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Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki has reiterated that the government is ready to move ahead collaborating with trade unions of journalists for promoting the rights and interests and security of journalists and overall progress of journalism.

He said so while addressing the inaugural session of Nepal Press Union’s the ninth general national convention in Hetauda on Friday.

Minister Karki on the occasion spoke of the need of making the national unity stronger by protecting the freedom of the press and freedom of expression.

"The press should work as a bridge between the government and the public. It should help bring economic and social transformation," he said.

Also the government spokesperson, Minister Karki said that the government has registered a new citizenship bill in the House of Representatives for easing the distribution of citizenship.

Nepali Congress general secretary Gagan Thapa, who also took part in the program, said the political parties should come out of the power-centric mentality and become accountable to the nation and people while keeping alive the freedom of the press and freedom of expression for protecting democracy.

NPU Central President Badri Prasad Sigdel reiterated that freedom of press is required to make the democracy functional and dynamic. 

Central President of the Socialist Press Organization Nepal, Shambhu Shrestha called on all the media trade unions to be united and move ahead for the protection of the freedom of the press and democracy as per the spirit of the constitution.

NPU Makwanpur President Kumar Adhikari informed that the NPU's national convention which will run till July 23 will elect its new leadership and the presentation of the Union's report, annual programs and the process for registering candidacies would be conducted in the closed-door session of general convention this afternoon. 

One thousand nine hundred voters including representatives and observers from all the seven provinces are attending the NPU ninth national general convention.

A research think tank based in Kathmandu held a seminar on ‘Geopolitics and Military Diplomacy in Nepal-US Relations,’ at ALICE Conference in Bakhundole, Lalitpur on Friday to hold a discussion on Nepal-US relations and the role of military cooperation. 

The discussion was aimed to positively impact Nepal’s diplomatic practice, read a statement issued by the Centre for Social Inclusion and Federalism.

The seminar consisted of two sessions.

The first session held on ‘Military Diplomacy of Nepal’ consisted of the panel involving Gen. Gaurav Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana, Former Chief of Nepal Army; Hon’ble Upendra Yadav, Chairperson of Janata Samajbadi Party and Former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs; Hon’ble Dr. Deepak Prakash Bhatt, Member of the House of Representative and Member of Foreign Affairs Committee in the Lower House; Maj. Gen. Purna Bahadur Silwal (Retd.), Nepal Army.

General Gaurav Shumsher Jung Bahadur said that while Military is known as a hard power tool, it can also be used as a soft power tool to achieve broader foreign policy objectives.

Chairperson of Janata Samajbadi Party and former Foreign Minister Upendra Yadav said that Nepal must abide by its non-alignment policy and reject proposals for military partnership with foreign countries, the statement read.

Dr. Deepak Prakash Bhatt mentioned that Military Diplomacy is a very relevant topic in the discourse in present context when the world continues to change geopolitically. Maj. Gen Purna Bahadur Silwal also said that strong military ties between two countries can be leveraged to achieve broader foreign policy objectives.

The second session on ‘Geopolitics and Nepal-US Relations’ consisted of the panel involving Dinesh Bhattarai, former Foreign Affairs advisor to the Prime Minister Suresh Chalise, former ambassador to the USA and the UK Ajaya Bhadra Khanal, senior Journalist and research director at CESIF and Mamta Siwakoti, lawyer and researcher.

Speaking in the seminar, Dinesh Bhattarai mentioned that Nepal is caught in a geopolitical maneuvering between global powerhouses like the US and China and their conflict for hegemony.

Similarly, Dr. Suresh Chalise said that the US involvement in Nepal has been influenced by its regional interests.

To protect its sovereignty, Nepal should confine its relationship with the US to strictly bilateral, he said, the statement further read.

Meanwhile, Ajay Bhadra Khanal said that the US has used investments as a tool for diplomatic relations and political influence.

With growing geopolitical interests of powerhouses, Nepal will face increasing pressure in the future, he said.

Siwakoti speaking at the event signaled that Nepal’s domestic political narrative perceives ourselves as small and insignificant and we are quick to consider any external interest a threat. Negotiating with countries like the US for investment and aid is a strategy of economic pragmatism, she said.

Distinguished dignitaries, diplomats, military officials as well as academicians took part in the event.

Senior politician Dinesh Gunawardena on Friday took over as Sri Lanka's prime minister as President Ranil Wickremesinghe swore in his new Cabinet, Business standard reported.

A stalwart of Sri Lankan politics, Gunawardena, 73, earlier served as the foreign minister and education minister. He was appointed as Home Minister in April by then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The prime minister's post fell vacant after Wickremesinghe, 73, was on Thursday sworn in as the country's eighth president after Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country and then resigned as president, according to Business Standard.

He has called for bipartisanship to address the unprecedented economic crisis the country is facing.

Turkey says a deal has been reached with Russia to allow Ukraine to resume exports of grain through the Black Sea, BBC reported.

It is to be signed on Friday in Istanbul by Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. 

The world shortage of Ukrainian grain since Russia's 24 February invasion has left millions at risk of hunger.

The invasion sent food prices soaring, so the deal to unblock Ukraine's ports is crucial. Some 20 million tonnes of grain is stuck in silos in Odesa.

Ukraine's foreign ministry confirmed that another UN-led round of talks to unblock grain exports would take place in Turkey on Friday - and a document "may be signed".

But one Ukrainian MP close to the talks voiced caution over the deal.

"We don't have [an] agreement yet," Odesa MP Oleksiy Honcharenko told BBC Radio 4's World Tonight programme. "We don't trust Russians at all. So let us wait till tomorrow for a final decision and that there will not be some pushbacks from Russians and last minute changes."

"I keep fingers crossed tomorrow we'll have a deal and Russia will really respect it."

The US State Department welcomed the UN-brokered deal, but said it was focusing on holding Russia accountable for implementing it.

"We should never have been in this position in the first place. This was a deliberate decision on the part of the Russian Federation to weaponise food," said the department's spokesman Ned Price, according to BBC.

Diplomats say the plan includes:

• Ukrainian vessels guiding grain ships in and out through mined port waters
• Russia agreeing to a truce while shipments move
• Turkey - supported by the United Nations - inspecting ships, to allay Russian fears of weapons smuggling. 

The deal is also meant to facilitate Russian exports of grain and fertiliser via the Black Sea.

The UN and Turkey have been working for two months to broker a grain deal, amid global anxiety about the food crisis.

Russia denies blockading Ukraine's ports - it blames Ukraine for laying mines at sea and Western sanctions for slowing Russia's own exports.

Ukraine however says the Russian navy prevents it shipping grain and other exports and accuses Russian occupation forces of stealing grain from Ukrainian farms.

If the signing goes ahead as planned it will be the first significant deal between Russia and Ukraine since the invasion began. There have been some prisoner exchanges, but a ceasefire still appears a long way off.

"The grain export agreement, critically important for global food security, will be signed in Istanbul under the auspices of President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan and UN Secretary General Mr Guterres together with Ukrainian and Russian delegations," said Mr Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin.

Sergiy Kyslytsya, the Ukrainian ambassador to the UN, said the devil would be in the detail of the deal, which was still being worked on by all parties, BBC reported.

If the deal was signed and implemented, it would "ensure a significant number of ships can approach or leave the Ukrainian ports and we can export about 20 million tonnes of grain, which is ready to be exported," he told BBC World News.

He added that Turkey would play a "very important part ensuring the security" and monitoring the process.