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With Sri Lanka staring at an unprecedented economic crisis, the refugee flow to Tamil Nadu has commenced after 16 Sri Lankan nationals reached the shores of the state, The Economic Times reported.

On Tuesday, the refugees arrived in Tamil Nadu in two batches.

While six people, including a family of a man, wife and their 4 month-old son and a woman and her six and twelve year old children arrived on Tuesday afternoon, the rest arrived late at night.

In Sri Lanka there is a high financial crisis with prices of essential commodities, including milk and rice skyrocketing, petrol and diesel not available and power stations shut. Schools are not holding examinations due to lack of paper for printing question papers.

It may be noted that the Civil war in the early 1980's triggered an inflow of people from Sri Lanka and now around 60,000 refugees are living in 107 camps spread across Tamil Nadu and about 30,000 more live outside these camps or in general society, according to The Economic Times.

The first batch of six refugees who arrived in the state have been identified as R. Gajendran (24), his wife Mary (23) and their four-month-old son Nijath. Dony Ariston (31) and her two sons, Esther (12) and Moses (6) also accompanied Gajendran's family. Dony has left behind her husband in Sri Lanka while traversing to India as a refugee.

Interacting with reporters at Madurai, Gajendran and the two women said that they don't have any jobs in Sri Lanka and essential commodities were not available while blackmarket prices were unaffordable. They also said that long ques can be seen in fuel stations.

They also said that they had paid an amount of Rs 50,000 to a boatman who had dropped them early morning of Tuesday at a sand dune near Rameswaram and were later rescued by the Indian coast guard. Ten other people also reached Tamil Nadu late evening of Tuesday but their details were not available, The Economic Times reported.

Police sources told IANS that the refugees would be produced before a court in Ramanathapuram on Wednesday.

Sri Lanka posted soldiers at hundreds of state-run gas stations on Tuesday to help distribute fuel after a sudden rise in prices of key commodities and accompanying shortages forced tens of thousands of people to queue for hours, Reuters reported.

The Indian Ocean nation is battling a foreign exchange crisis that forced a currency devaluation and hit payments for essential imports such as food, medicine and fuel, prompting it to turn to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for help.

"The government has to provide solutions," said Seetha Gunasekera, 36, who lives with her husband and two children in Colombo, the capital.

"There is too much hardship and suffering," added Gunasekera, who said she was spending more time in fuel queues than doing anything else.

"Prices of everything have increased and we are barely able to manage with what we earn daily."

The decision to deploy troops near petrol pumps and kerosene supply points came after three elderly people dropped dead during their wait in long queues, officials said, according to Reuters.

It was a response to complaints of stockpiling and inefficient distribution, said government spokesman Ramesh Pathirana.

"The military has been deployed to help the public, not to curtail their human rights," he added.

TWO SOLDIERS AT EACH PUMP

Military spokesman Nilantha Premaratne told Reuters at least two army personnel would be stationed at every fuel pump to help organise fuel distribution, but the soldiers would not be involved in crowd control.

Tension over the scarcity of supplies has fed sporadic violence among those scrambling to buy fuel and other essential items.

Police said a man was stabbed to death on Monday in an argument with the driver of a three-wheeled vehicle, while last week three elderly men died queueing for fuel in sweltering heat, Reuters reported.

The rapid drain of Sri Lanka's dollars has left it struggling to pay for critical imports as currency reserves have slumped 70% in the last two years to $2.31 billion.

But Sri Lanka has to repay about $4 billion in debt in the rest of this year, including a $1-billion international sovereign bond that matures in July.

Ahead of IMF talks in Washington in April, the government said it would hire a global law firm to provide technical assistance on debt restructuring to fight the crisis, according to Reuters.

Anatoly Chubais has stepped down from his role as an international envoy for President Vladimir Putin, the most senior official to resign since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, BBC reported.

Russian reports said he was currently in Turkey with his wife.

Mr Chubais was given the job of coordinating Russia's sustainable development goals internationally.

After the war began he posted a picture of a murdered opposition figure, in what was seen as a critical gesture.

There was no comment to accompany his Facebook photo of Boris Nemtsov, on the anniversary of his killing in view of the Kremlin. He has also made no comment yet on his resignation, according to BBC.

A source told the Tass news agency that he had left Russia as well as resigning as a special representative to President Putin.

"Yes, Chubais has resigned of his own will. But whether he has left [Russia] or stayed, that's his personal affair," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Other than Mr Peskov and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, few members of the president's circle have appeared in public in recent weeks.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak said on Wednesday that it was interesting that the two top security figures, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov, were "nowhere to be seen", along with the heads of Russia's secret services.

