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Rasriya Janamorcha has decided to pull out of the five-party alliance.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the endorsement of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), the Janamorcha concluded that it will have no meaning to stay in the coalition now.

Durga Paudel, who is the only lawmaker of the Janamorcha, stood against the $500 million grant agreement during the voting on the MCC held yesterday.

CPN (Maoist Centre), Nepali Congress, CPN (Unified Socialist) and Janata Samajbadi Party and Janamorcha had moved the court after the then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli dissolved the House for the second time.

Janamorcha joined the alliance with an objective to institutionalise the democracy and change after the Supreme Court issued a mandamus order to appoint Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba as the Prime Minister of the country.

The party, however, had decided not to be a part of the government. Instead, the party decided to support the government from outside.

The price of the gold has increased by Rs 1,600 per tola in the domestic market on Monday.

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association, the yellow metal is being traded at Rs Rs 98,200 per tola today.

It was traded at Rs 96,600 per tola on Sunday, the Association said.

Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 97,700 per tola today.

Similarly, the price of silver rose by Rs 45 per tola and is being traded at Rs 1,340 per tola.

A Nepal Army bomb disposal team defused a suspicious object found outside the Parliament building in New Baneshwor on Monday.

A pressure cooker wrapped in wires and written 'No MCC' was found outside the Parliament building this morning.

After the suspicious object was spotted outside the Parliament building, police cordoned off the area and a Nepal Army bomb disposal squad was called to defuse it.

A suspicious object has been found outside the Parliament building in New Baneshwor on Monday.

Police said that a pressure cooker wrapped in wires and written 'No MCC' was found outside the Parliament building this morning.

Police said that they have cordoned off the area and a Nepal Army bomb disposal squad has been called to defuse it.

The EU has imposed a blanket flight ban on Russian planes, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has announced, BBC reported.

"We are shutting down EU airspace for Russian-owned, Russian-registered or Russian-controlled aircraft," she said.

All such planes, including the private jets of oligarchs, will now be unable to land in, take off from or fly over any EU nation.

Russian planes have also been banned from UK airspace.

Russia's biggest airline, Aeroflot, said it would cancel all flights to European destinations until further notice in a retaliatory move on Sunday. 

Ahead of the decision, European countries had been closing their airspace one by one. Germany said its ban would last three months.

Departure boards at Moscow's Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo airports showed dozens of cancellations on Sunday, including flights to Paris, Vienna and Kaliningrad.

Russia's S7 Airlines said on Facebook it would cancel flights to many of its European destinations until at least 13 March.

Russia has been responding with tit-for-tat restrictions on countries banning its flights.

The Commission president said that the EU was also going to ban Russia's state-owned news outlets Sputnik and Russia Today, widely seen as a mouthpiece for the Kremlin. "We are developing tools to ban their toxic and harmful disinformation in Europe," she said.

The restrictions on flights will require Russian airlines to take circuitous routes, resulting in longer flight times.

President Vladimir Putin dramatically escalated East-West tensions by ordering Russian nuclear forces put on high alert Sunday, while Ukraine’s embattled leader agreed to talks with Moscow as Putin’s troops and tanks drove deeper into the country, closing in around the capital, Associated Press reported.

Citing “aggressive statements” by NATO and tough financial sanctions, Putin issued a directive to increase the readiness of Russia’s nuclear weapons, raising fears that the invasion of Ukraine could lead to nuclear war, whether by design or mistake.

The Russian leader is “potentially putting in play forces that, if there’s a miscalculation, could make things much, much more dangerous,” said a senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss rapidly unfolding military operations. 

Putin’s directive came as Russian forces encountered strong resistance from Ukraine defenders. Moscow has so far failed to win full control of Ukraine’s airspace, despite advances across the country. U.S. officials say they believe the invasion has been more difficult, and slower, than the Kremlin envisioned, though that could change as Moscow adapts.

Amid the mounting tensions, Western nations said they would tighten sanctions and buy and deliver weapons for Ukraine, including Stinger missiles for shooting down helicopters and other aircraft.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, meanwhile, announced plans for a meeting with a Russian delegation at an unspecified location on the Belarusian border.

The second meeting of the Legislature-Parliament held on Sunday endorsed the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Nepal compact with interpretative declaration.

Finance Minister Janardan Sharma proposed a 12-point interpretative declaration incorporating the questions raised about the MCC agreement, which was endorsed by the Parliament along with the MCC.

The meeting ratified the $500 million grant compact amidst obstruction by the main opposition CPN-UML.

During the meeting, Minister Sharma proposed that the MCC compact be endorsed. Later, Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota presented the proposal which was endorsed with a majority of votes.

Earlier, the compact was discussed in principle in the first meeting.

CPN-UML leader Bhim Rawal among ruling coalition lawmakers expressed their dissatisfaction over the government decision to pass the MCC and raised several questions about the grant.

Responding to the queries, Finance Minister Sharma said that the government will not make any agreement against the nation.

What is the MCC agreement?

MCC compact is an assistance under which the United States will provide $500 million to Nepal for electricity transmission lines and road maintenance.

As per the agreement, the five-year project will come into implementation under the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) Nepal.

Under this project, the government will construct a 300 km long 400 KV transmission line from Lapsiphedi to Sunauli bordering India. The 305 km long road from Butwal to Banke via Dang will be upgraded.

The government of Nepal signed the agreement with the United States for the MCC project on September 14, 2017.

The then Finance Minister Gyanendra Bahadur Karki on behalf of the government signed an agreement with MCC Acting CEO Jonatha Nas in Washington on September 14,2017.

The then Finance Minister Yuvaraj Khatiwada signed an agreement for the implementation of the MCC on September 29, 2019.

The compact was registered in the Parliament Secretariat on July 15, 2019 for the endorsement.

The MCC was tabled in the Parliament on February 20, 2022 nearly 20 months after it was registered in the Parliament Secretariat.

The agreement was endorsed with a majority of votes on Sunday.

Democratic Socialist Party Chairman Mahantha Thakur said that he is in favour of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

Speaking at a Parliament meeting on Sunday, he said, “I am in support of MCC. We Democratic Socialist Party are in support of the MCC.”

He said that the United States has been helping Nepal not only now but for the past seven decades as a development partner.

“The United States has been helping Nepal for more than seven decades as a development partner. This grant is aimed at reducing the poverty in Nepal,” he said.

He said that the MCC is in the interest of Nepal and it would be meaningless to stage demonstrations against the compact.