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Hindu devotees from various places of Kathmandu Valley have thronged Pashupatinath Temple from early in the morning today to offer their worship on the first Monday of Shrawan.

The entire month is considered to be the auspicious period to worship Lord Shiva. It is believed that one's wishes get fulfilled by worshipping Lord Shiva throughout the month especially on Mondays.

Devotees are seen lining up in the Pashupatinath Temple to offer worship and prayers to Lord Shiva.

A Nepal Army man died after being hit by a car of Raj Kumar Gurung, ward member of the Bharatpur Metropolitan City-19.

The incident occurred when the car (Ga 2 Cha 9062) heading towards Rampur from Mangalpur hit a motorbike (Ba 33 Pa 1455) the Nepal Army man was riding on near Sheetalchok, Bharatpur Metropolitan City-15.

According to the District Police Office, Chitwan, the deceased has been identified as Suraj Gurung (33) of Byas Municipality-12.

Critically injured in the incident, Gurung breathed his last during the course of treatment at the Chitwan Medical College.

Police said that they have arrested ward member Gurung for investigation.

DSP Rabin Bista said that Gurung was found driving the vehicle under the influence of alcohol.

Gurung was elected as a ward member from the CPN-UML in the recently held local level elections.

Sri Lanka's acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe has declared a state of emergency, according to a government notice released late on Sunday, as his administration seeks to quell social unrest and tackle an economic crisis gripping the island nation, Reuters reported.

"It is expedient, so to do, in the interests of public security, the protection of public order and the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the life of the community," the notification stated.

Sri Lanka’s ousted president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled overseas this week to escape a popular uprising against his government, has said he took "all possible steps" to avert the economic crisis that has engulfed the island nation.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa's resignation was accepted by parliament on Friday. He flew to the Maldives and then Singapore after hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters came out onto the streets of Colombo a week ago and occupied his official residence and offices.

Sri Lanka's parliament met on Saturday to begin the process of electing a new president, and a shipment of fuel arrived to provide some relief to the crisis-hit nation, according to Reuters.

Wickremesinghe, an ally of Rajapaksa, is one of the top contenders to take on the presidency full-time but protesters also want him gone, leading to the prospect of further unrest should he be elected.

Three people were fatally shot and two were injured Sunday evening at an Indiana mall after a man with a rifle opened fire in a food court and an armed civilian shot and killed him, police said, Associated Press reported.

The man entered the Greenwood Park Mall with a rifle and several magazines of ammunition and began firing in the food court, Greenwood Police Department Chief Jim Ison said.

A 22-year-old from nearby Bartholomew County who was legally carrying a firearm at the mall shot and killed the gunman, Ison said at a news conference.

Four of those hit by gunfire were females and one was a male, Ison said. He didn’t immediately know the specific gender or age of those who were killed.

He said a 12-year-old girl was among the two injured, both of whom are in stable condition.

Police confiscated a suspicious backpack that was in a bathroom near the food court, Ison said.

Officers went to the mall at about 6 p.m. for reports of the shooting.

“The real hero of the day is the citizen that was lawfully carrying a firearm in that food court and was able to stop the shooter almost as soon as he began,” Ison said.

The mass shooting was just the latest to unnerve Americans in 2022. Schools, churches, grocery stores and a July Fourth parade in Highland Park, Illinois, have all become killing grounds in recent months. Still, the reality of America’s staggering murder rate can often be seen more clearly in individual deaths that rarely make the news.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police and multiple other agencies are assisting in the investigation.

“We are sickened by yet another type of incident like this in our country,” Indianapolis Assistant Chief of Police Chris Bailey said.

There was no threat to the area Sunday night, authorities said, according to Associated Press.

Greenwood is a south suburb of Indianapolis with a population of about 60,000. Mayor Mark Myers asked for “prayers to the victims and our first responders.”

“This tragedy hits at the core of our community,” Myers said in a statement.