Chubais was not seen as a Kremlin insider, despite having the post of special representative for ties with international organisations, BBC reported.

He is best known for his controversial role in helping to reform Russia's economy in the 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union. The raft of privatisations under President Boris Yeltsin helped create a large number of very wealthy oligarchs.

Opposition figures were unimpressed by Mr Chubais's resignation. Jailed leader Alexei Navalny's spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, cast doubt on claims that it was an anti-war protest, rather than "out of fear for his own skin and his own money". 

Russia has clamped down on criticism of the invasion, which began on 24 February, requiring state-run media to describe it as a "special military operation".

Several state TV journalists have resigned, including Channel One editor Marina Ovsyannikova, who held up a poster saying "Stop the War!" during a prime-time news broadcast, telling Russians they were being lied to, according to BBC.

A new law bans the dissemination of "false news" about the war and political journalist Alexander Nevzorov became the most prominent figure yet to be prosecuted, after he posted details on social media about Russia's deadly attack on a maternity hospital in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

NATO estimated on Wednesday that 7,000 to 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in four weeks of war in Ukraine, where fierce resistance from the country’s defenders has denied Moscow the lightning victory it sought, Associated Press reported.

By way of comparison, Russia lost about 15,000 troops over 10 years in Afghanistan.

A senior NATO military official said the alliance’s estimate was based on information from Ukrainian authorities, what Russia has released — intentionally or not — and intelligence gathered from open sources. The official spoke on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by NATO.

Ukraine has released little information about its own military losses, and the West has not given an estimate, but President Volodymr Zelenskyy said nearly two weeks ago that about 1,300 Ukrainian servicemen had been killed.

When Russia unleashed its invasion Feb. 24 in Europe’s biggest offensive since World War II, a swift toppling of Ukraine’s government seemed likely. But with Wednesday marking four full weeks of fighting, Moscow is bogged down in a grinding military campaign, according to the Associated Press.

Zelenskyy — who has riveted the world’s attention with ad hoc videos and speeches to legislatures seeking military aid for his country — seized on the anniversary to plead for people around the world to gather in public Thursday to show support for Ukraine, saying the war breaks the heart of “every free person on the planet.”

“Come to your squares, your streets. Make yourselves visible and heard,” Zelenskyy said in English during an emotional video address to the nation, recorded in the dark near the presidential offices in Kyiv. “Say that people matter. Freedom matters. Peace matters. Ukraine matters.”

Speaking in Russian, Zelenskyy appealed to Russians “to leave Russia so as not to give your tax money to the war.” Tens of thousands of Russians already have fled their country since the war began, fearing an intensifying crackdown on dissent that has included the arrest of thousands of antiwar protesters and suppression of the media.

Zelenskyy, who will speak to NATO members by video on Thursday, also said he is asking the alliance to provide “effective and unrestricted” support to Ukraine, including any weapons the country needs to fend off the Russian invasion.

With its ground forces slowed or stopped by hit-and-run Ukrainian units armed with Western-supplied weapons, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troops are bombarding targets from afar, falling back on the tactics they used in reducing cities to rubble in Syria and Chechnya, Associated Press reported.

A senior US defense official said Wednesday that Russian ground forces appear to be digging in and setting up defensive positions 15 to 20 kilometers (9 to 12 miles) outside Kyiv, the capital, as they make little to no progress toward the city center.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military assessments, said it appears the forces are no longer trying to advance into the city, and in some areas east of Kyiv, Ukrainian troops have pushed Russian soldiers farther away.

Instead, Russian troops appear to be prioritizing the fight in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in the Donbas, in what could be an effort to cut off Ukrainian troops and prevent them from moving west to defend other cities, the official said. The US also has seen activity from Russian ships in the Sea of Azov, including what appear to be efforts to send landing ships ashore with supplies, including vehicles, the official said.

In an ominous sign that Moscow might consider using nuclear weapons, a senior Russian official said the country’s nuclear arsenal would help deter the West from intervening in Ukraine.

“The Russian Federation is capable of physically destroying any aggressor or any aggressor group within minutes at any distance,” Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the state aerospace corporation, Roscosmos, said in televised remarks. He noted that Moscow’s nuclear stockpiles include tactical nuclear weapons, designed for use on battlefields, along with far more powerful nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles. Roscosmos oversees missile-building facilities.

US officials long have warned that Russia’s military doctrine envisages an “escalate to deescalate” option of using battlefield nuclear weapons to force the enemy to back down in a situation when Russian forces face imminent defeat. Moscow has denied having such plans.

