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CPN-Unity National Campaign Coordinator Bamdev Gautam has proposed an alliance of communist forces in the upcoming Parliamentary and Province Assembly elections.

During a meeting held with CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli in Balkot on Thursday, Gautam floated a proposal to contest the upcoming elections by forging an alliance of leftist parties.

"The defeat of communists is certain if they contest the elections on their own. That is why, let's contest the Parliamentary and Province Assembly elections by forging alliance, " he said.

Gautam told Oli that CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Nepal have also expressed their readiness to contest the elections by forging an alliance of leftist parties.

The CPN-Unity National Campaign Coordinator further said that he would be involved in the campaign to unite the Nepal Communist Party.

According to a source, Oli is positive towards the proposal. But, he said that Dahal and Nepal should change themselves first.

Following differences between party Chairman Upendra Yadav and Federal Council Chairman Baburam Bhattarai, the Janata Samajbadi Party has split.

During a meeting held between the two leaders that lasted for two hours on Wednesday, Bhattarai has decided to form a new party in consensus, a source said.

Earlier on Monday night, the Yadav faction held a party’s central executive committee and decided to recall all the ministers representing the party in the Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government. The leaders of the Bhattarai faction, however, were not invited to the meeting.

The meeting had also decided to give rights to Yadav to select the new ministers.

Out of the 33 members in the central executive committee, Yadav has a majority with 22 members. The party has 19 lawmakers in the House of Representatives.

More than 6, 000 people of 1, 718 families have been displaced due to floods and inundation in Morang.

According to Chief District Officer Kashiraj Dahal, 1, 718 families have been compelled to leave their homes owing to floods and inundation triggered by torrential rainfall.

He said that 6, 717, who were displaced due to water-induced disasters, have been kept in schools, public places and community buildings.

Most of the displaced families are from Biratnagar Metropolitan City.

Dahal said that the squatters living around the Singhiya River and Keshaliya River have been affected the most.

Along with Biratnagar, the people, who were displaced by the floods and inundation,are from Jahada, Katahari, Dhanpalthan, Gramthan and Budhiganga Rural Municipality and Rangeli Municipality.

China has welcomed the new Nepali ambassador to China.

Responding to a question during a regular press briefing, Deputy Director of the Foreign Ministry Information Department Zhao Lijian said that China is looking forward to his assumption of the post at an early date.

He said that China and Nepal are connected by mountains and rivers and enjoy an ever-lasting friendship.

China is ready to work with Nepal to follow through on the important consensus of the leaders of the two countries, deepen political mutual trust, promote mutually beneficial cooperation and elevate the strategic partnership of cooperation featuring ever-lasting friendship for development and prosperity to new heights, he further said.

President Bidya Devi Bhandari had appointed Bishnu Pukar Shrestha as the new ambassador to China a week ago.

Doctors and bankers were among hundreds of Sri Lankans who marched on Wednesday to demand the government resolve a severe fuel shortage at the heart of the Indian Ocean island's worst economic crisis in decades or step down, BBC reported.

Weeks of street demonstrations against cascading woes such as power cuts and shortages of food and medicine brought a change in government last month after nine people were killed and about 300 injured in protests.

Left with just enough fuel for about a week and fresh shipments at least two weeks away, the government restricted supplies on Tuesday to essential services, such as trains, buses and the health sector, for two weeks.

The government-ordered petrol shipment would arrive on July 22, while Lanka IOC, a unit of Indian Oil Corporation, is expecting a shipment of petrol and diesel around July 13. 

"The government is also attempting to secure fuel shipments at an early date. However, until those are confirmed, the details would not be released," the statement said.

Doctors, nurses and medical staff say that despite being designated essential workers, they struggle to find enough fuel to get to work.

"This is an impossible situation, the government has to give us a solution," H.M. Mediwatta, secretary of one of Sri Lanka's largest nursing unions, the All Island Nurses Union, told reporters.

The South Asian nation's most serious economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1948 comes after COVID-19 battered the tourism-reliant economy and slashed remittances from overseas workers.

Rising oil prices, populist tax cuts and a seven-month ban on the import of chemical fertilisers last year that devastated agriculture have compounded the troubles, according to BBC.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said the World Bank had agreed to restructure 17 projects it is funding in Sri Lanka. Similar support extended earlier had been used to buy fuel and medicine.

