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The UN General Assembly (UNGA) unanimously elected Nepal as one of the Vice Presidents of the 77th UN General Assembly to represent the Asia-Pacific region.

Apple must change the connector on iPhones sold in Europe by 2024 after EU countries and lawmakers agreed on Tuesday to a single charging port for mobile phones, tablets and cameras in a world first, Reuters reported.

The political intervention, which the European Commission said would make life easier for consumers and save them money, came after companies failed to reach a common solution.

Brussels has been pushing for a single mobile charging port for more than a decade, prompted by complaints from iPhone and Android users about having to switch to different chargers for their devices.

iPhones are charged from a Lightning cable, while Android-based devices use USB-C connectors.

The company, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, had earlier warned that the proposal would hurt innovation and create a mountain of electronics waste.

Despite that, its shares were up 0.9% in morning trade in New York, according to Reuters.

The move could become a sales driver for Apple in 2024, analysts said, encouraging more Europeans to buy the latest gadgets instead of ones without USB-C.

It could persuade consumers to upgrade to a new phone sooner, said CFRA Research analyst Angelo Zino.

“Existing consumers can still use the Lightning cable, but maybe there would be less purchases of older products on third-party platforms,” he said.

Apple is already working on an iPhone with a USB-C charging port that could debut next year, Bloomberg reported last month.

When Apple releases new iPhones, the older generation phones are usually discounted, leading to millions of customers opting
for the cheaper variants.

If the EU prohibits the sale of older models, it risks upsetting many consumers and the government would be forcing consumers to shell out more, said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager at research firm IDC, Reuters reported.

Half the chargers sold with mobile phones in 2018 had a USB micro-B connector while 29% had a USB-C connector and 21% a Lightning connector, a 2019 Commission study showed.

“By autumn 2024, USB Type-C will become the common charging port for all mobile phones, tablets and cameras in the EU,” the European Parliament said in a statement.

EU industry chief Thierry Breton said the deal would save about 250 million euros ($267 million) for consumers.

“It will also allow new technologies, such as wireless charging, to emerge and to mature without letting innovation become a source of market fragmentation and consumer inconvenience,” he said.

Laptops will have to comply with the legislation within 40 months of it coming into force. The EU executive will have the power in future to harmonise wireless charging systems.

That the deal also covers e-readers, earbuds and other technologies means it will also have an impact on Samsung , Huawei and other device makers, analysts said, according to Reuters.

“We are proud that laptops, e-readers, earbuds, keyboards, computer mice and portable navigation devices are also included,” said lawmaker Alex Agius Saliba, who steered the debate at the European Parliament.

Angela Merkel defended her approach to Ukraine and Russia during her 16 years as Germany’s leader, saying Tuesday that a much criticized 2015 peace deal for eastern Ukraine bought Kyiv precious time and she won’t apologize for her diplomatic efforts, Associated Press reported.

In her first substantial comments since leaving office six months ago, Merkel said there was “no excuse” for Russia’s “brutal” attack on Ukraine and it was “a big mistake on Russia’s part.”

Merkel, who dealt with Russian President Vladimir Putin throughout her chancellorship, rejected a suggestion that she and others engaged in appeasement that ultimately enabled the invasion.

“I tried to work toward calamity being averted, and diplomacy was not wrong if it doesn’t succeed,” she said in an on-stage interview at a Berlin theater that was televised live. “I don’t see that I should say now that it was wrong, and so I won’t apologize.”

“It is a matter of great sorrow that it didn’t succeed, but I don’t blame myself now for trying,” Merkel said. 

She defended the 2015 peace agreement that she and then-French President Francois Hollande brokered in Minsk, Belarus, aimed at easing fighting in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russian-backed separatists.

Merkel conceded that it didn’t fulfill all of Ukraine’s interests and that few people stand by it now, with some saying it was badly negotiated, according to Associated Press.

“But at the time it brought calm and, for example, it gave Ukraine a great deal of time — seven years namely — to develop into what it is today,” she said. If there had been no intervention at the time, she added, “Putin could have wrought gigantic damage in Ukraine.”