Rogozin is known for his bluster, and he did not make clear what actions by the West would be seen as meddling, but his comments almost certainly reflect thinking inside the Kremlin. Putin has warned the West that an attempt to introduce a no-fly zone over Ukraine would draw it into a conflict with Russia. Western nations have said they would not create a no-fly zone to protect Ukraine, according to the Associated Press.

As US President Joe Biden left for Europe to meet with key allies about new sanctions against Moscow and more military aid to Ukraine, he warned there is a “real threat” Russia could use chemical weapons.

On the eve of a meeting with Biden, European Union nations signed off on another 500 million euros ($550 million) in military aid for Ukraine. 

Zelenskyy appealed to Western countries to stay united in the face of Russia’s efforts to “lobby its interests” with “some partners” to bring them over to its side, and noted during his national address that Ukraine has not received the fighter jets or modern air-defense systems it requested. He said Ukraine also needs tanks and anti-ship systems.

Norwegian Ambassador to Nepal Torun Dramdal today paid a courtesy call on Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal at the latter's office in Singha Durbar on Wednesday.

The meeting between the two focused on bilateral welfare and concerns of both Nepal and Norway.

Stating that Norway was a reliable development partner for Nepal, the minister remembered Norway's positive assistance for the drafting of the Constitution and peace process in Nepal.

Praising Norway for its assistance in the areas of energy, society, education and climate change, she said that Nepal was always interested to cooperate with the country in the realms of mutual concerns and development between the two countries.

Saying that Nepal has been incurring a huge loss every year due to off-season rains caused by climate change, Minister Bhusal said that Nepal wants to join hands with the Norwegian Government in reducing such risks.

It could be an exemplary work when there was a cooperation between Nepal and Norway in reducing risks in districts like Manang, Ilam and Sindhupalchowk where off-season rains took its toll, she added.

In response, the Norwegian Ambassador said that the Norwegian Government was interested in expanding its investments in the energy sector of Nepal and would cooperate with it in the development of its renewable energy and hydropower. RSS

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s upcoming Nepal visit (March 25-27) is a great opportunity to repair the strained bilateral ties. Nepal-China relations have been through choppy waters of late, hitting rock bottom after the parliamentary endorsement of the MCC compact. China publicly expressed its displeasure with the endorsement. Unconvinced the compact is not part of a larger American encirclement plan, Beijing also seems to believe that the current Deuba government is ‘pro-US’.

It won’t be easy to convince the Chinese that Nepal can prevent the compact’s undue use. Not that we should not try. Beijing had been led to believe that under no circumstance would the compact be endorsed. They would not have been happy with the way the last-minute American pressure seemed to have prevailed over their concerns. But Nepal and China have no option but to mend fences. China is Nepal’s one of only two neighbors and its only direct connection with the outside world besides India. For China, stability of Tibet remains a top priority—and something that will be difficult to ensure without Nepal’s help.

When Wang comes, Nepal is likely to ask for grants to build the nine projects agreed under the BRI. Though grants under the BRI are rare, China could still make a one-time exception to protect its traditional space in Nepal against American encroachment. If Nepal and China are indeed good friends, as each claims, they should understand each other’s compulsions. Moreover, there is not one bilateral issue between them that cannot be resolved through dialogue.

As a show of good faith, the Deuba government must immediately correct its mistake of not appointing an envoy to Beijing, something that has bothered the Chinese. Wang should also give a clear message that China respects sovereign Nepal’s decision, however unpalatable it might have been. It is also vital that during this visit Wang makes an effort to engage leaders from across the political spectrum and not be seen as favoring only those of certain persuasions. Such confidence-building measures will help increase trust on both sides. They will also create a positive momentum.

Nepal reported 38 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 3, 855 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 34 returned positive. Likewise, 1, 521 people underwent antigen tests, of which four were tested positive.

The Ministry said that no one died of virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that 269 infected people recovered from the disease.

As of today, there are 2, 453 active cases in the country.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index plunged by 20. 34 points to close at 2,630.36 points on Wednesday. 

Similarly, the sensitive index fell 4. 22 points to reach 495.11 points.

A total of 3,985,574 units of shares of 226 companies were traded for Rs 2. 04 billion.

Likewise, all sub-indices saw red in today’s market except from Trading and Mutual Fund.

Meanwhile, Rastra Utthan Lagubitta Sanstha Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 10 percent. Likewise, Buddha Bhumi Nepal Hydropower Company Limited was the top loser with its price dropped by 3.58 percent. 

At the end of the day, total market civilization stands at Rs 3.72 trillion.