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An American national was found dead in Mustang on Sunday.

According to the District Police Office, Mustang, JYL Perry ((51) with passport number 522451270 of California, who had been hiding in Mustang after his visa expired, was found dead while asleep at the Hotel Red House in Kagbeni, Baragunj Mukrichettra-4 yesterday evening.

He had entered Nepal on November 5, 2019 with a 15-day visa permit.

It has been learnt that he extended the visa four times.

He extended the visa for the last time on March 18, 2020 for 60 days.

According to Inspector Ashish Adhikari of the District Police Office, Mustang, Perry had entered Mustang on December 10, 2021. He stayed in Mustang for two months and 11 days.

A woman died after an ambulance hit a scooter she was riding on at Bhokraha Narsingh Rural Municipality-4 in Sunsari on Sunday.

The deceased has been identified as Nirmala Uruwa (30) of Inaruwa-5, DSP Narendra Kumar Karki of the District Police Office said.

The ambulance (Province 2-01-001 Jha 0028) hit the two-wheeler (Province 01-02-041 Pa 2155) yesterday evening.

Critically injured in the incident, Uruwa breathed her last in the course of treatment at the District Hospital, Inaruwa, police said.

Police have arrested ambulance driver Sunil Kumar Mehta (27) of Bishanpur-5, Saptari for investigation.

Simon Noodle House isn’t your typical restaurant. The keyword here is ‘house’. With its homely setting, this joint at Sanepa, Lalitpur, resembles an average Nepali family’s home. 

The place primarily specializes in noodles and serves an eclectic menu of Thai, Chinese, and Malaysian noodle dishes prepared by the finest chefs. And there are non-noodle options including momos, lemongrass chicken wings, Thai chicken salad and Asian-style fried rice. Also on the menu are a variety of drinks and mocktails.

Chef’s Special:

• Pork Kung Pao

• Chicken Satay Noodles

• Sea Food Noodle Soup

Opening hours: 8:00 AM – 9:00 PM

Location: Sanepa, Lalitpur

Online pay: Yes

Card pay: No

Meal for Two: Rs 700

Contact:  9813085397

France says Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed on the need to "prioritise a diplomatic solution" to the crisis over Ukraine and secure a ceasefire in the east of the country, BBC reported.

In a phone call with President Emmanuel Macron, Mr Putin also agreed that foreign ministers from both countries would meet "in the coming days".

Western nations believe Russia is ready to invade Ukraine, which Moscow denies. 

Meanwhile, Ukraine says talk of an imminent invasion is "inappropriate".

President Macron's call on Sunday was the latest effort to prevent military action by Russia, which has amassed tens of thousands of troops on Ukraine's borders. 

It came amid increased clashes between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed rebels in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.

Hours later, the French presidency said a second phone call between Mr Macron and Mr Putin took place, following a conversation between Mr Macron and US President Joe Biden.

Mr Macron proposed a summit between Mr Biden and Mr Putin, the statement said, and both leaders had accepted "the principle" of such a meeting, to be held on the condition that Russia does not invade Ukraine. 

Details would be discussed during a meeting between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, on Thursday.

Russia on Sunday rescinded earlier pledges to pull tens of thousands of its troops back from Ukraine’s northern border, a move that U.S. leaders said put Russia another step closer to what they said was the planned invasion of Ukraine. Residents of Ukraine’s capital filled a gold-domed cathedral to pray for peace, Associated Press reported.

Russia’s action extends what it said were military exercises, originally set to end Sunday, that brought an estimated 30,000 Russian forces to Belarus, Ukraine’s neighbor to the north. They are among at least 150,000 Russian troops now deployed outside Ukraine’s borders, along with tanks, warplanes, artillery and other war materiel.

The continued deployment of the Russian forces in Belarus raised concern that they could be used to sweep down on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, a city of about 3 million people less than a three-hour drive away.

In Kyiv, life outwardly continued as usual for many on a mild winter Sunday, with brunches and church services, ahead of what U.S. President Joe Biden said late last week was an already decided-upon Russian attack. 

Katerina Spanchak, who fled a region of eastern Ukraine when it was taken over by Russian-allied separatists, was among worshippers crowded into the capital’s St. Michael’s monastery, smoky with the candles burned by the faithful, to pray that Ukraine be spared. 

“We all love life, and we are all united by our love of life,” Spanchak said, pausing to compose herself. “We should appreciate it every day. That’s why I think everything will be fine.”

“Our joint prayers will help to elude this tragedy, which is advancing,” said another worshipper, who identified himself only by his first name, Oleh.

A U.S. official said Sunday that Biden’s assertion that Putin has made the decision to roll Russian forces into Ukraine was based on intelligence that Russian front-line commanders have been given orders to begin final preparations for an attack. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the sensitive intelligence.

The United States and many European countries have charged for weeks that Putin has built up the forces he needs to invade Ukraine — a westward-looking democracy that has sought to move out of Russia’s orbit — and is now trying to create pretexts to invade. 

Western nations have threatened massive sanctions if Putin does. 

U.S. officials on Sunday defended their decision to hold off on their planned financial punishments of Russia ahead of any invasion, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called passionately Saturday for the West to do more.

“If you pull the trigger on that deterrent, well then, it doesn’t exist anymore as a deterrent,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told Fox on Washington’s sanctions threat.

India’s Minister for External affairs minister S Jaishankar has warned nations not to get sucked into a debt trap by accepting Chinese aid.

The Indian minister made the remarks while participating in a discussion on the theme “Regional order and security in the Indo-Pacific” at the Munich Security Conference on February 19.

Bangladesh foreign minister AK Abdul Momen, who was in the audience, raised the issue of his country requiring funds for infrastructure projects to meet the aspirations of the people, and China offering a “basket of money” and aggressive and affordable proposals while aid from other partners came with a lot of strings, The Hindustan Times reported.

According to The Hindustan Times, Jaishankar responded by cautioning countries against getting caught in a debt trap while accepting China’s assistance. “International relations are competitive, every country will look for opportunities and see what it can do but while doing so, it’s in their own interest to be prudent about what they’re getting into,” he said.

“We have seen countries, including in our region, being saddled with large debts. We have seen projects which are commercially unsustainable – airports where an aircraft doesn’t come, harbours where a ship doesn’t come. I think people would be justified in asking themselves what am I getting into,” he said.

Nepal logged 262 new Covid-19 cases and four deaths on Sunday.

With this, the country's active caseload mounted to 1,114, 156. Similarly, the death toll has climbed to 11,921.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 6, 572 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 229 returned positive. Likewise, 3, 243 people underwent antigen tests, of which 33 tested positive.

The Ministry said that 1, 338 infected people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours.

As of today, there are 12, 244 active cases in the country. 

The Ministry said that 11, 754 people are staying in home isolation while 490 are in institutionalized isolation.

CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said that they will stand against the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in the Parliament.

Soon after tabling the MCC in the Parliament, Chairman Dahal took to the Twitter and said that the party and Parliamentary Party will stand against the MCC.

"The government tabled the MCC amid protest. Our party and Parliamentary Party will stand against the MCC in the Parliament," Dahal said.

He also condemned the government action against protesters in New Baneshwor.