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The entire preparations for Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s China visit have been completed.

PM Oli is embarking on a five-day visit to China on August 30 at the cordial invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend the SCO Summit.

Apart from attending the SCO Summit, the Prime Minister will attend the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated by  issuing a press release on Wednesday. 

The high-level participation of Nepal at the SCO is expected to be a great opportunity for Nepal to further deepen Nepal-China relations and increase Nepal's proactive role in multilateral cooperation. 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs made briefings to the members of the delegation on Thursday about the PM's visit at the Prime Minister's residence in the presence of PM Oli. 

Foreign Secretary Amrit Bahadur Rai and Chief of Protocol Kumar Raj Kharel shared the details of the program and managerial aspects of the PM's visit. 

Prime Minister Oli is scheduled to inform the House of Representatives (HoR) about the visit on Friday, the Prime Minister's Secretariat said. 

During his visit to China, Prime Minister Oli is scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with Chinese President Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as the heads of state and governments from different countries attending the Summit.

PM Oli will leave for Tianjin City of China on Saturday morning and is scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the same evening, according to the Ministry. 

Prime Minister Oli will address the SCO Summit in Tianjin on September 1. 

The Prime Minister will meet with Han Zheng, Vice President of the People’s Republic of China, in Beijing on September 2. 

The PM will return home on September 3. 

The Prime Minister will be accompanied by his spouse, Radhika Shakya.

The entourage of the PM will comprise Raghuji Pant, Minister for Education, Science and Technology; Badri Prasad Pandey, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation; Purna Bahadur Khadka, Member of the Parliament; Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwada, Economic and Development Advisor to the Prime Minister; Chhabilal Bishwakarma, Member of Parliament; and the high-ranking government officials.

Four youths drowned in the Khutiyakhola (river) at Godawari Municipality in Kailali district on Thursday.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Rana Bahadur Chand of the District Police Office, Kailali identified the deceased as Jabej Bhandari (17) and Jeb Bhandari (15) of Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City-4 and Saksham Joshi (15) and Pratik Chaudhary (17) of ward-5 of Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City. 

DSP Chand said that the bodies of all them were recovered near the incident site. 

However, three other swimmers from the team returned home safely. 

The youths had gone for swimming some 18 kilometres away from Dhangadhi city in the downhill of the Chure region in the Khutiyakhola.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is scheduled to address the Parliament  on Friday, ahead of his China visit. 

Speaker Devraj Ghimire informed chief whips of major political parties about PM Oli’s address to the House during a meeting held in Singhadurbar this afternoon.

Prime Minister Oli, who is leaving for a five-day visit to China on Saturday, is going to brief the Parliament about the agendas of his visit.

CPN-UML Chief Whip Mahesh Bartaula informed that the calendar of the next 15 days of the Parliament has also been decided during the meeting.

Accordingly, the Parliament meeting to be held on August 29 will endorse the Land related Bill and forward it to the National Assembly.

Similarly, the meeting to be held on September 3 will endorse the Citizenship Bill and the Constitutional Council Bill, which was returned by the President’s Office will also be discussed, Bartaula informed.

Likewise, he mentioned that the Civil Service Bill will be endorsed  on September 4 if passed by the National Assembly.

According to him, there is a possibility to endorse the School Education Bill on September 11. 

CPN (Maoist Center) Chief Whip Mahesh Bartaula said that the Prime Minister will address the House on Friday and the agenda for the subsequent programs has also been prepared.

The Parliament will meet on 3, 4, 10, 11 and 12. 

Nigeria’s government has banned the export of raw shea nuts, an essential raw material in many cosmetic products, in a bid to grow the country into a global supplier of refined shea butter and other skincare ingredients, Associated Press reported.

The immediate ban on the crop will be in place for six months and then reviewed, Vice President Kashim Shettima said.

Nigeria follows a growing list of other West African countries, including Burkina Faso, Mali, Togo, Ivory Coast and Ghana, that have banned or restricted export of the crop in the past two years.

“The ban will transform Nigeria from an exporter of raw shea nut to a global supplier of refined shea butter, oil, and other derivatives,” Shettima said Tuesday, according to Associated Press.

Russia bombarded the Ukrainian capital with drones and missiles early Thursday, including a rare strike in the city center, killing at least 14 people and wounding 48, local authorities said, Associated Press reported.

It was the first major Russian attack on Kyiv in weeks as U.S.-led peace efforts to end the three-year war struggled to gain traction. Russia launched 598 strike drones and decoys and 31 missiles of different types across the country, according to Ukraine’s Air Force, making it one of the war’s biggest air attacks. 

Among the dead were three children ages 2, 14 and 17, said Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv’s city administration. The numbers are expected to rise. Rescue teams were on site to pull people trapped underneath the rubble, according to Associated Press.

Ministry of Defence staff were warned before the Afghan data leak not to share information containing hidden tabs, according to documents released by the UK's data regulator, BBC reported.

Last month it emerged that the details of almost 19,000 people fleeing the Taliban who had applied to move to the UK were leaked when an official emailed a spreadsheet that contained a hidden tab with the information.

Documents released by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) also show that staff there raised concerns about why the body had not issued a fine to the MoD.

The MoD said they had worked to improve data security, but an ICO spokesperson said the government had not yet done enough to learn the lessons, according to BBC.

CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said the boundary issues including Kalapani-Lipulek should be resolved based on mutual dialogue and agreement.

Speaking briefly with journalists at Biratnagar Airport today, Chair Dahal, also the former Prime Minister, reminded that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had expressed commitment in the past to resolve border issues involving Kalapani, Lipulek and Limpiyadhura.

The Maoist Center Chair said that he had clearly stated during his visit to India as Prime Minister that the relationship with the neighbour cannot be cordial without resolving the border issues.

"During my latest visit to India as Prime Minister, a 'press briefing' was held where the issue of the border dispute was discussed, and Indian Prime Minister Modi expressed his commitment to resolving the remaining border issues through dialogue," former PM Dahal said.

Chairman Dahal suggested to the government to initiate a dialogue process with the neighbouring friendly nation India to resolve the border issues between the two countries.

The people from 18-35 years of age would now be defined as youths in the context of Nepal. 

With the recent endorsement of the National Youth Policy-2082, the people of the 18-35 years age would be defined as youths, said Executive Vice-Chairperson of the National Youth Council, Surendra Basnet.

Earlier, the National Youth Policy-2072 had defined youth as those between 16 and 40 years.  The government has formulated a new youth policy. 

As per the National Census 2078, the population of people of 16 to 40 years was 42.56 percent. 

Executive Vice-Chairperson Basnet said a request has been made to calculate the population of youths as per the new youth policy. 

As the Act relating to Children has defined the population up to 18 years as children, the age group of people from 18 to 35 years has been included as youths, he mentioned.  

The United Nations has defined youth as individuals between the 15-24 years. 

Basnet added that the legal age of youths would be 16-40 years until the amendment to National Youth Council Act, 2072. 

Though the youth policy should be revised every five years, it has been amended after 10 years, he argued.