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The price of gold has increased by Rs 500 per tola in the domestic market on Sunday.

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the precious yellow metal is being traded at Rs 195, 200 per tola today.

Similarly, the price of silver has increased by Rs 90 and is being traded at Rs 2, 160 per tola today.

Refugees are forced to flee their home countries due to conflict, persecution, or threats to their lives and freedom. Unlike voluntary migrants, refugees leave not out of choice but out of sheer necessity, seeking safety and dignity elsewhere. As global displacement rises due to wars, political crises, and climate change, conversations around the rights, treatment, and responsibilities toward refugees have become increasingly urgent. ApEx spoke to three people to find out how they think Nepal and the world should handle the crisis. 

Nima Dorje Tamang, 22

I haven’t heard much about refugees in Nepal through news channels or any other form of media. So I’m assuming that not much has been done for them and that there is little to no awareness regarding refugees. I think that we can support refugees through small contributions, either monetary or by providing necessary supplies to the appropriate authorities who can make sure that our contributions are used effectively and responsibly. 

Whether countries should open their borders to refugees depends on determining whether a person’s life is actually being threatened or they are just trying to illegally immigrate to a certain country. Refugees just like any other human being must have the basic human rights where they are provided with access to clean water, food, shelter, and healthcare. I believe they must be protected from being returned to the country where they face serious threats. They should also be provided an opportunity to work legally, to support themselves financially, and contribute in the community.

Shakar Acharya, 38

Refugees often have no choice but to migrate in search of safety, stability, and a chance to live a dignified life. When their own country fails to protect them, it becomes the moral responsibility of other nations to step in and provide the security and support they need. Every country, including Nepal, has a humanitarian duty to ensure that refugees are treated with care and respect. Nepal, in particular, has previously offered refuge to people from Bhutan and Tibet. They have been given some level of recognition and respect. But more needs to be done. The government should actively work towards creating opportunities for refugees to rebuild their lives, whether through education, employment, or integration programs. 

On a societal level, citizens must adopt a compassionate attitude toward refugees. Instead of seeing them as outsiders, we should be kind and help them in any way we can. I believe borders shouldn’t be closed off to people in distress. In times of crisis, the international community must unite to ensure that those fleeing danger aren’t turned away. Every border in the world should remain open for refugees who genuinely need help, and every country should contribute to the global responsibility of giving them a safe place to call home.

Ratna Kumari Khyaju, 82

The situation of refugees all over the world bothers me. I believe being away from home is never a good thing and that these people suffer a lot on a daily basis. But I also think many people are exploiting the situation and trying to migrate to other countries illegally. This is wrong and should be curbed however possible. In the case of Nepal, I think the government isn’t prepared to handle the refugee crisis. It can’t meet the needs of its own citizens, how will it look after those from other countries? 

In an ideal world, everybody should be treated equally. Refugees would be given the same status and respect as any citizen of the country they have fled to. But the world is far from ideal and that is not what happens. For a developing country like Nepal, it would be best to first ensure the right and dignity of its own citizens before looking into those of others. 

Like thousands of other Palestinians in Gaza, Hind Al-Nawajha takes a dangerous, miles-long journey every day to try to get some food for her family, hoping she makes it back alive, Reuters reported.

Accompanied by her sister, Mazouza, the mother-of-four had to duck down and hide behind a pile of rubble on the side of the road as gunshots echoed nearby.

"You either come back carrying (food) for your children and they will be happy, or you come back in a shroud, or you go back upset (without food) and your children will cry," said Nawajha, 38, a resident of Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza.

"This is life, we are being slaughtered, we can't do it anymore."

In the past two days, dozens of Palestinians have also been killed by Israeli fire as they tried to get food from aid trucks brought into the enclave by the United Nations and international relief agencies, Gaza medics said, according to Reuters.

A U.S. appeals court let Donald Trump retain control on Thursday of California's National Guard while the state's Democratic governor proceeds with a lawsuit challenging the Republican president's use of the troops to quell protests in Los Angeles, Reuters reported.

Trump's decision to send troops into Los Angeles prompted a national debate about the use of the military on U.S. soil and inflamed political tension in the country's second most-populous city.

On Thursday, a three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals extended its pause on U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer's June 12 ruling that Trump had unlawfully called the National Guard into federal service.

Trump probably acted within his authority, the panel said, adding that his administration probably complied with the requirement to coordinate with Governor Gavin Newsom, and even if it did not, he had no authority to veto Trump's directive, according to Reuters.

China's military has called a British warship's recent passage through the Taiwan Strait a disruptive act of "intentional provocation" that "undermines peace and stability," BBC reported.

The British Royal Navy says HMS Spey's patrol on Wednesday was part of a long-planned deployment and was in accordance with international law.

The patrol - the first by a British naval vessel in four years - comes as a UK carrier strike group arrives in the region for a deployment that will last several months.

China considers Taiwan its territory - a claim that self-ruled Taiwan rejects - and has not ruled out the use of force to "reunify" the island, according to BBC.

In the thin air of Upper Mustang, a camera trap clicks. Somewhere in 770,000 square miles of mountains that spread across a number of Asian countries—an area larger than Mexico—one of the world’s 4,000 remaining snow leopards has just walked past.

Finding that single image among thousands of photos captured by the camera trap used to take park rangers hours of manual review. Now it happens automatically, with the help of AI.

