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The Nepal Institute for International Cooperation and Engagement (NIICE), a Kathmandu-based foreign policy think-tank on Wednesday organized a high-level seminar on “Terrorism in South Asia: Challenges to Regional Peace and Security” in Kathmandu. 

Sunil Bahadur Thapa, advisor to the President of Nepal and former Minister of Industry, said that that Groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), which are UN-designated terrorist organizations, have historical ties to Al-Qaida and operate in Pakistan, posing risks to India and potentially using Nepal as a transit point.

Minendra Rijal, Former Defense Minister of Nepal, stressed that a terrorist attack on India will have spillover effects on Nepal. He called for global unity—similar to the solidarity seen after the September 11 attacks in the United States—to combat terrorism effectively.

Chanda Chaudhary, Member of Parliament and former Minister for Women, Children, and Senior Citizens, highlighted the importance of curbing money laundering as a means to prevent cross-border terrorism.

Dinesh Bhattarai, former Diplomat and Advisor to Former Prime of Nepal shared Pahalgam attack was the deadliest attack in recent years, because the victims were brutally killed after asked them to disclose their religion and shot in their head. 

NP Saud, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Irrigation, stated that Nepal and regional powers should develop a clear mechanism to control terrorism, warning that terrorism affects everyone indiscriminately. 

On the occasion, Sumitra Karki, Director of NIICE and Pramod Jaiswal, Research Director at NIICE spoke about the wide-range of issues related to terrorism.

Merchandise exports surged by an impressive 77.8 percent over the first eleven months of the fiscal year 2024-25, reaching Rs. 247.57bn, the latest macroeconomic situation update from the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) shows. The growth marks a sharp rebound from the three percent decline recorded during the same period last year.

While exports to India, Nepal’s largest trading partner, went up by a whopping 112.6 percent, exports to China and other countries saw modest increases of three and 4.4 percent, respectively. The export of soybean oil, polyester yarn and thread, jute goods, tea and rosin increased during the period. However, exports of palm oil, zinc sheets, juice, readymade garments and cardamom declined.

Meanwhile, merchandise imports went up by 13.1 percent to Rs. 1,644.80bn in the review period, compared to a 1.8 percent decline in the same period last year. Imports from India, China and other countries rose by 7.6 percent, 15.3 percent and 29.5 percent, respectively. Items like crude soybean oil, rice and paddy, vehicles and spare parts, edible oil and sponge iron contributed to import growth. However, imports of petroleum products, gold, electrical equipment, fertilizers and coal suffered.

Although exports have posted a remarkable growth, the low export volume meant Nepal’s deficit widened by 6.3 percent to Rs 1,397.23bn over the 11-month period. However, the export-import ratio improved to 15.1 percent, up from 9.6 percent, indicating relatively better export performance.

In the service sector, the net service income remained negative at Rs 97.33bn, with travel payments, including Rs 124.8bn for education alone, outpacing travel income. Remittances, however, increased by 15.5 percent to Rs 1,532.93bn over the first 11 months of 2024/25. In US dollar terms, remittances rose 12.7 percent to $11.25bn. The remittance growth was supported by a strong labor migration sector. A total of 452,000 Nepali workers received new approvals for foreign employment, while over 308,000 renewed their approvals.

The healthy growth in remittances helped the country post a current account surplus of Rs 307.31bn, up from a surplus of Rs 200.38bn in the same period of the previous fiscal year. The balance of payments (BoP) also recorded a surplus of Rs 491.44bn, up from Rs 425.67bn a year earlier. Foreign direct investment (equity only) climbed 34.7 percent to Rs 11.09bn, while net capital transfers amounted to Rs 8.96bn, according to the report.

Foreign exchange reserves also rose by 25.9 percent to Rs 2,569.38bn in mid-June 2025, up from
Rs 2,041.10bn in mid-June 2024. In US dollar terms, the reserves rose by 22.2 percent to $18.65bn from $15.27bn over the same period. Of the total reserves, those held by the central bank climbed 23 percent to Rs 2,274.47bn, while reserves held by banks and financial institutions soared by 53.2 percent to Rs 294.92bn.

