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Nepali Congress lawmaker Gagan Thapa has raised questions over the State Partnership Program (SPP).

Saying that Nepal cannot take part in any program involving Nepal Army, Thapa, during the meeting of the House of Representatives on Wednesday, said that Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba should answer on the issue.

He said that the doubts on the issue will be cleared if the Prime Minister answers the queries in the Parliament.

The main opposition CPN-UML lawmaker Pradeep Gyawali had also demanded the government's answer on the matter in the Parliament meeting today. He said that the agreement will not be accepted under any circumstances.

The UML has been protesting after the draft of the SPP agreement was made public in a section of Nepali media.

A writ petition has been filed at the Supreme Court demanding re-election to the top post of the District Coordination Committee of Dailekh.

Durga Kumari Shrestha, who had filed her candidacy for the top post of the District Coordination Committee, filed writ petition on Tuesday.

In the writ filed against the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Dailekh among others, she has demanded an order to hold the re-election to the top post of the District Coordination Committee as per the law. 

Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Dailekh, Chief Election Officer Dandapani Lamichhane, District Coordination Committee, Dailekh, Independent candidate Nawaraj Shahi, who was elected to the top post of the District Coordination Committee, proposer of independent candidate Sundar Kumar KC, supporter Bina Karki, Province Election Office, Karnali Province and Election Commission have been made defendants. 

In the writ, the petitioner said that Nawaraj Shahi, who was elected as a member of Aathbis Municipality-7, Dailekh, could not file independent candidacy for the top post of District Coordination Committee. 

He was elected to the top post of the District Coordination Committee, Dailekh on June 11.

Four students have been arrested for their alleged involvement in attacking a security guard of the Trinity College with a khukuri.

The security guard was injured after the grade 11 students under the Faculty of Humanities attacked him with the khukuri at college in Kalikasthan, Kathmandu-29, the District Police Range, Kathmandu said.  

A team from the Metropolitan Police Sector, Singhadurbar under the command of an inspector was deputed following the incident. The security guard sustained injuries on his head. He has already been discharged after receiving treatment at the Kathmandu Model Hospital.

Josen Baniya, Bipin Khatri, Pratik Khatiwada and Sanjeeb Bhandari (Anmol) were arrested for their involvement in the incident.

Police said that they are looking into the case.

A person died and two others were injured when a scooter they were riding on hit a parked truck in Belbari of Morang on Tuesday.

The deceased has been identified as Bikram Rai (26) of Belbari-5.

Critically injured in the incident, Rai breathed his last during the course of treatment at the Biratnagar-based Nobel Teaching Hospital at around 1 am on Wednesday.

The body has been sent to the Koshi Hospital in Biratnagar for postmortem.

According to Morang Traffic Police Chief Inspector Raj Kumar Karki said that the two-wheeler (Ko 20 Pa 7645) hit the truck (Na 6 Kha 5544) at Betana in Belbaru Municipality-4 along the East-West Highway at around 11 pm yesterday.

Police said that Ranjan Chemjong (20) and Abhishekh Rai (22) of Miklajung Rural Municipality-3 of Panchthar were injured in the incident.

They are undergoing treatment at the Nobel Hospital.

A police team deployed from the Area Police Office, Belbari under the command of Inspector Khagendra Dhamala rounded up truck driver Abinash Kumar Khawas of Sundharharaicha Municipality-2 of Morang immediately after the incident.

According to a preliminary investigation, the scooter hit the truck as Rai was found riding the two-wheeler under the influence of alcohol.

People in Pakistan have been asked to reduce the amount of tea they drink to keep the country's economy afloat, BBC reported.

Sipping fewer cups a day would cut Pakistan's high import bills, senior minister Ahsan Iqbal said.

The country's low foreign currency reserves - currently enough for fewer than two months of all imports - have left it in urgent need of funds.

Pakistan is the world's largest importer of tea, buying in more than $600m (£501m) worth last year.

"I appeal to the nation to cut down the consumption of tea by one to two cups because we import tea on loan," Mr Iqbal said, according to Pakistani media.

Business traders could also close their market stalls at 20:30 to save electricity, he suggested.

The plea came as Pakistan's foreign currency reserves continue to fall rapidly - putting pressure on the government to cut high import costs and keep funds in the country, according to BBC.

The request to reduce tea drinking has gone viral on social media, with many doubting the country's serious financial problems can be addressed by cutting out the caffeinated beverage.

Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves dropped from around $16bn (£13.4bn) in February to less than $10bn (£8.3bn) in the first week of June, barely enough to cover the cost of two months of all its imports. 

Last month officials in Karachi restricted the import of dozens of non-essential luxury items as part of their bid to protect funds.

The economic crisis is a major test for the government of Shehbaz Sharif, who replaced Imran Khan as Pakistan's prime minister in a parliamentary vote in April. 

Shortly after being sworn in, Mr Sharif accused Imran Khan's outgoing government of mismanaging the economy and said putting it back on track would be a huge challenge.

Last week his cabinet unveiled a fresh $47bn (£39bn) budget aimed at convincing the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to restart a stalled $6bn (£5bn) bailout programme, BBC reported.

The IMF deal was negotiated in 2019 to ease an economic crisis created by low foreign currency reserve supplies and years of stagnating growth - but was later paused after lenders questioned Pakistan's finances.

The EU is expected to launch legal action against the UK government on Wednesday over its decision to scrap some post-Brexit trade arrangements, BBC reported.

Ministers insist current checks on some goods travelling from Great Britain to Northern Ireland must end to avoid harm to the peace process.

