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A Russian airstrike devastated a maternity hospital Wednesday in the besieged port city of Mariupol amid growing warnings from the West that Moscow’s invasion is about to take a more brutal and indiscriminate turn. Ukrainian officials said the attack wounded at least 17 people, Associated Press reported.

The ground shook more than a mile away when the Mariupol complex was hit by a series of blasts that blew out windows and ripped away much of the front of one building. Police and soldiers rushed to the scene to evacuate victims, carrying out a heavily pregnant and bleeding woman on a stretcher as light snow drifted down on burning and mangled cars and trees shattered by the blast.

Another woman wailed as she clutched her child. In the courtyard, a blast crater extended at least two stories deep.

“Today Russia committed a huge crime,” said Volodymir Nikulin, a top regional police official, standing in the ruins. “It is a war crime without any justification.”

In Zhytomyr, a city of 260,000 to the west of Kyiv, bombs fell on two hospitals, one of them a children’s hospital, Mayor Serhii Sukhomlyn said on Facebook. He said the number of casualties was still being determined. His report could not be independently confirmed, according to the Associated Press.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Mariupol strike trapped children and others under the rubble.

“A children’s hospital. A maternity hospital. How did they threaten the Russian Federation?” Zelenskyy asked in his nightly video address, switching to Russian to express his horror at the airstrike. “What kind of country is this, the Russian Federation, which is afraid of hospitals, afraid of maternity hospitals, and destroys them?”

He urged the West to impose even tougher sanctions, so Russia “no longer has any possibility to continue this genocide.”

Video shared by Zelenskyy showed cheerfully painted hallways strewn with twisted metal, Associated Press reported.

“There are few things more depraved than targeting the vulnerable and defenseless,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin will be held “to account for his terrible crimes.”

The World Health Organization said it has confirmed 18 attacks on health facilities and ambulances since the fighting began, killing 10 people. It was not clear if that number included the assault on the maternity hospital.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken condemned Russia’s “unconscionable attacks” in a call with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, that also covered diplomatic attempts to roll back the invasion, the State Department said.

Two weeks into Russia’s assault on Ukraine, its military is struggling more than expected, but Putin’s invading force of more than 150,000 troops retains possibly insurmountable advantages in firepower as it bears down on key cities, according to the Associated Press.

Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla has said India and Nepal will soon be connected through two rail links. 

Speaking at an inaugural session of the training module on India’s neighborhood organized by Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, the Indian foreign secretary stated that globalization begins with neighborhood and it is a neighborhood that comes first and foremost amongst all Indian foreign policy priorities. 

“The Neighborhood First Policy, at the instance of the Prime Minister, accords the highest priority to our relations with Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, Myanmar, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka,” says Shringla. 

He said that India maintains excellent political relations with neighboring countries.  You might recall that South Asian leaders were invited when the present government was sworn in for the first time in 2014. Leaders of BIMSTEC countries, which include several of our neighbors on the Bay of Bengal littoral, were invited when the government was sworn in for the second time in 2019, he said. 

He further stated that neighborhood policy also attaches strong economic dimensions and creates a geographic space with neighbors. “We believe that economic good is not just good in itself. It will also create win-win propositions for the region that will address any impediments that we confront.” 

He said the second area of focus of India’s neighborhood policy in the energy sector. Stating that the Indian grid is connected to Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh through high-capacity connections, the Indian foreign secretary said that the trans-national movement of electricity in the neighborhood is a reality.

He said healthcare and education are two important areas in which India is working closely with its partners in the neighborhood. Stating that India has emerged as the educational hub of this region, tens of thousands of students from neighboring countries are enrolled in Indian institutions. 

Two recently proposed regulations highlight the opacity and unaccountability of our government mechanisms. The first one stipulates that under-40 women who wish to travel abroad must first obtain written travel recommendations from their family as well as the local ward office. Such a rule, we are told, will check the trafficking of Nepali women. There was not a single woman in the eight-person government panel that made this recommendation.

The second regulation makes the registration of all “online TV” mandatory, with the license for such a channel costing Rs 500,000. Compulsory registration and high fees will apparently deter the peddlers of fake news and instill some decency in the raucous Nepali media sphere. Nowhere does the regulation define what exactly constitutes “online TV”. As it is, the provision could be applied to all YouTube content creators—which is absurd. From now on, if you want to upload your latest dance moves, you may first need to fork out half-a-million rupees.

