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A Dalit woman member of Rawabesi Rural Municipality-3, Khotang was found hanging on Thursday.

Menuja Bishwokarma (30) of Lamidanda, who was elected as a Dalit member of the ward from the Nepali Congress in the local level elections held of May 13, was found dead this morning.

Rural Municipality Chairman Phatik Kumar Shrestha said that Shrestha was found hanging at her parental home.

Her husband Dhupendra Bishwokarma is in Dubai for foreign employment.

The body has been taken to the District Hospital for postmortem.

DSP Umesh Lamsal of the District Police Office said that they are investigating the case.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 16. 60 points to close at 2,027.32 points on Thursday.

Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 3. 42 points to close at 385. 49 points.

A total of 4,711,025 units of the shares of 229 companies were traded for Rs 1. 80 billion.

Meanwhile, RBB Mutual Fund was the top gainer today with its price surging by 3. 93 percent. Likewise, Summit Labhubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited was the top loser with its price dropped by 5. 20 percent.

At the end of the day, the total market capitalisation stood at Rs 2. 89 trillion.

Nepal reported 78 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 1, 384 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 60 returned positive. Likewise, 2, 131 people underwent antigen tests, of which 18 were tested positive.

The Ministry said that no one died of virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that 23 infected people recovered from the disease.

As of today, there are 508 active cases in the country.

The political report presented by CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal at the Central Committee meeting has been endorsed unanimously on Thursday.

A Central Committee meeting held this afternoon endorsed a brief political report presented by Dahal.

The report incorporated various issues like recently concluded local level elections, upcoming parliamentary and provincial elections, Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and State Partnership Program (SPP) among others.

Dahal had presented the report on Sunday.

The price of gold has dropped by Rs 1, 400 in the domestic market on Thursday.

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association, the yellow bullion is being traded at Rs 94,600 per tola today.

Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 94, 100 per tola.

The yellow metal was traded at Rs 96, 000 and tejabi gold at Rs 95, 500 on Thursday.

Similarly, the price of silver has dropped by Rs 10 and is being traded at Rs 1,185 per tola today.

Tension ran high at the Trishakti Higher Secondary School voting center in Budhiganga Municipality-9 of Bajura on Thursday.

Police fired into the air after a dispute arose between cadres of the CPN-UML and the ruling coalition.

Chief District Officer Prakash Chandra Adhikari said that police opened fire to take the situation under control.

"Police opened fire to take the situation under control. The situation is normal now. The voting has been resumed," he said.

The voting was halted for some following the dispute between the cadres of the UML and ruling alliance.

The election, which was deferred on May 14, has resumed from 7 am today.

Ranga Bahadur Khati of the Nepali Congress and Ram Bahadur Baniya of the UML have filed candidacy for the post of mayor.

A group of 60 women from various walks of life will trek to Shey Phoksundo Lake in Dolpa with an objective to draw attention of the concerned authorities to the impact of climate change on the lives of women and tourism.

Women leaders of various sectors including people's representatives of all the seven provinces will take part in the trek.

During a program organized on Wednesday, the Sathsathai foundation said it is organizing the trek to Phosundo Lake in October this year with an aim to encourage women from all around the world to stand together for climate change.

Earlier in March, the foundation had organised a trek to Kala patthar on the occasion of Women's Day. As many as 40 women from different walks of life took part in the trek.

Minister for Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation Jeevan Ram Shrestha also took part in the program.

He said that the government of Nepal would also give priority to this program where women from various sectors would participate.

Saying that trekking and mountaineering are the main basis of tourism in Nepal, special guest and Supreme Court Justice Sapana Pradhan Malla said that the government and the people should take initiatives to promote them.

On the occasion, Foundation Chairperson Prajeeta Karki said that the main objective of the program is to highlight adverse effects of climate change on the mountain region and tourism.

Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said Wednesday that he had a telephone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to request credit support to import fuel for the island nation that is facing its worst economic crisis in memory, Associated Press reported.

“Had a very productive telecon with the Russia President Vladimir Putin. While thanking him for all the support extended by his govt to overcome the challenges of the past, I requested an offer of credit support to import fuel to #lka in defeating the current econ challenges,” Rajapaksa said in a tweet.

Western nations largely have cut off energy imports from Russia in line with sanctions over its war on Ukraine. Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said earlier that the government would look for other sources first but it has not been successful. 

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February, global oil prices have skyrocketed, prompting a number of countries to seek out Russian crude, which is being offered at steep discounts.

Sri Lanka’s economic crisis has led to a dire fuel shortage forcing the government to shut schools and ask employees other than those in essential services to work from home to cut down on consuming the limited stocks. The government said earlier that no entity is willing to supply oil to Sri Lanka even for cash because its petroleum corporation owes a heavy debt.

Sri Lanka’s foreign currency crunch led to its suspending repayment of foreign debt in April pending outcome of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout package. However, Wickremesinghe told Parliament on Tuesday that discussions with the IMF have been complex and difficult because Sri Lanka is now a bankrupt nation, according to Associated Press. 

Unlike in the past, when Sri Lanka entered negotiations as a developing country, this time it has to produce a debt sustainability report to the IMF for approval before any agreement could be reached.

Sri Lanka’s foreign debt stands at $ 51 billion, of which it must repay $28 billion by the end of 2027. It means a payment of an average of $5 billion for the next five years.

Sri Lankans for the past months have been forced to stand in long lines to buy the limited stocks of fuel, cooking gas and foods. The crisi has led to monthslong street protests and scuffles with police at gas stations, Associated Press reported.