"More World Bank assistance will follow after negotiations with the IMF are finalised," he said on Twitter.

An International Monetary Fund team is in Colombo for talks on a bailout package of as much as $3 billion. Sri Lanka hopes to reach a staff-level agreement by Thursday, but even so, it is unlikely to bring immediate funds, BBC reported.

The US will increase its military presence across Europe as Nato agreed a "fundamental shift" in its response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, BBC reported.

A permanent army headquarters will be created in Poland, while new US warships will go to Spain, fighter jets to the UK and ground troops to Romania.

Mr Biden said Nato was "needed now more than it has ever been".

The alliance is having its biggest overhaul since the Cold War, Nato head Jens Stoltenberg said.

The new plan in response to Russia's invasion will mean more than 300,000 troops at high readiness next year, up from the current level of 40,000.

Mr Biden told a summit in Madrid that Nato would be "strengthened in all directions across every domain - land, air and sea".

The UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD) has also said it is significantly increasing the availability of forces to Nato's collective defence, with more warships, fighter jets and land forces on standby - although the MoD said it would not give details on numbers as they are "militarily sensitive".

The US announcement sees it shore up its presence across the continent but particularly in eastern Europe where the new permanent headquarters for its 5th Army Corps will be based, according to BBC.

Mr Biden repeated the alliance's commitment to "defend every inch" of its territory, saying: "We mean it when we say an attack against one is an attack against all." 

The measures include: 

• Boosting the fleet of US naval destroyers in Spain from four to six
• An additional "rotational brigade in Romania consisting of 3,000 fighters and another 2,000-personnel combat team
• Two more squadrons of F-35 stealth jets to the UK
• Additional air defence and other capabilities in Germany and Italy.

The UK has already nearly doubled the size of its military presence in Estonia, with just over 1,600 troops there.

More will be allocated to the defence of the Baltics, however the MoD said these additional troops may be held at high readiness back home.

At the summit Nato leaders agreed to accept the previously neutral Nordic states Finland and Sweden into the alliance, with their membership needing to be ratified by the governments of all 30 Nato members.

Mr Biden said this was "exactly" what Russian President Vladimir Putin did not want and said his strategy of invading Ukraine had backfired.

Nato Secretary General Mr Stoltenberg said Finland and Sweden had been formally invited to join the military alliance, describing it as the "fastest accession process ever", and said he expected the swift progress to continue.

The two applicants must now show that they meet Nato's standards in politics, law, and in their armed forces - something which is expected to be relatively straightforward for the Nordic countries, BBC reported.

Mr Stoltenberg said Ukraine could continue to count on the alliance's assistance in the face of Russian aggression for "as long as it takes", adding that Ukraine was fighting for its independence but also for values shared by Nato.

He said member states had agreed a "comprehensive assistance package" for Ukraine, which included fuel, medical supplies, body armour, anti-drone systems and equipment to counter mines.

The UK will provide an additional £1 billion in military aid for Ukraine, a near-doubling in its support for the fight against the Russian invasion, BBC reported.

The new funding takes the military aid given to Kyiv to £2.3bn - and the UK has also spent £1.5bn in humanitarian and economic support for Ukraine.

Boris Johnson said British spending was "transforming Ukraine's defences".

The pledge came after President Volodymr Zelensky urged Nato leaders to do more to help Ukraine's war effort.

Mr Zelensky told Nato leaders the monthly cost of defence for Ukraine was around $5bn (£4.12bn).

The UK is second only to the US in terms of military aid for Ukraine - the US recently approved a $40bn (£33bn) package of support.

The new British aid will go towards paying for "sophisticated air defence systems", drones, electronic warfare equipment, and "thousands of pieces of vital kit", the UK government said.

The new £1bn is set to come from departmental underspends, the UK government said, plus £95 million from the Welsh and Scottish governments' budgets. 

An "underspend" means departments spent less than anticipated, not that government finances were in surplus overall. Public sector borrowing was £151.8bn in the year ending March 2022, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Announcing the extra support, the government claimed the equipment was the first step to helping Ukraine recover territory lost to Russia, on top of their "valiant defence".

But questions remain about whether the aid will be sufficient, according to BBC.

Addressing Nato leaders at their summit in Madrid on Wednesday via video link, Mr Zelensky said they needed more modern weapons systems and artillery to "break the Russian artillery advantage".