Snow leopards are known as the ghost of the mountains. They slip across international boundaries as easily as rocky ridges, leaving barely a paw print in snow that could melt by morning. Tracking these apex predators is essential to inform the protections of both the species and their habitats. It also means deploying camera traps across the world’s most rugged terrain, then drowning in the data they produce.

Nepal alone operates nearly 800 camera traps. Each generates thousands of images every few months. Every hour spent reviewing photos is an hour not spent in the field preventing poaching, managing wildfires, or working with communities.

To tackle the vast camera trap data, Tencent developed “Eye of the Species”, an AI model to enhance conservation efforts. The system identifies snow leopards from thousands of images with up to 98 percent accuracy—and it works offline in the world's most remote locations. The model doesn't just find snow leopards. It recognizes 286 species and counting, with plans to reach 2,000 by 2025.

Unlike traditional single-species recognition models, this model doesn’t require extensive data to learn new species, reducing setup costs by 70 percent. It makes it a scalable tool for broader wildlife conservation efforts across different regions and species.

Originally developed for snow leopard studies in China, the model has been adapted for use in Nepal. The Tencent team recently hosted a workshop with Nepal’s National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC) and China’s ShanShui Conservation Center to introduce this system to conservationists from Nepal, Mongolia, Pakistan, and other regions. The next time a camera clicks in the Himalayas, the rangers will be ready.

The cross-border cooperation mirrors the snow leopards themselves: conservation that ignores human boundaries to protect animals that never recognized them in the first place.

Yao Ma, Conservation Officer, Tencent Sustainable Social Value Organization said : The reason we focus on snow leopards is twofold. Snow leopard numbers, a strong indicator of climate change, are incredibly low. Secondly, their habitat spans multiple countries across some of the most remote and difficult terrain on earth.”
CP Pokharel, Conservation Director, National Trust for Nature Conservation said that  “AI could help us analyze data faster and more rigorously, picking out not just snow leopards but also prey species from massive image datasets.”

Apparently, most of the emergencies do not come with sirens blaring in a world in a state of perpetual flux, not even in a vital part of the rules-based international order protected by near-impregnable defenses. Even if they did, it is highly likely that our capable governments would appear ill-prepared when it comes to dealing with such contingencies. 

Barely two years after the 7 Oct 2023 attack on Israel that killed around 1200 people—including 10 Nepali students and saw the abduction of 250 others (including Bipin Joshi, a Nepali student)—this stark reality of our ill-preparedness in dealing with crisis situations, especially a swift rescue of Nepali nationals caught in adverse situations abroad, has come us a-haunting again. 

Escalating hostilities between arch-nemeses Iran and Israel have given rise to concerns over the safety and security of Nepali nationals in a restive Mideast—most of them migrant workers. According to some reports, Israel is home to 5000-7000 Nepali workers. Other than that, our government, in a typical fashion, does not have the exact number of Nepalis living in the restive region. 

Nothing out of the blue, right? 

In the wake of the renewed hostilities, the government is doing its bit to “ensure” the protection of Nepalis. Recently, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Arzu Rana Deuba, held a meeting with Israeli Ambassador to Nepal, Shmulik Arie Bass, where she asked the government of Israel to ensure their safety. The ambassador’s reply—that Nepalis in Israel were so far safe—must have provided a much-needed immediate relief to the government. 

Other than that, the government has directed Nepali ambassadors to Israel and Qatar, which is playing the role of a facilitator to de-escalate the Iran-Israel conflict, to remain vigilant regarding the safety of Nepali citizens in their respective regions.  

The government has also approached a number of countries to help with the rescue of stranded Nepalis, if they are planning to rescue their nationals anytime seen. 

That the government is not twiddling its thumbs in a crisis situation like this provides some relief. But these random activities also lay bare the lack of a credible plan for a swift rescue of Nepali nationals caught in crisis situations like wars, conflicts, natural disasters and domestic unrest abroad.

The sooner the government comes up with such a plan by allocating necessary means and resources, the better. 

But such a plan—and its execution—should not mark the end of the government’s responsibilities toward outmigrating Nepali nationals. In the long run, the government should channelize its energies on bringing to an end the exodus of Nepalis and tapping their boundless potentials for national progress and prosperity.

The 9th China-South Asia Exposition kicked off in Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan Province in China, on Thursday.

The Exposition was organized by the Ministry of Commerce of China and Foreign Affairs Office of the People’s Government of Yunnan Province.

During the event, Nepali Ambassador to China Krishna Prasad Oli addressed the opening ceremony of the 6^th China South Asia Cooperation Forum hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China and the Foreign Affairs Office of Yunnan Province under the theme “Join Hands for Open and Inclusive Development.”

He underscored the importance of the Forum as a key platform for strengthening regional exchanges and mutual benefits between China and South Asia, reads a statement issued by the Nepali Embassy in Beijing.  

Ambassador Oli highlighted the vast potentials of South Asia, pointing out its shared commonalities including natural resources, cultural diversity, vibrant markets and huge workforce as important components making mutual cooperation and collaboration essential in the region.

He also expressed his satisfaction over the extensive, deep rooted and multifaceted relationship between Nepal and China.

With 2025 marking the 70^th anniversary of bilateral relations between Nepal and China, he emphasized the need of further fostering cooperation in the fields such as trade, investment, tourism, energy, agriculture, ICT, industry, connectivity, health, and education, according to the statement.

He also called for continued support of China in Nepal’s efforts of transforming from a landlocked country to a land-linked country.