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The Nepali embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan organized a program to celebrate the Mt. Everest Day at the embassy in Islamabad. 

The program was organized to commemorate the first ascent to the Mt. Everest by Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Edmund Hillary on May 29, 1953.

Nepali Ambassador to Pakistan Tapas Adhikari welcomed the guests to the program and congratulated Abdul Joshi on his recent ascent to the Mt. Everest on May 16, 2022.

On the occasion, Ambassador Adhikari expressed his confidence that his expedition will inspire many young Pakistanis for mountaineering and adventure tourism and increase people-to-people contacts between Nepal and Pakistan, according to Islamabad Post.

He also highlighted the impacts of climate change on the mountains and urged for collectively addressing the negative consequences.

During the programme, Joshi shared his interesting expedition experience while scaling the summit. He also drew many parallels between Nepal and Pakistan, particularly in the field of trekking and tourism.

Australia's new Labor government has secured a majority in parliament, election analysts say, BBC reported.

The centre-left party, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, defeated Scott Morrison's conservative coalition in an election on 21 May.

A record vote for independents and minor parties had made it uncertain whether Mr Albanese would govern in his own right.

But he now has the 76 lower house seats needed, after victories in tight races.

It is a different story in the Senate, where Mr Albanese's government will need crossbench support to pass laws.

About a third of Australians voted for candidates outside the major parties, with support surging for the Greens and independents running on climate platforms, according to BBC.

Mr Albanese has promised a "constructive relationship" with the expanded crossbench, despite not needing to rely on their votes in the House of Representatives. Two seats there remain undecided. 

He will announce his cabinet on Tuesday.

The veteran politician, who heads Australia's first Labor government in almost a decade, has promised to adopt more ambitious emissions reduction targets. 

However, he has so far refused calls to phase out coal use or to block the opening of new coal mines.

Mr Albanese flew to Tokyo last week for a summit with the leaders of Japan, India and the US, known as the Quad. 

His government is also aiming to sure up ties in the Pacific in the face of growing Chinese influence. Foreign Minister Penny Wong made a trip to Fiji within days of being sworn in.

Her visit came as China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi embarked on a tour of small Pacific nations, hoping to secure trade and security deals, BBC reported.

Last month, China and the Solomon Islands agreed a security pact that sparked fears in Australia and the US that Beijing could build a naval base in the region.

Mr Morrison lost power after shedding almost 20 seats at the election. These included traditional conservative strongholds in the cities, where climate policies were seen as a key factor.

Staunch conservative and former defence minister Peter Dutton will now be opposition leader, after he was chosen by the Liberal Party to replace Mr Morrison.

Barnaby Joyce - who made international headlines over a row about Johnny Depp's dogs- was replaced by David Littleproud as leader of the Nationals, the Liberals' junior coalition partner, according to BBC.

In the last 40 years only one government - under John Howard in 2004 - has won a Senate majority.

European Union leaders agreed Monday to embargo most Russian oil imports into the bloc by year-end as part of new sanctions on Moscow worked out at a summit focused on helping Ukraine with a long-delayed package of new financial support, Associated Press reported.

The embargo covers Russian oil brought in by sea, allowing a temporary exemption for imports delivered by pipeline, a move that was crucial to bring landlocked Hungary on board a decision that required consensus. 

EU Council President Charles Michel said the agreement covers more than two-thirds of oil imports from Russia. Ursula Von der Leyen, the head of the EU’s executive branch, said the punitive move will “effectively cut around 90% of oil imports from Russia to the EU by the end of the year.”

Michel said leaders also agreed to provide Ukraine with a 9 billion-euro ($9.7 billion) tranche of assistance to support the war-torn country’s economy. It was unclear whether the money would come in grants or loans.

Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, responded to the EU’s decision on Twitter, saying: “As she rightly said yesterday, Russia will find other importers.”

The new package of sanctions will also include an asset freeze and travel ban on individuals, while Russia’s biggest bank, Sberbank, will be excluded from SWIFT, the major global system for financial transfers from which the EU previously banned several smaller Russian banks. Three big Russian state-owned broadcasters will be prevented from distributing their content in the EU, according to Associated Press.

“We want to stop Russia’s war machine,” Michel said, lauding what he called a “remarkable achievement.”

“More than ever it’s important to show that we are able to be strong, that we are able to be firm, that we are able to be tough,” he added.

Michel said the new sanctions, which needed the support of all 27 member countries, will be legally endorsed by Wednesday. 

The EU had already imposed five previous rounds of sanctions on Russia over its war. It has targeted more than 1,000 people individually, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and top government officials as well as pro-Kremlin oligarchs, banks, the coal sector and more.

But the sixth package of measures announced May 4 had been held up by concerns over oil supplies. 

The impasse embarrassed the bloc, which was forced to scale down its ambitions to break Hungary’s resistance. When European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed the package, the initial aim was to phase out imports of crude oil within six months and refined products by the end of the year, Associated Press reported.

Both Michel and von der Leyen said leaders will soon return to the issue, seeking to guarantee that Russia’s pipeline oil exports to the EU are banned at a later date.

Hungarian Prime minister Viktor Orban had made clear he could support the new sanctions only if his country’s oil supply security was guaranteed. Hungary gets more than 60% of its oil from Russia and depends on crude that comes through the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline.

Von der Leyen had played down the chances of a breakthrough at the summit. But leaders reached a compromise after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged them to end “internal arguments that only prompt Russia to put more and more pressure on the whole of Europe.”

The EU gets about 40% of its natural gas and 25% of its oil from Russia, and divisions over the issue exposed the limits of the 27-nation trading bloc’s ambitions. 

In his 10-minute video address, Zelenskyy told leaders to end “internal arguments that only prompt Russia to put more and more pressure on the whole of Europe.”

He said the sanctions package must “be agreed on, it needs to be effective, including (on) oil,” so that Moscow “feels the price for what it is doing against Ukraine” and the rest of Europe. Only then, Zelenskyy said, will Russia be forced to “start seeking peace.”

It was not the first time he had demanded that the EU target Russia’s lucrative energy sector and deprive Moscow of billions of dollars each day in supply payments, according to Associated Press.

But Hungary led a group of EU countriesworried over the impact of the oil ban on their economy, including Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. Hungary relies heavily on Russia for energy and can’t afford to turn off the pumps. In addition to its need for Russian oil, Hungary gets 85% of its natural gas from Russia. 

Lawmakers have said that India is conspiring not to build Nijgadh International Airport.

Speaking at the International Committee of Parliament on Monday, some lawmakers spoke about the international conspiracy, while others said India is against the construction of airport.

Former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal suggested the government draw the attention of the Indian government regarding the current obstructions in the construction of the airport

“India is building international airports in Raxual and Kushinagar to prevent the construction of Nijgad international airport. So Nepal government should talk with Indian side about it,” Nepal said.

Lawmaker Deepak Prakash Bhatta said there have been obstructions in the construction of the airport to make Nepal a client state.    In the meeting, other lawmakers stressed the construction of the airport removing all difficulties.