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A powerful earthquake has killed at least 920 people and left hundreds more injured in Afghanistan, Taliban officials say, BBC reported.

Pictures show landslides and ruined mud-built homes in eastern Paktika province, where rescuers are scrambling to treat the injured.

In remote areas, helicopters have been ferrying victims to hospitals.

Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada said hundreds of houses were destroyed and the death toll was likely to rise.

His deputy minister for disaster management Sharafuddin Muslim told a news conference that at least 920 people had been killed and a further 600 injured.

The quake struck about 44km (27 miles) from the south-eastern city of Khost shortly after 01:30 local time (21:00 Tuesday GMT), when many people were at home, asleep in their beds.

Earthquakes tend to cause significant damage in Afghanistan, where there are many rural areas where dwellings are unstable or poorly built.

Taliban officials called for aid agencies to rush to the affected areas in the nation’s east.

Decades of conflict have made it difficult for the impoverished country to improve its protections against earthquakes and other natural disasters – despite efforts by aid agencies to reinforce some buildings over the years, according to BBC.

Even before the Taliban takeover, Afghanistan’s emergency services were stretched to deal with natural disasters – with few aircraft and helicopters available to rescuers.

Most of the casualties so far were in the Gayan and Barmal districts in Paktika, a local doctor told the BBC. Local media site Etilaat-e Roz reported a whole village in Gayan had been destroyed.

Tremors were felt across more than 500km of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Witnesses reported feeling the quake in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, as well as Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad.

However, there have been no immediate reports of casualties, and the earthquake caused little damage in Pakistan, according to BBC Urdu.

Afghanistan is prone to quakes, as it’s located in a tectonically active region, over a number of fault lines including the Chaman fault, the Hari Rud fault, the Central Badakhshan fault and the Darvaz fault.

The earthquake was magnitude 6.1 at a depth of some 51km, according to seismologists.

In the past 10 years, more than 7,000 people have been killed in earthquakes in the country, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports. There are an average of 560 deaths a year from earthquakes, BBC reported.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index plunged by 31. 21 points to close at 1,893.53 points on Wednesday. 

Similarly, the sensitive index fell 5. 94 points to reach 369. 15 points.

A total of 3,034,483 units of shares of 229 companies were traded for Rs 8. 43 billion.

Likewise, all sub-indices saw red in today’s market with Non Life Insurance on the top of the table. 

Meanwhile, Global IME Samunnat Scheme was the top gainer today with its price surging by 10. 05 percent. Likewise, United IDI Mardi RB Hydropower Limited was the top loser with its price dropped by 6. 48 percent. 

At the end of the day, total market civilization stands at Rs 2.69 trillion.

Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Dilendra Prasad Badu has said the price of petroleum products in Nepal has to be increased due to its rising prices in the international market.

During a meeting of the National Assembly today, the Minister said an automated price system for petroleum products has been implemented in the country since 2071 BS and the rise and fall of petroleum prices is being determined accordingly.

He said, “Lately Nepal is getting the increased price list of petroleum products each time due to a special energy crisis following the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.  Instead of crude oil, the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) directly purchases refined oil from the international market.”  He also took time to inform the House that NOC business was in loss at present due to skyrocketing prices of petroleum products in the international market. 

The prices of petro products are gradually rising in the international market lately and till June 14 NOC losses was around Rs 50 billion and it's due to its exporter, Indian Oil Corporation, was Rs 22 billion, according to the Minister.

"I want to inform this session that the price of petroleum products had to be increased due to the compulsion to adjust the prices at a par with the cost price so that the dues to be paid to the Indian Oil Corporation for purchasing petroleum products does not add up and in order to making the supply system smooth," the Supplies Minister explained.

He also made it clear that the petroleum products were being sold and distributed as per the existing related laws and policies of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC).

"The NOC's Thankot depot sold 750 thousand liters of petrol and 850 thousand liters of diesel on June 19 in the Kathmandu Valley where the largest volume of petroleum products is consumed throughout the country. Similarly, it sold 840 thousand liters of petrol and one million 40 thousand liters of diesel on June 20. The petroleum products have been sold by determining the price in consonance with the laws and policies and not with the intention of profiteering any entity or any person," the Minister said in response to the lawmakers' suspicion that the NOC had hoarded the petroleum products and hiked their prices.

