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Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal has urged the government to postpone the local level elections.

The party urged the government to postpone the May 13 elections to ensure their participation.

Party spokesperson and Standing Committee member Khadga Bahadur Bishwokarma held a meeting with Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand and said that they also wanted to take part in the local polls.

"We have urged the Home Minister to postpone the elections. He has taken our request seriously," Bishwokarma said. 

He further said that they have demanded the government to implement the three-point agreement signed with the government.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, is arriving in Nepal on April 21.

He is arriving in Nepal at the invitation of the Ministry of Health and Population.

During his visit, the Director General is scheduled to pay a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.

He will also hold separate meetings with Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka and Health Minister Birodh Khatiwada.

Innovative Nation events has finally forayed into professional music production and music video production services across Nepal.

Having been a major part of the event industry for over a decade, they finally took this leap recently, read a statement issued by the Innovative Nation Pvt. Ltd.

Innovative Nation joined hands with some major music labels globally and plans to showcase Nepal and Nepal music culture across the globe.

They are planning to record their first music video soon with DJ Harshit Shah from India, who has some major releases globally, the statement read.

“This music video will be shot covering the nightlife of Nepal and the beauty of Kathmandu city,” Yashwant Agarwal, founder of the company said, adding, “We want to showcase state of art video which will be shot by professional cinematographer using the best cameras available.”

This will definitely open up a new avenue for Nepali artists and will definitely boost the tourism industry as they have an extensive plan to promote it globally, the statement further read.

Apart from this, Innovative Nation events has recently stepped in the luxury weddings and destination weddings as well, which has already been the talk amongst many.

Police have arrested four persons on the charge of murdering Arjun Das of Kailali.

The Metropolitan Police Crime Division (MPCD) made public the four persons involved in the murder by organizing a press conference on Friday.

The detainees have been identified as Manoj Bhandari, Dilip Das, Sumit Saud and Bam Bahadur Bohara.

According to a preliminary investigation, they killed Das under the influence of drugs on December 18.

Police said that they first tied Das to a tree and cut off his head.

The arrestees have been sent to Kailali for further investigation.

They had been hiding in India after committing the crime. Police nabbed them when they had come to Bhairahawa.

Police have launched further investigation saying that other people may have been involved in the murder.

The daily tally of COVID-19 cases in Shanghai, which is at the centre of China's epidemic, has fallen slightly, authorities said on Friday, as the city's lockdown threatened to exact a heavier toll on the world's second-biggest economy, Reuters reported.

China's automakers may have to suspend production next month if suppliers in Shanghai and surrounding areas can't resume work, the chief executive officer of electric-car maker Xpeng 9868.HK said, while airlines and the property sector are also feeling the pain.

Shanghai, which is battling China's worst COVID-19 outbreak since the virus emerged in the city of Wuhan in late 2019, reported 23,000 COVID cases on Friday, down from more than 27,000 the day before.

However, the number of symptomatic cases in that tally edged up to a record 3,200, from the 2,573 reported a day earlier.

Officials releasing the data did not comment on the reason for the overall fall in the city, which has put most of its 25 million residents into lockdown.

China's efforts to stop the virus with a strict "zero-COVID" policy are triggering economic disruptions that are rippling through global supply chains for goods ranging from electric vehicles to iPhones, according to Reuters.

Xpeng chief executive officer He Xiaopeng issued a dire warning for his sector unless the situation improves.

"If the suppliers in Shanghai and its surrounding areas can't find a way to resume operations and production, in May possibly all of China's carmakers will have to stop production," He said on his Wechat social media feed.

An April 7 study by Gavekal Dragonomics found that 87 of China's 100 largest cities by gross domestic product have imposed some form of quarantine curbs.

COVID curbs have also devastated travel across the country, with carrier Air China 601111.SS reporting a 70% drop in March traffic from a year ago on Thursday.

Home prices stalled for a second month in a row in China's 70 major cities last month, according to official data released on Friday, as the lockdowns sapped consumer confidence and undermined demand. L2N2WD02F

China's State Council, or cabinet, said on Wednesday that more policy measures were needed to support the economy, but analysts are unsure if rate cuts would quickly reverse the slump as long as the government maintains its COVID policy, Reuters reported.

In Shanghai, locked down residents have vented frustration on social media over the difficulties in getting food and the rule that anyone testing positive, symptomatic or not, has to go into quarantine at state-run facilities, which many people have complained are in poor condition.

The city has converted residential buildings into quarantine centres but that's sparking protests from angry neighbours worried they are being put at increased risk of infection, according to Reuters.

The price of gold has risen by Rs 500 per tola in the domestic market on Friday.

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association, gold is currently trading at Rs10, 2000 per tola. The yellow metal was traded at Rs 101, 500 per tola on Thursday. 

Similarly, the Tejabi gold is now trading for Rs 101, 500 per tola in the market.

Similarly, the price of silver rose by Rs 15 per tola and is now trading at Rs 1, 415 per tola.

Billionaire Elon Musk has offered to buy Twitter TWTR.N for about $41 billion, just days after rejecting a seat on the social media company's board, Reuters reported.

Musk's offer price of $54.20 per share, which was disclosedin a regulatory filing on Thursday, represents a 38% premium to Twitter's April 1 close, the last trading day before the Tesla TSLA.O CEO's more than 9% stake in the company was made public.

"Since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company," Musk said in a letter to Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor, according to Reuters.

"My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder," Musk said.

Earlier this week, Musk said he had abandoned a plan to join Twitter's board, just as his tenure was about to start. Taking the board seat would have prevented him from a possible takeover of the company, Reuters reported.

A person died and two other sustained injuries when a bus hit a scooter they were riding on at Besigaun in Jorpati of Kathmandu on Thursday.

The deceased has been identified as scooter rider Dipen Dahal (18) of Okhaldhunga.

The bus (Ba 3 Kha 1318) heading towards Sundarjal from Jorpati hit the two-wheeler (Bagmati Pradesh 02-012 Pa 5326) coming from the opposite direction yesterday.

He died during the course of treatment at the Jorpati-based Nepal Medical College at around 4 pm, Boudha police said.