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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Foreign Affairs Department head Vijay Chauthaiwale called on Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel in Singha Durbar on Friday.

On the occasion, they discussed bilateral relations and matters of mutual interest, according to Finance Minister Paudel's secretariat.

A Cabinet meeting called for 10 am on Friday has been postponed.

The Prime Minister’s Secretariat informed that the meeting summoned for 10 am today has been deferred.

The reason for the postponement has not been disclosed.

Meanwhile, President Ram Chandra is presenting the government’s policies and programs today.

A joint meeting of both Houses of federal Parliament has been called for 3 pm for the same.

A Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday had already passed the policies and programs.

Israel’s air force struck near Syria’s presidential palace early Friday hours after warning Syrian authorities not to march toward villages inhabited by members of a minority sect in southern Syria, Associated Press reported.

The strike came after days of clashes between pro-Syrian government gunmen and fighters who belong to the Druze minority sect near the capital, Damascus. The clashes left dozens of people dead or wounded. 

Friday’s strike was Israel’s second on Syria this week, and attacking an area close to the presidential palace appears to send a strong warning to Syria’s new leadership that is mostly made up of Islamist groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. 

On Thursday, Syria’s Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri harshly criticized Syria’s government for what he called an “unjustified genocidal attack” on the minority community, according to Associated Press.

Japan could use its $1 trillion-plus holdings of U.S. Treasuries as a card in trade talks with Washington, its finance minister said on Friday, raising explicitly for the first time its leverage as a massive creditor to the United States, Reuters reported.

While Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato did not threaten to sell holdings, his remarks touch on a critical concern global investors have about what Japan and China, the two largest owners of U.S. government debt, might do in seeking tariff concessions from the Trump administration.

The Treasury market saw a huge global sell-off last month after U.S. President Donald Trump's decision on April 2 to slap sweeping tariffs on trading partners, including key strategic allies such as Japan.

Kato said in a television interview the primary purpose of Japan's U.S. Treasury holdings - the largest in the world - is to ensure it has sufficient liquidity to conduct yen intervention when necessary, according to Reuters.