He said it is not true that the price of petroleum products was hiked after NOC supplied the previous stock to the dealers.

Minister Badu informed that a high-level task force has been formed to study and present a report on the short and long term policy, legal and institutional reforms for making the supply system of petroleum products and LP gas smooth, systematic, transparent and effective in Nepal.

He also gave assurances that the market monitoring would be made further effective, systematic and vigorous.

Experts have advised people to be cautious saying that there is a high risk of outbreak of infectious disease like Cholera in Kathmandu.

The Ministry of Health and Population confirmed cholera infection in four  people in Kathmandu so far.

According to the District Health Office, Kathmandu, the infection of the disease has been confirmed in one person in Bhotebahal, one in Dillibazaar and two in Bagbazaar.

The Division of Epidemiology and Disease Control under the Department of Health Services said that the samples are being collected from the areas where the cholera has been detected.

The results have not come yet.

The patients of Bagbazaar have found drinking  water of both the jar and the tap without boiling.

A team has been deputed to collect the samples of water in Bhotebahal and Dillibazaar.

Basanta Adhikari, Chief at the District Health Office, Kathmandu said that a team has been formed to investigate the highly contagious fatal disease.

Prices are continuing to rise at their fastest rate for 40 years as food, energy and fuel costs climb, BBC reported.

UK inflation, the rate at which prices rise, edged up to 9.1% in the 12 months to May, from 9% in April, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

Food price rises, particular for bread, cereal and meat, were a big factor in the latest rise, the ONS said.

Cost of living pressures have led to unions and workers calling for pay rises.

But the government has warned against employers handing out big increases in salaries over fears of a 1970s style "inflationary spiral", where prices continued to rise as wages went up.

Currently, inflation is at the highest level since March 1982, when it also stood at 9.1% and the Bank of England has warned it will reach 11% this year.

Inflation is the pace at which prices are rising. For example, if a bottle of milk costs £1 and that rises by 5p compared with a year earlier, then milk inflation is 5%, according to BBC.

In a BBC-commissioned survey of more than 4,000 people, 82% said they thought their wages should increase to match the rising price of goods and services.

Households were hit by an unprecedented £700-a-year increase in energy costs in April, and fuel price rises in June mean it costs more than £100 to fill an average family car with petrol.

The country's railways were severely disrupted on Tuesday as rail workers begun a series of strikes in a dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.

About 40,000 members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union working for Network Rail and 13 train operators walked out, with union bosses calling for a pay rise of 7%, while employers have offered a maximum of 3%.

Jon Richards, assistant general secretary Unison, accused ministers of "living on another planet" over "talks of public sector pay restraint".

"Under-pressure health, care, school and council services desperately need staff to be given a pay boost that matches runaway prices," he said, BBC reported.

But Dominic Raab told the BBC's Today programme: "We have got to stop making the problem worse by fuelling pay demands that will only see inflation stay higher for longer and that only hurts the poorest the worst."

The ONS said rising prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages helped fuel inflation in May.

Russia's war in Ukraine has severely restricted wheat and maize supplies, which are used to make bread and cereals, from two of the world's biggest exporters.

Ukraine is also a major producer of of sunflower oil, meaning to the costs of alternatives have also climbed.

Market reach firm Kantar has forecast that the average annual grocery bill in the UK is set to rise by £380 this year.

Supermarket Asda told the BBC some shoppers are setting £30 limits at checkouts and petrol pumps, with customers are putting less in their baskets and switching to budget ranges.

Grant Fitzner, chief economist at the ONS, said the prices of goods leaving factories rose at their fastest rate in 45 years in May, driven by "widespread food price rises".

Mr Fitzner added the cost of raw materials "leapt at their fastest rate on record".

But he said the steep rises in food and record high petrol prices in May had been stemmed by the price of clothes rising less than they did this time last year, along with a drop in computer game costs.

Responding to the latest inflation rate, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the government was "using all the tools at our disposal to bring inflation down and combat rising prices".

"I know that people are worried about the rising cost of living, which is why we have taken targeted action to help families, getting £1,200 to the eight million most vulnerable households," he added, according to BBC.

But Rachel Reeves, Labour's shadow chancellor said the country needed "more than sticking plasters to get us back on course - we need a stronger, and more secure economy". 

