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Sri Lanka has defaulted on its debt for the first time in its history as the country struggles with its worst financial crisis in more than 70 years, BBC reported.

A 30-day grace period to come up with $78m (£63m) of unpaid debt interest payments expired on Wednesday.

The governor of the South Asian nation's central bank said the country was now in a "pre-emptive default".

Later on Thursday, two of the world's biggest credit rating agencies also said Sri Lanka had defaulted.

Defaults happen when governments are unable to meet some or all of their debt payments to creditors.

It can damage a country's reputation with investors, making it harder for it to borrow the money it needs on international markets, which can further harm confidence in its currency and economy. 

Asked on Thursday whether the country was now in default, central bank governor P Nandalal Weerasinghe said: "Our position is very clear, we said that until they come to the restructure [of our debts], we will not be able to pay. So that's what you call pre-emptive default, according to BBC.

"There can be technical definitions... from their side they can consider it a default. Our position is very clear, until there is a debt restructure, we cannot repay," he added.

Sri Lanka is seeking to restructure debts of more than $50bn it owes to foreign creditors, to make it more manageable to repay. 

The country's economy has been hit hard by the pandemic and rising energy prices, but critics say the current crisis has been of the previous government's own making.

A chronic shortage of foreign currency and soaring inflation have led to a severe shortage of medicines, fuel and other essentials. 

Professor Mick Moore from the University of Sussex and former consultant on Sri Lanka for the Asian Development Bank said even though it looked like Sri Lanka was struggling from the effects of global economic problems, it was "emphatically not that".

"This is the most man-made and voluntary economic crisis of which I know," he told the BBC's Today programme.

Prof Moore said the previous administration had borrowed money for infrastructure projects and then "insisted in this very macho fashion" on repaying mounting the debts, rather than restructuring them with creditors. 

He said the then government "went along in this way until about six months ago and basically they had given away virtually all the foreign exchange they could command".

"This is egregious incompetence," he added.

Prof Moore said the country faced a "very critical situation".

In recent weeks, there have been large, sometimes violent, protests against President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his family due to the growing crisis.

The country has already started talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over a bailout and needs to renegotiate its debt agreements with creditors, BBC reported.

Later on Thursday, an IMF spokesman said the current talks on a potential loan programme were expected to conclude on Tuesday. 

Sri Lanka's government has said previously that it needs as much as $4bn this year.

Mr Weerasinghe warned that Sri Lanka's already very high rate of inflation was likely to rise further.

"Inflation obviously is around 30%. It will go even [higher], headline inflation will go [up] around 40% in the next couple of months," he said.

He was speaking after Sri Lanka's central bank held its two key interest rates steady following a seven percentage points rise at its last meeting.

The country's main lending rate remained at 14.5%, while the deposit rate was kept at 13.5%, according to BBC reported.

With Russia claiming to have taken prisoner nearly 2,500 Ukrainian fighters from the besieged Mariupol steel plant, concerns grew about their fate as a Moscow-backed separatist leader vowed they would face tribunals, Associated Press reported.

Russia has declared its full control of the Azovstal steel plant, which for weeks was the last holdout in Mariupol and a symbol of Ukrainian tenacity in the strategic port city, now in ruins with more than 20,000 residents feared dead. The seizure gives Russian President Vladimir Putin a badly wanted victory in the war he began nearly three months ago. 

As the West rallies behind Ukraine, Polish President Andrzej Duda arrived in Ukraine on an unannounced visit and will address the country’s parliament on Sunday, his office said. 

Poland, which has welcomed millions of Ukrainian refugees since the start of the war, is a strong supporter of Ukraine’s desire to join the European Union. With Russia blocking Ukraine’s sea ports, Poland has become a major gateway for Western humanitarian aid and weapons going into Ukraine and has been helping Ukraine get its grain and other agricultural products to world markets.

The Russian Defense Ministry released video of Ukrainian soldiers being detained after announcing that its forces had removed the last holdouts from the Mariupol plant’s extensive underground tunnels. It said a total of 2,439 had surrendered, according to the Associated Press.

Family members of the fighters, who came from a variety of military and law enforcement units, have pleaded for them to be given rights as prisoners of war and eventually returned to Ukraine. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Saturday that Ukraine “will fight for the return” of every one of them. 

Denis Pushilin, the pro-Kremlin head of an area of eastern Ukraine controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, said the captured fighters included some foreign nationals, though he did not provide details. He said they were sure to face a tribunal. Russian officials and state media have sought to characterize the fighters as neo-Nazis and criminals. 