Authorities said they would provide more details Monday, Associated Press reported.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has fired the head of Ukraine's security agency (SBU) and the prosecutor general, citing many cases of treason in the two powerful organisations, BBC reported.

He said more than 60 former employees were now working against Ukraine in Russian-occupied areas.

A total of 651 collaboration and treason cases had been opened against law enforcement officials, he added.

The sacked officials, Ivan Bakanov and Iryna Venediktova, have not commented.

In his video address late on Sunday, Mr Zelensky said: "Such an array of crimes against the foundations of the national security of the state... pose very serious questions to the relevant heads [of the two organisations].

"Each of these questions will receive a proper answer," the Ukrainian president added.

The sacking of SBU chief Ivan Bakanov, a childhood friend of Mr Zelensky's, follows the high-profile arrest of a former SBU regional head in Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014. Oleh Kulinych is suspected of treason, according to BBC.

In other developments on Sunday:

• Ukraine says a significant number of Russian warships in the Black Sea were moved from Crimea further east to the port of Novorossiysk. This comes as Kyiv has received further deliveries of longer-range missile systems from its Western allies
• Dozens of distraught relatives and local residents attended the funeral of four-year-old Liza, who was one of 24 people killed when Russian missiles hit the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia on 14 July
• Russia's former President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy head of the Security Council, warned Ukraine of a "Judgement Day" if it were to attack Crimea

The UK could have its hottest day on record on Monday, with temperatures forecast to hit up to 41C, BBC reported.

The Met Office has issued a red warning for heat across large parts of England, stretching from York and Manchester to London and the south-east.

The current highest temperature in the UK is 38.7C, in Cambridge in 2019.

High temperatures are also forecast in the rest of the UK - with amber warnings in the rest of England, all of Wales, and parts of Scotland.

London is set to be one of the hottest places in the world on Monday, with temperatures soaring above the Western Sahara and the Caribbean.

The capital is forecast to be hotter than Dakhla in Western Sahara (24C), Nassau in the Bahamas (32C), Kingston in Jamaica (33C), Malaga in Spain (28C) and Athens in Greece (35C).

The hot weather will continue on Tuesday - with overnight temperatures warned to be in the mid twenties - before cooling on Wednesday.

It is the first time the Met Office has issued a red warning since the system was introduced last year.

It means "widespread impacts on people and infrastructure" are expected, with "substantial changes in working practices and daily routines" required.

Some schools plan to close early - or not open at all - although the government has issued guidance designed to keep them open.

Network Rail said people should travel only "if absolutely necessary" on Monday and Tuesday, with some cancellations already announced, and speed restrictions in place across the network, according to BBC.

LNER will not run services between London and Leeds and York for much of Tuesday.

Alongside the Met Office's red and amber warnings, the UK Health Security Agency has issued a level four warning for England, which the government is treating as a "national emergency".

After an emergency Cobra meeting for ministers on Saturday, Health Secretary Steve Barclay said ambulance capacity would increase, alongside more call handlers.

Sunday was the hottest day of the year so far with temperatures reaching 33C in Flintshire, 32C in Cheshire, 27.7C in Armagh in Northern Ireland, and 26.4C at Auchincruive in Ayrshire.

Beaches across the country were packed, and people have been warned to take care if they cool off in water.

On Saturday evening, a 16-year-old boy died after swimming in Salford Quays, while a man is missing after entering a reservoir in West Yorkshire, BBC reported.

France has evacuated more than 16,000 people threatened by wildfires in the south-west, as fires also spread in Spain, Croatia and Greece, BBC reported.

Authorities in France's Gironde, a popular tourist region, have evacuated guards from campsites - the tourists left earlier. Fires have spread in the Teste-de-Buch and Landiras areas.

In southern Spain, more than 3,200 people fled fires in the Mijas hills, though later some were able to return.

Portugal's fires are contained for now.

More than 1,000 deaths have been attributed to the heat in Portugal and Spain in recent days.

The Mijas fires in Spain are not far from Málaga, a popular tourist area. Elsewhere in Spain, wildfires have broken out in the provinces of Castilla y León, Galicia and Extremadura.

Ellen McCurdy, living in the Málaga area, told Reuters: "We just grabbed a few essentials and just ran really, and by that stage everybody along the street was on the move... there were a lot of ambulances and fire engines."

Across the Mediterranean - from Morocco in the west to Crete in the east - thousands of firefighters and many waterbombing aircraft have been deployed. Since Tuesday, the whole region has been sweltering in severe heat, leaving vegetation bone dry, according to BBC.

Heatwaves have become more frequent, more intense, and last longer because of human-induced climate change. The world has already warmed by about 1.1C since the industrial era began and temperatures will keep rising unless governments around the world make steep cuts to carbon emissions.

The French weather service has forecast temperatures of up to 41C (106F) in the country's south on Sunday and new heat records are predicted for Monday. In Portugal, the temperature recently reached 47C. 

In the UK there is an amber warning for extreme heat, as the country braces for record temperatures on Monday and Tuesday, possibly reaching 41C in some parts.

Dr Eunice Lo, a climate scientist at Bristol University, told the BBC that "rising temperatures are a signature of climate change" and that in the UK, 2,000 extra deaths a year were attributable to heatwaves.

Public records show that since 1884, the top 10 hottest years in the UK have all been since 2002, she said. Globally, "heatwaves are becoming more common and lasting longer," Dr Lo added. "We need to stop burning fossil fuels, and act now and quickly."

Morocco has ordered more than 1,300 people to leave their homes and deployed more firefighters to tackle forest blazes in the north. The worst-hit area is Larache province.

In Crete, Greek firefighters are battling a big blaze in the hills around Rethymno, on the north coast. On Saturday they said it had been partially contained.

Some areas in south-west Turkey and on Croatia's Adriatic coast are also struggling with wildfires. A number broke out near Croatia's resort towns of Zadar and Sibenik, but they have not forced any major evacuations.

Late on Saturday, France placed 22 more regional departments - mostly along its Atlantic coast - on high orange alert, BBC reported.

One resident in south-west France described the forest fires as feeling "post-apocalyptic". Fires have burned 10,500 hectares (26,000 acres) of land there and Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin praised firefighters' "remarkable courage".

"Everything went so fast - the fire too, was big, big, big," Manon Jacquart, 27, told the BBC. She was evacuated from the campsite she works at early on Wednesday morning, and slept at a shelter near Teste-de-Buch where hundreds of other people also sheltered from the danger.

"I'm just worried, I'm afraid… I'm trying to be as strong as I can but I'm not ok… I want to forget this week," she said.

Meanwhile, climbers in the Alps are being urged to postpone their trips to Mont Blanc due to the risk of rock falls caused by "exceptional climatic conditions".

Heatwaves put the public at greater risk of heatstroke, heat exhaustion and drowning, as people rush to cool off, Dr Lo said. Pets and farm animals are also vulnerable.

"Even fit and healthy people are at risk," she said, though the most vulnerable are young children, the elderly and those with underlying health conditions.

Extreme heat can also damage infrastructure, such as melting road tarmac and buckling railway lines.

In Portugal, fires have destroyed 30,000 hectares (75,000 acres) of land this year, mainly in the north. That is the worst fire damage since the summer of 2017, when devastating fires killed some 100 people, according to BBC.

The government has decided to grant a loan of Rs 7 billion to Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) to ease the supply of petroleum products.

During a press conference organized in Singha Durbar to make public the decisions of the Cabinet, government spokesperson Gyanendra Bahadur Karki said that the government has decided to provide Rs 7 billion to the NOC as it has outstanding dues to be paid to the Indian Oil Corporation.

Similarly, the government has also decided to provide Rs 598. 6 million, the amount which was adjusted as infrastructure tax on petroleum products, as a subsidy to the Nepal Oil Corporation.

Likewise, the meeting has decided to appoint Pradeep Sharma Paudel as the Executive Director of the National Information Technology Center.