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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is planning to visit Lumbini, the birth place of Lord Buddha, in Nepal on May 16 to celebrate Buddha Jayanti, birth anniversary of Lord Buddha, The Hindu reported.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is also expected to be in Lumbini to mark the occasion, the sources added.

Indian Prime Minister, however, will not stay in Kathmandu, according to The Hindu.

Temple trustees have told local media that the two Prime Ministers will take part in the lamp-lighting ceremony at the Mayadevi temple.

According to the sources, the Ministry of External Affairs and security officials have already conducted a reconnaissance of the arrangements for the visit, The Hindu reported.

This will be Modi’s first visit to Nepal since he was re-elected in 2019. In his previous term, he visited Nepal on four occasions, including twice in 2014 and twice in 2018.

A ward member candidate of Dilasaini Rural Municipality-5, Baitadi was injured in a khukuri attack on Monday.

Hari Ram Saud (60) was attacked with the khukuri at around 10 pm yesterday, Inspector Lok Raj Joshi of the District Police Office, Baitadi said.

It has been learnt that a candidate of Maoist Centre, Hari Ram was attacked by the group of Ajit Saud.

Police said that he sustained injuries on his head and body.

The District Police Office said that Hari Ram has been referred to a hospital in Dhangadhi after receiving primary treatment at the local Gokuleshwor Hospital.

A person died when two motorcycles collided with each other in Urlabari Municipality-8 of Morang district on Monday.

DSP Deepak Shrestha, spokesperson at the District Police Office, Morang, said that the incident occurred when the bike (Province 1-02-042 Pa 1600) heading towards south from north collided head-on with another bike (Me 7 Pa 6371) last night.

The deceased has been identified as bike (6371) rider Ganesh Sitaula (45). 

Critically injured in the incident, he breathed his last during the course of treatment at the Urlabari-based Araniko Hospital, DSP Shrestha said.

Pillion rider Akash Limbu (29) was injured in the incident.

Police said that they have ampounded both the bikes following the incident and arrested another bike rider Yogin Kumar Gurung (32) of Urlabari-9 for investigation.

Police have arrested a man with 100 gram  gold from the Tribhuvan International Airport on Tuesday.

A 28-year-old man, who arrived in Kathmandu from Kuwait boarding a Jazira Air's flight at 7 am on Tuesday, was apprehended by the airport customs office.

Police said that the man was detained after he was found concealing the precious yellow inside a mixture.

Further investigation into the incident is underway, police said.

A senior head constable of Nepal Police died after being hit by an unidentified vehicle in Dhanusha on Monday.

The deceased has been identified as Bhojraj Parajuli of the Area Police Office, Dhalkebar.

Inspector Ram Sagar Singh of the Area Police Office, Dhalkebar said that the unidentified vehicle knocked Parajuli down in front of the Area Police Office while he was heading towards the office after finishing duty at Dhalkebar in Dhanusha last night.

A permanent resident of Chisankhugadhi Rural Municipality-5, Okhaldhunga, Parajuli was transferred to the Area Police Office, Dhalkebar three months ago.

Police said that they are looking into the case.

China's commercial capital of Shanghai was dealt a blow on Monday as authorities reported 58 new Covid-19 cases outside areas under lockdown, while Beijing pressed on with testing millions of people on a May Day holiday few were celebrating, Reuters reported.

Tough coronavirus measures in Shanghai have stirred rare public anger, with millions of the city's 25 million people stuck indoors for more than a month, some sealed inside fenced off residential compounds, and many struggling to secure daily necessities.

Shanghai residents breathed a sigh of relief at the weekend on news that no cases had been confirmed outside areas under lockdown for two days, but disappointment came on Monday with the report of the 58 new infections.

Authorities did not comment on the new cases at a media briefing but members of the public weighed in online.

"They announced that they stamped out cases at the community level too early," one person commented on the Weibo social media platform.

Still, many people also took heart from data that showed encouraging trends, with 32 new deaths on Sunday, compared with 38 a day earlier, and a total of 6,804 new local cases, down from 7,189 the previous day, according to Reuters.

"There is hope for May," said another Weibo user.

Despite the drop in cases, more fences were erected at some residential blocks in Shanghai on Monday, although authorities said employees of companies the government has put on a production priority list could apply for a pass if the building they lived in had no cases for seven days.

The coronavirus first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019 and for two years authorities managed to keep outbreaks largely under control with lockdowns and travel bans.

But the fast-spreading Omicron variant has tested China's "zero-Covid" policy this year, an important one for President Xi Jinping who is expected to secure a precedent-breaking third leadership term in the autumn.

China's COVID policy is increasingly out of step with the rest of the world, where many governments have eased restrictions, or thrown them off altogether, in a bid to "live with Covid" even though infections are spreading.

New Zealand, which has had some of the toughest curbs in the world, finally opened its border on Monday, welcoming thousands of travelers from around the world for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic. 

China has given no hint of deviating from its policy despite a mounting toll on the world's second-largest economy, and ripples of disruption through global supply chains, Reuters reported.

In the capital, home to 22 million people, authorities tightened Covid restrictions over the five-day Labor Day holiday that runs through Wednesday, traditionally one the busiest tourist seasons. 

Beijing, with dozens of daily infections in an outbreak in its second week, has not locked down, instead relying, at least for now, on mass testing to locate and isolate infections.

Beijing's restaurants are closed for dining in and some apartment blocks are sealed shut. The streets are quiet and the residents who do venture out have to show negative coronavirus tests to enter most public venues.

Authorities are tracking down close contacts of confirmed cases, warning them to stay at home and contact authorities, and calling on everyone to abide by instructions.

China reported 7,822 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, down from 8,329 new cases a day earlier, the National Health Commission said on Monday. 

All of China's 32 new deaths were in Shanghai, taking the country's overall death toll since the virus emerged to 5,092.

India, the only country with a comparable population to China's 1.4 billion people, has officially recorded more than half a million deaths, though some health experts believe its toll is even higher, according to Reuters.

The Supreme Court on Monday upheld both the right of an individual against forcible vaccination and the government’s current vaccination policy to protect communitarian health, but found certain vaccine mandates imposed by State governments/Union Territories, which tend to deny access to basic welfare measures and freedom of movement to unvaccinated individuals, disproportionate, The Hindu reported.

A Bench led by Justice L. Nageswara Rao said that such vaccine mandates wilted in the face of “emerging scientific opinion” that the risk of transmission of COVID-19 infection from unvaccinated individuals was almost on par with that from vaccinated persons.

The court directed the Centre to set up a virtual public platform at the earliest to facilitate individuals and private doctors to report adverse vaccine events without compromising their privacy, according to The Hindu.

“Information related to adverse events is crucial to create awareness about vaccines and their efficiency, apart from contributing to scientific studies about the pandemic... There is a pertinent need for collection of data on adverse events and wider participation,” Justice Rao, who authored the judgment, observed.

Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets in a return leg IPL match on Monday, The Indian Express reported.

Invited to bat, skipper Sanju Samson smashed seven fours and a six in his 49-ball 54, while Shimron Hetmyer provided late charge with an unbeaten 13-ball 27 as RR scored 152 for five.

However, Jos Buttler (22), Riyan Parag (19) and Karun Nair (13) got starts but couldn’t capitalise.

Tim Southee (2/46) scalped two wickets, while Umesh Yadav(1/24), Anukul Roy (1/28) and Shivam Mavi (1/33) accounted for one each. Nitish Rana (48 not out), Rinku Singh (42 not out) and Shreyas Iyer (34) then chipped in with useful contributions as KKR romped home, scoring 158 for three in 19.1 overs, according to The Indian Express.