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The government tabled Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in the Parliament on Sunday, 32 months after it was registered in the Parliament Secretariat. 

Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gyandendra Bahadur Karki  on behalf of Minister for Finance Janardan Sharma tabled the $500 million compact in the Parliament this afternoon. 

Signed in September 2017, the MCC compact was registered in the Parliament in July 2019.

The next meeting of the Parliament has been scheduled for 1 pm on Thursday.

Three leaders of the CPN (Maoist Centre) expressed their dissatisfaction over the decision to table the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in the Parliament.

During a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee held on Sunday, Maoist Centre Chief Whip Dev Gurung, members Jayapuri Gharti and Rekha Sharma expressed their dissatisfaction over the decision to table the MCC in the Parliament .

They opined that the MCC should not be tabled in the Parliament until the parties forge a common ground on the issue.

The main opposition CPN-UML boycotted the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee on Sunday.

Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota called the meeting for 1 pm today to discuss the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

The UML has been saying that it would not allow the House to proceed with its business until the Speaker takes action against 14 lawmakers expelled by the party.

UML Chief Whip Bishal Bhattarai said that they would not attend the meeting until their demands are met.

The government is preparing to table the MCC in the Parliament meeting today.

CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal opined that the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) should be tabled in the parliamentary committee instead of Parliament for discussions.

During a meeting of the ruling coalition held in Baluwatar on Sunday morning, Dahal urged Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to table the $500 million compact in the parliamentary committee rather than in the Parliament, Dahal’s secretariat said.

But, Prime Minister Deuba was adamant on his stance to table the MCC in the Parliament.

“If you want to table the MCC in the Parliament at any cost, it will be better to present the MCC in the Committee for discussions. But, the Prime Minister expressed his reluctance to table the compact in the Committee,” the secretariat said.

But, the ruling coalition has already made a decision to table the MCC in the House of Representatives.

The Parliament meeting is scheduled to be held at 1 pm today.

The ruling coalition has decided to table the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in the House of Representatives.

A meeting of the ruling coalition held at Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s official residence in Baluwatar on Sunday morning made the decision to this effect.

“The coalition has agreed to table in the Parliament,” a leader who attended the meeting said.

Following the agreement, Prime Minister Deuba is preparing to table the $500 million compact in the Parliament today.

Evidence suggests Russia is planning "the biggest war in Europe since 1945", Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said, BBC reported.

He told the BBC's Sophie Raworth in an interview: "All the signs are that the plan has already in some senses begun."

Intelligence suggests Russia intends to launch an invasion that will encircle Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Mr Johnson said.

"People need to understand the sheer cost in human life that could entail," he said.

The prime minister was speaking from Munich, where world leaders are meeting for an annual security conference. 

The latest estimates by the US government suggests that between 169,000 and 190,000 Russian troops are now stationed along Ukraine's border, both in Russia and neighbouring Belarus - but this figure also includes rebels in eastern Ukraine.

Western officials have warned in recent weeks that Russia could be preparing to invade at any time, but Russia has denied the claims, saying troops are conducting military exercises in the region.

Asked whether a Russian invasion is still thought to be imminent, Mr Johnson said: "I'm afraid that that is what the evidence points to, there's no burnishing it.

"The fact is that all the signs are that the plan has already in some senses begun."

The prime minister said US President Joe Biden had told Western leaders intelligence suggested Russian forces were not just planning on entering Ukraine from the east, via Donbas, but down from Belarus and the area surrounding Kyiv.

"I'm afraid to say that the plan we are seeing is for something that could be really the biggest war in Europe since 1945 just in terms of sheer scale," the prime minister said. 

People needed to not only consider the potential loss of life of Ukrainians, but also of "young Russians", he added. 

Mr Johnson was speaking after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and telling world leaders in a speech that any invasion of Ukraine by Russia would "echo around the world".

The full interview will be broadcast on BBC One's Sunday Morning programme at 09:00 GMT.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, facing a sharp spike in violence in and around territory held by Russia-backed rebels and increasingly dire warnings that Russia plans to invade, on Saturday called for Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet him and seek resolution to the crisis, Associated Press reported.

“I don’t know what the president of the Russian Federation wants, so I am proposing a meeting,” Zelenskyy said at the Munich Security Conference, where he also met with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. Zelenskyy said Russia could pick the location for the talks.

“Ukraine will continue to follow only the diplomatic path for the sake of a peaceful settlement.”

There was no immediate response from the Kremlin.

Zelenskyy spoke hours after separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine ordered a full military mobilization on Saturday while Western leaders made increasingly dire warnings that a Russian invasion of its neighbor appeared imminent.

In new signs of fears that a war could start within days, Germany and Austria told their citizens to leave Ukraine. German air carrier Lufthansa canceled flights to the capital, Kyiv, and to Odessa, a Black Sea port that could be a key target in an invasion.

The officials fled to a bomb shelter before hustling from the area, according to an Associated Press journalist who was on the tour.

Violence in eastern Ukraine has spiked in recent days as Ukraine and the two regions held by the rebels each accused the other of escalation. Russia on Saturday said at least two shells fired from a government-held part of eastern Ukraine landed across the border, but Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba dismissed that claim as “a fake statement.”

