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The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) gained 18. 45points to close at 2,022. 91 points on Tuesday.

Similarly, the sensitive index surged by 2.56 points to close at 386. 24 points.

A total of 8,704,477-unit shares of 286 companies were traded for Rs 2. 09 billion.

Meanwhile, Menchhiyam Hydropower Limited and Manakamana Engineering Hydropower Limited​​​​​​​were the top gaines today, with its price surging by 10. 00 percent. Likewise,
Himalayan Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited was the top loser as its price fell by 5.87 percent.

At the end of the day, total market capitalization stood at Rs 1. 08 trillion.

The National Examinations Board (NEB) has started conducting grade increment examinations for class 12 students from today.

NEB Chairperson Dr Mahashram Sharma said the grade increment exam is taking place from today for the students who obtained ‘non-graded (NG)’ in the results of class 12 published on August 15.

NEB’s Controller of Examinations, Krishna Prasad Sharma, said the examination is scheduled for today and Wednesday from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm.

A total of 123,396 students are attending the grade increment exam. Four hundred nineteen examination centers have been determined across the country for the same. Of them, 79,584 students have been non-graded in one subject.

As per the letter grading guideline, any subject with less than 35 percent marks is non-graded (NG). The examination is taking place peacefully at all the exam centers across the country, shared Sharma.

RSS

The price of gold has increased by Rs 100 per tola in the domestic market on Sunday.

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the precious yellow metal is being traded at Rs 112, 200 per tola today. It was traded at Rs 112, 100 per tola on Friday.

Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 111, 650 per tola. It was traded at Rs 111, 550 per tola.

Similarly, the silver is being traded at Rs 1,430 per tola today.

Professor Dr Govinda KC has issued yet another ultimatum to the government as part of his struggle for reforms in the medical education sector. 

Dr KC put forth his demands by organizing a press conference in the Capital on Monday, threatening to launch a hunger strike from August 14 if the government fails to meet his demands.

He demanded the withdrawal of CTEVT’s ‘illegal move’ regarding seat allocation and student admission in nursing, pharmacy and health assistant studies, dismissal of officials behind the move, formation of a recommendation committee for the appointment of the vice-chair of the Medical Education Commission within a week and completion of the selection process before the expiry of the current Vice-chair Dr Shree Krishna Giri’s term (in August). 

Dr KC also demanded that the CTEVT’s decision to hike tuition fees for health assistant, pharmacy and nursing studies be revoked along with the vested interests’ bid to interfere in the CTEVT’s seat allocation and selection process. On its part, CTEVT has put its fee hike move on hold in the wake of protests.

He took the occasion to reiterate his demands, including the establishment and operation of government medical colleges or institutes in all provinces, enactment of a law outlining criteria for appointment of Integrated Health (Science) Education and Academy officials, arrangements for the transformation of medical education into a not-for-profit sector, legal arrangements to prevent conflicts of interest in medical education institutes, appointment of permanent medical staff in government hospitals on the basis of number of available beds and a strict implementation of legal provisions on free medication and treatment from government health institutions.

He has also asked the government to implement agreements reached with him on Sept 24, 2022. 

“While our repeated protests led to various reforms, the government has yet to implement many important agreements. At this point, efforts are on to reverse the reform process in the interest of medical mafia,” Dr KC said.

He maintained that organized efforts were underway to destroy the Medical Education Commission, the regulatory body of medical education, by removing provisions of the Medical Education Act.

Attempts to reverse the achievements of the decade-long struggle for reforms in medical education are reproachable, Dr KC said: Our repeated calls to the government to do a course correction have gone unheard. Instead of starting the process for new appointments at the Medical Education Commission, the government is trying to throw a spanner in the commission’s works by making it leaderless. 

The Minister for Education is protecting party workers instead of stopping them from interfering in seat allocation and admission process in CTEVT affiliates,  Dr KC said, adding: This has given rise to suspicion that the minister may have been working in the interest of the medical mafia.

A senior IFC official is on a three-day visit to Nepal to renew IFC's commitment to support private sector to help meet country’s development goals while discussing investment opportunities.

During her visit, IFC's Vice President for Economics and Private Sector Development, Susan M. Lund, is scheduled to meet senior government officials and private sector leaders.