The share of Indian currency in total reserves stood at 20.5 percent in mid-June 2025. The foreign exchange level is sufficient to cover 17.6 months of prospective merchandise imports and 14.7 months of merchandise and services imports, according to the report.

Vehicular movement along the Kaligandaki corridor has been obstructed due to a landslide at Dablyang in Baglung Municipality-10.

According to Basanta Pandey, Public Information Officer of the Baglung Police, a landslide triggered by heavy rainfall since Tuesday evening completely disrupted the corridor. 

There is a least chance of road clearance immediately as the rain has not stopped, he said.

United States President Donald Trump has said his administration will send more weapons to Ukraine after an earlier decision to halt some arms shipments drew condemnation from Kyiv and its supporters, Aljazeera reported.

Speaking to reporters ahead of a dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, DC on Monday, Trump said the new shipments would be primarily comprised of “defensive weapons”.

“We’re going to send some more weapons. We have to. They have to be able to defend themselves,” Trump said.

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he had approved sending U.S. defensive weapons to Ukraine and was considering additional sanctions on Moscow, underscoring his frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the growing death toll in Russia's war with Ukraine, Reuters reported.

Trump, who pledged as a presidential candidate to end the war within a day, has not been able to follow through on that promise and efforts by his administration to broker peace have come up short.

Trump directed his ire at Putin on Tuesday during a meeting with cabinet officials at the White House.

"I'm not happy with Putin. I can tell you that much right now," Trump said, noting that Russian and Ukrainian soldiers were dying in the thousands.

"We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin ... He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless," Trump said, according to Reuters.

Spanish authorities ordered more than 18,000 residents of the northeastern Tarragona province to remain indoors on Tuesday and several dozen were evacuated as a wildfire raged out of control, consuming almost 3,000 hectares (7,413 acres) of vegetation, Reuters reported.

Large parts of Spain are on high alert for wildfires after the country experienced its hottest June on record. Two people died in a wildfire on July 1 in the region of Catalonia where Tarragona is located.

The latest fire broke out early on Monday in a remote area near the village of Pauls, where strong winds and rugged terrain have hampered firefighting efforts, authorities said. An emergency military unit was deployed early on Tuesday alongside more than 300 firefighters working in the area.

"Since midnight, firefighters have been battling the blaze with gusts of wind reaching up to 90 kilometres per hour (56 miles per hour)," Catalonia's regional firefighting service said, adding that the strong Mistral wind was expected to ease by the afternoon, according to Reuters.

The death toll from the July Fourth flash flood that ravaged a swath of central Texas Hill Country rose on Tuesday to at least 109, many of them children, as search teams pressed on through mounds of mud-encrusted debris looking for scores of people still missing, Reuters reported.

According to figures released by Governor Gregg Abbott, authorities were seeking more than 180 people whose fate remained unknown four days after one of the deadliest U.S. flood events in decades.

The bulk of fatalities and the search for additional victims were concentrated in Kerr County and the county seat of Kerrville, a town of 25,000 residents transformed into a disaster zone when torrential rains struck the region early last Friday, flooding the Guadalupe River basin.

The bodies of 94 flood victims, about a third of them children, have been recovered in Kerr County alone as of Tuesday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said at a late-afternoon news conference after touring the area by air, according to Reuters.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the way for Donald Trump's administration to pursue mass government job cuts and the sweeping downsizing of numerous agencies, a decision that could lead to tens of thousands of layoffs while dramatically reshaping the federal bureaucracy, Reuters reported.

Tuesday's ruling stemmed from an executive order Trump issued in February ordering agencies to prepare for mass layoffs. At Trump's direction, the administration has come up with plans to reduce staff at the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Health and Human Services, State, Treasury, Veterans Affairs and more than a dozen other agencies.

In a brief unsigned order, the court said the Trump administration was "likely to succeed" in its argument that his directives were legally within his power.

The decision is the latest win for Trump's broader efforts to consolidate power in the executive branch. The Supreme Court has sided with Trump in several cases on an emergency basis since he returned to office in January, including clearing the way for implementation of some of his hardline immigration policies, according to Reuters.