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The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 37. 06 points to close at 2, 238. 62 points on Thursday.

Similarly, the sensitive dropped by 4. 34 points to close at 432. 55 points.

A total of 3, 674, 940 units of the shares of 232 companies were traded for Rs 1. 65 billion.

At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 3. 18 trillion.

The Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV2 virus is intrinsically as severe as previous variants, unlike assumptions made in previous studies that it was more transmissible but less severe, a large study in the United States has found, Reuters reported.

"We found that the risks of hospitalisation and mortality were nearly identical between periods," said four scientists who conducted the study based on records of 1,30,000 COVID-19 patients, referring to times in the past two years when different variants were dominant across the world.

The study, which is undergoing peer review at Nature Portfolio and was posted on Research Square on May 2, was adjusted for confounders, including demographics, vaccination status, and the Charlson comorbidity index that predicts the risk of death within a year of hospitaliSation for patients with specific comorbid conditions.

The studies that assumed that the Omicron variant was less severe were conducted in various places, including South Africa, Scotland, England, and Canada, said the scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital, Minerva University and Harvard Medical School, according to Reuters.

They said their study could have several limitations, including the possibility that it underestimated the number of vaccinated patients in more recent COVID waves, and the total number of infections, because it excluded patients who performed at-home rapid tests.

The price of gold has risen by Rs 1, 400 per tola in the domestic market on Thursday.

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association, gold is currently trading at Rs 98, 600 per tola. The yellow metal was traded at Rs 97, 200 per tola on Wednesday. 

Similarly, the Tejabi gold is now trading for Rs 98, 100 per tola in the market.

Similarly, the price of silver rose by Rs 15 per tola and is now trading at Rs 1, 305 per tola.

Sri Lanka’s economy is in dire straits with its usable foreign reserves down to less than $50 million, the country’s finance minister said Wednesday, Associated Press reported.

Ali Sabry was speaking to Parliament after returning to Sri Lanka from talks with the International Monetary Fund. He said any IMF rescue program, including a rapid financing instrument needed to urgently resolve shortages of essential goods, would depend on negotiations on debt restructuring with creditors and would take six months to implement.

Sri Lanka is on the brink of bankruptcy and has suspended payments on its foreign loans. Its economic miseries have brought on a political crisis, with the government facing a protests and a no-confidence motion in Parliament.

The country is due to repay $7 billion this year of the $25 billion in foreign loans it is scheduled to pay by 2026.

“There is a severe risk in front of all of us,” said Sabri. He said Sri Lanka’s reserves stood at $7.6 billion at the end of 2019 and fell to $5.7 billion by the end of 2020 as payments outpaced inflows of foreign currency amid the pandemic.

The reserves declined to $3.1 billion by the end of 2021, and to $1.9 billion by the end of March, he said. With foreign currency in short supply thanks to less tourism and other revenues, official reserves were tapped to pay for importing essentials including fuel, gas, coal and medicines beginning in August 2021, according to the Associated Press.

The bulk of Sri Lanka’s remaining reserves — including a $1 billion equivalent SWAP facility from China, are not usable for settling dollar-denominated payments, he said.

Sabri’s comments came a day after the country’s main opposition party issued a no-confidence motion aiming at ousting Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and his Cabinet. 

The opposition United People’s Force blames the government of failing in its constitutional duty to provide decent living standards. It accuses top government officials of excessively printing money, hurting farm production by banning chemical fertilizers to make the production fully organic and minimize import costs, failing to order COVID-19 vaccines in a timely manner and buying them later at higher prices.

A date has not yet been announced for a vote on the no-confidence motion.

The foreign currency crisis has limited imports and caused severe shortages of essential goods like fuel, cooking gas, medicine and food. People must line up for hours to buy what they can and many return home with little, if any, of what they were seeking, Associated Press reported.

Protests have spread demanding the resignations of Mahinda Rajapaksa, who heads an influential clan that has held power for most of the past two decades, and his younger brother, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. An occupation of the entrance to the president’s office by protesters demanding the Rajapaksas resign was in its 26th day on Wednesday.

