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Lawmakers have demanded that the government remove the provision of statute of limitation for rape, especially in the case of minors.

Saying that the incidents of heinous crimes have increased in the society, National Assembly lawmaker Bimala Rai Paudel has demanded removal of such provision.

She said that though government has formulated women-friendly laws, the cases of violence against women have not been decreased in the society.

"The provision of statute limitation was brought to get justice. This provision should be removed in the case of minors, rape and violence against women," Paudel said.

She demanded that the provision of statute limitation should be removed through an ordinance.

Similarly, Binda Pandey urged the government to amend the law to remove the provision of statute limitation.

The lawmakers have demanded the removal of such provision after a girl last week girl came out with a series of videos on TikTok claiming that she was drugged and raped in 2014 when she was16-year-old.

American President Biden launched the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) with a dozen initial partners: Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Together, we represent 40% of world GDP. 

Here is the full text issued by the White House : 

Today in Tokyo, Japan, President Biden launched the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) with a dozen initial partners: Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Together, we represent 40% of world GDP.  

The United States is an Indo-Pacific economic power, and expanding U.S. economic leadership in the region is good for American workers and businesses — as well as for the people of the region. IPEF will enable the United States and our allies to decide on rules of the road that ensure American workers, small businesses, and ranchers can compete in the Indo-Pacific. As the President has said, tackling inflation is a top economic priority, and this framework will help lower costs by making our supply chains more resilient in the long term, protecting us against costly disruptions that lead to higher prices for consumers.

U.S. foreign direct investment in the region totaled more than $969 billion in 2020 and has nearly doubled in the last decade, and we are the leading exporter of services to the region, helping fuel regional growth. Trade with the Indo-Pacific supports more than three million American jobs and is the source of nearly $900 billion in foreign direct investment in the United States. With 60 percent of the world’s population, the Indo‑Pacific is projected to be the largest contributor to global growth over the next 30 years.  

The United States and our partners in the region believe that much of our success in the coming decades will depend on how well governments harness innovation — especially the transformations afoot in the clean energy, digital, and technology sectors — while fortifying our economies against a range of threats, from fragile supply chains to corruption to tax havens. The past models of economic engagement did not address these challenges, leaving our workers, businesses, and consumers vulnerable. The framework will focus on four key pillars to establish high-standard commitments that will deepen our economic engagement in the region:

• Connected Economy: On trade, we will engage comprehensively with our partners on a wide range of issues. We will pursue high-standard rules of the road in the digital economy, including standards on cross-border data flows and data localization. We will work with our partners to seize opportunities and address concerns in the digital economy, in order to ensure small and medium sized enterprises can benefit from the region’s rapidly growing e-commerce sector, while addressing issues is such as online privacy and discriminatory and unethical use of Artificial Intelligence. We will also seek strong labor and environment standards and corporate accountability provisions that promote a race to the top for workers through trade. 
• Resilient Economy: We will seek first-of-their-kind supply chain commitments that better anticipate and prevent disruptions in supply chains to create a more resilient economy and guard against price spikes that increase costs for American families. We intend to do this by establishing an early warning system, mapping critical mineral supply chains, improving traceability in key sectors, and coordinating on diversification efforts.
• Clean Economy: We will seek first-of-their-kind commitments on clean energy, decarbonization, and infrastructure that promote good-paying jobs. We will pursue concrete, high-ambition targets that will accelerate efforts to tackle the climate crisis, including in the areas of renewable energy, carbon removal, energy efficiency standards, and new measures to combat methane emissions. 
• Fair Economy: We will seek commitments to enact and enforce effective tax, anti-money laundering, and anti-bribery regimes that are in line with our existing multilateral obligations to promote a fair economy. These will include provisions on the exchange of tax information, criminalization of bribery in accordance with UN standards, and effective implementation of beneficial ownership recommendations to strengthen our efforts to crack down on corruption.

President Joe Biden said Monday that the US would intervene militarily if China were to invade Taiwan, saying the burden to protect Taiwan is “even stronger’ after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It was one of the most forceful presidential statements in support of self-governing in decades, Associated Press reported.

Biden, at a news conference in Tokyo, said “yes” when asked if he was willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if China invaded. “That’s the commitment we made,” he added.

The US traditionally has avoided making such an explicit security guarantee to Taiwan, with which it no longer has a mutual defense treaty, instead maintaining a policy of “strategic ambiguity” about how far it would be willing to go if China invaded. The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which has governed US relations with the island, does not require the US to step in militarily to defend Taiwan if China invades, but makes it American policy to ensure Taiwan has the resources to defend itself and to prevent any unilateral change of status in Taiwan by Beijing.

Biden’s comments were likely to draw a sharp response from the mainland, which has claimed Taiwan to be a rogue province. 

