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Two persons died and 14 others were injured in a microbus-scooter collision at Kalimati in Bhanu Municipality-10, Damauli along the Dumre-Besisahar road section on Sunday.

One male and one female died in the accident, said DSP Ashok Thapa of the District Police Office. The female was traveling on the scooter and the man was a passenger of the microbus, it has been said.  

The microbus (Ba 2 Kha 4022) en route to Lamjung from Dumre collided head-on with the scooter (Ga 2 6 Pa 4058) this afternoon.  

The scooter rider who was severely injured in the accident was rushed to the Chitwan Medical College for treatment.

Police have arrested microbus driver Man Bahadur Ghale of Sindhupalchowk for the investigation.

A verdant green garden is everyone’s dream but not everyone is able to achieve this for a simple reason: most of us don’t know the basics of gardening and try random things which don’t always yield the result we want. It’s important to arm yourself with some basic understanding of what plants want and how to get them to grow before you start working on your garden. Else, you will just be wasting valuable time and money. ApEx visited a nursery in Khumaltar, Lalitpur, to find out what are some important things to consider to create a perfect green space in your home.

Understand your space

Not every plant has the same light requirements so the first thing to do is to survey your space and see if it gets a lot of light or if there is limited exposure. Most outdoor plants thrive under direct sunlight while others benefit from indirect brightness. Depending on your space, you have to choose plants that can grow there. People often make the mistake of getting the wrong plants for their space and they can never grow to their full height or bear flowers as they are supposed to. Understanding your space and the plants’ needs can help you maximize yields ensuring you have a visually appealing garden.

Till the soil

Most soil is too hard for the plants’ roots to take proper hold, especially if you have moved into a new space and there are construction materials mixed with the soil. While adding a few fresh layers of new top soil can fix this, it’s often expensive and really not necessary either if you are willing to put in some time and effort. Water the soil or wait till it rains and then till the soil using simple plowing tools that you can get at your local nursery. Mix in some organic fertilizer and plow a few more times, letting the mix sit for a few days each. This should make your soil soft and fertile over time and thus ready for plants.

Space them out

When you start planting trees and shrubs, consider how tall or wide they will grow in a few months’ or years’ time. Since we get new plants mostly as saplings, it’s quite easy to underestimate how much space they will need later on. Make sure there is at least two feet distance between small plants and at least five feet if between two trees. A common mistake is not keeping enough space between two large plants that will result in stunted growth for both or one overcrowding the other. Proper spacing allows for good air circulation and light penetration as well. It’s okay for the branches to slightly overlap when they grow to their full size as this allows for healthy competition for nutrients, water, and sunlight.

Provide timely nutrients

Though less is always more when it comes to fertilizer, especially synthetic ones, you have to give the soil in your garden a nutritional boost time and again. It’s best if this is usually done through organic fertilizers or compost. Since it’s the soil’s environment that usually determines whether a plant will die, stagnate, or thrive, it’s a good idea to ensure it’s the right quality and has the required nutrients. Ensure the soil is wet before you add fertilizer to it. Over fertilizing can do more harm than good so it’s best to be cautious and dilute your fertilizers before using them. Water soluble fertilizers are fast acting but must be used more frequently than others. Also, make sure the fertilizers don’t get on the plant leaves to avoid burns and discoloration.

Educate yourself

Gardening is part art and part science and while it might seem like some people are born with natural green thumbs, it’s a skill that can be honed. There are lots of good books and even resources available online that you can use to learn more about plants and gardening. Over time, you will come to understand plant behavior and their needs and be able to tell what is wrong by just looking at them. Even learning one small thing every day will help you maintain a pristine garden in the future. 

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 16. 68 points to close at 2,706.04 points on Sunday.

Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 1. 64 points to close at 456. 58 points.

A total of 21,323,967-unit shares of 328 companies were traded for Rs 8. 43 billion.

Meanwhile, Nepal Micro Insurance Company Limited (NMIC) the top gainer today with its price surging by 9. 98 percent. Likewise, Himalayan Power Partner Ltd. (HPPL) was the top loser with its price dropped by 7. 33 percent.