They published a parliamentary bill on Monday aimed at overriding parts of the deal signed with the EU in 2020.

But Brussels says going back on the arrangement breaks international law.

The Northern Ireland Protocol is the part of the Brexit deal which keeps Northern Ireland in the EU's single market for goods.

This prevents a hard border with the Republic of Ireland - including checks there on the movement of people and goods - which both the UK and EU want to avoid in order to ensure peace is maintained.

But instead it means checks on some goods arriving into Northern Ireland from other parts of the UK.

That is opposed by unionists in Northern Ireland who argue it creates a trade border in the Irish Sea and could lead to the break-up of the UK, according to BBC.

Following elections in Northern Ireland last month, the Democratic Unionist Party is refusing to serve in a power-sharing executive with Sinn Fein until the protocol is changed.

But other parties in Northern Ireland - including Sinn Fein, the Alliance Party and the SDLP - accept the deal as it stands, BBC reported.

Russia has barred top UK-based journalists and defence figures as part of sanctions, in response to UK measures on Russian public figures, BBC reported.

The BBC's Clive Myrie, Orla Guerin, Nick Robinson and Nick Beake, who have reported from Ukraine, and Director General Tim Davie are on the list.

The BBC "will continue to report independently and fairly", a spokesperson said.

Sky TV, Times, Guardian, Channel 4 and ITV journalists are also barred.

Russia has already banned hundreds of elected British MPs.

The foreign ministry in Moscow announcedthat work on expanding the list, which includes 29 members of the media and 20 persons "connected to the defence complex", would continue, according to BBC.

"The British journalists included on the list are involved in deliberate dissemination of false and one-sided information about Russia and events in Ukraine and Donbas," Russia's foreign ministry said. "With their biased assessments they also contribute to fuelling Russophobia in British society."

In her most recent piece for the BBC, Orla Guerin reported from the Ukrainian city of Lysychansk, where she said the fabric of the city was being destroyed in a deliberate scorched earth policy. Clive Myrie reported live from Kyiv as Russian troops invaded Ukraine, attempting to capture the capital in the early days of the war.

The other BBC staff on the list are diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams, who has also reported from Ukraine, and corporation chairman Richard Sharp. 

Sky News chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay, who is also on the list, was wounded in a Russian ambush while reporting outside Kyiv at the same time.

Among the other high-profile journalists on the list are John Witherow, editor of The Times, Chris Evans of the Telegraph, Katharine Viner of the Guardian and Ted Verity of the Daily Mail.

Correspondents Shaun Walker and Luke Harding of the Guardian are on the list, along with presenters Sophy Ridge of Sky News and Cathy Newman of Channel 4 News, columnists Con Coughlin of the Daily Telegraph and Gideon Rachman of the FT, and Russia academic Mark Galeotti, BBC reported.

Russian troops control about 80% of the fiercely contested eastern city of Sievierodonetsk and have destroyed all three bridges leading out of it but Ukrainians were still trying to evacuate the wounded, a regional official said Tuesday, Associated Press reported.

Serhiy Haidai, governor of the eastern Luhansk region, acknowledged that a mass evacuation of civilians from Sievierodonetsk now was “simply not possible” due to the relentless shelling and fighting. Ukrainian forces have been pushed to the industrial outskirts of the city because of “the scorched earth method and heavy artillery the Russians are using,” he said.

“There is still an opportunity for the evacuation of the wounded, communication with the Ukrainian military and local residents,” he told The Associated Press by telephone, adding that Russian soldiers have not yet completely blocked off the strategic city.

About 12,000 people remain in Sievierodonetsk, from a pre-war population of 100,000. More than 500 civilians are sheltering in the Azot chemical plant, which is being pounded by the Russians, according to Haidai.

In all, 70 civilians were evacuated from the Luhansk region in the last day, the governor said.

A Russian general, meanwhile, said a humanitarian corridor will be opened Wednesday to evacuate civilians from the Azot plant. Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev said evacuees would be taken to the town of Svatovo, 60 kilometers (35 miles) to the north in territory under the control of Russian and separatist forces.

He said the plan was made after Ukraine called for an evacuation corridor leading to territory it controls, according to Associated Press.

Mizintsev, head of the National Defense Management Center, is accused by Ukraine of human rights violations while commanding troops during the long siege of Mariupol, Ukraine’s key port on the Sea of Azov, which has been taken over by the Russians.

Russian forces in the past few weeks have pressed hard to capture Ukraine’s eastern industrial Donbas area, which borders Russia and is made up of the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.

“The losses, unfortunately, are painful, but we have to hold out,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Tuesday in his nightly video address. “The more losses the enemy suffers there, the less strength it will have to continue the aggression. Therefore, the Donbas is key to determining who will dominate in the coming weeks.”

As he does almost every day, Zelenskyy pleaded for more and faster deliveries of Western arms, this time specifically asking for anti-missile defense systems. 

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said Tuesday the military had only received around 10% of the Western weapons it had requested “to create parity with the Russian army.”

“No matter how much effort Ukraine makes, no matter how professional our army, without the help of Western partners we will not be able to win this war,” Malyar said in a televised news conference, Associated Press reported.

She said Ukraine uses 5,000 to 6,000 artillery rounds a day, while Russia uses 10 times more.

In recent days, Ukrainian officials have spoken of the heavy human cost of the war, with the fierce fighting in the east becoming an artillery battle that has seen Kyiv’s forces outgunned and outnumbered.

Malyar said every day of delay means the loss of lives of more Ukrainian soldiers and civilians. “And therefore, unfortunately, we cannot wait very long, because the situation is very difficult,” she added, according to Associated Press.