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Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has made it clear that inhuman and heinous crimes committed during the conflict cannot be forgiven while taking the transitional justice to the final conclusion.

Inaugurating the Sixth National Convention of the National Ex-Army and Police Organization of Nepal (NEAPON) today, PM Oli, who is also the Chairman of CPN-UML, said that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Commission of Investigation on Disappeared Persons would carry out works to provide justice to the conflict victims.

Stating that there would be no further delay in the formation of these commissions, he made it clear that any kind of murder, violence, activities that disturb religious harmony and anarchy would not be acceptable as the country has already adopted the democratic system after defeating authoritarianism.

"We are now in a federal democratic republican system. You can go to the people and contest in the election. After winning the election, when the UML started unprecedented works for development and prosperity by forming a government of its own, we were displaced at the instigation of the reactionaries. We are now in a coalition government," he said on the occasion.

Prime Minister Oli further said: "We have a history of nation building and unity. We will hand over a prosperous and an undivided Nepal to the new generation. We will not allow the country's borders to shrink and the national pride to be harmed. We will move forward by keeping our civilized and cultured society intact.”

Reiterating that national unity with social harmony was necessary in a diverse country, PM Oli stressed the need to further strengthen the trust reposed by the ex-servicemen and police organizations in the country and the party as the UML was leading the campaign to foster national unity and social harmony.

He also called upon the UML to organize a youth conference on the occasion of Democracy Day on April 24 to celebrate people's rights and development.

The government has implemented an Act related to the production and sale of iodized salt after 26 years of its enactment. The Act was formulated in 2000.

The Act came into implementation after a meeting of the Council of Ministers on April 15 passed a proposal presented by Minister for Health and Population Pradip Paudel to this effect.

With the implementation of the Act, the legal way has been opened to work on solving the health problems found in children due to the excess intake of iodine which was pointed out to by a research conducted by the Ministry of Health before this.

It was stated that the Act would come into effect after a notification on the issuance of the Act is published in the government Gazette. The notification on the issuance of the Act was published in the Gazette on January 15, 1999.

However, the Act could not come into implementation so far, as the successive governments since 1999 failed to publish in the Gazette a notification on the implementation of the Act. As a result, regulations and guidelines could not be formulated for the implementation and regulation of the Act.

Now, with the implementation of the Act after two and a half decades, the legal process has been opened for the Ministry to proceed ahead with the work in this regard.

A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Tuesday decided to publish the notification with effect from July 17.

Chief of the Nutrition Section under the Department of Health Services at the Ministry of Health, Lila Bikram Thapa, said that the research carried out a decade ago by the Ministry of Health had shown serious health problems due to the excessive intake of iodine in children as it was based on the past standards regarding iodine content in salt.

In a micronutrient assessment survey conducted by the Ministry of Health and Population in 2016, iodine content in the urine samples collected from children aged six to nine years was found to be 314 micrograms per liter whereas the accepted iodine content was 300 micrograms per liter.

Doctors say that due to this, high blood pressure, thyroid and other problems are seen.

"Now with the publication of the latest Gazette notification related to implementation of the Act, it will be easier for the Ministry of Health, Agriculture and related bodies to enact the related regulation and revise the standards or carry out other necessary works," said Dr Prakash Budhathoki, the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Health and Population.

Former Prime Minister and CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has stressed the need of amending the Constitution for political stability.

Addressing a press conference organized by Press Centre Nepal, Rupandehi in Bhairahawa today, Chair Dahal, who arrived in Rupandehi as part of the party's awareness campaign, expressed concern that the CPN-UML and the Nepali Congress had brought the issue of Constitution amendment during the formation of the government but failed to proceed ahead with it.

"The Constitution amendment is necessary for stability and it should be reviewed and amended within 10 years," he said, adding that the Constitution amendment is not to restrict the rights of the people but to enhance their rights.

Stating that his party has no interest in toppling down the government, he said the awareness campaign has been launched to establish the rights of the people and to understand the sufferings and even to defeat all kinds of efforts launched against the republican system in the name of restoration of monarchy or any others.

Japan recorded a trade deficit in its March-April fiscal year but racked up a surplus with the US, the Finance Ministry reported Thursday.

Japan’s global trade deficit totaled 5.2 tn yen (USD 37 bn) for the fiscal year through March, for the fourth straight year of deficits, according to the provisional statistics. The surplus with the US ballooned to 9 tn yen (USD 63 bn), Firstpost reported.

Exports to the United States are a contentious issue for US President Trump, and Japanese negotiators are in Washington to press their case against increased US tariffs.

Japan is a long-standing US ally and major investor in the US, employing hundreds of thousands of Americans.