A White House official said Biden’s comments did not reflect a policy shift.

Speaking alongside Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Biden said any effort by China to use force against Taiwan would “just not be appropriate,” adding that it “will dislocate the entire region and be another action similar to what happened in Ukraine.”

China has stepped up its military provocations against democratic Taiwan in recent years aimed at intimidating it into accepting Beijing’s demands to unify with the communist mainland, according to Associated Press.

“They’re already flirting with danger right now by flying so close and all the maneuvers that are undertaken,” Biden said of China.

Under the “one China” policy, the US recognizes Beijing as the government of China and doesn’t have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. However, the US maintains unofficial contacts including a de facto embassy in Taipei, the capital, and supplies military equipment for the island’s defense.

Biden said it is his “expectation” that China would not try to seize Taiwan by force, but he said that assessment “depends upon just how strong the world makes clear that that kind of action is going to result in long-term disapprobation by the rest of the community.”

He added that deterring China from attacking Taiwan was one reason why it’s important that Russian President Vladimir Putin “pay a dear price for his barbarism in Ukraine,” lest China and other nations get the idea that such action is acceptable.

Fearing escalation with nuclear-armed Russia, Biden quickly ruled out putting US forces into direct conflict with Russia, but he has shipped billions of dollars in US military assistance that has helped Ukraine put up a stiffer-than-expected resistance to Russia’s onslaught, Associated Press reported.

It’s not the first time Biden has pledged to defend Taiwan against a Chinese attack, only for administration officials to later claim there had been no change to American policy. In a CNN town hall in October, Biden was asked about using the US military to defend Taiwan and replied, “Yes, we have a commitment to do that.”

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said that the United States is redoubling its efforts to peddle the so-called Indo-Pacific Strategy aimed at containing China.   U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy is triggering more and more vigilance and concerns in the world, especially in Asia-Pacific countries, he said.

 “The so-called "strategy" has given itself away, as it not only aims to erase the name of "Asia-Pacific" and the effective regional cooperation framework in the Asia-Pacific region but also aims to efface the achievements and momentum of peace and development fostered by regional countries with joint efforts for decades. It's fair to cite a Chinese saying to describe the strategy; that is, "Sima Zhao's ill intent is known to all."

Wang Yi stressed, that conflicts and confrontations dominated by hegemony remain fresh in the memories of people in the Asia-Pacific region, who are now pursuing national stability and happy life.  Asia-Pacific countries are generally reluctant to take sides, and the mainstream voice is that they hope that all countries can live in harmony and engage in win-win cooperation, he adds, and that the trend of the times in the Asia-Pacific region is to promote regional integration and build an Asia-Pacific community with a shared future.

Facing the turbulent and changing world, the region has maintained overall peace and stability, and Asia's development has taken the lead in getting out of the shadow of the pandemic, with the GDP growth rate in 2021 reaching up to 6.3 percent, said the senior Chinese diplomat.

  Facts will prove that the so-called Indo-Pacific Strategy is in essence a strategy that creates divisions, incites confrontation, and undermines peace, he said.

A shortage of medicine caused by an economic crisis in Sri Lanka could soon cause deaths, doctors said, as hospitals are forced to postpone life-saving procedures for their patients because they do not have the necessary drugs, Reuters reported.

Sri Lanka imports more than 80 per cent of its medical supplies but with foreign currency reserves running out because of the crisis, essential medications are disappearing from shelves and the healthcare system is close to collapse.

At the 950-bed Apeksha cancer hospital on the outskirts of the commercial capital, Colombo, patients, their loved ones and doctors feel increasingly helpless in the face of the shortages which are forcing the suspension of tests and postponement of procedures including critical surgery.

"It is very bad for cancer patients," said Dr Roshan Amaratunga.

"Sometimes, in the morning we plan for some surgeries (but) we may not be able to do on that particular day ... as (supplies) are not there."

If the situation does not improve quickly, several patients would be facing a virtual death sentence, he said.

Sri Lanka is grappling with its most devastating economic crisis since independence in 1948, brought about by COVID-19 battering the tourism-reliant economy, rising oil prices, populist tax cuts and a ban on the import of chemical fertilisers, which devastated agriculture, according to Reuters.

A government official working on procuring medical supplies, said about 180 items were running out, including injections for dialysis patients, medicine for patients who have undergone transplants and certain cancer drugs.

The official, Saman Rathnayake, told Reuters that India, Japan and multilateral donors were helping to provide supplies, but it could take up to four months for items to arrive.

In the meantime, Sri Lanka has called on private donors, both at home and abroad, for help, he said, Reuters reported.