Sporadic violence has broken out for years along the line separating Ukrainian forces from the Russia-backed rebels, but the recent shelling and bombing spike could set off a full-scale war.

The United States and many European countries have alleged for months that Russia, which has moved about 150,000 troops near the Ukrainian border, is trying to create pretexts to invade. 

“They are uncoiling and are now poised to strike,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Saturday during a visit to Lithuania. 

Harris opened her meeting with Zelenskyy by saying the world was at “a decisive moment in history.”

Earlier Saturday, Denis Pushilin, the head of the pro-Russia separatist government in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, cited an “immediate threat of aggression” from Ukrainian forces in his announcement. Ukrainian officials vehemently denied having plans to take rebel-controlled areas by force. 

“I appeal to all the men in the republic who can hold weapons to defend their families, their children, wives, mothers,” Pushilin said. ”Together we will achieve the coveted victory that we all need.”

A similar statement followed from his counterpart in the Luhansk region. On Friday, the rebels began evacuating civilians to Russia with an announcement that appeared to be part of their and Moscow’s efforts to paint Ukraine as the aggressor. 

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the evacuation orders could be a tactic to provide the spark for a broader attack. 

“To say it very clearly, Ukraine did not give any grounds for the evacuation that was ordered yesterday,” she said. “Those are the facts on the ground. We must not allow supposed reasons for war to be constructed out of hot air.”

U.S. President Joe Biden said late Friday that based on the latest American intelligence, he was now “convinced” that Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to invade Ukraine and assault the capital.

“As of this moment, I’m convinced he’s made the decision,” Biden said. “We have reason to believe that.” He reiterated that the assault could occur in the “coming days.”

Biden was briefed on Harris’ meetings in Munich and has been getting regular updates on the Ukraine situation, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement Saturday. Biden will discuss Ukraine during a meeting with his National Security Council on Sunday, she said.

Meanwhile, Russia conducted massive nuclear drills on Saturday. The Kremlin said Putin, who pledged to protect Russia’s national interests against what it sees as encroaching Western threats, was watching the drills together with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko from the situation room.

Notably, the planned exercise involves the Crimea-based Black Sea Fleet. Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula after seizing it from Ukraine in 2014. .

Underscoring the West’s concerns of an imminent invasion, a U.S. defense official said an estimated 40% to 50% of the ground forces deployed in the vicinity of the Ukrainian border have moved into attack positions closer to the border. 

The shift has been underway for about a week, other officials have said, and does not necessarily mean Putin has decided to begin an invasion. The defense official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal U.S. military assessments.

The official also said the number of Russian ground units known as battalion tactical groups in the border area had grown to as many as 125, up from 83 two weeks ago. Each group has 750 to 1,000 soldiers.

Lines of communication between Moscow and the West remain open: the American and Russian defense chiefs spoke Friday. French President Emmanuel Macron scheduled a phone call with Putin on Sunday. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov agreed to meet next week.

Immediate worries focused on eastern Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces have been fighting the pro-Russia rebels since 2014 in a conflict that has killed some 14,000 people. Violations of a 2015 ceasefire agreement, including shelling and shooting along the line of contact, have been common. 

A car bomb exploded in the center of the rebel-controlled city of Donetsk on Friday. Adding to the tensions, two explosions shook the rebel-controlled city of Luhansk early Saturday. No injuries were reported in the incidents.

Ukraine’s military said two of its soldiers died in firing from the rebel side on Saturday.

By Saturday morning, the separatists in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, which form Ukraine’s industrial heartland known as the Donbas, said that thousands of residents of the rebel-controlled areas had been evacuated to Russia. 

Russia has issued about 700,000 passports to residents of the rebel-held territories. Claims that Russian citizens are being endangered might be used as justification for military action.

Pushilin, the head of the Donetsk rebel government, alleged in a video statement that Ukraine was going to order an imminent offensive in the area.

Metadata from two videos posted by the separatists announcing the evacuation show that the files were created two days ago, the AP confirmed. U.S. authorities have alleged that the Kremlin’s effort to come up with an invasion pretext could include staged, prerecorded videos.

Authorities in Russia’s Rostov region, which borders eastern Ukraine, declared a state of emergency because of the influx of evacuees. Media reports on Saturday described chaos at some of the camps assigned to accommodate the people from eastern Ukraine. The reports said there were long lines of buses and hundreds of people waiting in the cold for hours on end to be housed without access to food or bathroom facilities.

Putin ordered the Russian government to offer 10,000 rubles (about $130) to each evacuee, an amount equivalent to about half of an average monthly salary in eastern Ukraine.

Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), the state-owned monopoly, hiked the prices of petroleum products on Thursday.

The NOC has decided to increase Rs 3 per litre each in petrol, diesel and kerosene.

As per the new revised rate, the petrol will now cost Rs 145 per litre and diesel and kerosene will cost Rs 128 per litre.

The NOC, however, has not increased the price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).

The decision will come into effect from today midnight.