"Though rapid inflation is pushing family finances to the brink, the low wage spiral faced by many in Britain isn't new. Over the last decade, Tory mismanagement of our economy has meant living standards and real wages have failed to grow."

One way to try to control how fast prices are rising is to raise interest rates. This increases the cost of borrowing and encourages people to borrow and spend less, and save more.

In a bid to stem the pace of soaring prices, the Bank of England recently increased UK interest rates from 1% to 1.25%.

The move was the fifth consecutive rise, pushing rates to the highest level in 13 years. However, when inflation was last at 9.1% in March 1982, interest rates were 13%, Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown said, BBC reported.

Police on Tuesday arrested an Indian national on the charge of illegally operating a call bypass center in Birgunj Metropolitan City-2.

The detainee has been identified as Irphan Suphiyan Khan (38) of Telakuwa, Badshahgram, Uttar Pradesh.

Acting on a tip-off, a joint team of the Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police and the District Police Office, Parsa raided a house in Birgunj and apprehended him.

Police have also confiscated a 32-port GOIP gateway device, two routers, an inverter, 40 NTC SIM cards and 58 Ncell SIM cards among others from the house.

Police said that they are investigating the case.

After pushing Nepal to approve the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) economic pact, the US may have also urged the Himalayan country to join its military alliance, the State Partnership Program (SPP), widely believed to be another component of the US' Indo-Pacific Strategy, The Global Times reported.

Observers from both Nepal and China warned against the program's heavy military focus on the containment of China in the region.

Nepalis media reported that the US renewed a push last week on Nepal to participate in the SPP during the visit of Commanding General of the US Army Pacific, Charles Flynn, to Nepal. Flynn called for the signing of the SPP when he met with Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Chief of Staff of the Nepal Army General Prabhu Ram Sharma, the report said. 

The disclosed six-page draft US proposal triggered a debate and faced backlash in Nepal for the possible US military presence in Nepal, which, many warned, contradicts Nepal's non-aligned foreign policy.

The SPP, once approved, would draw Nepal one step closer to the US' military alliance, despite Washington's denial and calling it development assistance, said experts.

Under huge pressure from the public and lawmakers, during his meeting with coalition partners on Wednesday, Deuba said that he will not sign any agreement with any country, including the SPP, that could bring harm to Nepal, according to Global Times. 

The American embassy called the SPP draft circulating online "fake."

Inspite of this, many suspect the disclosure of the SPP in Nepal could be intended as a tactic to test the waters, as the ambition and intention of the US to strengthen its military presence in Nepal have long been clear under the core purpose of the US' Indo-Pacific Strategy to contain China, according to the Global Times.

Concluding his four-day trip to Nepal, Flynn said on Twitter that "we cherish our decades-long defense partnership and look forward to opportunities for collaboration."

Observers told the Global Times that the US has increased its penetration and interference in Nepalese politics in recent years, and the approval of the US-pushed MCC program in Nepal in February is an example.

If the MCC has supported US control and influence in Nepal economically, the SPP could be used to strengthen the US' military ties in the Asian country, Qian Feng, director of the Research Department of the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, said.

"The US has always valued the geographical importance of Nepal which borders Southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region. Since the Trump administration, the US has been trying to include Nepal in its Indo-Pacific Strategy to achieve its multiple political and security goals toward China," Zhang Yongpan, a research fellow of the Institute of Chinese Borderland Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, suggested. "In recent years, the political situation in Nepal has been turbulent, and the divided parties are vulnerable to pressures of external forces. The US takes the opportunity to increase influence and infiltrations in Nepal via multiple ways, trying to make it a tool to promote the US' Indo-Pacific Strategy," Zhang told the Global Times.

But such US tactics to contain China are bound to be futile, and Nepal will not easily become the frontline of the US' attempts to suppress China, experts concluded.
 

A bicycle rider died after being hit by a bus at Suda in Bedkot Municipality-7, Kanchanpur on Wednesday.

The deceased has been identified as Bimala Joshi (30).

Police said that the bus (Na 4 Kha 8077) heading towards Dhangadhi from Mahendranagar hit Joshi while she was crossing the road this morning.

The District Police Office, Kanchanpur has taken driver Rajendra Prasad Joshi (40) of Bhimdutta Municipality-7 under control after the incident.

Following the incident, locals obstructed the road demanding stern action against the driver.

Police said that they are looking into the case.