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Rastriya Swatantra Party Chairman and former Managing Director of Gorkha Media Pvt. Ltd has filed a writ at the Supreme Court against the order of the Tulsipur Butwal bench of the High Court to send him to prison for judicial custody.

Supreme Court Information Officer Assistant Spokesperson Nirajan Pandey informed that the petition on behalf of Lamichhane has been registered and the hearing has been scheduled for Sunday.

He was arrested and sent to jail after the Tulsipur-Butwal Bench of High Court overturned the order of Rupandehi District Court to release him on bail of Rs 10 million in cooperative and organized crime.

Lamichhane has demanded that the order be annulled and that he should be allowed to fight the case from outside.

Lamichhane, who was arrested in Kathmandu on Friday, was taken to Bhairahawa from Tribhuvan Airport on Saturday morning. Later, he was kept in custody at the District Police Office.

He was produced at the court today as there were holidays on Saturday and Sunday.

On January 19, the District Attorney's Office, Rupandehi, had filed a case in the Rupandehi District Court making President Lamichhane among others as defendants in connection with the fraud case of the Supreme Savings and Credit Cooperative Society in Butwal.

Prime Minister and CPN-UML Chair KP Sharma Oli has said attempts to stop the journey of prosperity and development by weakening the UML would not be successful.

Addressing an 'awakening assembly' organized by the party's Rupandehi district committee in Butwal today, he said the reactionary elements at home and abroad who were trying to divide the UML had failed.

"Those who are thinking of decimating the UML and creating a UML without KP Oli will not be successful. I am not going to live longer, even after that stronger leaders than me will emerge in the party. We ourselves will draw the lucky lines for the development of this nation. Those who set fire to people's homes and escape after looting shops cannot do anything for the revolution and change," PM and Party Chair Oli said.

Stating that there was misrule and disorder in the country during the monarchy and Panchayat rule, he said the democratic republic was brought through the sacrificial struggle of the people and the government was making all efforts to strengthen it.

Prime Minister Oli urged all to contribute to the journey of prosperity and good governance without being distracted by the regressive elements trying to spread anarchy and rumors to defame this system by thinking of the rule of their misrule and autocracy in the past.

Stating that it was useless to pursue the principle of hereditary superiority in the modern times, PM and UML Chair Oli said the present government was committed to fulfilling the aspirations of the people for prosperity and development by strengthening the democratic republic.

Prime Minister Oli claimed that during the tenure of his government, various development projects, technology schemes and programmes such as various highways, hospitals, international convention centers, meditation centers and development of the agriculture production sector were brought to Lumbini.

UML Vice-Chairman and Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel stressed the need to move ahead by tearing apart the false propaganda that has been done to overshadow the good works done under the leadership of Prime Minister Oli for prosperity and good governance.

UML Secretary and Lumbini province in-charge Padma Aryal said they were ready to discuss the works done by the UML and the party leadership and urged people not to go after the false propaganda spread by the opposition and the regressive elements.

Chief Minister of Lumbini Province Chet Narayan Acharya, Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation Balram Adhikari, among others, were present on the occasion.

With the arrival of spring, mountaineering activities in Nepal have picked up momentum. According to Leeladhar Awasthi, the Information Officer at the Department of Tourism, a total of 381 climbers from 41 groups have been granted permission to climb various mountains between March 1 and April 9. The department has granted permits for 15 different peaks.

Awasthi told ApEx that a total of Rs 245.2m has been collected as royalty fees for mountain climbing permits. Among the climbers granted permission, 297 are men and 84 are women.

As always, Sagarmatha remains the main attraction for climbers. This season too, it has attracted the highest number of climbers, with 134 people from 14 groups receiving permits to climb the world’s highest peak.

Awasthi noted that during the same period last year, only three groups had obtained permits to climb Sagarmatha. This year, Rs 201.6m has been collected just from Sagarmatha climbing permits. According to the department, the highest number of permits for Everest has been issued to climbers from the United States (42), followed by China (19) and India (17).

Altogether, climbers from 57 different countries, including Nepal, have received mountaineering permits. Among them, only two climbers are Nepali. The highest number of permits—69—has gone to American climbers, followed by 51 from India and 43 from China. The department reports a highly encouraging increase in climbers for the first mountaineering season of 2025.