So far, the Rajapaksa brothers have resisted calls to resign, though three other Rajapaksas out of the five who are lawmakers stepped down from their Cabinet posts in mid-April. 

Sabri said Sri Lanka was in the process of appointing legal and financial advisers for negotiations on restructuring its foreign debt.

“This is an economic crisis. The economic crisis has created a political crisis. It is important to resolve the political crisis in order to find solutions to the economic crisis,” Sabri said, according to the Associated Press.

A suspicious object has been found near the house of a candidate in Sundarharaicha of Morang on Thursday.

DSP Deepak Shrestha, spokesperson at the District Police Office, Morang said that a pressure cooker wrapped with wires was found near the house of ward member candidate in Sukrabare, Sundarharaicha Municipality-11.

Dhakal had filed candidacy for the post of ward member from the CPN-UML.

Police said that they have found a leaflet from the incident site urging people to take part in the elections.

A bomb disposal team from the Nepal Army has been heading towards the incident site, it has been learnt.

Further investigation into the incident is underway.

RCB defeated CSK by 13 runs at the MCA Stadium in Pune to reach the top-4 in IPL 2022 table on Wednesday, The Hindustan Times reported.

CSK had made a strong start in the Powerplay, scoring 51/0 in six overs but Shahbaz Ahmed provided the RCB with the big breakthrough, dismissing Ruturaj Gaikwad on 28.

Devon Conway slammed yet another half-century but the regular wickets at the other end continued to hurt CSK, before Conway was caught by Virat Kohli at deep square leg himself.

In the end, Harshal Patel hurt the CSK with three wickets in his spell as Dhoni's side endured a seventh loss in the season, according to The Hindustan Times.

The “Si se puede! (Yes we can!)” chants gradually faded at the Santiago Bernabéu as the minutes passed and Real Madrid looked beaten.

As the end of regulation approached, many in the stands — and on the field — were close to giving up as Manchester City defended its 1-0 lead.

It seemed that there would be no magical night at the Bernabéu for the 13-time European champions this time.

But Madrid took its Champions League comebacks to another level on Wednesday, rallying late with two goals in two minutes by substitute Rodrygo to force extra time and defeat Manchester City 3-1 to reach the final — a showdown with Liverpool, Associated Press reported.

Karim Benzema, the hero of Madrid’s previous comebacks this season, converted a penalty kick in extra time for the decisive goal that allowed Madrid to advance 6-5 on aggregate after a 4-3 first-leg semifinal loss in which it escaped losing by a bigger margin. 

“I didn’t think we could do it again because we were struggling,” Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said. “We had already eliminated some top teams that spent a lot of money to try to win a Champions, but today it was more impressive, happening in the final minutes.”

Madrid had already pulled off thrilling comebacks at the Bernabéu against Paris Saint-Germain in the round of 16 and Chelsea in the quarterfinals.

“I cannot say we are used to living this kind of life, but what happened tonight happened against Chelsea and also against Paris,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. “If you have to say why, it is the history of this club that helps us to keep going when it seems that we are gone.”

By doing it again against City, Madrid booked a spot in the May 28 final in Paris against Liverpool, which advanced after defeating Villarreal on Tuesday. Madrid defeated Liverpool in the 2018 final, when the Spanish powerhouse clinched its record-extending 13th title, according to the Associated Press.

“We have a score to settle,” Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah said on Twitter after Madrid’s win.

The result ended City’s latest quest for its first Champions League trophy. Pep Guardiola’s team lost in the final last year to Chelsea.

“We were close but at the end we could not reach (the final),” Guardiola said.

Madrid looked defeated near the end of regulation before Rodrygo scored his goals two minutes apart. Riyad Mahrez had put City ahead in the 73rd but the Brazilian forward equalized in the 90th and got the go-ahead goal with a header a minute into stoppage time.

A few minutes before Rodrygo’s first goal, Ferland Mendy had saved Madrid from conceding a second goal that could have sealed City’s qualification by clearing the ball in front off the goal line while tumbling backward to keep an attempt by Jack Grealish from going in.

Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois moments later saved a Grealish shot with the bottom of his cleat.

