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South Korean Ambassador to Nepal Park Tae-young has said that promotion of mountains is necessary for the development of ecotourism.

After observing a photo exhibition held on the theme of 'Mountain Tourism: Our Pride, Our Identity' organized on the occasion of the 18th Republic Day today, he said that the photos related to the mountains displayed in the exhibition are beautiful as well as informative.

He mentioned that the photo exhibition also provides information about the status of the mountainous areas. A total of 96 pictures were put on display in the expo that began from May 25.

The government has decided to accept Rs 50.51 billion in soft loans provided by the World Bank for various projects ranging from roads to bridges. The subsidized loan would be utilized for the projects of strategic road network and upgrading of trade routes and bridges.

Spokesperson of the government and Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Prithvi Subba Gurung, told media persons that the WB Group was providing Nepal around Rs 29.72 billion for strategic road network and trade route upgrading projects and around Rs 20.79 billion grant for the third phase of bridge upgrading project. 

The minister  shared it while making public the decisions of the Cabinet meeting held on Monday. As per the Cabinet decision, the government will also accept the grants of some Rs 1.8 billion to be provided by South Korea for the enforcement of projects on inclusive rural development in Bardiya district. 

Accordingly, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli would visit Spain, leading a Nepali delegation from June 30 to July 5. 

It was decided to table an agreement to be made with the WTO on fishery in the federal Parliament.

The Cabinet also decided to transfer some high ranking officials including secretaries. DIG of the Armed Police Force, Ganesh Bahadur Thadamagar, would be promoted to the post of AIG and made appointment accordingly. 

A Nepali delegation will be formed to attend the 16th meeting of Nepal-India bilateral consultation group to be held in Pune, India on June 23-24.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has categorically said that India does not and will never accept US mediation to resolve issues between India and Pakistan.

In a telephone conversation, Indian PM said that discussion to cease military action took place directly between India and Pakistan through the existing channels of communications between the two armed forces, and it was initiated at Pakistan’s request. 

According to a statement issued by Ministry of External Affairs, PM Modi clearly conveyed to President Trump that no point during this entire sequence of events was there any discussions, at any level, on an India-U. S trade deal, or any proposal for a mediation by the U.S between India and Pakistan.

The readout from Indian side says: “Prime Minister Modi firmly stated that India does not and will never accept mediation. There is complete political consensus in India on this matter.”

Earlier, Trump had claimed that India and Pakistan agreed for the ceasefire after he threatened to stop the trade with both countries, and India is outright denial from India. 

“With regard to the Indo-Pacific region, both leaders shared their perspectives and expressed their support towards the significant role of QUAD in the region.

Prime Minister Modi extended an invitation to President Trump to visit India for the next QUAD Summit. President Trump accepted the invitation and said that he is looking forward to visiting India,” the statement says. 

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump shelved in recent weeks an interagency working group it had set up to formulate strategies for pressuring Russia into speeding up peace talks with Ukraine, according to three U.S. officials, Reuters reported.

The effort, which was established earlier in the spring, lost steam in May as it became increasingly clear to participants that Trump was not interested in adopting a more confrontational stance toward Moscow, said the officials.

Despite pledging during his campaign to end the war in Ukraine on the first day of his presidency, Trump in recent months has grown increasingly frustrated that his push has yielded no breakthroughs. He has begun saying that the United States may abandon its efforts to broker peace altogether.

In light of that threat, the working group's task seemed increasingly irrelevant, added those officials, who requested anonymity to describe sensitive internal discussions, according to Reuters.

President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have both posted to social media hinting that the United States is considering involvement in the conflict between Israel and Iran, with Trump even raising the possibility of violence against Iran’s leadership, Aljazeera reported.

The first of Tuesday’s posts came from Vance, who wrote a lengthy missive defending Trump’s handling of the conflict and blaming Iran for continuing its nuclear enrichment programme.

“The president has made clear that Iran cannot have uranium enrichment. And he said repeatedly that this would happen one of two ways- the easy way or the ‘other’ way,” Vance wrote.

