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Nepali Embassy in Dhaka, in collaboration with the Nepal Tourism Board, hosted a Nepal-Bangladesh Tourism Meet under the theme Destination Nepal: From the Bay of Bengal to the Himalayas in Chattogram, Bangladesh, on Wednesday.

Speaking on the occasion, Ambassador Ghanshyam Bhandari emphasized the vital role tourism and people-to-people connections play in Nepal-Bangladesh relations. He shed light on the growing ties between the two countries and called for greater efforts to ‘truly connect the heights of the Himalayas with the depths of the Bay of Bengal’. 

He highlighted the ongoing efforts of the Government of Nepal to improve tourism infrastructure.

Ambassador Bhandari also appreciated the important contributions of travel and tour entrepreneurs in further positioning Nepal as a preferred tourist destination, reads a statement issued by the Embassy.

Similarly, Rohini Prasad Khanal, Officiating Director of Tourism Marketing & Promotion Department at the Nepal Tourism Board, delivered a presentation on Nepal’s diverse tourism products and potential, urging the participating travel agents and tour operators to strengthen efforts towards building more robust tourism linkages between the two countries. 

Highlighting Bangladesh as one of Nepal’s major source markets, he expressed optimism about an increased flow of Bangladeshi tourists in the days ahead, according to the statement.

Likewise, Mount Everest Summiteer Babar Ali shared brief remarks about his experiences in Nepal during his successful summit to Mount Everest in 2024 and his recent ascent to Mount Annapurna.

The programme also featured a raffle draw, with tour packages and round trip air tickets for the Dhaka–Kathmandu sector sponsored by Nepali tour and travel agencies, Himalaya Airlines and Biman Bangladesh Airlines.

Over 120 participants including Chattogram-based representatives of ATAB, TOAB, hotels and airlines, and leading organizations from the tourism and hospitality sector attended the event, the statement further reads.

The U.S. State Department said Wednesday it is restarting the suspended process for foreigners applying for student visas but all applicants will now be required to unlock their social media accounts for government review, Associated Press reported.

The department said consular officers will be on the lookout for posts and messages that could be deemed hostile to the United States, its government, culture, institutions or founding principles.

In a notice made public Wednesday, the department said it had rescinded its May suspension of student visa processing but said new applicants who refuse to set their social media accounts to “public” and allow them to be reviewed may be rejected. It said a refusal to do so could be a sign they are trying to evade the requirement or hide their online activity.

The Trump administration last month temporarily halted the scheduling of new visa interviews for foreign students hoping to study in the U.S. while preparing to expand the screening of their activity on social media, officials said, according to Associated Press.

Transatlantic airfares have dropped to rates last seen before the pandemic, data shows, the latest sign that fewer Europeans are traveling to the U.S. due to concerns about U.S. border controls and President Donald Trump's policies, Reuters reported.

The trend could extend into and beyond the summer holiday period, typically the busiest time for airlines and travel companies.

Overseas arrivals to the United States fell 2.8% in May from a year ago, according to preliminary data from the U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office within the U.S. Department of Commerce. Travel from Western Europe fell 4.4% in May, led by a decline in travelers from Denmark and Germany.

Forward bookings suggest sustained declines are on the horizon, with total inbound bookings to the U.S. in July down 13% year-over-year, according to OAG Aviation, an analytics firm, according to Reuters.

Iran's 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cuts an increasingly lonely figure, Reuters reported.

Khamenei has seen his main military and security advisers killed by Israeli air strikes, leaving major holes in his inner circle and raising the risk of strategic errors, according to five people familiar with his decision-making process.

One of those sources, who regularly attends meetings with Khamenei, described the risk of miscalculation to Iran on issues of defence and internal stability as "extremely dangerous".

Several senior military commanders have been killed since Friday including Khamenei's main advisers from the Revolutionary Guards, Iran's elite military force: the Guards' overall commander Hossein Salami, its aerospace chief Amir Ali Hajizadeh who headed Iran's ballistic missile program and spymaster Mohammad Kazemi, according to Reuters.

President Donald Trump kept the world guessing about whether the United States will join Israel's bombardment of Iranian nuclear sites as the Israel-Iran conflict entered its seventh day on Thursday, Reuters reported.

Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Trump declined to say if he had made any decision on whether to join Israel's campaign. "I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do," he said.

Trump in later remarks said Iranian officials wanted to come to Washington for a meeting and that "we may do that." But he added, "It's a little late" for such talks.

The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain plan to hold nuclear talks with their Iranian counterpart on Friday in Geneva aimed at persuading Iran to firmly guarantee that it will use its nuclear program solely for civilian purposes, a German diplomatic source told Reuters.

The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain plan to hold nuclear talks with their Iranian counterpart on Friday in Geneva, a German diplomatic source told Reuters.

The ministers will first meet with the European Union's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, at Germany's permanent mission in Geneva before holding a joint meeting with the Iranian foreign minister, the source said.

The European initiative comes amid fears of a spiralling conflict in the Middle East after Israel launched wide-ranging military strikes on its arch-enemy Iran last week and Iran sent waves of missiles at Israeli targets in response, according to Reuters.

President Donald Trump has declined to say whether the United States will join its ally Israel's military campaign, fuelling concerns that the crisis could intensify.

The prospect of a U.S. strike against Iran has exposed divisions in the coalition of supporters that brought President Donald Trump to power, with some of his base urging him not to get the country involved in a new Middle East war, Reuters reported.

Some of Trump's most prominent Republican allies, including top lieutenant Steve Bannon, have found themselves in the unusual position of being at odds with a president who largely shares their isolationist tendencies.

Bannon, one of many influential voices from Trump's "America First" coalition, on Wednesday urged caution about the U.S. military joining Israel in trying to destroy Iran's nuclear program in the absence of a diplomatic deal, according to Reuters.

"We can't do this again," Bannon told reporters at an event sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor in Washington. "We'll tear the country apart. We can't have another Iraq."

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Poudel has said that the government will ensure a budget for disaster management in the country.

In a discussion held with a joint team of elected people’s representatives from Lalitpur district on Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Poudel said that the disaster-induced floods and landslides will be managed as soon as possible.

Expressing his commitment to allocate budget through the concerned ministry in necessary coordination with the NDRRMA, he also responded positively to all the issues raised by the all-party team of people's representatives.

The team led by Nepali Congress leader and House of Representatives member Udaya Shumsher Rana sought funds for immediate reconstruction of settlements and structures damaged due to the floods that occurred last monsoon.

The team also urged that the budget of Rs 250 million allocated for the Lele-Bhardeu-Chandanpur-Thuladurlung road be mobilized as a multi-year project. 

The team has demanded immediate compensation for those impacted by the Satdobato-Chapagaun and Satdobato-Godavari road expansion works.