Submit your Article

Nepal recorded 747 new Covid-19 cases and eight deaths on Monday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 6, 279 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 482 returned positive. Likewise, 2,417 people underwent antigen tests, of which 265 tested positive.

The Ministry said that 2, 319 infected people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours.

As of today, there are 20, 739 active cases in the country.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Ukraine on Monday, part of a flurry of Western diplomacy aimed at heading off a feared Russian invasion that some warn could be just days away, Associated Press reported.

Scholz plans to continue on to Moscow, where he will try to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to back down.

US officials have warned that Russia could attack this week. Moscow denies it has any such plans but has massed well over 130,000 troops near Ukraine and, in the US view, has built up enough firepower to launch an attack on short notice.

With concerns rising that war could be imminent, some airlines canceled flights to the Ukrainian capital and troops there unloaded fresh shipments of weapons from NATO members Sunday. The United States, Britain and other European nations have told their citizens to leave the country and Washington was also pulling most of its staff from the embassy in Kyiv.

Ukraine’s air traffic safety agency Ukraerorukh issued a statement declaring the airspace over the Black Sea to be a “zone of potential danger” because of Russian naval drills and recommended that planes avoid flying over the sea Feb. 14-19.

The US and its NATO allies have repeatedly warned that Russia will pay a high price for any invasion — but they have sometimes struggled to present a united front. Scholz’s government, in particular, has been criticized for refusing to supply lethal weapons to Ukraine or to spell out which sanctions it would support against Russia, raising questions about Berlin’s resolve to stand up to Moscow.

The chancellor’s visits this week will thus be closely watched for a signs of deviating from the message delivered by Washington and other NATO allies — but it is also seen as a last-ditch effort to head off war.

So far, those warnings appear to have had little effect: Russia has only beefed up troops and weapons in the region and launched massive drills in its ally Belarus, which also neighbors Ukraine. The West fears that the drills, which will run through Sunday, could be used by Moscow as a cover for an invasion from the north.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Sunday that Kyiv requested a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in the next 48 hours to discuss the Russian deployments near the country’s borders.

Moscow wants guarantees from the West that NATO won’t allow Ukraine and other former Soviet countries to join as members, and that the alliance will halt weapon deployments to Ukraine and roll back its forces from Eastern Europe. The U.S. and NATO have flatly rejected those demands.

Some observers expect Moscow to eventually accept a compromise that would help avoid hostilities and allow all sides to save face. While NATO refuses to shut the door to Ukraine, the alliance also has no intention of embracing it or any other ex-Soviet nation anytime soon. Some experts have floated ideas such as a moratorium on NATO expansion or a neutral status for Ukraine to defuse the tensions.

Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK, Vadym Prystaiko, seemed to suggest just such a middle path, telling the BBC on Sunday that the country could abandon its goal of joining NATO — an objective that is written into its constitution — if it would avert war with Russia.

“We might — especially being threatened like that, blackmailed by that, and pushed to it,” Prystaiko told BBC Radio 5.

On Monday, however, Prystaiko appeared to back away from that, saying that “to avoid war we are ready for many concessions ... but it has nothing to do with NATO, which is enshrined in the constitution.”

In an hourlong Saturday call with Putin, US President Joe Biden said that invading Ukraine would cause “widespread human suffering” and that the West was committed to diplomacy to end the crisis but “equally prepared for other scenarios,” the White House said.

Biden also spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for about an hour Sunday, agreeing to keep pushing both deterrence and diplomacy to try to stave off a Russian offensive.

As he has before, Zelenskyy sought to play down the idea that a conflict was imminent, noting that Kyiv and other cities of Ukraine “are safe and under reliable protection.”

His office’s readout of the call also quoted him suggesting that a quick Biden visit would help deescalate the situation — signaling Zelenskyy’s hope the U.S. leader might actually come. That possibility was not mentioned in the White House summary of the call.

“I am convinced that your arrival in Kyiv in the coming days, which are crucial for stabilizing the situation, will be a powerful signal and contribute to de-escalation,” Zelenskyy was quoted by his office as telling Biden.

The Biden administration has become increasingly outspoken about its concerns that Russia could create a false pretext for an invasion in the coming days.

Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly leader was driven from office by a popular uprising. Moscow responded by annexing the Crimean Peninsula and then backing a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine, where fighting has killed over 14,000 people.

A 2015 peace deal brokered by France and Germany helped halt large-scale battles, but regular skirmishes have continued, and efforts to reach a political settlement have stalled.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) gained 0.08 points to close at 2,700.98 points on Monday.

Meanwhile, a total of 7,549,779 unit shares of 227 companies were traded for Rs 3. 68 billion.

Similarly, the sensitive index plunged by 0.36 points to close at 511.30 points.

In today’s market, all sub-indices saw green except for Banking, Trading, Non-Life Insurance, Manu. & Pro and Mutual Fund.

