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The United Nations Security Council is due to vote on Sunday to call for a rare emergency special session of the 193-member UN General Assembly on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which would be held on Monday, diplomats said, Reuters reported.

The vote by the 15-member council is procedural so none of the five permanent council members – Russia, China, France, Britain and the United States – can wield their vetoes. The move needs nine votes in favor and is likely to pass, diplomats said.

Only 10 such emergency special sessions of the General Assembly have been convened since 1950.

The request for a session on Ukraine comes after Russia vetoed on Friday a draft UN Security Council resolution that would have deplored Moscow’s invasion. China, India and UAE abstained, while the remaining 11 members voted in favor.

The General Assembly is expected to vote on a similar resolution following several days of statements by countries in the emergency special session, diplomats said. General Assembly resolutions are non-binding but carry political weight.

The United States and allies are seeking as much support as possible to show Russia is internationally isolated.

The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in March 2014 following Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region. The resolution, which declared invalid a referendum on the status of Crimea, received 100 yes votes and 11 against. Two dozen countries didn’t vote and 58 abstained.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Saturday, telling him the world body plans to “enhance humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine,” a U.N. spokesperson said.

“He informed the President that the United Nations would launch on Tuesday an appeal to fund our humanitarian operations in Ukraine,” the U.N. spokesperson said in a statement.

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said on Friday that more than $1 billion will be needed for aid operations in Ukraine over the next three months as hundreds of thousands of people are on the move after Russia invaded its neighbor.

Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index plunged by 7.73 points to close at 2,653.70 points on Sunday, the first day of the trading week. 

Similarly, the sensitive index fell 0. 73 points to reach 506. 84 points.

A total of 7,040,563 units of shares of 224 companies were traded for Rs 3.27 billion.

Likewise, all sub-indices saw red in today’s market except for Hydropower an Others. 

Meanwhile, National Hydropower Compay Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 4.53 percent. Likewise, Himalayan General Insurance Co. Limited was the top loser with its price dropped by 4.58 percent. 

At the end of the day, total market civilization stands at Rs 3.75 trillion. 

Police have arrested a man while he was trying to break an ATM machine of the NIC Asia Bank on Saturday.

A team deployed from the Metropolitan Police Range, Maligaun caught Akash Tamang (21) from Dhulikhel red handed last night from the ATM booth at the Sagarmatha Insurance Building, Naxal Bhagawati Bahal of Kathmandu Metropolitan City-1. 

Police believed that the accused was attempting to steal cash from the machine and were alerted about this with the help of the Bank’s siren system.   The team also seized a pair of instruments that Tamang used in his failed attempt to damage the machine. RSS

CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said that interpretative declaration is the achievement of struggle. 

Speaking at the party’s Parliamentary Party meeting held at the Parliament building on Sunday, he said that the interpretative declaration is the achievement of struggle. 

During the meeting, interpretative declaration on the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) were distributed to the lawmakers in the meeting.

A male rhinoceros has been found dead along the inner area of Kudauli range post of Chitwan National Park.

The animal was believed to have died in a fight with another rhino.

According to CNP information officer, Ganesh Prasad Tiwari, the horn and hooves of the animal are intact. The dead animal is about 18-20 years of age.  Prior to this, a baby rhino of five-six months was killed by a tiger at Khoriya on  February 21.

So far in the current fiscal year, 27 animals have died of natural causes and two due to poaching. RSS 

Street fighting broke out early Sunday in Kharkiv as Russian troops pushed into Ukraine’s second-largest city, according to a regional official, following a wave of attacks elsewhere targeting airfields and fuel facilities that appeared to mark a new phase of an invasion that has been slowed by fierce resistance, Associated Press reported.

The U.S. and EU responded with weapons and ammunition for the outnumbered Ukrainians and powerful sanctions intended to further isolate Moscow.

Russian troops approached Kharkiv, about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) south of the border with Russia, shortly after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine on Thursday. But until Sunday, they remained on the outskirts of the city of 1.4 million without trying to enter while other forces rolled past, pressing their offensive deeper into Ukraine.

Early Sunday, Russian troops moved in and were engaged by Ukrainian forces, said Oleh Sinehubov, the head of the Kharkiv regional administration, who told civilians not to leave their homes. He gave no further details.

Elsewhere, huge explosions lit up the sky early Sunday south of the capital, Kyiv, where people hunkered down in homes, underground garages and subway stations in anticipation of a full-scale assault by Russian forces.

Flames billowed into the sky before dawn from an oil depot near an air base in Vasylkiv, where there has been intense fighting, according to the town’s mayor. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said another explosion was at the civilian Zhuliany airport.

Zelenskyy’s office also said Russian forces blew up a gas pipeline in Kharkiv, prompting the government to warn people to protect themselves from the smoke by covering their windows with damp cloth or gauze.

“We will fight for as long as needed to liberate our country,” Zelenskyy vowed.

Terrified men, women and children sought safety inside and underground, and the government maintained a 39-hour curfew to keep people off the streets. More than 150,000 Ukrainians fled for Poland, Moldova and other neighboring countries, and the United Nations warned the number could grow to 4 million if fighting escalates.

Actor Paul Shah, who has been accused of raping a minor girl, turned himself in to police on Sunday.

He surrendered himself at the District Police Office, Tanahun this afternoon.

Yubaraj Khatiwada, spokesperson at the District Police Office, Tanahun said that Shah is under police control.

Earlier this morning, he wrote a status on social media that he would present himself before the police today itself.

Singer Samikshya Adhikari (17) 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.

Shah had been absconding after the police issued the arrest warrant against him.

The meeting of the Bagmati Province Assembly scheduled for February 28 has been postponed for an indefinite period.

Issuing a notice on Sunday, the Provincial Assembly Secretariat said that the meeting had to be postponed due to a special reason.

Similarly, the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee of the Assembly scheduled for 1pm today has been postponed, Secretariat's secretary Krishna Hari Khadka said.

Assembly Speaker Sanu Kumar Shrestha had called the meeting for February 28, Monday, following an all-party meeting on February 16. RSS