She said that sanctions against Russia over its annexation of Crimea in 2014 “could have been stronger, as far as I’m concerned,” but added that there was no majority sentiment for doing so at the time. 

“We didn’t do nothing either,” she said, noting that Russia was thrown out of the Group of Eight and that NATO set a target for countries to work toward spending 2% of their gross domestic product on defense.

Merkel also strongly defended a decision in 2008 not to put Ukraine directly on track to join NATO, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in early April blasted as a “miscalculation.”

NATO pledged in 2008 that Ukraine and Georgia would one day become members. But French and German concern over Russia’s reactions dashed their hopes of being granted a “membership action plan” that would bring them into the alliance within five to 10 years.

Merkel said that “Ukraine was not the one we know today,” saying it was a country very divided and dominated by oligarchs. “It wasn’t an internally democratically stable country,” she said, Associated Press reported.

She suggested a stronger NATO green light for Ukraine in 2008 would have led to faster Russian aggression, with Ukraine less able to resist.

“I was very certain that Putin wouldn’t just let it happen,” she said. “For him, from his perspective, that was a declaration of war ... I don’t share any of this, but I knew how he thought.”

Tuning to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, which she long defended against criticism from the US, Ukraine and eastern European allies, Merkel said Putin invaded Ukraine without waiting for it to enter service. 

Current Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government halted the project in February.

His administration also decided to deliver arms to Ukraine. 

Merkel said she had opposed doing that when she was chancellor because Germany and France were trying to lead diplomacy, according to Associated Press.

“That is no longer on the agenda today — this is a different time,” she said.

Sri Lanka’s prime minister says the United Nations has arranged a worldwide public appeal to help the island nation’s food, agriculture and heath sectors face serious shortages amid its worst economic crises in recent memory, Aljazeera reported.

In his speech to parliament on Tuesday, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the UN plans to provide $48m in assistance over a four-month period. But the projected funds barely scratch the surface of the $6bn the island nation needs to stay afloat over the next six months.

Wickremesinghe said that for the next three weeks, it will be tough to obtain some essentials and urged people to be “united and patient”, to use the scarce supplies as carefully as possible and to avoid nonessential travel.

“Therefore, I urge all citizens to refrain from thinking about hoarding fuel and gas during this period. After those difficult three weeks, we will try to provide fuel and food without further disruptions. Negotiations are under way with various parties to ensure this happens,” Wickremesinghe said.

The Indian Ocean nation of 22 million is nearly bankrupt and has suspended repayment of its foreign loans. Its foreign reserves are almost spent, which has limited imports and caused serious shortages of essentials including food, medicine, fuel and cooking gas, according to Aljazeera.

This year, the island is due to repay $7bn of the $25bn in foreign loans it is scheduled to pay by 2026. Sri Lanka’s total foreign debt is $51bn.

To tide over the current turmoil, Sri Lanka will need about $3.3bn for fuel imports, $900m for food, $250m for cooking gas and $600m more for fertiliser this year, Wickremesinghe told parliament.

The central bank has estimated the economy will contract by 3.5 percent in 2022, Wickremesinghe said, but added that he was confident growth could return with a strong reform package, debt restructuring and international support.

“Only establishing economic stability is not enough, we have to restructure the entire economy,” said Wickremesinghe, who is working on an interim budget to balance battered public finances, Aljazeera reported.

“We need to achieve economic stability by the end of 2023.”

Harry Kane's late penalty gave England a Nations League draw in Germany as he became only the second man to score 50 goals for his country, BBC reported.

England captain Kane sent Germany keeper Manuel Neuer the wrong way from the spot with two minutes left, as a VAR review ruled he had been brought down by Nico Schlotterbeck.

It was a goal that gave England their first point in the tournament after defeat in Hungary on Saturday and moved Kane into second place in the all-time record standings, moving ahead of Sir Bobby Charlton to sit only three behind Wayne Rooney, according to BBC.

England looked to be going down to their second defeat but came to life late on in Munich after going behind to Jonas Hofmann's deflected 50th-minute shot and will now look to build on this result when they face Italy at Molineux on Saturday.