"Russia still receives billions every day and spends them on war. We have a multibillion-dollar deficit, we don't have oil and gas to cover it," Mr Zelensky said.

Also speaking in the Spanish capital, Mr Johnson said: "Putin's brutality continues to take Ukrainian lives and threaten peace and security across Europe.

"As Putin fails to make the gains he had anticipated and hoped for and the futility of this war becomes clear to all, his attacks against the Ukrainian people are increasingly barbaric.

"UK weapons, equipment and training are transforming Ukraine's defences against this onslaught."

The UK's commitment comes as the members of Nato agreed a 10-year "strategic concept" to address future threats to European and global security.

At the same time, the US government announced it will increase its military presence across Europe as Nato agreed a "fundamental shift" in its response to Russia's invasion.

The UK currently spends around 2.3% of GDP on defence, which is above the 2% target set by Nato and among the highest of member nations.

However, the defence budget has been the source of tension between No 10 and Ministry of Defence, amid calls for more funding for the armed forces, BBC reported.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told reporters in Madrid: "To be fair, No 10 does say 'if you include the extra Ukrainian spend', they have put a sort of caveat to that.

"Because of course it isn't core defence spending. I mean, it is not my core budget, it doesn't buy me any more planes, tanks or ships."

But Mr Wallace added it was "obliquely helping Britain's defence because we're helping Ukraine".

US singer R. Kelly has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for using his celebrity status to sexually abuse children and women, BBC reported.

The R&B artist, 55, was convicted last September in New York of racketeering and sex trafficking crimes.

He had faced years of allegations and the judge on Wednesday said he had an "indifference to human suffering".

Lawyers for the singer, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, say he will appeal. 

Ahead of his sentencing, a handful of women took the stand to confront Kelly.

A woman identified only as Angela called the singer a Pied Piper who "grew in wickedness" with every new victim, while others who were not named testified he had broken their spirits.

"I literally wished I would die because of how you made me feel," said one, according to BBC.

Dressed in prison khakis and dark glasses, Kelly declined to make a statement of his own and did not react as the verdict was handed down.

US District Judge Ann Donnelly said the celebrity had used sex as a weapon, forcing his victims to do unspeakable things and saddling some with sexually transmitted diseases.

"You taught them that love is enslavement and violence," she said.

The court heard how Kelly - known for hit songs like I Believe I Can Fly and Ignition - used his influence to lure women and children into sexual abuse over two decades.

Jurors at his six-week trial in Brooklyn heard how he trafficked women between different US states, assisted by managers, security guards and other members of his entourage.

The court also heard how Kelly had illegally obtained paperwork to marry singer Aaliyah when she was 15 in 1994, seven years before the singer died in a plane crash.

The certificate, leaked at the time, listed Aaliyah's age as 18. The marriage was annulled months later.

Jovante Cunningham, a former backup singer for Kelly, said she never believed this day would come, BBC reported.

"There wasn't a day in my life up until this moment that I actually believed that the judicial system would come through for black and brown girls," she told reporters. 

"I stand here very proud of my judicial system, very proud of my fellow survivors and very pleased with the outcome."

Federal prosecutors had recommended that Kelly be sentenced to more than 25 years in prison, given the seriousness of his crimes and "the need to protect the public from further crimes".

But his lawyers called for a sentence of 10 years - the mandatory minimum for his conviction - or less.

They portrayed Kelly as growing up poor in a household rife with domestic violence and suffering sexual abuse from a young age.

They said he was "devastated" by the sentence and planned to appeal.

Lizzette Martinez, who met Kelly when she was 17, said that there were "so many things he could have done to stop himself."

"He had all the resources; we don't have resources like that. He could have gotten help," she told BBC News.

She said he avoided justice for years due to the "power of celebrity".

"I believe that he was just making so much money for so many powerful people that they protected him."

Kelly has been in custody since he was indicted by federal prosecutors in New York and Chicago in July 2019.

His three years behind bars have been eventful, including a beating from a fellow inmate in 2020 and a bout with Covid-19 earlier this year, according to BBC.

The singer faces further legal action in August, when he goes on trial again, this time in Chicago on child sex images and obstruction charges.

He is also due to face sex abuse charges in courts in Illinois and Minnesota.