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Police have arrested Kantipur Media Group Chairman and Managing Director Kailash Sirohiya on Tuesday.

A joint police team led by SSP Sanu Ram Bhattarai and SP Rabindra Regmi apprehended Sirohiya from his Thapathali-based office this afternoon.

Earlier, ​​​​​​the Dhanusha District Court had issued an arrest warrant for submitting two citizenships at different institutions.

A complaint was filed at the District Police Office, Dhanusha stating that he has been holding dual citizenship.

Prior to his arrest, Sirohiya issued a statement on Kantipur TV, saying that he was arrested without inquiring about the complaint lodged at the District Police Office, Dhanusha.

Further more, Chairman Sirohiya claimed that he was held for publishing a series of news reports about Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane embezzling millions of rupees from a Pokhara-based cooperative with evidence.

Speaking at the Parliament meeting on Sunday, Home Minister Lamichhane had said that the parliamentary probe committee would not be formed on the basis of news published in the newspaper.

Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane made public his property details on Tuesday.

The Home Minister also made public the property details of his wife Nikita Paudel.

According to the information made public today, he owns one ropani and one anna land in Bhaktapur as his ancestral property.

Lamichhane has shown Rs 110, 000 deposited in two banks (Rs 5, 000 in Global IME Bank and Rs 105, 000 in Nepal Bank Limited).

Similarly, Lamichhane's wife Nikita Paudel has 80 tola gold, 15/20 kg silver utensils and 25 percent Gopikrishna Pvt. Ltd.

Lamichhane said that he got some of the gold from his parents and bought some of it.

Nikita has five anna land in Budhanilkantha.

She has Rs 5, 000 in Siddhartha Bank, Rs 500, 000 in Nepal Bank, Rs 15, 000 in Sunrise Bank, Rs 28, 000 in NMB Bank and Rs 10, 511 in Prabhu Bank.

It has been shown that she took a loan of Rs 15 million as a home loan four years ago.

Likewise, it has been mentioned in the property details that Nikita has a Tata Nexon EV car of Rs 4. 2 million.

The price of gold has dropped by Rs 1, 200 per tola in the domestic market on Tuesday.

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the yellow metal is being traded at Rs 140, 600 per tola today. It was traded at Rs 141, 800 per tola on Monday.

Similarly, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 139,  900 per tola. It was traded at Rs 141, 100 per tola.

Meanwhile, the price of silver has dropped by Rs 25 and is being traded at Rs 1, 885 per tola today.

The major ruling and opposition parties represented in the Federal Parliament failed to agree on the terms of reference (ToR) for the parliamentary committee supposed to investigate the issue of co-operative fraud, rendering Sunday’s meeting of the working group at the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs inconclusive and indicating that they will continue to hold the parliament hostage. 

Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) continued to dig in heels on the thorny issue, with Shishir Khanal, a working group member and a Member of Parliament (MP) from the ruling party, demanding that the entire cooperative sector be brought under investigation as it is “unfair to investigate only one person”, giving the main opposition Nepali Congress not much leeway. 

But a short break from the standoff came as Deputy Prime Minister Lamichhane fielded questions at the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the federal parliament, regarding his alleged involvement in the cooperative fraud and denied his role in the case. He asked the main opposition Nepali Congress to think seriously on whether to form a committee targeted at individuals, even as NC’s Chief Whip Ramesh Lekhar said that while the government was ready to form such a panel, UML was not willing to bring Deputy Prime Minister Lamichhane under investigation. 

After Home Minister Lamichhane finished speaking, Members of Parliament from the main opposition Nepali Congress got up from their seats and demanded that they be allowed to speak. But Speaker Devraj Ghimire adjourned the meeting till 11 am on Monday. 

Meanwhile, the upper chamber of the federal parliament continued to bear the brunt of the standoff. The meeting of the National Assembly (NA) initially scheduled for 1:15 pm on Sunday was deferred to 3:15 pm, only to be postponed until Monday. On Sunday, NA Chair Narayana Prasad Dahal was to inform the assembly about a letter received from the Office of the President regarding the appointment of ministers and ministers of state, as well as the allocation of ministerial portfolios. 

