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President Ram Chandra Paudel has extended best wishes to all on the occasion of the Udhauli festival of the Kirat community and wished happiness, peace and prosperity to all Nepali sisters and brothers at home and abroad.

This festival of the Kirat community, who enjoy a close relationship with nature, enhances mutual harmony among all ethnic groups in Nepal and helps maintain family, community and social unity. “In Nepal, festivals like Udhauli have played an important role in integrating our cultural, ethnic and linguistic diversity and maintaining social harmony, national unity and a common Nepali identity,” he said in the message.

The President has also expressed his belief that the Udhauli festival would help strengthen national unity by fostering mutual harmony, tolerance and fraternity in the diverse Nepali society.

In a similar message, Vice President Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav has said that every festival celebrated in the country provides an opportunity to recognize the country as a nation with unity in diversity, pride in tradition, and strength in coexistence. 

Expressing his best wishes for happiness, peace, prosperity, good health, and progressive progress to all Nepali sisters and brothers at home and abroad on the occasion of the Udhauli festival, he wished that these festivals also motivate us to move forward by committing ourselves towards building an inclusive, just, and prosperous society by embracing Nepal’s independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, national unity, and people’s rights.

Likewise, Vice President Yadav expressed his belief that Jyapu Day would give strength to the campaign to preserve Newa culture and pass it on to the new generation. Sending best wishes on the occasion of Yamari Punhi and Jyapu Day today, he wished for happiness, peace, prosperity, good health and further progress for all Nepali sisters and brothers.

He has also expressed the belief that Yamari Punhi (Dhanya Poornima) and Jyapu Day would inspire positive initiatives on the path of social harmony, cultural pride and national unity.

The Yomari Punhi or Yomari Poornima, and Udhauli festivals are being observed across the country today.

The Yomari Poornima is a festival observed especially by the Newar community of the Valley and is believed to have started 400 years ago. 

A special delicacy made of rice flour and molasses called Yomari is the major attraction of this festival.

The day is also observed as Jyapu Day.

Meanwhile, people from the Kirant community are observing Udhauli festival today. 

This festival is observed wishing for a good harvest by worshipping the soil and nature. 

People from the Rai, Limbu, Sunuwar and Yakhya ethnicities observe this festival. 

The federal government has also announced a public holiday in the country today.

Miley Cyrus has confirmed her engagement to her partner of four years, musician Maxx Morando, BBC reported.

The three-time Grammy winner was seen wearing a gold and diamond ring on her engagement finger at the premiere of Avatar: Fire and Ash in Los Angeles on Monday.

In an interview with US TV show Good Morning America on Wednesday, the 33-year-old said Morando had got down on one knee for the proposal during a recent trip to Asia, according to BBC.

India has scrapped an order making it mandatory for smartphone makers to preload a state-run cyber safety app on new phones after a public furore, BBC reported.

The order gave smartphone makers 90 days to pre-load new phones with its new Sanchar Saathi app which could not be "disabled or restricted", sparking privacy and surveillance concerns. 

The government argued the move was necessary to verify the authenticity of handsets, but cybersecurity experts said it impinged on citizens' right to privacy, according to BBC.

Five Palestinians were killed, including two children, and several wounded when Israeli aircraft struck tents for displaced people west of Khan Younis, according to medics at the Kuwait Field Hospital, BBC reported.

The strikes hit Gaza's coastal al-Mawasi area.

Medical teams said the dead were two women aged 46 and 30, a 36-year-old man, and two boys, aged eight and 10.

Some 32 injured people were treated in hospital, the medics said, according to BBC.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukrainian officials are preparing to meet US negotiators, after high-stakes talks between the US and Russia over a plan to end the war in Ukraine failed to produce tangible results, BBC reported.

Zelensky said a meeting would be arranged "in the coming days" once the US team had returned from Moscow.

President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner spent almost five hours with Russia's Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Tuesday, according to BBC.

Madhes Province Chief Minister Saroj Kumar Yadav resigned from his post today following the Supreme Court’s December 1 verdict requiring him to secure a vote of confidence within 24 hours. 

Seeing no possibility of obtaining the vote of confidence, he announced his resignation in today’s meeting of the Province Assembly.

Yadav, the CPN-UML Parliamentary Party leader in the Madhes PA had been appointed to the post three weeks ago by the then Chief of the Province Sumitra Subedi Bhandari as the leader of the largest political party in the Province Assembly. 

The appointment had been made in accordance with Article 168 (3) of the Constitution.

The early morning swearing-in held at the Bardibas-based Panas Cottage, further sparked the political controversy over his appointment. 

Amidst this, the federal government relieved Bhandari of her post and recommended Surendra Labh Karna as the new Province Chief.

In today’s PA meeting, no members from the seven opposition parties were present. 

Only UML members attended the meeting. 

Ministers Kanchan Bichha (from RPP) and Bimala Ansari (Nepal Sanghiya Samajbadi Party) were also present.

Before announcing his resignation, Yadav claimed that he was not required to secure a vote of confidence, as his appointment had been a compulsion. 

He said his 22 days in office had been focused on people-centered service delivery. “I am here to secure votes from PA members, not these chairs. But they are not present. Therefore, I hereby announce my resignation,” he said, referring to the mass absence of PA members and the vacant chairs.

In response, Deputy Speaker Babita Raut Ishar who chaired the session said there was no need to proceed with the vote of confidence since the Chief Minister had already announced his resignation.

The government of Nepal has signed a loan agreement worth 34.59 billion Japanese yen (around Rs 31.76 billion) with the Government of Japan for the Koteshwor Intersection Improvement Project. 

The agreement was signed and exchanged today at the Ministry of Finance in the presence of Finance Minister Rameshwor Prasad Khanal.

The loan Nepal is receiving through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has a grace period of 10 years and a repayment period of 30 years. The annual interest rate for the loan is 0.2 percent. Under the project, an underpass and a flyover will be constructed along the Koteshwor–Jadibuti section. 

Once these major infrastructures are built, traffic congestion in Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, and along the BP Highway is expected to ease significantly. 

The project will be implemented by the Department of Roads under the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport.

Finance Secretary Dr Ghanashyam Upadhyay and Japan’s Ambassador to Nepal, Maeda Toru, signed the exchange notes related to the agreement, while Dhaniram Sharma, Chief of the International Economic Relations Division at the Ministry of Finance, and JICA Nepal’s Chief Representative, Matsuzaki Mizuki, signed the loan agreement on behalf of their respective sides.

On the occasion, Finance Minister Khanal pledged to use his tenure to further strengthen bilateral cooperation between Nepal and Japan, stating that the loan support from Japan is significant for improving the Kathmandu Valley's traffic system. 

The Japanese Ambassador said that once the project is completed, it will bring substantial improvements to traffic management in the Kathmandu Valley. 

He also highlighted the long-standing friendly relations between Nepal and Japan.

Senior officials from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, the Department of Roads, the Embassy of Japan, and JICA Nepal were present at the ceremony.