Submit your Article

Japan's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Miyaji Takuma, on Monday paid a courtesy call on Minister for Foreign Affairs Arzu Rana Deuba.

The Foreign Minister and Japan's Minister of State who are presently in Muscat, the capital of Oman, to attend the '8th Indian Ocean Conference' held the bilateral meeting today.

 During the meeting, the two exchanged views on various dimensions of Nepal-Japan relations and mutual interests. On the occasion, the Minister recognized Japan as one of the major development partners, contributing to Nepal's development in the socio-economic sectors.

The two also discussed the upcoming celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the Nepal-Japan diplomatic ties in 2026. Matters relating to the likely exchange of high-level visits between the two countries were discussed during the meeting.

On the occasion, the Minister expected the necessary support from the Government of Japan in the aftermath of the endorsement of working procedure regarding Nepal-Japan last year's agreement to hire skilled workforce from Nepal for the upcoming five years.

The Minister also utilized the opportunity to call on the Government of Japan to assist Nepal in the reconstruction of the BP Highway that was significantly damaged by the September (2023) rains.

Foreign Minister Rana urged Japan for its cooperation to connect Japan with the Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport and Pokhara Airport with direct flights.

The extension of the direct flight between Nepal and Japan (Narita-Kathmandu) to Lumbini will be beneficial for Japanese citizens aspiring to visit Lumbini, enhancing cultural ties between Nepal and Japan. In response, the Japanese Minister said he would respond to the call after a feasibility evaluation.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Bishnu Prasad Paudel has been discharged from the Kirtipur Hospital after receiving treatment for burn injuries.

DPM Paudel and Pokhara Metropolitan City Mayor Dhanraj Acharya were injured after a hydrogen balloon exploded at an event organized for the promotion of tourism in Pokhara on Saturday.

They were being treated in intensive care units at the hospital for two days.

Though Mayor Dhanraj Acharya's health condition is normal, he will be kept in the hospital for a few more days.  According to the hospital, "Both burn injuries are healing and there does not appear to be any adverse effect on the lungs."

Therefore, it has been decided to 'discharge' DPM Paudel from the hospital today, "said a press release issued by Kirtipur Hospital.

South Korean authorities said Monday that DeepSeek would not be available from local app stores pending a review of the Chinese AI startup's handling of user data.

DeepSeek's R1 chatbot stunned investors and industry insiders with its ability to match the functions of its Western competitors at a fraction of the cost.

But a number of countries have questioned DeepSeek's storage of user data, which the firm says is collected in "secure servers located in the People's Republic of China".

On Monday, Choi Jang-hyuk, vice chairperson of Seoul's Personal Information Protection Commission, told a press conference that DeepSeek had been removed from local app stores while authorities "thoroughly examine" its personal data processing practices "to ensure compliance" with local laws.

In a press release, the data protection agency said DeepSeek had "acknowledged that considerations for domestic privacy laws were somewhat lacking".

The agency assessed that bringing the app into line with local privacy laws "would inevitably take a significant amount of time", it added.

"To prevent further concerns from spreading, the commission recommended that DeepSeek temporarily suspend its service while making the necessary improvements," it said, adding that DeepSeek "accepted" that proposal.

The app was removed from local app stores on Saturday at 6:00 pm (0900 GMT).

And DeepSeek was unavailable on the South Korean version of Apple's app store on Monday.

But it was still available to users who had already downloaded the app.

Seoul's data protection agency said it "strongly advised" them to "use the service with caution until the final results are announced".

That included, it said, "refraining from entering personal information into the DeepSeek input field".

This month, a slew of South Korean government ministries and police said they blocked access to DeepSeek on their computers.

Italy has also launched an investigation into DeepSeek's R1 model and blocked it from processing Italian users' data.

Australia has banned DeepSeek from all government devices on the advice of security agencies.

US lawmakers have also proposed a bill to ban DeepSeek from being used on government devices over concerns about user data security.

In response to the bans, the Chinese government has said it opposes the "politicisation of economic, trade and technological issues".

It also insists it "has never and will never require enterprises or individuals to illegally collect or store data" AFP

Ambassador Shmulik A. Bass, along with officials from Nepal’s Ministry of Finance and Sana Kisan Bikas Laghubitta Bittiyasanstha (SKBBL), visited the agricultural farm of Youddha Prasad Neupane, a prominent Israel returnee student and agripreneur, on Sunday in Jeevanpur, Dhading.

The visit offered firsthand insights into Neupane's journey,challenges and best practices in agribusiness enterprise using Israeli Agro-technologies.

Neupane is an alumnus of the Learn and Earn Program, 2013-2014 batch of Arava International Center for Agriculture Training (AICAT), Israel.

He has significantly expanded his farm after returning from Israel and has successfully applied Israeli Agricultural technologies- including drip-irrigation with automation, fertigation system, mulching techniques, and high-tech nursery. Notably, he invests only 20% of his income in Israeli technology while achieving remarkable results.

 Farmers from neighboring areas are learning from his techniques, and he continues to inspire the local agricultural community. 

This visit underscores the strong agricultural cooperation between Nepal and Israel and highlights the success of Learn and Earn Programs in empowering Nepali farmers with innovative and modern farming techniques. 

More than 4, 000 students from farming families, associated with SKBBL and other institutions, have been trained in Israel under Learn and Earn Program in modern agriculture since 2001.

Youddha Prasad Neupane was also declared the 2nd Krishi Tara winner and awarded with a cheque of Rs 500,000 along with the winner's certificate.