The NC has long been obstructing the parliamentary proceedings, alleging the involvement of Deputy Prime Minister Lamichhane in the fraud and demanding the formation of a parliamentary committee to ensure a fair investigation into the case whereas the CPN-UML and RSP in particular have made it clear in no uncertain terms that an individual-centric probe is simply unacceptable.

on 16 May 2024, the British Embassy Kathmandu celebrated the official birthday of King Charles III. Nepal’s Hon. Vice President graced the occasion and raised a toast to “The next 100 years of friendship”, alongside British Ambassador Rob Fenn. 

The event celebrated the recent centenary of the 1923 Britain-Nepal Treaty of Friendship; people-to-people ties, to energise the next century of partnership, and UK support for Nepal’s journey to faster economic growth through foreign direct investment (FDI). 

Attendees represented the breadth of relations between the two countries, their shared history and bright future. Themes explored throughout the evening included development cooperation, follow-up to the National Investment Summit, B2B links, the British Gurkhas, education and culture. 

The event reflected the Embassy’s focus on the role of young people in the long story of UK / Nepal relations - the custodians of the next “100 years of friendship”. King Charles himself has visited Nepal. His steadfast leadership on issues affecting young people was showcased in the work of the British Council, volunteers from VSO, recipients of Duke of Edinburgh Awards and Chevening scholars who study in the UK and return to help build their country.

Ambassador Fenn spoke of the distance already travelled with the UK’s “comrade in arms, Nepal”; and his hope that Nepal would now take “the steeper path” which leads to faster growth through FDI. “We’ve come this far together. Let’s spend the next 100 Years of Friendship where we can see out from the rooftop of the world, and where the world will come to us”. 

The price of gold has dropped by Rs 700 per tola in the domestic market on Friday.

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the yellow metal is being traded at Rs 139, 300 per tola today. It was traded at Rs 140, 000 per tola on Thursday.

Similarly, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 138, 650 per tola. It was traded at Rs 139, 300 per tola.

Meanwhile, the silver is being traded at Rs 1, 800 per tola today.

The price of gold has increased by Rs 1, 000 per tola in the domestic market on Wednesday.

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the precious yellow metal is being traded at Rs 138, 400 per tola today. It was traded at Rs 137, 400 per tola on Tuesday.

Similarly, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 137, 750 per tola. It was traded at Rs 136, 750 per tola.

Meanwhile, the silver is being traded at Rs 1, 745 per tola today.

The WTO Secretariat and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Tbilisi, Georgia, on 1 May aimed at bolstering collaborative efforts to drive inclusive and sustainable development through trade and economic integration, including in Asia and the Pacific region. The MoU was signed ahead of ADB’s Annual Meeting to be held on 2-5 May.

The MoU, signed by WTO Deputy Director-General Jean-Marie Paugam and ADB Vice-President (Sectors and Themes) Fatima Yasmin, marks the deepening of a strategic partnership focused on regional cooperation, trade and economic integration, and the trade and environment agenda in support of the two organizations' respective membership and observers, the WTO reported.

At the heart of the collaboration is a shared commitment to advancing environmental sustainability, inclusive growth and resilience in the face of evolving global challenges. As part of the agreement, the WTO and ADB identified key areas of cooperation, such as the exchange of information including ongoing studies, joint events, dialogue with stakeholders, capacity building, joint publications, and sharing of best practices. 

“I am delighted to mark this significant milestone in our collaboration with ADB, which has demonstrated its unwavering commitment to addressing the nexus of trade and climate change, as underscored by ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa's remarks to Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala during the UN COP28 climate conference last November. Trade, combined with the investment power of ADB, holds immense potential to propel economies and regions toward achieving their net-zero ambitions. As we embark on this next phase of cooperation, we look forward to advancing joint initiatives aimed at promoting trade and environmental sustainability,” DDG Paugam said in remarks released for the occasion. 

The WTO is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world's trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible with a view to raising standards of living in accordance with the objective of sustainable development, according to WTO.

ADB is a multilateral development bank with a vision of Asia and the Pacific region free of poverty and a mission to help its developing members reduce poverty and improve the quality of life of their people. As a climate bank for the region, ADB is scaling up initiatives to mainstream trade and trade policy solutions in its operations