Just like no women were consulted while drafting the new visa rules, no online content creator was on board while coming up with a proposal that clearly violates people’s constitutional right to free speech. The hush-hush surrounding the origin of these rules suggest the involvement of vested interests. No wonder the public trust of their government is low: a 2021 Sharecast Initiative Nepal nationwide survey found only 11 percent of those surveyed trusted their prime minister, while just 31 percent of them thought the federal government was doing a satisfactory job.

That Nepal continues to be run by a bunch of know-all graying men who feel entitled to act on behalf of the whole country, often without any consultation and feedback, makes a mockery of the new federal system. The country threw away the autocratic monarchy in order to establish a free and fair society. But systemic discrimination against women, minorities and free-speech advocates continue in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Nearly 15 years into the federal project, the remnants of the old unaccountable and corrupt state remain largely intact. They must be resisted every step of the way. 

The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that attacks on hospitals, ambulances and other health care facilities in Ukraine have increased rapidly in recent days and warned the country is running short of vital medical supplies, Reuters reported.

The U.N. agency on Monday confirmed at least nine people had died in 16 attacks on health care facilities since the start of a Russian invasion on Feb. 24. It did not say who was responsible.

The WHO’s senior emergency officer for Europe, Catherine Smallwood, told a news briefing that the tally included incidents where ambulances had been commandeered for purposes other than emergency healthcare.

“We will continue to update those numbers. They’ve been increasing quite rapidly over the past few days,” Smallwood said.

The agency was working to rapidly supply medical supplies to Ukraine, where oxygen, insulin, personal protective equipment, surgical supplies and blood products are running low, Europe regional director Hans Kluge said at the briefing, according to Reuters.

The supply of oxygen, children’s vaccines and mental health expertise were among the WHO’s top priorities for the region, he said.

Kluge also stressed the need to prioritise the health needs of women, including maternal health and emergency obstetric care, and to respond to sexual and gender based violence.

“Past conflicts have shown us that adolescent girls, women with disabilities and elderly women are in the most vulnerable situation, Reuters reported.

“They face an increased risk of suffering attacks by people outside the home and by armed groups as well as intimate partner violence and sexual abuse and exploitation,” said Kluge.

The Ministry of Health and Population has launched a free PCR test campaign for diseases like Zika virus, dengue and chikungunya. 

At present, the National Public Health Laboratory is providing the service. 

People with symptoms of the diseases can reach the Laboratory and get tested for free there, said the Ministry's joint spokesperson Dr Samir Kumar Adhikari. 

People visiting Nepal from foreign countries with symptoms of the diseases can get free PCR tests on the recommendations of doctors, said the Laboratory's Spokesperson Rajesh Gupta. 

All three diseases are spread by the bite of infected mosquitos. Symptoms are fever, tiredness, excessive joint and muscle pain, vomiting and headache. 

People have been asked to be safe from the bites of mosquitoes by setting up nets on the house doors and windows, using mosquito nets while sleeping, covering bare body parts with clothing, using mosquito repellent products and covering water-filled open. RSS

Visiting delegation of France-Nepal Parliamentary Friendship Group paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba Wednesday.

During a meeting held at the Prime Minister’s official residence in Baluwatar, the two sides discussed matters relating to the promotion of Nepal-France bilateral relations.

The three-member French delegation led by Group's chairperson Veronique Riotton arrived in Nepal last Tuesday on a five-day state visit. The delegation arrived here at the invitation of Nepal-France Parliamentary Friendship Group chairperson Madhav Kumar Nepal.

Vice-chairpersons of the visiting French delegation are Nicolas Forissier and Graziella Melchior.

On the occasion, PM Deuba lauded the support extended by France, a long- standing ally of Nepal, to Nepal's socio economic sector. RSS

Nepali Congress Vice-President Purna Bahadur Khadka said that the Central Committee meeting will make a decision on forging electoral alliance.

He said so during a press conference organised at the party office in Sanepa on Wednesday.

 Saying that discussions have not been held among the leaders of ruling alliance about forging electoral alliance, leader Khadka said that the Central Committee meeting of the party will make a concrete decision on the same.

“Discussions have not been held about forging an electoral alliance. We will make a unanimous decision on forging the electoral alliance. The Central Executive Committee meeting will only decide on the electoral alliance,” he said.

Ambassador of Bangladesh to Nepal Salahuddin Noman Chowdhury called on Chief of Army Staff Prabhu Ram Sharma Wednesday. 

During the meeting, the duo discussed wide range of bilateral cooperation, including defense cooperation.  

Nepal and Bangladesh work closely on issues of common interests and share similar views at various regional and international forums, including SAARC, BIMSTEC and the United Nations.