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The state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation is currently facing a record-high loss with the rise in the price of petroleum products at the international market.

NOC’s estimated loss has not been levelled up despite price adjustment of petro products at the domestic market. ‘Continuous price hike of petroleum products at global market and rise in the exchange rate of the US Dollars have added challenge to the NOC in reducing losses’, shared its spokesperson Binitmani Upadhyay.

It is also noted that the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has sent a new price list, effective from February 1. The petro price has again increased in the interval of 15 days. According to the new price list, Rs 4.92 has been increased on per liter petrol while it is Rs 7.24 on per liter diesel, Rs 8.80 on per liter kerosene and Rs 7.48 on per liter air tribune fuel. However, Rs 81.62 has been reduced on the price of per cylinder LP Gas.

The state-owned oil monopoly has hiked the unit price of diesel, kerosene and petrol by Rs 3 per liter. With this decision in effect, the unit price of diesel and kerosene per liter has reached Rs 125 and petrol Rs 142 per liter.

This is so far the record-high price hike in petro products in Nepal. The price of LP gas has been set as it was. NOC has increased domestic air tribune fuel by Rs 10 per liter and fixed Rs 116 per liter.

Even after the hefty rise in petro price, NOC is at a staggering loss of Rs 4.5 billion per month. Spokesperson Upadhyay said the NOC had faced a loss of around Rs 2.23 billion in 15 days following revision in the price. RSS

The state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation is currently facing a record-high loss with the rise in the price of petroleum products at the international market.

NOC’s estimated loss has not been levelled up despite price adjustment of petro products at the domestic market. ‘Continuous price hike of petroleum products at global market and rise in the exchange rate of the US Dollars have added challenge to the NOC in reducing losses’, shared its spokesperson Binitmani Upadhyay.

It is also noted that the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has sent a new price list, effective from February 1. The petro price has again increased in the interval of 15 days. According to the new price list, Rs 4.92 has been increased on per liter petrol while it is Rs 7.24 on per liter diesel, Rs 8.80 on per liter kerosene and Rs 7.48 on per liter air tribune fuel. However, Rs 81.62 has been reduced on the price of per cylinder LP Gas.

The state-owned oil monopoly has hiked the unit price of diesel, kerosene and petrol by Rs 3 per liter. With this decision in effect, the unit price of diesel and kerosene per liter has reached Rs 125 and petrol Rs 142 per liter.

This is so far the record-high price hike in petro products in Nepal. The price of LP gas has been set as it was. NOC has increased domestic air tribune fuel by Rs 10 per liter and fixed Rs 116 per liter.

Even after the hefty rise in petro price, NOC is at a staggering loss of Rs 4.5 billion per month. Spokesperson Upadhyay said the NOC had faced a loss of around Rs 2.23 billion in 15 days following revision in the price. RSS

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal held a meeting on Wednesday.

Dahal and Nepal reached Baluwatar this morning to hold a meeting with the Prime Minister.

“The trio discussed contemporary political issues for about an hour,” the PM's Secretariat said.

Earlier on Tuesday, PM Deuba held a meeting with the officials of the Election Commission to hold the local level elections on May 18.

The Prime Minister is planning to announce the date of the local elections in the next Cabinet meeting.

However, the parties in the ruling coalition have differences over the parliamentary ratification of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

CPN (Maoist Centre) and CPN (Unified Socialist) have been saying that the MCC should not be endorsed in the status quo. On the other hand, PM Deuba is in favour of endorsing the MCC at any cost.

CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal said that the alliance will be stronger than before. 

He said so during a programme organised in the party office on Wednesday.

Chairman Nepal said that all the parties of the ruling coalition will move ahead as a team till the upcoming elections. 

“The five-party alliance will not break down. We will make the coalition stronger,” he said. 

Leader Nepal said that false rumours are making rounds that the alliance will be divided before the elections.

The impacts of Westerly wind are to rise in different parts of the country from tonight onward.

According to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, the prevalence of Westerly wind that has partial impacts in the country right now is likely to increase its influence from tonight.

Light rainfall is likely to take place in some areas of Province 1, Bagmati, Gandaki, Madhes Province and Lumbini Province, said the Department. There are high chances of light snowfall in some places of the hilly and mountainous regions.

The Department has urged the people to adopt necessary safety and precautionary measures to stem the risk emanating from the weather changes. RSS

Police have arrested four staffers of the two hospitals for issuing fake PCR reports.

The staffers of the Nagarik Community Hospital in Thimi, Bhaktapur and Kantipur Hospital in Tinkune, Kathmandu have been apprehended with fake PCR reports.

Both the hospitals have been found issuing fake PCR reports for the people going abroad for employment by taking more than the amount fixed by the government of Nepal. It has also been found that the hospitals have been issuing the PCR reports without taking the swab samples.

Acting on a tip off that the hospitals have been issuing fake PCR reports, a police team detained Roshan Kumar Chittan, staffer of Nagarik Community Hospital, with the fake PCR reports issued from the hospital from the Tribhuvan International Airport and another staffer from the hospital at around 10:30 am on Tuesday.

Similarly, police have also arrested Nagendra Kumar Yadav of Kantipur Hospital. Police said that Yadav was arrested with 17 fake PCR reports from in front of the hospital.

Likewise, lab technician of the hospital Madhav Mainali has also been arrested with four fake PCR reports.

Police have also confiscated computers and equipment among others from both the hospitals in the presence of representatives of National Public Health Laboratory, Teku.

Police said that they have been searching for the operators of both the labs Bhabesh Mitra and Nirmal Giri and a doctor who signed the PCR reports.