Currently, the department is issuing around five climbing permits per day, Awasthi added. In 2024, a total of 296 teams undertook mountain expeditions, including 46 teams for Everest alone. Of the Rs 780m collected in royalties last year, Rs 600m came from Sagarmatha permits alone, he said.

On Wednesday morning, an avalanche occurred at the Everest Base Camp, the world’s highest peak. Awasthi said the avalanche hit the Khumbu Icefall area, located between the base camp and Camp I. Due to the avalanche, climbers who were working on fixing ropes have been unable to proceed. Around 1,000 meters of fixed rope have been buried, along with four ladders. Awasthi stated that the situation is currently being monitored, and due to wind speeds of up to 35 km/h, the weather has turned unfavorable. He also mentioned that there was heavy snowfall on Tuesday.

A stoppage-time finish from Rayan Cherki earned Olympique Lyonnais a dramatic 2-2 draw with Manchester United in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final on Thursday, with visiting goalkeeper Andre Onana's errors costing his side dear, Reuters reported.

Onana was the centre of attention in the Groupama Stadium after his pre-match war of words with Lyon midfielder Nemanja Matic, and the pressure told as his mistake gifted Thiago Almada a 25th-minute opener.

A timely equaliser right on halftime from Leny Yoro, the young centre-back's first goal for United since joining in the close season, levelled things up, before Joshua Zirkzee's late header looked to have earned the visitors a battling victory.

Cherki, however, capitalised on another Onana error, when the Cameroonian could only push Georges Mikautadze's shot straight out to him, denying United a win to galvanise their disappointing season, according to Reuters.

Rangers held Athletic Bilbao to a nail-biting goalless draw at home in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final on Thursday, despite being reduced to 10 men early on, Reuters reported.

Bilbao failed to capitalise on their numerical advantage after Rangers defender Robin Propper was sent off in the 13th minute for a foul on Inaki Williams.

The visitors, appearing in the last 16 of a major European competition for the first time since 2015-16, had a couple of clear-cut opportunities in the first half, with both Nico Williams and Oihan Sancet coming close.

However, goalkeeper Liam Kelly produced a series of fine saves to keep them at bay as the Scottish Premiership side defended strongly and even threatened when Cyriel Dessers fired wide from long range, according to Reuters.

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim defended under-fire goalkeeper Andre Onana following the Cameroonian's costly mistakes in his side's 2-2 draw at Olympique Lyonnais in their Europa League quarter-final first leg on Thursday, Reuters reported.

Onana allowed Thiago Almada's free kick to squirm past him in the Groupama Stadium and was also at fault for Rayan Cherki's last-gasp equaliser that denied United victory.

Since the start of last season, no Premier League club's goalkeeper has made more errors leading to goals being conceded in all competitions than Onana.

"It can happen, if you play football, you play a lot of games, you can make mistakes," Amorim said. "If you look at the season, I make more mistakes than them during these last games and these last months.

"The other thing is we have one more game to change everything and that should be our focus, according to Reuters.

President Donald Trump's trade war rattled global markets anew on Thursday as stocks and oil prices sank amid fears China may once again respond in kind with higher tariffs to match the latest levies imposed by the United States, Reuters reported.

Battered global markets and anxious global leaders welcomed Wednesday's reprieve when Trump suddenly decided to freeze most of his hefty new duties for 90 days.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tried to further assuage skeptics by telling a meeting of Trump's cabinet that more than 75 countries wanted to put in place a process for trade negotiations, and Trump himself expressed hope of a trade deal with China.

But the uncertainty in the meantime extended some of the most volatile trading since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Reuters.

The Supreme Court on Thursday said the Trump administration must work to bring back a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to prison in El Salvador, rejecting the administration’s emergency appeal, Associated Press reported.

The court acted in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who had an immigration court order preventing his deportation to his native country over fears he would face persecution from local gangs.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis had ordered Abrego Garcia, now being held in a notorious Salvadoran prison, returned to the United States by midnight Monday. 

“The order properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,” the court said in an unsigned order with no noted dissents, according to Associated Press.