Heavy rain paralyses life in India's financial capital Mumbai

Heavy rainfall in India's financial capital Mumbai has disrupted the lives of millions of people, submerging roads and leading to flight and train cancellations, BBC reported.

Many parts of the city remain inundated in waist-deep water, with videos showing residents swimming through waterlogged roads as garbage gushed out from clogged sewers. 

Authorities on Tuesday rescued nearly 600 people who got stuck on an overcrowded monorail system that stopped mid-journey. At least 23 of them had to be treated for suffocation, civic authorities have said. 

Most schools and colleges remain shut. Some 350 people have been evacuated from the city's low-lying areas and have been shifted to temporary shelters, according to BBC.

Pakistani MPs’ delegation calls on Speaker Ghimire

Visiting parliamentary delegation from Pakistan today called on Speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR), Devraj Ghimire. 

The delegation arrived here to take part in the two-day Hindu Kush Himalayan Region Parliamentarians' Meet-2025 that concluded in Kathmandu on Tuesday. 

Welcoming the Pakistani MPs' delegation led by Munaza Hassan to his office at Singha Durbar, the Speaker talked about the friendly relations between the two countries and potentials for  strengthened regional cooperation in the areas of climate change, sustainable development and for addressing climate change-induced challenges to the mountain life. 

He pressed the need for owning up such issues as a shared agenda of the region and responding to them accordingly.  

The Speaker talked about the potentials for enhanced trade, connectivity and tourism between the two countries, adding that parliamentary cooperation can be directed to that end. 

The team leader congratulated Nepal for successfully hosting the Meet, applauding Nepal's role in mitigation of climate change impacts and conservation of mountain ecosystems

 

 

Trump administration revokes security clearances of 37 current and former government officials

The Trump administration said Tuesday that it was revoking the security clearances of 37 current and former national security officials in the latest act of retribution targeting public servants from the federal government’s intelligence community, Associated Press reported.

A memo from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard accuses the singled-out individuals of having engaged in the “politicization or weaponization of intelligence” to advance personal or partisan goals, failing to safeguard classified information, failing to “adhere to professional analytic tradecraft standards” and other unspecified “detrimental” conduct. 

The memo did not offer evidence to back up the accusations, according to Associated Press.

 

Average NPL of commercial banks rises to 4.23 percent

The average non-performing loans (NPLs) of commercial banks increased by 13.28 percent in the fiscal year 2024/25, reflecting the continued strain on the country’s economic activities and credit recovery challenges faced by banks. A study of financial statements released by 20 commercial banks shows the average NPL ratio rose to 4.23 percent in fiscal year 2024/25, compared to 3.74 percent in the previous fiscal year.

Bankers attribute the rise in bad loans to sluggish economic activity, weak demand for credit and repayment constraints across several business sectors.  Thirteen commercial banks saw their NPL level go up, while seven managed to bring it down. NIC Asia Bank reported the largest spike in NPLs, up by 82.02 percent to 6.28 percent, from 3.45 percent the previous year. Himalayan Bank recorded the highest NPL ratio overall at 7.28 percent. The bank’s NPL was 4.98 percent in the previous fiscal year.

Similarly, Sanima Bank’s bad loans rose by 75 percent to 3.01 percent, while Nepal SBI Bank’s increased by 70.91 percent to 3.35 percent. Siddhartha Bank’s NPL climbed by 20.73 percent to 2.62 percent, and Citizens Bank reported a 20.48 percent rise to 4.94 percent. Prime Bank’s NPL rose by 19.56 percent to 5.56 percent, Nepal Investment Mega Bank’s (NIMB) by 19.14 percent to 5.85 percent and Global IME Bank’s by 16.78 percent to 4.87 percent. Likewise, NMB Bank saw a 9.41 percent increase in NPL to 3.72 percent, Kumari Bank saw its NPL rise by 7.71 percent to 6.42 percent, Nepal Bank’s by 3.23 percent to 4.47 percent and Prabhu Bank’s by 0.40 percent to 4.96 percent.

In contrast, Everest Bank succeeded in lowering its NPL ratio by 46.47 percent to just 0.38 percent, the lowest among all commercial banks. Similarly, Standard Chartered Bank reduced its NPL by 18.69 percent to 1.74 percent, while Agricultural Development Bank brought its NPL by 16.62 percent to 3.26 percent and Rastriya Banijya Bank by 16.12 percent to 3.59 percent. 

Likewise, Laxmi Sunrise Bank recorded an 8.20 percent decline in NPL to 4.25 percent, Nabil Bank’s NPL dropped by 4.04 percent to 4.27 percent, and Machhapuchchhre Bank trimmed its NPL by 0.77 percent to 3.83 percent.

Man in US gets 8 years in prison for sending weapons to North Korea

A Chinese national has been sentenced to eight years in prison for smuggling firearms and other military items to North Korea, the US justice department said, BBC reported.

Shenghua Wen, 42, received around $2m (£1.5m) from North Korean officials to ship the items from California, according to a statement from the agency on Monday.

A resident of Ontario, California, Wen has been detained since December 2024. He pleaded guilty in June to conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and being an illegal agent of a foreign government.

Wen's case shines a light on the various ways in which North Korea circumvents international sanctions on its arms trade, according to BBC.

 

Dozens of Afghan deportees from Iran killed in bus crash

A traffic accident in western Afghanistan has killed 73 people, including 17 children, most of whom were on a bus carrying Afghan migrants deported from Iran, a Taliban official confirmed to BBC Pashto.

The bus, en route to Kabul, caught fire on Tuesday night after colliding with a truck and motorcycle in Herat province, said Ahmadullah Mottaqi, the Taliban's director of information and culture in Herat.

Everyone aboard the bus was killed, as well as two people from the other vehicles, he said.

In recent months Iran has stepped up its deportations of undocumented Afghan migrants who have fled conflict in their homeland, according to BBC.

 

Son of Norway's crown princess charged with rape and abuse

The eldest son of Norway's crown princess has been charged with 32 offences, including four counts of rape, a prosecutor says, BBC reported.

The charges against Marius Borg Høiby, 28, include the abuse of a former partner and violations of restraining orders against another former partner.

He was born from a relationship before Crown Princess Mette-Marit married Crown Prince Haakon, who is the future king of Norway. 

Mr Høiby denies the most serious accusations against him, but plans to plead guilty to some lesser charges when the trial starts, his lawyer Petar Sekulic told Reuters news agency.

He could face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty of the most serious charges, according to BBC.

PM Oli to respond to lawmakers' queries in Parliament today

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is scheduled to respond to the queries of lawmakers in the Parliament meeting on Wednesday.  The meeting will be held at 1 pm today. 

Prime Minister Oli is responding to the queries of lawmakers in the Parliament today as per HoR Regulation, 2079.

Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizens, Nawal Kishor Sah, will be presenting a proposal, seeking consideration on 'Bill Relating to Children (first amendment), 2082 at the HoR meeting.

Similarly, the HoR is receiving a proposal that wants to send the Human Rights Trafficking (Control) First Amendment Bill, 2081 to the related committee for clause-wise discussion.