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Rastriya Swatantra Party President and former Managing Director of Gokha Media Group Rabi Lamichhane has been sent to jail for judicial custody on Monday.

He was arrested and sent to jail after the Tulsipur-Butwal Bench of High Court overturned the order of Rupandehi District Court to release him on bail of Rs 10 million in cooperative and organized crime.

Earlier, both the District Attorney's Office and Lamichhane had appealed to the High Court, stating that they were dissatisfied with the district court's order.

Rupandehi District Police Office SP Ranjit Singh Rathore said that Lamichhane was sent to jail in Bhairahawa after presenting him at the District Court following the order of the High Court.

Lamichhane, who was arrested in Kathmandu on Friday, was taken to Bhairahawa from Tribhuvan Airport on Saturday morning. Later, he was kept in custody at the District Police Office.

He was produced at the court today as there were holidays on Saturday and Sunday.

On January 19, the District Attorney's Office, Rupandehi, had filed a case in the Rupandehi District Court making President Lamichhane among others as defendants in connection with the fraud case of the Supreme Savings and Credit Cooperative Society in Butwal.

The sixth BIMSTEC summit held in Bangkok on April 4 has issued a declaration titled Prosperous, Resilient and Open BIMSTEC. The summit has expressed satisfaction on the coming into force of the BIMSTEC Charter on 20 May 2024. The summit has adopted the BIMSTEC Bangkok Vision 2030 for common aspiration toward a forward-looking BIMSTEC region that is prosperous, resilient and open to tackle challenges and seize opportunities for the coming decade. It has agreed to take appropriate measures on priority basis in the areas of mutual benefit to build a robust BIMSTEC to address the contemporary global challenges, expressed in the BIMSTEC Bangkok Vision 2030 (included as Annexure) as part of this declaration.

It has also adopted the rules of procedures for BIMSTEC Mechanism as recommended by the ministerial meeting and reiterated the commitment to timely holdings of the summit and meetings of all BIMSTEC mechanisms. The summit commended the Eminent Persons’ Group on the future direction of BIMSTEC for their report and recommendations, and emphasised on the early implementation of recommendation. The secretary-general has been mandated to monitor and report the progress of implementation of EPG’s recommendations to the summit.

The summit reiterated commitment to swiftly conclude the BIMSTEC Free Trade Area Agreement (FTA) and direct the Trade Negotiating Committee and its working groups to finalize the constituent agreement to BIMSTEC FTA without any further delay.

Acknowledging that several BIMSTEC member-states are poised to graduate from the LDC status, face structural constraints and challenges that hinder their competitiveness in external trade due to the, among others, high trade and transit cost and commit to extend necessary support to the graduating and land-locked member-states in their development efforts, with a view to ensuring equitable benefits during the implementation of BIMSTEC FTA, the declaration says.

The summit urged the member-states to explore the possibility of establishing BIMSTEC mutual recognition arrangements of standards to reap the benefits of trade facilitation measures within the region. It further urged the member-states to finalize the agreement on trade facilitation and agreement on cooperation and mutual assistance in customs matters on a priority basis.  The declaration also called for encouraging relevant officials of member-states to explore the possibility of establishing digital cross-border payment systems and trade settlements in local currencies, noting that some member-states have already adopted the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

US President Donald Trump and his advisers have defended sweeping tariffs on imports and vowed to stay the course, despite market turmoil and calls to avoid a trade war, BBC reported.

In a series of television interviews, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent played down recent stock market falls and Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, insisted reciprocal tariffs would be implemented as planned.

Bessent said there was "no reason" to expect a recession as a result of the turmoil. "This is an adjustment process," he said.

Meanwhile, another top adviser, Kevin Hassett, said more than 50 countries have contacted Trump to try to negotiate a deal, according to BBC.

Minister for Health and Population Pradeep Paudel arrived in New York to take part in the 58th session of the Commission on Population and Development in the UN Headquarters in New York, USA.

Nepal's Chief of the UN Mission in New York, Lok Bahadur Thapa, and other diplomats from the Mission welcomed Minister Paudel on his arrival in New York.

Minister Paudel is attending the high-level meeting of the Commission on Population and Development (DPD) to take place on Monday and Tuesday.

According to the UN, the event is being held in New York from April 7 to 11 with focus on 'Ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages," aligning with Sustainable Development Goal 3.