At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 4. 49 trillion.

Rastriya Prajatantra Party lawmakers staged a protest inside Singha Durbar on Sunday.

They displayed hand written pamphlets with various slogans after a meeting at the party’s Parliamentary Party Office in Singha Durbar.

The lawmakers staged a protest inside Singha Durbar while the cadres were hitting the streets with an intention to breach the restricted area.

In the meantime, police confiscated the pamphlets of the lawmakers.

Police took them out of Singha Durbar in a van after their activities looked suspicious.

Meanwhile, police have taken RPP Chairman Rajendra Ligden, Chief Whip Gyanendra Shahi and Vice Chairman Buddhiman Tamang from inside Singha Durbar.

All of them have been taken to Metropolitan Police Range, Kathmandu, police informed.

Thousands of protesters rallied in Washington and other cities across the U.S. on Saturday to voice their opposition to President Donald Trump's policies on deportations, government firings, and the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, Reuters reported.

Outside the White House, protesters carried banners that read "Workers should have the power," "No kingship," "Stop arming Israel" and "Due process," media footage showed.

Some demonstrators chanted in support of migrants whom the Trump administration has deported or has been attempting to deport while expressing solidarity with people fired by the federal government and with universities whose funding is threatened by Trump, according to Reuters.

Salzburg Global held a four-day accelerator workshop in Colombo, Sri Lanka. 

The program organized for Salzburg Global Fellows of its Asia Peace Innovators Forum provided a dynamic platform for peer learning, the advancement of six pioneering peacebuilding initiatives, and the strengthening of regional and global networks among 30 Fellows.

Meanwhile, Salzburg Global through this event convened three of nearly 200 total Fellows in Salzburg, Austria for capacity-building sessions.

The Salzburg Global said that the project would foster leadership, economic independence, and advocacy capacity for marginalized women while ensuring Indigenous voices are heard in development planning, reads a statement issued by Salzburg Global.

Similarly, the project amplifies the voices of women in conflict zones, emphasizing feminist peacebuilding in India, Kenya, Myanmar, the Philippines, South Africa, South Korea, and Sri Lanka, the Salzburg Global said in a statement.

Likewise, this project empowers young adults between the ages of 18 and 35 years old in conflict-affected regions through peace books—arts-based tools for storytelling, healing, and peacebuilding.

In addition, this initiative preserves and promotes Indigenous peoples' agricultural practices, recognizing their vital role in climate adaptation and food security, the Salzburg Global said.

Furthermore, throughout the workshop, 30 Fellows of the Asia Peace Innovators Forum collaborated intensively, refining their projects into actionable proposals.

Meanwhile, Salzburg Global has called on peacebuilding organizations, donors, and supporters to engage with these transformative projects and explore opportunities for collaboration.

The Korean Embassy organized FRIENDS OF KOREA 2025 in Kathmandu on Saturday for Nepali scholars Alumni’s reception.

On the occasion, Korean Ambassador to Nepal Park Taeyoung highlighted South Korea’s priorities in the development of Nepal and the importance of reunion of South Korean University alumni.

He also talked about the achievements, and potential shape for the future of Korea - Nepal relations.

Ambassador Park mentioned the opportunity to express his success and appreciation for Korea’s scholar’s continued interest in fostering two countries' bilateral ties.

Security has been tightened in Kathmandu on Sunday in view of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party’s protest.

A large number of security personnel has been deployed in the places designated by the government as restricted areas.

Security personnel have been deployed in front of Singha Durbar, Parliament building, Maitighar and Baluwatar among other restricted areas since this morning.

The RPP has announced that it would breach the restricted area today.  

A meeting of the party held on Thursday had decided to stage a demonstration in the restricted area.

A leader of the RPP said that they are holding a protest today demanding that the party leaders arrested during the demonstration on March 28 be released at the earliest.

Two persons including a journalist lost their lives during the violent protest of pro-monarchy supporters in Tinkune on March 28.

The RPP has been staging protests demanding the reinstatement of monarchy.