Madrid carried all the momentum into extra time and Benzema gave the hosts the 3-1 lead by converting a 95th-minute penalty kick after he was fouled inside the area, Associated Press reported.

It was the 15th Champions League goal this season for Benzema, the competition’s leading scorer. It was his 10th goal in the knockout stage alone, tying Cristiano Ronaldo’s record in a single season.

Benzema had scored hat tricks when Madrid rallied against both PSG and Chelsea. Madrid came back against PSG after losing the first leg in Paris and conceding early in the second leg at the Bernabéu. Against Chelsea, Madrid won the first match 3-1 but was down 3-0 in the second leg before rallying in extra time, when Benzema again scored the deciding goal.

Wednesday’s game started tighter than last week’s back-and-forth first leg in Manchester, but City eventually opened the scoring when Mahrez found the top corner with a firm left-footed one-timer from inside the area following a pass by Bernardo Silva, who attracted the Madrid defenders before feeding the ball to his teammate, according to the Associated Press.

Mahrez had scored both of City’s goals in the second leg of last season’s semifinal against PSG. The Algerian became the first City player to scored seven times in a single Champions League campaign.

Madrid had scored 22 goals in its last eight games in all competitions but struggled to get past the City defense.

Benzema set up Rodrygo’s first goal from inside the area, and Marco Asensio flicked Dani Carvajal’s cross for the Brazilian’s stunning header in stoppage time.

Rodrygo had scored twice when Madrid clinched the Spanish league title in advance at the Bernabéu on Saturday, when celebrations went late into the evening with players and coach Carlo Ancelotti asking for the fans’ support against Man City.

Fans had already given players a spectacular welcome as the team’s bus arrived before the match on Wednesday, crowding the streets around the Bernabéu, Associated Press reported.

The EU has proposed some of its toughest measures yet against Russia, including a total ban on oil imports and sanctions on war crimes suspects, BBC reported.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the package was aimed at maximising pressure on Russia while minimising damage to Europe.

Russian crude oil would be phased out within six months, she said.

Hungary has rejected the proposal as unacceptable and the Czech and Slovak governments want a transition period.

The EU has been focusing for weeks on how to wean itself off Russian oil and gas. It has already pledged to reduce gas imports by two-thirds by the end of 2022 and now plans to phase out crude oil over six months and refined products by the end of 2022.

"We will make sure that we phase out Russian oil in an orderly fashion," the Commission president said.

The package first has to be approved by EU ambassadors and is set to be signed off in the next few days. 

But Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said his country would veto it in its current form: "They exactly know that what they are proposing is against Hungarian interests... and if we do that we are completely going to ruin the Hungarian economy."

Slovakia as well as Hungary currently relies on Russian oil and under the initial proposal would be given until the end of 2023 to find alternative suppliers. Slovakia's economy minister said his country wanted a three-year transition period, while Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said he would also seek a two-to-three year exemption to tackle problems with pipeline capacity, according to BBC.

Last year, Russia supplied the EU with a quarter of its oil imports, and the Netherlands and Germany were the biggest buyers. 

The Dutch government has said it wants to halt all Russian fossil fuel imports by the end of this year and Germany has drastically reduced its reliance on Russian oil imports, down from 35% to 12%. 

The UK, which is no longer in the EU, is already phasing out Russian oil, which accounts for 8% of its imports. 

German Economics Minister Robert Habeck has said the six-month transition period gives Berlin long enough to make the change. 

The problem for Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic is that they are all landlocked and rely on their neighbours for fuel supplies. Czech special envoy for energy security Vaclav Bartuska told the BBC that Europe was currently trying to redraw the map of energy supplies as fast as it could: "We want to get rid of Russian crude once and for all and we want to be absolutely sure there'll be no need to go back and ask Russia again."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was working on various options in response to the planned embargo. Sanctions were a double-edged sword for the Europeans and others, he said, as the cost for European citizens would increase every day. Oil prices rose by 5% on news of the EU plan to $110 a barrel of Brent Crude, BBC reported.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a video briefing on social media that the gradual EU ban on oil was "better than nothing". Any country that opposed the oil embargo was complicit in Russia's crimes in Ukraine, he said, whatever their arguments.