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Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Khadka said that the government has already informed the United States that Nepal will not move ahead with the State Partnership Program (SPP) of the US government.

During a meeting of the House of Representatives on Friday, Minister Khadka said that a letter has been sent to the United States through a diplomatic channel saying that Nepal would not be a part of the SPP.

“The government has already made a decision that Nepal will not be a part of the SPP. The Cabinet meeting held on June 20, 2022 had decided that Nepal will not move ahead with the SPP,” he said, adding, “The Ministry on July 25 had written to the United States through a diplomatic channel about the government’s decision to withdraw from SPP.”

The US and Chinese leaders have warned each other over Taiwan during a phone call that lasted more than two hours, BBC reported. 

President Joe Biden told his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, that the US strongly opposed any unilateral moves to change the island's status.

But he added that US policy on Taiwan had not changed. 

Beijing said Mr Xi had told Mr Biden to abide by the one-China principle, warning him that "whoever plays with fire will get burnt". 

Tensions over the issue have increased ahead of a rumoured plan for US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to visit Taiwan.

The state department says Ms Pelosi has not announced any travel, but China has warned of "serious consequences" if she were to proceed with such a visit.

Last week, Mr Biden told reporters "the military thinks it's not a good idea", but his White House has called Chinese rhetoric against any such trip "clearly unhelpful and not necessary".

Ms Pelosi, who is next in line to the presidency after the vice-president, would be the highest-ranking US politician to travel to Taiwan since 1997.

During Thursday's phone call, Mr Biden and Mr Xi also discussed arranging a possible face-to-face meeting, a senior Biden administration official said, describing the bilateral as "direct" and "honest".

When Mr Biden was US vice-president he hosted Mr Xi during a visit to the US by the Chinese leader in 2015, but they have not met in person during Mr Biden's presidency, according to BBC.

China sees Taiwan as a breakaway province that must become a part of the country - and has not ruled out the possible use of force to achieve this.

Under the one-China policy, Washington does not recognise Taipei diplomatically. But the US does sell weapons to the democratically self-governed island so that it can defend itself.

The White House said that apart from Taiwan, the two leaders discussed a range of other issues, including climate change and health security.

The Biden administration has been considering whether to lift Trump-era tariffs on Chinese imports, arguing that such a move could ease soaring US inflation. But the US president did not discuss that issue with Mr Xi on Thursday, the senior US official said. 

Analysts believe that both Joe Biden and Xi Jinping want to avoid an open conflict, the BBC's State Department Correspondent Barbara Plett Usher reports. But neither has made any attempt to alter their competing narratives, which was illustrated again by their contrasting statements about Thursday's call. 

In a brief summary, the White House said it was part of efforts to "responsibly manage differences" and work together where "interests align". 

In a much longer one, Beijing said many of their interests did align. But it blamed the US for the deteriorating relationship, criticising the Biden administration's view of China as a "primary rival" and Washington's "most serious long-term challenge."

Russia has carried out deadly strikes across Ukraine, as Kyiv stepped up its efforts to retake the occupied southern Kherson region, BBC reported.

Five people were killed and 26 injured when missiles struck the central city of Kropyvnytskyi, officials said. Three people died in Bakhmut, in the east.

Near Kyiv, 15 people were hurt at a military base. Ukraine's northern and southern regions were also hit.

This comes as Ukraine seeks to isolate Russian troops in the country's south.

A key bridge into the city of Kherson is out of action after Ukrainian forces struck it with long-range rockets supplied by the US. This makes it impossible for Russia to send deployments and weaponry over the Antonivsky Bridge.

UK defence officials say the only Ukrainian regional capital seized since the start of the Russian invasion on 24 February is now "virtually cut off from other occupied territories".

However, the Ukrainian military has warned that Moscow is now redeploying its forces from eastern Ukraine to defend the Kherson region.

Pictures have emerged purportedly showing Russian troops trying to set up a pontoon crossing near the damaged bridge.

Control over Kherson is important for Russia, as it provides a land corridor to Crimea - Ukraine's southern peninsula annexed by the Kremlin in 2014, according to BBC.

Kropyvnytskyi - the capital of the Kirovohrad region - was hit by two Russian missiles at about 12:20 local time on Tuesday (09:20 GMT), regional head Andriy Raikovych said at a briefing.

He said the missiles struck hangars of a local flight school, and that the wounded did not have life threatening injuries.

In Bakhmut, which lies in the eastern Donetsk region, at least three people were killed and another three injured in Russian shelling, regional head Pavlo Kyrylenko said. Twelve residential buildings were damaged.

Separately, 15 people were hurt when six Russian Kalibr missiles hit a military base in Liutizh, about 10km (six miles) north of the capital Kyiv, senior Ukrainian military official Oleksiy Hromov said. He did not specify whether there were any deaths.

Elsewhere, one person was killed and two injured in Russian shelling of Ukraine's central-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, local officials said, BBC reported.

And in the southern city of Mykolaiv, one person was injured and a school was destroyed in a "massive" Russian missile attack, regional head Vitaliy Kim said.

A meeting of the National Assembly held on Thursday endorsed the Nepal Citizenship (first amendment) Bill, 2079 with majority votes.

Home Minister Balkrishna Khand had presented the proposal, seeking its passage in the NA meeting.

Earlier, responding to the queries raised by the NA members on the bill, Minister Khand said that the bill on amendment of citizenship act was brought to ensure citizenship certificates to millions of Nepali youths, who had been deprived of it even seven years after the country introduced a new constitution.

He made it clear that the bill was brought by holding adequate discussions with the ruling and opposition parties.

The people deprived of citizenship certificates were frustrated, he said, urging the lawmakers to forge consensus on the points agreed so far, while the points that need additional homework can be sorted out gradually.

He further made it clear that initially, the bill had not mentioned naturalized citizenship (by marriage). The citizenship bill was initially registered at parliament in 2075BS.