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The Supreme Court has issued a show cause order in the two writ petitions filed against CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Giving a priority to the writ petitions, a single bench of Justice Ishwor Prasad Khatiwada on Friday issued the show cause order in the name of Dahal to furnish a written clarification within 15 days, Supreme Court spokesperson Bimal Paudel said. Advocates Gyanendra Raj Aran and Kalyan Budhathoki had filed writ petitions against Dahal. The duo filed separate writs at the Supreme Court demanding a criminal investigation and action against Dahal over war-era cases. While addressing a program held on January 15, 2020, Dahal had said that out of 17, 000 people killed in the Maoist insurgency, 5,000 were killed by the Maoist and he would take the responsibility for it. Aran and Budhathoki had tried to file petitions demanding that the court issue an order to arrest Dahal and punish him for taking the responsibility for 5,000 deaths, but the court administration had refused to do so, claiming that the issue was related to transitional justice. Earlier on Friday, a division bench of Justice Ishwor Khatiwada and Hari Prasad Phuyal ordered the Supreme Court administration to take petitions against Dahal. Then rebels had kidnapped and murdered advocate Aran’s father Tilakraj. Similarly, advocate Budhathoki’s father was displaced. The Supreme Court’s decision has rattled Prime Minister Dahal and his party. They are crying foul over what they say is a conspiracy to corner them by bringing up the conflict-era cases, which ought to be dealt by the transitional justice commissions.  

Visiting British Minister of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Anne-Marie Trevelyan paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal at the latter's official residence in Baluwatar on Friday. The meeting between the duo dwelt on a wide range of issues including bilateral relations between Nepal and the UK, according to the Prime Minister's Secretariat. Prior to this, Trevelyan, who arrived here on Wednesday on a three-day visit, attended a ceremony organized on Wednesday at the Hanumandhoka Durbar Square by the British Embassy in Nepal. Her visit marked the 100 years of the signing of a treaty of friendship between Nepal and the UK in 1923, which formalized the relations between the two countries. She also inspected the Arun Hydropower Project. The project has an investment of the British government through the Investment Board Nepal. The British Minister of State is returning home today after wrapping up her visit to Nepal.

A meeting of the Maoist factions has decided to hold a joint interaction and press conference on the issue of war-era incidents. A meeting held at the Prime Minister’s official residence in Baluwatar made the decision to this effect. The meeting has decided to hold the press conference on March 12 and joint interaction on March 14. Civil society leaders, law practitioners, journalists and stakeholders related to the peace process will take part in the interaction. The Maoist factions have become united to conclude the peace process at the earliest and to continue the campaign in favor of the peace process. Talking to journalists after the meeting, CPN (Maoist Center) General Secretary Dev Gurung said that they would confront the activities against the peace process. The Maoist factions have become united after writ petitions were filed against CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Leaders of CPN (Maoist Center), CPN (Revolutionary) Maoist, Nepal Community Party and Baigyanik Samajbadi Party among other parties took part in the meeting.

Xi Jinping has been handed an unprecedented third term as president, capping a rise that has seen him become China’s most powerful leader in generations, The Guardian reported.

In a carefully choreographed ceremony in Beijing, Xi held up his right fist and placed his left hand on a red leather copy of China’s constitution.

In the oath - beamed live on state television across the nation - he vowed to “build a prosperous, strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious and great modern socialist country”.

The appointment by China’s rubber-stamp parliament comes after he was handed another five years as head of the Chinese Communist party (CCP) and the military – the two more significant leadership positions in Chinese politics – in October.

Those issues have been avoided at this week’s National People’s Congress (NPC), a closely watched event that over the next two days is also set to appoint Xi ally Li Qiang as the new premier, putting him in charge of managing the world’s second largest economy, according to The Guardian.

The lawmakers have focused instead on a sweeping revamp of Beijing’s science ministry and tech capabilities in the face of what one NPC deputy described as foreign attempts at “containment and suppression” of the country’s rise.

The body on Friday passed reforms to government institutions unveiled earlier this week, including a sweeping overhaul of the country’s science and technology ministry in the face of what one NPC deputy described as foreign attempts at “containment and suppression” of the country’s rise. New reforms also included the formation of a financial regulatory body and national data bureau.

The beginning of China’s new political term also saw former vice premier Han Zheng elected as its new vice-president and Zhao Leji, former chief of the party’s top anti-corruption commission, as the new parliamentary chair. Both are members of China’s highest political decision-making body, the Politburo Standing Committee. The election process, carried out at the Great Hall of the People at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, lasted around an hour.

Xi’s reelection is the culmination of a remarkable rise from a relatively little-known party apparatchik to the leader of a global superpower.

For decades China - scarred by the dictatorial reign and cult of personality of founding leader Mao Zedong - has eschewed one-man rule in favour of a more consensus-based, but still autocratic, leadership.

That model imposed term limits on the largely ceremonial role of the presidency, with Xi’s predecessors Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao relinquishing power after 10 years in office.

Xi has torn up that rulebook, abolishing term limits in 2018.

His coronation this week sets him up to become modern China’s longest-serving head of state, and will mean Xi will rule well into his seventies and - if no challenger emerges - even longer.

But the beginning of his unprecedented third term leading China comes as the world’s second-largest economy faces major headwinds, from slowing growth and a troubled real estate sector to a declining birthrate.

Relations with the United States are also at a low not seen in decades, with the powers sparring over everything from human rights to trade and technology, according to The Guardian.

In a speech to delegates at the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which runs alongside the NPC this week, Xi criticised Washington’s “containment, encirclement and suppression of China”.

China, he said, must “have the courage to fight as the country faces profound and complex changes in both the domestic and international landscape”.

Xi will make a speech on Monday before the annual parliamentary session closes, as China faces multiple challenges including an economy hobbled by three years of Covid curbs and worsening relations with the West.