Nepal is a priority country for IFC, and its first investment dates back to 1975. Since July 2018, IFC has committed over USD 560 million in long-term financing in the country.

Based in Washington DC, Lund leads a large staff of economists who provide economic analysis to support IFC investments, including macroeconomic outlooks, country risk assessments, and country private sector diagnostics.

Prior to joining IFC, Ms. Lund spent over 20 years as a partner at McKinsey & Company and the leader of the McKinsey Global Institute.

At least 35 people have been killed after a powerful bomb ripped through a political rally in northwestern Pakistan, local officials said, Aljazeera reported.

The blast took place on Sunday at a gathering of the conservative Jamiat Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) party on the outskirts of Khar in Pakistan’s northwestern Bajur district, which borders Afghanistan.

Azam Khan, head of the emergency room at Khar’s main hospital, said 35 bodies were brought to the hospital and more than 100 others were wounded.

Government administrator Mohibullah Khan Yousufzai confirmed the toll, adding that some of the wounded were being airlifted to the provincial capital, Peshawar.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but local authorities said the explosion was caused by a suicide bomb.

Senior police officer Nazir Khan said the JUI-F’s workers’ convention was under way when the explosion took place.

Akhtar Hayat Gandapur, the inspector-general of police for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said senior party leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman was not at the event when the explosion took place.

Political meetings such as the one organised by the JUI-F party on Sunday are being held across the country to mobilise supporters for the coming elections, due to be held by October.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the incident and extended his condolences to the families of the victims, including that of JUI-F leader Ziaullah Jan, who was confirmed killed in the attack, Radio Pakistan reported.

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari “expressed deep sorrow over the loss of precious lives”, his Pakistan People’s Party said in a statement.

It added that the “the terrorists, their facilitators and planners need to be eliminated so that peace is established in the country.”

Interior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said on Twitter, recently rebranded as X, that the the “religion of terrorists is only terrorism.” “Ending terrorism is very important for the survival and integrity of Pakistan,” she added.

Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said there were fears that the armed group Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban, may be responsible for the blast.

“The Tehrik-e Taliban have declared against the security forces and against the government and Maulana Fazlur Rehman is an ally of the government,” Hyder said.

JUI-F is part of the Pakistan Democratic Alliance, a political coalition affiliated with the government in which Rehman plays a leading role.

Security analyst Zeeshan Salahuddin told Al Jazeera the TTP has “dramatically escalated” the string of attacks since a ceasefire with the government broke down last year.

“All indications point to the fact that this terror group has regained quite a lot of the momentum it had lost between 2014 and 2018, when Pakistan conducted extensive military operations against the group,” Salahuddin said.

The TTP pledges allegiance to, but is not directly a part of, Afghanistan’s Taliban which surged back to power in 2021.

Salahuddin added that the TTP was receiving support from Afghanistan and increasing its capabilities as well as its internal cohesion.

The group has been waging a rebellion against the state of Pakistan for more than a decade, demanding the imposition of Islamic law, the release of key members arrested by the government and a reversal of the merger of Pakistan’s tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to Aljazeera.

In January, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque inside a police compound in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing more than 80 officers.

The attacks have been focused on regions bordering Afghanistan, including Bajur, one of seven remote districts where armed groups have been emboldened by the return of the Afghan Taliban.

Nepal has signed diplomatic ties with Nauru on Thursday. The Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations in New York, Amrit Rai, and the Permanent Representative of Nauru Ambassador Margo Deiye signed a joint communique in New York, establishing the diplomatic relations between the two countries, according to Nepal's Mission to the UN in New York. With this, the number of countries having diplomatic ties with Nepal reached 179. The ambassadors of both the countries have shared this information to the UN Secretary-General, it has been learnt. The ambassadors of the two countries have expressed their commitment to enhancing cooperation in international forums, work in development aspirations and deepen people to people ties. Nauru is a country in the northeast of Australia near the Pacific Ocean and had gotten the status of an independent nation in 1968.  

A 42-year-old man died of Bharatpur-10 on Saturday due to complications from Covid-19 in Chitwan. According to Durga Chapagain, Chief at the Chitwan Health Office, he was under medical treatment for pneumonia and was found infected with COVID-19 on April 13. There are 10 active cases of COVID-19 in the district at present.