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With a prolonged dry spell gripping the Tarai-Madhes region—widely known as the country’s food basket, paddy transplantation has fallen drastically behind schedule. As of Saturday, only 52 percent of the paddy area in Madhes Province has been transplanted, compared to 92 percent at the same time last year. The shortage of drinking water and slow transplantation rate of paddy, Nepal’s main crop, forced the government to declare Madhes a crisis-hit region. With this, the government is taking urgent measures to improvise drinking water availability and mitigate potential food insecurity.

The government has formed a taskforce comprising joint secretaries from the agriculture, drinking water, and energy, water resources and irrigation to assess the situation and recommend immediate interventions. The team is currently evaluating weather forecasts and feasibility of continuing paddy plantation in the coming days. If rain does not arrive within the next 9-10 days, officials say the government will encourage farmers to cultivate alternative crops. 

Paddy transplantation will not be available in Madhes after the first week of August. In case Madhes does not receive rainfall by that time, officials have identified millet as a primary substitute crop due to its resilience in dry conditions. Along with millet, the government also plans to encourage farmers to grow low-water vegetables and legumes such as black gram, green gram and soybeans on unused land to salvage some production this season. The concerned government agencies are preparing the necessary budget to support this transition.

According to the agriculture ministry, 78.84 percent of the total 1.33m hectares of paddy fields have been transplanted by Saturday. However, transplantation has reached only 52 percent of 372,645 hectares in Madhes.

In response to the escalating crisis, Minister of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Deepak Khadka, convened a high-level emergency meeting earlier this week. In the meeting, he instructed officials to prepare a 15-day emergency action plan to provide drinking water and irrigation facilities to affected communities in all eight districts of Madhes Province. “Bypass bureaucratic hurdles, skip tender delays and use all legal means to deliver relief immediately to the affected communities,” Khadka told officials. He instructed officials to deploy deep boring wells, solar-powered water pumps, mobile motor sets and temporary pipelines to address urgent irrigation needs. 

Paddy production in Madhesh went up by 10.70 percent to 1.48m tons in the previous season. Madhes is home to about a quarter of paddy fields across the country.

China is offering parents 3,600 Yuan ($500) per year for each child under three, in its first nationwide effort to raise birth rates. The policy, announced Monday, will be backdated to early 2024 and aims to ease parenting costs for around 20m families, according to BBC.

Despite ending its one-child policy years ago, China’s population continues to shrink and age. Local governments have tested similar incentives, with some offering up to 100,000 Yuan per child. Raising a child in China now costs an average of $75,700—among the highest globally.

At least 30 people have lost their lives in Beijing as relentless rainfall triggers severe flooding across northern China, BBC reported.

Authorities have evacuated around 80,000 residents from high-risk areas, with rain expected to continue through today.

President Xi Jinping has ordered urgent search and rescue operations to minimize further casualties.

Beijing is prone to extreme summer weather, with the worst flooding in recent years recorded in July 2012, when 79 people died, according to BBC.

Five people, including a New York City police officer and the suspected gunman, were killed in a shooting Monday evening at a Midtown Manhattan office building.

The gunman, believed to have died by suicide, opened fire inside the Park Avenue building, which houses firms like Blackstone and the NFL, according to Firstpost.

One civilian is in critical condition, while another and the injured officer—shot in the back—are expected to survive.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams of the United States urged people nearby to stay indoors as the FBI and NYPD continue their investigation, Firstpost reported.

North Korea has dismissed the possibility of future talks to end its nuclear program, saying the situation has changed since past summits with the US. Kim Yo Jong, sister of leader Kim Jong Un, said relying on personal ties—such as the one between Kim and President Trump—won’t influence Pyongyang’s stance, according to Reuters.

She insisted North Korea’s status as a nuclear power is irreversible and any attempt to challenge it will be rejected.

The White House responded that President Trump remains committed to a denuclearized Korean Peninsula and is open to reengaging with Kim, Reuters reported.

The UN’s humanitarian chief has warned that Israel’s easing of aid restrictions in Gaza remains vastly insufficient, calling it merely a “drop in the ocean” amid ongoing barriers to life-saving assistance, Al Jazeera reported.

Israeli forces reportedly opened fire on Palestinians waiting for food at two separate sites, killing one person and injuring several others. Meanwhile, 14 more Palestinians, including an infant, have died from malnutrition in the past 24 hours.

As the humanitarian crisis deepens, France and Saudi Arabia are co-hosting a conference in New York aimed at reviving efforts toward a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, according to Al Jazeera.

The war in Gaza has so far killed at least 59,733 Palestinians and wounded over 144,000. In Israel, 1,139 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage during the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023.

US President Trump is scheduled to meet UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer at his Turnberry golf resort in Ayrshire, Scotland. The meeting marks their first since Starmer took office, according to BBC.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin now has “10 to 12 days” to reach a peace deal with Ukraine, moving up his earlier 50-day ultimatum. He criticized the lack of progress in the conflict and warned of “very severe tariffs” on Russia’s trade partners if a resolution isn’t reached soon, BBC reported.

A landslide caused by intense rainfall has killed four people and left eight missing near Chengde in Hebei province, Xinhua reported.

In Beijing’s Miyun district, over 4,400 people were evacuated as floods and landslides hit villages, cutting power to more than 10,000 residents.

Flood alerts have been issued in at least 11 provinces, including Beijing and Shanxi, with more heavy rain expected in the coming days.

Authorities have sent emergency teams to Hebei and allocated 50m yuan ($7m) for recovery. Scientists link the surge in extreme weather to climate change and the intensifying East Asian monsoon, according to Xinhua.