN (Unified Socialist), Pramod Sah and Ekwal Miya from the Janata Samajbadi Party and Democratic Socialist Party respectively are the member of the committee.

A Central Committee meeting of the CPN (Maoist Centre) has been postponed till Monday.

The meeting which was scheduled for 11 am today has been postponed till 2 pm tomorrow.

Central member Raju Khadka said that the meeting was postponed citing lack of homework for the upcoming local level elections and selection of office bearers.

The meeting was supposed to discuss selection of office bearers, Millennium Challenge Corporation and local level elections among others.