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The Christian community is celebrating Christmas Day to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity.

Jesus Christ is believed to have been born in Bethlehem, Israel some 2022 years ago today, on December 25.

Today is celebrated as Love Day for those who came to love people, Peace Day for those who came to establish peace, and Liberation Day for those who came for liberation.

On the occasion, the government also announced a public holiday today.

The Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) led by Rajendra Lingden and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal led by Kamal Thapa have unified their parties.

Lingden and Thapa signed a unification agreement on Wednesday. 

The two parties have agreed to organize a unification declaration program next week. The RPP had 14 seats in the dissolved House of Representatives, while the Thapa-led party did not have a single seat.

Both sides have not disclosed details about the structure or leadership of the new party. They signed a brief agreement stating their mutual commitment to party unification. Both are known as royalist parties. 

Working Women Journalists (WWJ) has successfully concluded a three-day training program with the objective of enhancing the capacity of women journalists.

The training, titled "Investigative Reporting on Parliamentary Affairs for Women Journalists" was organized with the support of the UNDP’s PSP Project and was attended by 25 women journalists from various media outlets.

On the first day, Dr. Jagat Nepal, a lecturer at Tribhuvan University, provided training on the structure, functions, and procedures of Parliament. Likewise, Narendra Saud, News Editor of Annapurna Post, delivered a presentation on parliamentary reporting and its practical aspects.

On the second day, former Minister for Communication and Information Technology Rekha Sharma shared her experiences related to gender issues in Parliament and the media. In the second session, Rajendra Fuyal, former Secretary of the National Assembly under the Federal Parliament, briefed participants on the Parliament Secretariat and its key responsibilities.

On the third day, senior journalist and former President of the Federation of Nepali Journalists, Shiva Gaunle, conducted a session on ethical standards in investigative journalism. Similarly in the second session, Namrata Sharma, former Chairperson of the Center for Investigative Journalism, presented on investigative journalism in parliamentary reporting.

Certificates were distributed to the participants by UNDP / PSP Project National Project Manager Dila Dutta Pant, senior journalist Namrata Sharma, and former President and Advisor of WWJ, Shubheksha Bindu.

Addressing the program, National Project Manager Pant emphasized that women journalists should aspire to become experts rather than remain only reporters in the field of parliamentary reporting.

He stated that Parliament is a vast source of stories with many unexplored issues and stressed that those who take leadership in this area will succeed. "If you step forward and take leadership, you can do very well in this field", Pant said.

WWJ President Ramkala Khadka said the training was organized to strengthen democracy by promoting investigative journalism in parliamentary affairs, ensuring accountability of power, and providing accurate information to the public.

She noted that women journalists can undertake investigative reporting on issues such as corruption and financial irregularities, conflicts of interest in law-making, parliamentary committee proceedings, and the impact of policy decisions.

Earlier, with UNDP’s support, WWJ had also completed a study on the role of women parliamentarians in representation within Nepal’s Parliament.

Participants shared that the training was highly beneficial. One of the participants, Mamta Thapa, said she had identified several investigative story ideas related to parliamentary accounting issues after the training and suggested that WWJ should introduce fellowship programs to encourage women journalists to produce investigative stories.

Another participant, Arati Poudel, also stated that the training helped her gain extensive knowledge about Parliament and the potential areas for investigative reporting within it.

A new report released by U.S Department of Defense has said that U.S seeks to deny the ability of any country in the Indo-Pacific to dominate US and its allies. 

The new report titled Annual report to Congress: Military and Security Developments involving the People’s Republic of China says that U.S intends to open a wider range of military-to-military communication with the PLA with a focus on strategic stability as well as deconfliction and escalation, more broadly. We will also seek other ways to make clear our peaceful intentions. 

At the same time, we will ensure that the Joint Force is always ready and able to defend our nation’s interests in the Indo-Pacific, the document says. 

 As we do so, it bears emphasizing that U.S. interests in the Indo-Pacific are fundamental—but also scoped and reasonable. We do not seek to strangle, dominate, or humiliate China, according to the document. 

Rather, as laid out in President Trump’s National Security Strategy, we seek only to deny the ability of any country in the Indo-Pacific to dominate us or our allies, the document reads. 

That means being so strong that aggression is not even considered, and that peace is therefore preferred and preserved. 

The document says: “The Department of War will therefore prioritize bolstering deterrence in the Indo-Pacific through strength, not confrontation. President Trump seeks a stable peace, fair trade, and respectful relations with China, and the Department of War will ensure that he is able to achieve these objectives from a position of military strength.” 

 In the process, we will forge and sustain a balance of power that will enable all of us to enjoy a decent peace in an Indo-Pacific—one in which trade flows openly and fairly, we can all prosper, and all nations’ interests are respected.

The document says that China has likely also considered basing Bangladesh and Pakistan.