Russia on Tuesday claimed to have taken control of 97% of one of the two provinces that make up Ukraine’s Donbas, bringing the Kremlin closer to its goal of fully capturing the eastern industrial heartland of coal mines and factories, Associated Press reported.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Moscow’s forces hold nearly all of Luhansk province. And it appears that Russia now occupies roughly half of Donetsk province, according to Ukrainian officials and military analysts.

After abandoning its bungled attempt to storm Kyiv two months ago, Russia declared that taking the entire Donbas is its main objective. Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian government forces in the Donbas since 2014, and the region has borne the brunt of the Russian onslaught in recent weeks.

Early in the war, Russian troops also took control of the entire Kherson region and a large part of the Zaporizhzhia region, both in the south. Russian officials and their local appointees have talked about plans for those regions to either declare their independence or be folded into Russia.

But in what may be the latest instance of anti-Russian sabotage inside Ukraine, Russian state media said Tuesday that an explosion at a cafe in the city of Kherson wounded four people. Tass called the apparent bombing in the Russian-occupied city a “terror act.”

Before the Feb. 24 invasion, Ukrainian officials said Russia controlled some 7% of the country,including the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014, and areas held by the separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk. Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces hold 20% of the country, according to Associated Press.

While Russia has superior firepower, the Ukrainian defenders are entrenched and have shown the ability to counterattack.

Zelenskyy said Russian forces made no significant advances in the eastern Donbas region over the past day.

“The absolutely heroic defense of the Donbas continues,” he said late Tuesday in his nightly video address.

Zelenskyy said the Russians clearly did not expect to meet so much resistance and are now trying to bring in additional troops and equipment. He said the same was true in the Kherson region.

Speaking earlier to a Financial Times conference, Zelenskyy insisted on Ukraine’s need to defeat Russia on the battlefield but also said he is still open to peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But a former senior US intelligence officer said the time isn’t right.

“You’re not going to get to the negotiating table until neither side feels they have an advantage that they could push,” said Andrea Kendall-Taylor of the Washington-based Center for a New American Security.

The Russians “think they will be able to take the whole of the Donbas and then might use that as the opportunity to call for negotiations,” Kendall-Taylor said at an online seminar organized by Columbia and New York universities, Associated Press reported.

Shoigu, the Russian defense minister, said Moscow’s forces have seized the residential quarters of Sievierodonetsk and are fighting to take control of an industrial zone on the city’s outskirts and nearby towns.

Sievierodonetsk and nearby Lysychansk have seen heavy fighting in recent weeks. They are among a few cities and towns in the Luhansk region still holding out against the Russian invasion, which is being helped by local pro-Kremlin forces.

Arju’s Chatamari and Khaja Ghar is arguably the best Chatamari place in Kathmandu. This hole-in-the-wall eatery at Ghattekulo has been serving the popular Newari dish—minced egg and meat wrapped in a neat rice flour batter—to its faithful customers for over three decades. It also serves other popular Khaja dishes like aloo tarkari, achar, chiura, sukuti, and choila, which are equally delicious—but its juicy flavorsome Chatamaris are undoubtedly what draw people here. Besides food, the ambience here highlights the authenticity of Kathmandu. The place has a limited seating area and it is usually packed. So be prepared to wait for an empty seat or a takeaway order when you visit. The eatery is run by an absolutely delightful couple, which makes you want to visit it time and again. 

Their special:

Chatamari

Choila

Sukuti

Opening hours: 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm 

Location: Ghattekulo, Kathmandu

Meal for 2: Rs. 500

Online Payment: Yes

Contact: 9841581008

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has organized the first edition of Yadhu Nath Khanal Lecture Series. In the program, Prof. Surya Prasad Subedi delivered the keynote speech on ‘Foreign Policy of Nepal: Past, Present, and Future.’

Addressing the program Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Khadka said safeguarding sovereignty, territorial integrity, national independence, and protection of national interest has been at the core of Nepal’s foreign policy all along. Foreign Secretary Bharat Raj Paudyal said the annual series has been initiated to honor the contribution made by Khanal in the realm of Nepal’s Foreign policy.