Meanwhile, Buddha Bhumi Nepal Hydropower Company Limited was the top gainer today, with its price surging by 8.13 percent. Mailung Khola Jal Vidhyut Company Limited was the top loser as its price fell by 3.85 percent

At the end of the day, total market capitalisation stood at Rs 3.81 trillion.

Ford Motor Co (F.N) said on Friday it is considering producing electric vehicles (EVs) in India for export, and possibly for sale in the domestic market, just months after the US automaker decided to stop selling and manufacturing cars in the country, Reuters reported.

Ford's comments mark a shift in strategy after it said in September it was taking a hit of about $2 billion because it does not see a path to profitability and was leaving the major auto market. The decision came as a setback for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make in India" campaign.

Ford has two car plants in the country. In a statement on Friday, the company said it was "exploring the possibility of using a plant in India as an export base for EV manufacturing."

When asked if the company may consider selling electric cars in India as well, a Ford India spokesman said, "there have been no specific discussions on this right now, but it is not out of the realm of future consideration".

Ford is increasingly targeting customers in what it said was a "global electric vehicle revolution". The automaker has previously said it plans to invest $30 billion in EVs and batteries through 2030, according to the Reuters.

Ford had less than 2% of the Indian passenger vehicle market when it stopped production in the country, having struggled for more than two decades to turn a profit. The restructuring was viewed positively by analysts.

The move allows Ford to keep a door open to re-enter India if it so decides at a later stage, said Gaurav Vangaal, Associate Director, Light Production Forecasting at IHS Markit.

There is a cost benefit to manufacturing in India, and the company has historically exported vehicles to North America and Europe - both of which are now large and growing EV markets, said Vangaal.

"Ford will have to prove India can also be cost-competitive for making EVs, for which it will need big investments to localise the supply chain," he said, adding that it will also need to figure out how it would source lithium-ion batteries.

Ford's comments to explore India as an EV manufacturing hub came after the company's proposal to seek incentives under the government's $3.5 billion scheme for clean-fuel vehicles was approved on Friday.

The plan is a cornerstone of the Modi government's agenda to cut oil imports and reduce pollution by giving benefits of up to 18% of new investments made by companies to manufacture electric and hydrogen fuel-powered vehicles. Ford is among 20 other companies eligible for benefits under the scheme.

Chief of the Army Staff Prabhu Ram Sharma and ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to Nepal Saeed Hamdan Mohammad Al Naqbi held a meeting at the Nepal Army headquarters in Bhadrakali, Kathmandu on Monday.

During the meeting, the duo discussed matters of mutual interest and strengthening bilateral ties between the two countries.

The main opposition CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli claimed that the ruling coalition parties registered an impeachment motion against Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana to not hold the local level elections on time.

He said so while addressing the party’s Parliamentary Party meeting held in New Baneshwor on Monday.

Chairman Oli said that his party would stand against the five-party ruling alliance.

He accused the ruling parties of hatching a conspiracy to postpone the elections.

The Chairman further said that the ruling coalition parties are trying to tarnish the image of the party at the international level on the issues including the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

The former Prime Minister said that the party would protest against the activities of the government.

Twelve people were injured at Saudi Arabia's Abha airport by shrapnel from an explosive-laden drone intercepted by air defences on Thursday, the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group said, Reuters reported. 

In a statement carried by Al Arabiya TV, the coalition later warned people in the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital Sanaa to avoid civilian locations used for military purposes during the next 72 hours while it strikes drone launch sites,

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said the group hit a military target at Abha airport with a Qasef 2 drone.

Air traffic operations at Abha civilian airport returned to normal after standard safety procedures following the drone interception, the coalition said in statements carried by state media.

Shrapnel from the drone attack at midday fell inside airport grounds and some glass facades were damaged, it said.

Light injuries were sustained by two Saudi nationals and citizens of Bangladesh, Nepal, India, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement condemning the "terrorist attack" that Washington was committed to supporting the kingdom in the defence of its people and territory.

The Saudi-led coalition has been fighting the Houthis since early 2015, after the group ousted Yemen's internationally recognised government from power in Sanaa.

The Houthis often launch attacks on Abha airport, which lies close to the Yemeni border in Saudi Arabia's south, and other parts of the country with drones and missiles. Most attacks are intercepted but a few people have been killed and several injured.

The coalition regularly carries out air strikes on what it says are Houthi military targets in Yemen. On Thursday it said it would take measures to neutralize the source of threats to civilians in accordance with international humanitarian law.

The United Arab Emirates, a coalition member, twice in January said its forces destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile launch area in Yemen, after unprecedented drone and missile attacks on the UAE this year claimed by the Houthis.

Nepali Congress (NC) has called its Parliamentary Party meeting for Tuesday to discuss contemporary political issues.

The meeting will be held at 9 am at the Lhotse Hall of the Constituent Assembly building tomorrow.

Earlier on Sunday, three parties of the ruling coalition registered an impeachment motion at the Parliament Secretariat against Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana.