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Arsenal’s Luis Munoz became the youngest player to feature in a UEFA Youth League match on Wednesday when the 13-year-old came off the bench in the closing stages of their 4-2 win over Bayern Munich in the under-19 competition, Reuters reported.

Munoz, who does not turn 14 until December 18, replaced Kyran Thompson in the 85th minute. The teenage midfielder beat the record set by Liam Payas, who played for Gibraltar-based Lincoln Red Imps aged 14 years and 93 days in September 2024.

Arsenal are 30th in the UEFA Youth League table, with only the top 22 teams qualifying for the knockout stages. They next face Belgian side Club Brugge on December 10, according to Reuters.

British finance minister Rachel Reeves announced a big tax-raising budget on Wednesday that will take more money from workers, people saving for a pension and investors to give herself greater room to meet her deficit-reduction targets, Reuters reported.

Britain's fiscal watchdog cut its forecasts for economic growth for the coming years - a setback for struggling Prime Minister Keir Starmer who promised voters last year he would speed up the economy.

But the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said the government will now have more than double its previous buffer for meeting its fiscal targets, something closely watched by investors assessing Britain's borrowing risks, according to Reuters.

U.S. President Donald Trump asked Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi avoid further escalation in a dispute with China during a call this week, two Japanese government sources with knowledge of the matter said, Reuters reported.

Takaichi sparked the biggest diplomatic bust-up with Beijing in years when she told parliament earlier this month that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger Japanese military action.

That drew a furious response from Beijing, which claims democratically governed Taiwan, and a demand for Takaichi to retract her remarks - which has not been forthcoming, according to Reuters. 

Two National Guard soldiers are critically injured after being gunned down in Washington DC, less than two blocks from the White House, in what the city's mayor called a "targeted shooting". 

Police said a lone suspect opened fire on two National Guard members from West Virginia on Wednesday afternoon, before being subdued by other National Guard nearby who had heard the gunfire, BBC reported.

President Donald Trump, who was in Florida at the time, said the alleged gunman was an Afghan national who entered the US in September 2021.

Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades burned through the night, leaving at least 44 people dead and 279 reported missing with rescuers still pulling residents from blazing high-rise apartment buildings into the morning, Associated Press reported.

Police had arrested three men on suspicion of manslaughter in connection with fire which began Wednesday afternoon in a housing complex in Tai Po district, a suburb in the New Territories. By Thursday morning local time, the fire was yet to be put out and rescues continued. 

Hundreds of residents were evacuated as the fire spread across seven of the eight towers in the Wang Fuk Court complex, as bright flames and smoke shot out of windows, according to Associated Press.

The weather today will remain partly cloudy in Koshi, Madhes, Bagmati and Gandaki Provinces and mainly fair in the rest of the country.

The Meteorological Analysis by the Meteorological Forecasting Division says at present there is no significant weather system affecting the country.

Tonight, the weather will remain partly cloudy in hilly and mountainous regions of Koshi Province and mainly fair in the rest of the country, adds the Division in its 8 am bulletin today. 

Goods worth Rs 33.21 billion have been exported through the Birgunj border in the first four months of the current fiscal year.

During the same period last fiscal, the export from the major border transit of the country was worth Rs 13.64 billion.

According to Birgunj Customs Chief Bishnu Prasad Gyawali, the exports included soybean oil worth Rs 17.32 billion and fruit juice worth Rs 2.60 billion, among others.

The 61stSession of the Programing Committee of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) commenced on Wednesday. 

The meeting, being held on a virtual platform, brought together  senior officials from the member states , heads of SAARC specialized bodies and SAARC Regional Centers, as well as senior officials from the Secretariat.

The SAARC Programing Committee meeting is being held under the Chairmanship of Nepal and is attended by the National Focal Points of the SAARC member states, comprising of Joint Secretary/ Director General of the Ministries of Foreign/External Affairs of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, according to a press statement issued by the SAARC Secretariat.

The Session was formally opened by the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepal and the Chairperson of the SAARC Programing Committee, Kiran Shakya. In his opening remarks, the Joint Secretary stated that SAARC, as the premier regional organization of our region, continues to serve as an essential platform for dialogue, collaboration and collective action among our member states. 

He added that this gathering reminds us that SAARC remains a vital regional mechanism for addressing our shared challenges and harnessing the vast opportunities before us and to stay relevant and effective, SAARC must continue evolving and strengthening its institutions and ensuring that its activities yield tangible benefits for the peoples of South Asia. 

On the occasion, Ambassador Md. Golam Sarwar, the Secretary General of SAARC, thanked the member states for their steadfast support. 

He stated that being positioned at the forefront of the role of the Programming Committee, as an important Charter Body of SAARC, cannot be overstated. 

He added that SAARC was founded on the belief that through cooperation and shared purpose, the nations of South Asia can achieve more collectively than individually. 

He also mentioned that SAARC will be commemorating the 40thAnniversary of the adoption of its Charter in the coming days, and added that while it is a matter of profound joy and pride, it is also a time to reflect on the journey of SAARC, the achievements made, the challenges faced and the future it looks at. 

During the Session, the Committee will be reviewing and finalizing the budgets and Calendars of Activities of the Specialized Bodies and Regional Centres for 2026.