Further investigation into the incident is underway.

Police have arrested four staffers of the two hospitals for issuing fake PCR reports.

The staffers of the Nagarik Community Hospital in Thimi, Bhaktapur and Kantipur Hospital in Tinkune, Kathmandu have been apprehended with fake PCR reports.

Both the hospitals have been found issuing fake PCR reports for the people going abroad for employment by taking more than the amount fixed by the government of Nepal. It has also been found that the hospitals have been issuing the PCR reports without taking the swab samples.

Acting on a tip off that the hospitals have been issuing fake PCR reports, a police team detained Roshan Kumar Chittan, staffer of Nagarik Community Hospital, with the fake PCR reports issued from the hospital from the Tribhuvan International Airport and another staffer from the hospital at around 10:30 am on Tuesday.

Similarly, police have also arrested Nagendra Kumar Yadav of Kantipur Hospital. Police said that Yadav was arrested with 17 fake PCR reports from in front of the hospital.

Likewise, lab technician of the hospital Madhav Mainali has also been arrested with four fake PCR reports.

Police have also confiscated computers and equipment among others from both the hospitals in the presence of representatives of National Public Health Laboratory, Teku.

Police said that they have been searching for the operators of both the labs Bhabesh Mitra and Nirmal Giri and a doctor who signed the PCR reports.

Further investigation into the incident is underway.

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West on Tuesday of deliberately creating a scenario designed to lure it into war and ignoring Russia's security concerns over Ukraine, Reuters reported.

In his first direct public comments on the crisis for nearly six weeks, a defiant Putin showed no sign of backing down from security demands that the West has called non-starters and a possible excuse to launch an invasion, which Moscow denies.

"It's already clear now ... that fundamental Russian concerns were ignored," Putin said at a news conference with the visiting prime minister of Hungary, one of several NATO leaders trying to intercede with him as the crisis has intensified.

Putin described a potential future scenario in which Ukraine was admitted to NATO and then attempted to recapture the Crimea peninsula, territory Russia seized in 2014.

"Let's imagine Ukraine is a NATO member and starts these military operations. Are we supposed to go to war with the NATO bloc? Has anyone given that any thought? Apparently not," he said.

Russia has massed more than 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border and Western countries say they fear Putin may be planning to invade.

Russia denies this but has said it could take unspecified military action unless its security demands are met. Western countries say any invasion would bring sanctions on Moscow.

The Kremlin wants the West to respect a 1999 agreement that no country can strengthen its own security at the expense of others, which it considers at the heart of the crisis, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

He raised the charter signed in Istanbul by members of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which includes the United States and Canada, during a call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Lavrov said Blinken accepted the need to discuss the matter further whilst a US account of the call focused on the need for Moscow to pull back.

"If President Putin truly does not intend war or regime change, the Secretary told Foreign Minister Lavrov then this is the time to pull back troops and heavy weaponry and engage in a serious discussion," a senior State Department official told reporters.

The US is willing to discuss giving the Kremlin a way to verify the absence of Tomahawk cruise missiles at NATO bases in Romania and Poland, if Russia shares similar information about missiles on certain Russian bases, Bloomberg reported.

The White House and State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment but a source familiar with the situation said the United States has only offered to have talks on a variety of Russia's concerns, such as arms control issues in the appropriate forums.

'INSTRUMENT'

Putin had not spoken publicly about the Ukraine crisis since Dec. 23, leaving ambiguity about his personal position while diplomats from Russia and the West have been engaged in repeated rounds of talks.

His remarks on Tuesday reflected a world view in which Russia needs to defend itself from an aggressive and hostile United States. Washington is not primarily concerned with Ukraine's security, but with containing Russia, Putin said.

"In this sense, Ukraine itself is just an instrument to achieve this goal," he said.

"This can be done in different ways, by drawing us into some kind of armed conflict and, with the help of their allies in Europe, forcing the introduction against us of those harsh sanctions they are talking about now in the US"

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has often sparred with Western European leaders over democracy in his own country, said he believed after his talks with Putin that there was room for a compromise.

"I got convinced today that the existing differences in positions can be bridged and it is possible to sign an agreement that would guarantee peace, guarantee Russia's security and is acceptable for NATO member states as well," Orban said.

GUN TO UKRAINE'S HEAD

As Western countries rush to show solidarity with Ukraine, the U.S. urged Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to cancel a visit with Putin in Russia, a source told Reuters.

On Tuesday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv and accused Putin of holding a gun to Ukraine's head to demand changes to the security architecture in Europe.

"It is vital that Russia steps back and chooses a path of diplomacy," Johnson said. "And I believe that is still possible. We are keen to engage in dialogue, of course we are, but we have the sanctions ready, we're providing military support and we will also intensify our economic cooperation."

Johnson said any Russian invasion of Ukraine would lead to a military and humanitarian disaster.

"There are 200,000 men and women under arms in Ukraine, they will put up a very, very fierce and bloody resistance," he said. "I think that parents, mothers in Russia should reflect on that fact and I hope very much that President Putin steps back from the path of conflict and that we engage in dialogue."

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, also visiting Kyiv, said Poland would help Ukraine with gas and arms supplies, as well as humanitarian and economic aid.

"Living close to a neighbour like Russia, we have the feeling of living at the foot of a volcano," said Morawiecki.

Zelenskiy, who has repeatedly played down the prospect of an imminent invasion, signed a decree to boost his armed forces by 100,000 troops over three years. He urged lawmakers to stay calm and avoid panic.

The troop increase was "not because we will soon have a war ... but so that soon and in the future there will be peace in Ukraine," Zelenskiy said.