Submit your Article

Russia launched its biggest drone attack on Kyiv since the war began, injuring at least 23 people and damaging buildings across the capital, officials said Friday. The strike came just hours after a phone call between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Reuters.

Ukraine’s Air Force reported 539 drones and 11 missiles were launched, triggering hours-long sirens and forcing residents into shelters. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack as “deliberately massive and cynical,” linking its timing to the Trump-Putin call and urging more air defence support.

About 40 apartment blocks, schools, railway infrastructure, and vehicles were damaged. A Polish embassy office was hit, though no injuries were reported. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 14 of the injured were hospitalized. Russian strikes on Kyiv have intensified, with growing civilian impact, Reuters reported.

BRICS has expanded from a forum of four emerging economies in 2006 to a bloc of 11 nations by 2024, positioning itself as a non-Western alternative for global economic cooperation. Originally conceived in 2001 by economist Jim O’Neill, the group includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, with recent additions aimed at strengthening multilateralism, according to Firstpost.

Key initiatives, such as the New Development Bank and alternative trade arrangements, have attempted to minimize dependency on Western-dominated institutions like the IMF and World Bank. However, the group faces increasing internal and external challenges.

Internally, China’s push to lead the bloc and align it with its larger anti-Western agenda backed by Russia has created worries, particularly among founding members like as India. Externally, US President Donald Trump has threatened 100 percent tariffs if the BRICS pursues dedollarization or introduces a common currency, Firstpost reported.

The US Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Trump administration to deport eight migrants from a US military base in Djibouti to South Sudan, extending its earlier decision permitting third-country deportations, CNN reported.

The group—originally from Myanmar, Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, Mexico, and South Sudan—was diverted to Djibouti in May after a lower court blocked their removal. The Supreme Court ruled that its June 23 order lifting that stay applies to both related injunctions.

Liberal justices Sotomayor and Jackson dissented, warning the men could face “torture or death.” The administration says the eight are convicted violent criminals and defends third-country deportations as necessary when home countries refuse returns, according to CNN.

Microsoft is undergoing a significant reorganization that may result in the termination of up to 9,000 workers in the US, or around 4 percent of its total staff. Though specific divisions were not named, reports indicate significant cuts in its Xbox gaming unit. Game projects like Perfect Dark and Everwild have been cancelled, and The Initiative studio will be shut down. Staff at Turn 10 and ZeniMax Online Studios are also affected, according to BBC.

The layoffs come as Microsoft shifts focus to AI, with $80bn allocated for data centers. Over 800 job losses are concentrated in Redmond and Bellevue, Washington.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel has urged Malaysian investors to invest more in Nepal's physical infrastructure and tourism sectors. 

During the meeting with the delegation of Malaysia-Nepal Business Council, which arrived here for an official visit on Wednesday, DPM Paudel shared that there are immense potentials in Nepal's infrastructure development and tourism sector and requested for the same.

"There is an appropriate environment for the private sector to invest in Nepal. Nepal's policies are investment-friendly. The government is ready to support and facilitate them", mentioned the finance minister.

The delegation members had shown their interest to invest in different sectors including information technology, trade, hydropower, infrastructure, environment and tourism.

President of Malaysia-Nepal Business Council, Pradeep Kumar Kakreja, Ganesh Kumar Bangah, MK Sangraham, among others were present on the occasion.

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order increasing entry fees for foreign tourists visiting national parks, while proposing steep budget cuts to the National Park Service.

The White House stated that the new fees will raise hundreds of millions of dollars for conservation and maintenance programs. The government defended the proposal as a gesture of fairness, pointing out that while American taxpayers fund park operations through taxes, yet foreigners currently pay the same entry fee, Reuters reported.

The executive order comes alongside a proposal to cut the Park Service’s 2026 budget by over $1bn—more than a third of its current funding. Meanwhile, staffing levels have declined, with only 4,500 of the promised 8,000 seasonal workers hired.

The White House cited Trump’s 2020 Great American Outdoors Act as a landmark achievement in conservation, according to Reuters.

Heavy vehicles along the Karnali Highway have been barred from playing after a road collapsed at Gothebhir in Tilgufa Municipality-6 in Kalikot district this morning.

According to the District Police Office, Kalikot, authorities restricted the heavy vehicles from plying the Highway from today itself following the road collapse to ensure the safety of passengers.

"We urge one and all to observe extreme caution while travelling along this highway as it is extremely risky to travel due to incessant rain," said Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Tek Bahadur Rawal.

At this time of a fiscal year, Nepal witnesses a kind of development frenzy hardly seen at other times. Earth-movers operate longer than usual and youths from different political parties and their myriad sister organizations sweat it out even in the rains, building motorable roads, canals, rural roads and what not with a sense of urgency and commitment that’s rarely seen in the life of this laid-back nation.

One wonders as to how long will it actually take for this country to take giant leaps on the path of (sustainable?) development if our energetic actors were to dedicate themselves to the cause of national development—and not individual development marked by ever-swelling bank accounts and personal as well as family fortunes, notable changes in what used to be a modest lifestyle, etc—like this round the year.
Those familiar with the ‘developments’ in Nepal know well that the development frenzy mentioned above lays bare an ugly face of development—that of a rigged development at play.

More often than not, the idea behind the frenzied work is to gobble up budget allocated for development/maintenance of infrastructure like roads, canals toward the fag end of a fiscal year when rains, floods and landslides wreak havoc throughout the country, making it clear that the hurried works won’t last long.There is every reason to suspect a food chain at work with monies small and big going to every actor involved in such projects based on their prominence. 

That the state agencies tasked with cleansing the system by launching a crackdown on such practices have hardly done so should be a matter of serious concern, especially for the taxpayer.

While irregularities in development works are a matter of serious concern, equally concerning is a very limited capacity of our state apparatuses to spend the budget earmarked for development. 

Data speak for themselves.
The government has not been able to spend even half of the development budget allocated for the fiscal year 2024-25, which comes to a close in mid-July. Of the Rs 3.52trn allotted for development works, the government has managed to spend a paltry Rs 1.64trn (46.59 percent) as of July 2 and one needs no expert to speculate about the quality of work conducted with the taxpayer’s hard-earned money. 

What’s more, the worrisome trend over the years is that an increasing share of the budget is going toward meeting administrative expenses like pay and perks for government employees, and repayment of foreign loans, at the expense of development. 

One more thing: Over the years in Nepal, development has become synonymous with road construction and maintenance, often undermining the fact that development brings destruction and displacement also.  

This calls for an increased focus on sustainable development, a serious and continuous development audit, and stringent action against big and small fish involved in corrupt ‘development practices’. 

Time to steer Nepal in that direction has indeed come.