The vice president proceeded to explain what the “other way” might look like, according to Aljazeera.

“The president has shown remarkable restraint in keeping our military’s focus on protecting our troops and protecting our citizens,” Vance said. “He may decide he needs to take further action to end Iranian enrichment. That decision ultimately belongs to the president.”

The monsoon winds have an influence in some places of Koshi, Madhes, Bagmati and Gandaki Provinces and some eastern areas of Lumbini Province. 

Likewise, there is a partial influence of westerly and local winds in the western parts of the country.  

The Meteorological Forecasting Division has reported that there is also a partial influence of the low-pressure area formed around West Bengal of India. 

The weather this afternoon is expected to remain generally cloudy across the country. 

There is a possibility of light to moderate rain with thunder and lightning in many places of Koshi, Bagmati, Gandaki, and Lumbini Provinces, as well as some places in other provinces. 

Heavy to extremely heavy rainfall is likely to take place in one or two areas of Koshi, Bagmati, Gandaki, and Lumbini Provinces. 

Light rain and snowfall are also likely in some parts of the high hills and mountainous regions of the country. 

According to the Division, the weather will remain generally to fully cloudy across the country tonight. 

There is a possibility of light to moderate rain with thunder and lightning in many places of Koshi, Madhesh, Bagmati, Gandaki, and Lumbini Provinces, as well as some places in other provinces. 

Heavy rainfall is predicted in some places of Koshi, Madhesh, Gandaki, and Lumbini Provinces.

In some parts of the high hills and mountainous regions of Koshi, Bagmati, and Gandaki Provinces, as well as one or two places in the high hills and mountainous regions of other provinces, light rain and snow are likely to occur. 

Nepal defeated host Scotland by two wickets in the match held in Glasgow, Scotland on Tuesday under the T20 Tri-Nation Series. 

Nepal achieved the moderate target of 98 runs posted by Scotland in 19.5 overs with eight wickets down. 

To steer Nepal to victory, opener Kushal Bhurtel contributed 30 runs. Likewise, Dipendra Singh Airee gathered 14 runs, Basir Ahamad 13 and Kiran Thagunna 10 while other batters could not score in double digits. 

Put to bat first in the third match of the Series, Scotland were restricted to a meagre 97 runs at the loss of all wickets. 

Nepal's leg spinner Sandeep Lamichhane took four wickets for 18 runs including a maiden in his full quota of four overs. Karan KC and Dipendra Singh Airee took two wickets each while Lalit Rajbansi took one wicket.

For the home team, only three batsmen could score in double digits, the highest being 46 runs by Michael Leask, Brandon McMullen scored 10 runs while captain Matthew Cross scored 15 runs before he was bowled out to Lamichhane..

With the performance in the match, Karan KC has registered 100 wickets in T20 International Cricket. He is the second after Lamichhane to make the record. 

Lamichhane was declared the 'player of the match' .today. 

Japan’s exports fell for the first time in eight months in May, data showed on Wednesday (Jun 18), indicating that sweeping US tariffs were threatening the country’s fragile economic recovery, Reuters reported.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and US President Donald Trump have yet to reach a trade deal.

Tokyo is scrambling to find ways to get Washington to exempt its automakers from 25 per cent automobile industry-specific tariffs, which are dealing a heavy blow to the country’s manufacturing sector. It also faces a 24 per cent ‘reciprocal’ tariff rate starting in Jul 9 unless it can negotiate a deal with Washington.

Total exports by value dropped 1.7 per cent year on year in May, data showed, smaller than a median market forecast for a 3.8 per cent decrease and following a 2 per cent rise in April.

Exports to the United States plunged 11.1 per cent last month from a year earlier, while those to China were down 8.8 per cent, the data showed, according to Reuters.

The tariff threat had driven companies in Japan and other major Asian exporters to ramp up shipments earlier this year, inflating levels of US-bound exports during that period.