President Joe Biden announced Monday in Tokyo that 13 countries have joined a new, US-led Asia-Pacific trade initiative touted as a counterweight to China's aggressive expansion in the region.

"The United States and Japan, together with 11 other nations will be launching the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity, or IPEF," Biden said at a press conference alongside Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

"This framework is a commitment to working with our close friends and partners in the region on challenges that matter most to ensuring economic competitiveness in the 21st century," he said.

Biden was due to make a formal rollout of the framework later Monday.

He did not say what countries had already signed up to IPEF, which the White House is billing as a framework for what will ultimately become a tight-knit group of trading nations.

Unlike traditional trade blocs, there is no plan for IPEF members to negotiate tariffs and ease market access -- a tool that has become increasingly unpalatable to US voters fearful of undermining homegrown manufacturing.

Instead, the programme foresees integrating partners through agreed standards in four main areas: the digital economy, supply chains, clean energy infrastructure and anti-corruption measures.

Biden has pushed to rapidly rebuild strategic military and trade alliances weakened under his predecessor Donald Trump since taking office in 2021.

IPEF is intended to offer US allies an alternative to China's growing commercial presence across the Asia-Pacific.

However, there is no political will in Washington for returning to a tariffs-based Asia trade deal following Trump's 2017 withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership -- a huge trading bloc that was revived, without US membership, in 2018 as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

China has criticised IPEF as an attempt to create a closed club. Biden's national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, rejected this, telling reporters "it is by design and definition an open platform".

Sullivan said that Taiwan, a self-governing democracy that China claims sovereignty over, has not been brought into the initial line-up -- despite being an important link in microchip supply chains.

Sullivan said nevertheless that the United States is "looking to deepen our economic partnership with Taiwan, including on high-technology issues, including on semiconductors and supply chains."

This will happen, however, only "on a bilateral basis".

CPN (Maoist Centre) mayoral candidate Renu Dahal is leading by 10, 314 votes in Bharatpur Metropolitan City.

She has secured 44, 710 votes against her closest contender Bijay Subedi of CPN-UML who garnered 34, 396 votes.

Independent candidate Jagannath Paudel received 13, 613 votes.

It has been learnt that 111, 274 votes have been counted so far.

Similarly, deputy mayoral candidate Chitrasen Adhikari got 45, 849 votes while Himala Gurung of Rastriya Prajantra Party secured 27, 181 votes.

Anthony Albanese has been sworn in as Australia's new leader and will fly immediately to an international summit, BBC reported.

Mr Albanese's Labor Party defeated Scott Morrison's conservative government in an election on Saturday.

It remains unclear whether Mr Albanese will form a majority or govern with the support of crossbenchers.

The prime minister left for Tokyo on Monday to meet the leaders of the so-called Quad nations - the US, India and Japan.

Earlier in the day, he was sworn in with four key cabinet members, including new Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who is travelling with him to Japan.

Richard Marles is the new deputy prime minister and employment minister, Jim Chalmers is treasurer, and Katy Gallagher is attorney-general and finance minister.

It is Australia's first Labor government in almost a decade. The party has won 72 lower house seats but counting continues to determine whether they can get the 76 needed to form a majority.

But the primary vote for both major parties fell - almost a third of Australians put the Greens, independents and other minor parties as their first preference, according to BBC.

The Quad group is seen as largely aiming to counter growing Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

It will meet on Tuesday following recent diplomatic tensions in the Pacific, after the Solomon Islands last month signed a security pact with China.

The US and Australia hold fears the deal could allow China to build a naval base there.

In a statement ahead of the meeting, Mr Albanese said: "The Quad Leaders' Summit brings together four leaders of great liberal democracies - Australia, Japan, India, and the United States of America - in support of a free, open and resilient Indo-Pacific."

Ms Wong - Australia's first overseas-born foreign minister - signalled they would bring "new energy and much more to the table" on climate action, after "a lost decade".

Climate change played a huge role in the election result, with a surge in support for candidates wanting urgent action.

Mr Morrison's government had committed to a 2030 emissions reduction target of 26%-28% - about half that of the UK and US. Mr Albanese's government has a target of 43%.

The Greens are expected to pick up four lower seats, adding to seven climate-focused independents. They could put pressure on Labor to take even stronger action, especially if it fails to reach a majority.

Mr Morrison's unpopularity and his party's stance on climate have been blamed by some Liberal MPs for wiping out their vote, BBC reported.

Losses included senior party figures, including deputy leader Josh Frydenberg, in traditional Liberal strongholds.

Mr Morrison stepped down as party leader on Saturday and former defence minister Peter Dutton is the favourite to succeed him.

Mr Dutton - from the party's right - has been a controversial figure at times. Some question whether he could rebuild Liberal support in more progressive, metropolitan areas, according to BBC.