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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has clarified that Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba will visit the United States at an appropriate time.

The Ministry made it clear about the visit at a time when rumors have been making rounds that Prime Minister Deuba’s visit to the United States has been canceled.

Sewa Lamsal, spokesperson at the Ministry, said that the Prime Minister’s visit to the United States is being worked out at one level.

“The Prime Minister has been waiting for a favorable time to visit the United States. There is no truth about the cancellation of the visit,” she said.

The Ministry said that the reply about the cancellation of the State Partnership Program (SPP) will be sent to the United States only after the effective preparation.

Chitra Lekha Yadav has been appointed as the chief whip and Min Bishwokarma as the whip of the Parliamentary Party of the Nepali Congress.

Chief Secretary at the party office Krishna Prasad Paudel said that Parliamentary Party leader and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba appointed them on Wednesday.

Yadav has been appointed as the chief whip after Bal Krishna Khand was appointed the Home Minister.

Similarly, Nepali Congress central member Bishwokarma was appointed as the whip after Pushpa Bhusal was elected as the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives recently.

Women and Social Committee under the House of Representatives has directed the National Women Commission to work in a more sensitive way to serve the needs of violence survivors.

According to committee President Niru Devi Pal, today's meeting of the committee instructed the NWC to focus on promotion of overall interests of women and to deliver effectively. The conclusion of the meeting is that NWC, despite constitutional recognition, has not been able to connect and coordinate with other bodies working for the rights of women. The committee urged NWC to ensure effective collaboration and make integrated efforts to meet its objectives and goals.

The goals of the commission are to eliminate all sorts of violence against women and ensure social, economic and political empowerment of women through their meaningful inclusive and proportional representation in all sectors and levels of government and non-government bodies and the effective enforcement of national and international legal instruments related to the rights of women. Besides, the assessment of the meeting is that the NWC has also failed to ensure in-house cooperation and coordination. "It is a matter of concern that survivors of violence against women have been deprived of necessary assistance," the meeting said.

Sri Lanka's MPs are set to vote for a new president after their former leader fled the country and quit amid protests over the country's economic crisis, BBC reported.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, currently interim leader, has been nominated for the role by the ruling party and is seen as the frontrunner.

But protesters want him to go too after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigned. 

The PM faces a serious challenge from Dullas Alahapperuma, a dissident ruling party MP backed by the main opposition.

Whoever is elected by parliament will have a mandate to serve out the rest of Mr Rajapaksa's term, which ends in November 2024.

Sri Lanka is effectively bankrupt and facing acute shortages of food, fuel and other basic supplies.

The country needs a stable government to continue stalled negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout package.

Mr Rajapaksa's administration and family, which have ruled the country for nearly two decades, have been blamed for the current crisis, according to BBC.

He fled to the Maldives last week after crowds took over government buildings, demanding political leaders - including Mr Wickremesinghe - step down. Mr Rajapaksa then flew to Singapore and officially resigned late on Thursday.

A total of 225 parliamentarians are eligible to vote on Wednesday. If a contender receives more than half of the preferential vote, they win the position outright.

It is a three-way contest between Mr Wickremesinghe, Mr Alahapperuma and Anura Kumara Dissanayake, leader of the left-wing National People's Power Party. 

Mr Alahapperuma is a senior MP from the governing Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) - the Rajapaksas' party which swept to victory in a landslide in the last elections.

A former minister under that administration, he was among the cabinet members who quit en masse shortly after protests began in April.

Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa was initially expected to run for president, but in a last-minute twist on Tuesday he withdrew from the race, saying it was for the "greater good" of the country. 

He added that his party - which has about a quarter of the seats in parliament - would work towards Mr Alahapperuma's victory. Reports say he could get the job of prime minister in such an eventuality, BBC reported.

Mr Wickremesinghe, a six-time prime minister who has never served a full term, is perhaps the most contentious of the three candidates.

Some protest organisers have vowed to continue demonstrating if he becomes president, with many pointing out that he has close links with the Rajapaksa family. 

"He came into power saying he was going to hold everyone accountable, the Rajapaksas even, but he did nothing," said university student Anjalee Wanduragala. 

"It's absurd to think that people are going to trust him again."