“I believe that justice must be restored. There is a request for this from ordinary people, society, and, probably, the sane part of the world community,” Russian state news agency Tass quoted Pushilin as saying.

Among the defenders were members of the Azov Regiment, whose far-right origins have been seized on by the Kremlin as part of its effort to cast the invasion as a battle against Nazi influence in Ukraine.

A prominent member of Russia’s parliament, Leonid Slutsky, said Moscow was studying the possibility of exchanging the Azovstal fighters for Viktor Medvedchuk, a wealthy Ukrainian with close ties to Putin who faces criminal charges in Ukraine, the Russian news agency Interfax reported. Slutsky later walked back those remarks, saying he agreed with Pushilin that their fate should be decided by a tribunal, Associated Press reported.

The Ukrainian government has not commented on Russia’s claim of capturing Azovstal. Ukraine’s military had told the fighters their mission was complete and they could come out. It described their extraction as an evacuation, not a mass surrender.

Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights and US Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues Uzra Zeya paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sher Bahadur at the latter's residence in Baluwatar on Sunday.

"It was a pleasure receiving the US delegation led by Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights @UnderSecStateJ. We exchanged views on Nepal-US relations and matters of mutual interests," Deuba tweeted on Sunday.

Zeya along with the deputy chief is US embassy visit Tibetan camp in Jawalakhel, Lalitpur on Saturday.

During the visit, she had inquired about the physical and other facilities like health and education in the camp.

She also held interaction with the Tibetan refugees living in the camp.

Earlier on Friday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson during a regular press conference said that the government was not aware of any meetings between Zeya and Tibetan refugee leaders in Kathmandu.

Independent mayoral candidate of Kathmandu Metropolitan City Balen Shah has stretched his lead by 16, 934 votes.

He garnered 39, 006 votes while his closest contender Srijana Singh of Nepali Congress secured 22, 072 votes.

Singh has left CPN-UML candidate Keshav Sthapit behind. Sthapit received 21, 571 votes.

Similarly, deputy mayoral candidate Sunita Dangol of CPN-UML is leading the vote count. 

Rameshwar Shrestha of CPN (Unified Socialist) is lagging far behind.

A group of activists and youths staged a demonstration at Maitighar of Kathmandu on Saturday demanding action against those involved in the murder of environmental activist Dilip Kumar Mahato of Mithila, Dhanusha.

They staged the demonstration demanding justice to Mahato and action against the murderers.

Likewise, they have also demanded that Mahato be declared an environmental martyr.

Similarly, the activists have also urged the government to shut down all the crusher industries being operated illegally across the country.

Mahato was crushed to death by a tipper for protesting illegal extraction of riverbed materials in Dhanusha on January 10, 2020.

Namche Youth Club and Party Everest International are jointly organizing a musical event and DJ night at Namche Bazar, Solukhumbu on 29 May 2022 starting from 5 in the evening with a theme ‘Party at the top of the world’.

Every year on Everest Day, this group organizes a concert in Solukhumbu.

The event will feature artists like Sugam Pokharel, Milan Newar, Trishna Gurung, Subani Moktan, DJ Tenzing, Bishwo Dong, Jenny Sherpa, Chhiring Wangchu Sherpa along with local artists to entertain numbers of local and international tourists.

Saigrace Pokharel, the ace storyteller, famous among the Nepali diaspora across the globe has announced his world tour—‘Word Tour 2022’.

His show is happening in the USA, UK, Australia, France, Belgium , Denmark, and Germany.

Shows:

July 3: London, UK

August 6: Sydney, Australia

August 14 Melbourne, Australia

October 16: New York, USA

For more: Saigrace Pokharel

Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights and US Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues Uzra Zeya, who is on a Nepal visit, inspected the Tibetan refugee camp in Jawalakhel on Saturday.

A team of Zeya along with the deputy chief of the US embassy reached the Jawalakhel this afternoon.

During the visit, she had inquired about the physical and other facilities like health and education in the camp.

She also held interaction with the Tibetan refugees living in the camp.

On the occasion, some Tibetan community leaders told Zeya that some Tibetan refugees have been deprived of even basic human rights due to lack of ID cards.

Earlier on Wednesday, Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi, during the meeting with Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand, had expressed her concern over the visit of US Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues Zeya to Nepal.

The government has not given 'refugee identity cards' to the Tibetan refugees since 1995.

Refugee leaders in Nepal have said that the Tibetan refugees have been deprived of employment due to lack of refugee identity cards.

According to a source at the Home Ministry, Zeya is expected to urge Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and other high-ranking Nepali officials to issue refugee ID cards to the Tibetans who have not got the ID card at the earliest.